Jeff Ripley of Spokane, Washington, doesnโt mince words when asked how he feels about StubHub after the online resale site failed to deliver him $4,600 World Cup tickets to the United States last week.
โI think theyโre fucking scammers. Sorry,โ he said in a phone call with CBC News.
Back in December, he and his wife bought three tickets to the USA game in Seattle, scheduled for June 19. They waited impatiently for their son to fly in and join them.
But the day before the match, he received an email from StubHub that said, โThe seller is unable to provide tickets.โ They bought different tickets so they wouldnโt miss the event, but are now fighting with StubHub for a refund.
The couple also filed formal investigation requests with the Washington State Attorney General and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
โWe are looking at this as a fraud situation,โ Ripley said. He suspects that StubHub allowed the scalper to either list tickets for resale that they didnโt actually own (a practice known as โspeculative ticketingโ) or allowed the reseller to back out of the deal because they found another buyer.
โ(StubHub) did not do due diligence to ensure that the person listing the tickets actually physically owned the tickets, or that our original seller found a better price โ someone who was willing to pay more,โ he said.
Attendance is depicted on the LED boards during the 2026 FIFA World Cup Group D match between the United States and Australia at Seattle Stadium on June 19 in Seattle, a game for which the Ripleys purchased tickets. (Emily Chinn/Getty Images)
StubHub Honor System
In an emailed response, StubHub told CBC News that the company โdoes not own, own or sell tickets. We are a technology platform that connects independent buyers and sellers.โ
โStubHub does not allow speculative tickets, period. Sellers who violate our rules face fines, stricter regulations, and account suspensions,โ wrote StubHub spokesman Jack Stern.
StubHub does not allow speculative tickets.โ StubHub spokesperson Jack Stern
According to StubHubโs Selling Policy, the company relies on an honor system and leaves it up to sellers and scalpers who use their site to declare whether they actually have the tickets they list for sale.
A CBC News investigation found that StubHub canceled thousands of tickets to World Cup events across North America. Some industry observers say such glitches happen regularly at individual concerts, but are seen on a larger scale during the World Cup, given the number of game tickets sold in the 16 host cities of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Calls for investigations
In addition to Ripley, many StubHub customers said on social media that they were contacting politicians and regulators.
Lorin Manchick of Boca Raton, Florida, says he has contacted his congressman Jared Moskowitz asking for an investigation, given that he still hasnโt received tickets from StubHub for the upcoming US match on July 3 in Miami โ and he fears he never will either.
โ(I want) turn the screw a little bit, get it to the point where StubHub starts taking some responsibility and not doing this to people,โ Manczyk said.
April Martin Labadie wrote on Facebook that she has filed complaints with business regulators and the Federal Trade Commission.
โI called all the local news stations. I have filed a report with the Better Business Bureau and am going to do so with my state attorney general,โ she wrote in a Facebook group jokingly called โOfficial StubHUB Complaint Department.โ
Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Antitrust Project, a research and policy think tank, says Canadaโs Competition Bureau should investigate, pointing to what he called โconcentrated and opaque ticketing marketsโ that are โinsufficiently regulated.โ
The Antimonopoly Committee should pay close attention to this.โ Keldon Bester, CAMP Executive Director
โConsumers are paying thousands for tickets they are told are guaranteed, only to find out at the last second that no tickets existed at all. The marketplace should not be able to take money for seats that the seller does not control, sell them as guaranteed, and leave consumers outside the venue for a refund while their favorite team takes the field,โ Bester wrote in an email.
โThe Competition Bureau should scrutinize this provision as soon as possible under the misleading marketing provisions,โ he said.
The StubHub banner hangs on the New York Stock Exchange as the company prepares to ring the opening bell on September 17, 2025 in New York. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Lawyer calls StubHub โpredatoryโ
Brad Clements, a lawyer in Menlo Park, California, says he was contacted by more than 50 World Cup fans in the past week who say they were defrauded by StubHub and asked for his expertise.
Until this month, he had represented 159 different clients in lawsuits against StubHub and its parent company Viagogo on behalf of both buyers and resellers, giving him an inside look at StubHubโs operations.
โI think this is the most predatory company Iโve ever seen in my 44 years of existence,โ he told CBC News.
โI mean, they are literally sitting on money that they know both the buyers and the sellers are not entitled to. They force people to fight them with all their might. They force people to spend exorbitant amounts of time just to get the most basic things that should have been handed to them in about one day.โ
He says heโs seen widespread technology failures and the company routinely delaying and dragging out ticket disputes and refund claims for years, forcing people to hire lawyers and go to arbitration.
When asked by CBC News, the Federal Trade Commission did not comment on how many complaints it has received about StubHub related to World Cup tickets.
WATCH | Ticket researcher calls for increased oversight of resale market:
Ticket cancellations could impact thousands of FIFA fans
Ticket researcher Randy Nichols says โspeculative ticket salesโ can impact thousands of fans every day. He calls for much stricter oversight of resale markets.
Stubhub has admitted it has problems, which it blames on FIFAโs ticketing technology and the FIFA app introduced a month ago, which restricts the use and transfer of tickets.
โEven with these restrictions, we have taken steps to improve reliability and support for fans. Every order on StubHub is also backed by our FanProtect guarantee, which provides alternative tickets or a full refund,โ StubHub spokesman Stern said in an email.
However, Clements, who begins mediation with StubHub on July 1 on behalf of many of his 159 clients, says World Cup fans wanting to avoid unwanted cancellations should buy directly from FIFAโs website and bypass scalper sites, despite their claims of money-back guarantees.