Hey there! Today, we’re zoning in on SeatGeek. You’ve probably heard of it, but what’s the real scoop? Is it a go-to spot for snagging tickets, or should you be wary?
We’ve all heard whispers here and there, so we’re rolling up our sleeves and digging in to find out how legit SeatGeek really is. We’re breaking down the good, the bad, and the in-between.
Stick around as we dive into whether SeatGeek is your ticket to a worry-free night out, or if you need to tread carefully. Here’s everything about SeatGeek being legit, safe, and reliable:Let’s get into it!
What Is SeatGeek?
Before we can really get into legitimacy and safety, we should probably start by talking about what SeatGeek is all about.
Put simply, it’s a mobile-based platform that allows people to buy and sell tickets to events (think NFL games or concerts).
It was launched in 2009, and it claims to be the world’s largest event ticket search engine. That last part is important. What separates SeatGeek from any other ticket platform? The search engine is the answer.
Whereas Ticketmaster and the like allow you to find seats available on their platforms, SeatGeek actually searches additional platforms too.
So you have a larger base to look for tickets for any given event. Even with the large search engine, SeatGeek also sources seats directly. That means you can purchase tickets directly from the event host or venue.
SeatGeek sometimes purchases tickets itself to resell on the platform. Other third parties that specialize in seat sales can use the site. And, of course, individual users can sell their own tickets on the site.
Say you purchase tickets to a concert and have to change your plans, you could potentially sell those tickets on SeatGeek to try to get your money back or even make a profit. Put it all together and you have what is potentially a powerful and reliable tool for finding tickets.
But, the original questions still loom. Is it safe? Is it legitimate? Will you get scammed on the site? I’ll go over all of these questions in detail to really outline how the site works and what you can expect.
Is SeatGeek Safe?
Let’s start with a simple, generic answer. For the most part, SeatGeek is safe. The site is not in the business of scamming people, so you don’t have to worry that they are going to take your money and run.
SeatGeek is a well-known platform and search engine for purchasing event tickets. In general, it is legitimate, safe, and reliable.
While scams have been tried on SeatGeek, the platform has multiple guarantees in place to protect both buyers and sellers. As a buyer or seller, you can expect your transaction to be safe.
The company has been in business for well over a decade. That would be a lot of time to build up a bad reputation.
Instead, SeatGeek is fairly trusted by ticket sellers, which is why many event venues and reputable third-party ticket distributors sell directly through the site.
On top of that, SeatGeek follows industry standards for managing payments and transactions. As a site and app, it uses HTTPS encryption.
This is a minimum requirement for any online resource that processes transactions, and SeatGeek lives up to that requirement. It’s safe to browse SeatGeek, and using the platform is also safe.
Your credit card information and other crucial details are no more likely to be stolen here than on any other site where you make purchases on the internet. For all of these reasons, it’s easy to call SeatGeek a safe site.
Personal Information
So, SeatGeek does protect your information against theft. However, since this is a tech company, there’s another angle that we have to cover.
You have to put in personal information in order to use the site. That much you probably expected. Does SeatGeek track you on top of that? Does it sell or share your info?
To answer this, I’ll direct you to SeatGeek’s privacy policy. Let me try to be both fair and honest. SeatGeek definitely shares your info with other parties. In this, they’re pretty average as far as tech companies go. The privacy policy is not ambiguous.
SeatGeek will collect your personal information and user data when you use the site or app. It will share that information with its subsidiaries and other third parties. If that makes you uncomfortable, SeatGeek might not be for you.
But, it’s worth distinguishing that sharing information in this way is not the same as putting you at risk for identity theft.
I wouldn’t say that this makes SeatGeek unsafe, but for some people, it’s uncomfortable. That’s up to you.
Is SeatGeek Reliable?
Reliability trends in the same direction as everything else you have read so far. More often than not, yes, SeatGeat is quite reliable.
In fact, many of the seats on the platform are sold directly by the third parties in charge of the event. You can bet that such purchases are extremely reliable. When it comes to buying tickets from individuals, things change a little.
SeatGeek is still reliable in most cases, but the platform cannot perfectly regulate the behavior of every seller.
If someone wanted to try to run a scam and sell you fake tickets, it is possible on the site. In fact, it happens. Some sellers do try to run scams or otherwise behave in ways that you might not like.
This is where the SeatGeek guarantee comes into play. If you do get scammed, the company is set up to take care of you.
Ultimately, the process is up to SeatGeek, so I can’t make guarantees on their behalf. But, the clearly published policy is that you will get the seats you buy. If anything prevents that, you will get seats of equal or higher value. Or, you can get a full refund.
Considering the size of SeatGeek and its cash flow, you can expect that the company is very capable of refunding an individual purchase if they can’t resolve a seating conflict.
On top of that is one other thing to understand. Sometimes, events get rescheduled or canceled. The SeatGeek policy is clear here too. If the event is canceled, you get a full refund. If it is rescheduled, the policy is to not issue refunds. It’s important to know how all of these things work.
Getting Seats
There is one issue of reliability with SeatGeek that demands discussion. You won’t always be able to find seats for a given event.
While the engine does successfully search a lot of resources, events usually have limited capacity, and SeatGeek runs into the same problems as all of the other seat-purchasing platforms.
It can be difficult to beat out everyone else and get the tickets that you want. When you successfully make a purchase, SeatGeek is reliable. When you’re looking for seats, reliability can vary.
And, the more popular an event is, the harder it can be to get ticks. It’s a simple matter of competition with other buyers.
Can You Get Scammed on SeatGeek?
SeatGeek is reputable, safe, and fairly reliable. Surely you can’t really get scammed right? I’ve already loosely touched on this.
I explained how an individual seller could try to run a scam if they wanted. But, let’s take a closer look at how hard that might be. There are instances where sellers put up tickets that are either not what they claim to be or outright don’t exist.
I’ve mentioned that SeatGeek guarantees purchases, so as a buyer, you don’t have to worry too much. Rest assured that SeatGeek really doesn’t want scams to be there in the first place.Â
SeatGeek has a number of practices in place to validate tickets before they go up for sale. Typically, this is enough. The more common issue that sometimes arises is that tickets might be sold more than once.
More often than not, this is a technical error, but as a buyer, the end result doesn’t depend on how it happens. If you buy a ticket that isn’t any good, it sure feels like a scam.
Ultimately, SeatGeek has a strong reputation on this front, and that’s what you are choosing to trust if you use the platform.