Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

What is SeatGeek?

SeatGeek is a ticket search engine. We enable consumers to get the best deals on tickets to live events. Using SeatGeek, you can easily search millions of ticket listings from dozens of different ticket sellers, all in one place. Additionally, SeatGeek’s recommendations calendar provides personalized event recommendations for events near you and allows you to purchase tickets for those shows directly on SeatGeek. Founded in 2009, SeatGeek is a venture-backed company located in New York City. Check out our about page for additional details.

What sites do you search?

We include every major (and many minor) secondary market ticket sellers, including TicketsNow, TicketNetwork, Ticket Exchange, RazorGator, TicketCity, ViaGoGo, Empire Tickets, eBay, and dozens of ticket broker sites. Except for eBay, all of the sellers we aggregate have 100%+ money-back guarantees, so you can buy without fear of fraudulent tickets. The prices you see on SeatGeek are "all-in" prices, meaning they include the fees and estimated shipping charged by the seller or marketplace. That makes it easier to compare tickets apples-to-apples.

What types of events are on SeatGeek

SeatGeek lists tickets for thousands of live events in North America, including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, concert and theater tickets. We also list tickets for college football, tennis, UFC, comedy shows and more.

Is SeatGeek a ticket broker?

No. SeatGeek does not buy, sell or set prices for tickets.
See also: answer to What is SeatGeek?

How much does SeatGeek cost?

SeatGeek is 100% free – we don't charge any fees whatsoever. Our goal is to help you save money. In some cases we earn money by referring users to partner sites, but this comes at no cost to you.

Does SeatGeek have an affiliate program?

Yes, check out this detailed post about our affiliate program. For more details, contact nihar@seatgeek.com, SeatGeek's VP of Business Development.

Can I sell tickets on SeatGeek?

Technically, no. No tickets are ever sold on SeatGeek. (See answer above.) If you're a ticket broker with your own website, you can read more information about our broker cost-per-click program and how to upload your inventory to SeatGeek here. Otherwise, the best way to get your tickets to appear on SeatGeek is to list them on one of the partner sites who are already included in SeatGeek results.

Can I list events on SeatGeek?

Yes. We built a service for artist, team, & venue managers called Limelight. You can read more about it here – or go to Limelight now.

Using SeatGeek

Where do I get started?

Use the search box in the upper right of the page to search for your favorite artist, team, venue, or city. Additionally, sign up for a free SeatGeek account in order to receive personalized event recommendations via our recommendations calendar.

What do I do if the event I am looking for does not show up when I search?

Make sure you have spelled the team or artist name correctly. If you are still having problems, it is likely that we are not currently offering tickets for the event you are looking for. Shout out to us on Twitter to let us know or shoot us an email. We are constantly updating our database and can add new events in response to user demand.

What is Deal Score and what is it telling me?

Deal Score is SeatGeek’s proprietary system that provides a way to make simple apples-to-apples comparisons between a set of ticket listings for a given event. Deal Score assigns a 1 to 100 value score to every ticket listing in the stadium, weighing a bundle of factors from price and row location to expected sightlines and broader ticket availability. Deal Score provides an easy way to judge whether a given ticket in the stadium is a “good deal” or not, and to compare listings from all parts of the stadium. For additional details check out our blog post of how to identify ticket deals with Deal Score.

How is Deal Score calculated?

Disclaimer: the description below simplifies a lot of the math involved, but gives the general gist of the calculation. SeatGeek's model assigns an "expected" price to every row in every stadium. This expected price is based on a number of factors, including long-term historical prices for each section, the row location, and the angle to the field. The Deal Score also considers the number of tickets available in the listing (to account for the fact that, for example, single-ticket listings are less desirable than two-ticket listings). Then, for each ticket we compare the actual price to the expected price and look at the deviation as a percentage of the expected price. The tickets with the biggest deviations are ranked as the best deals. The Deal Scores are then assigned by attaching the deviations to an appropriate distribution.
See also: Absolute Deal Score

Recommendations Calendar

What is the recommendations calendar?

We often hear that the #1 reason that people do not purchase event tickets is because they simply don’t know what games, concerts and shows are going on. We created a recommendations calendar to address this. It's powered by our own event discovery engine which generates a calendar full of personalized, local event recommendations based on your favorite artists, teams and performers. Your calendar appears on the SeatGeek home page when you are logged into the site, and you can easily click on your recommended events to see all of SeatGeek’s listings for the event and purchase your own tickets to the event. Using the calendar is easy and free; just sign up for a SeatGeek user account.

How does the recommendations calendar figure out what events I might like in my area?

The calendar takes inputs from a variety of sources – your Facebook likes, your Spotify tracks, the artists and bands you tell us about when you first set up your account – to establish the core set of performers you like. Using that base group, the calendar's algorithm identifies teams or artists similar to you favorites, and then searches for when performers in this broader group are playing in your town. Best of all, the more that you use the calendar, the more accurate its recommendations become, as the algorithm will self-correct its recommendations based on which types of events you view and purchase tickets for.

How do I access the recommendations calendar?

The calendar will appear on the SeatGeek homepage whenever you're logged in. Don't already have a SeatGeek account? No worries - it's free and easy to sign up.

Absolute Deal Score

On July 19, 2012, we launched a major upgrade to our Deal Score algorithm, called "Absolute Deal Score." This section addresses specific questions about this upgrade.

Give me a quick refresher...what is Deal Score?

Please see the FAQ answers above.

What is new about Absolute Deal Score?

Previously, the Deal Score for every event was anchored at 0 and 100. Every event had at least one listing with a Deal Score of 0 and at least one with a Score of 100. With the Absolute Deal Score, this is no longer the case. Deal Scores still range between 0 and 100, but most events will not have a listing with a Score at the absolute bottom or top of that range.

What's better about this?

The biggest advantage of Absolute Deal Score is that you can now compare listings across events. If there’s a listing for Event A that has a Deal Score of 70 and a listing for Event B that has a Deal Score of 80, then you know the second listing is a better bargain, even though the listings are for different events. Previously, a Deal Score only had meaning within the context of its event. Now, each Deal Score has meaning within the context of all events on SeatGeek.

How high do Deal Scores now go?

The maximum theoretical Deal Score is still 100. However, whereas a Deal Score of 100 was previously commonplace on SeatGeek, it is now truly rare. In fact, any Deal Score over 90 is uncommon. So, if you discover a Deal Score over 90, you’ll know you’re getting an exceptional bargain.

How can I use Absolute Deal Score to discover bargains?

Let me give an example: let’s say you’re a Cleveland Indians fan. You want to go to one more home game this season, but you don’t really care which one. You look at a bunch of Cleveland Indians games, and you find one game with a listing that has a 95 Deal Score. That’s the highest you see for any game. You know that’s the best Indians ticket bargain availble for any game, so you snag the tickets before someone else does!

Limelight

What is Limelight?

Limelight is a tool for artist & team managers to add event listings directly to SeatGeek.

How does Limelight work?

First, visit Limelight. (You must have a SeatGeek user account.) Once logged in, you'll be able to search SeatGeek performers. If your performer doesn't already exist on SeatGeek, you can request its creation. Otherwise, you can request manager access. All Limelight requests will be approved by someone at SeatGeek before taking effect. Once your request has been approved, you'll be able to add events directly to SeatGeek's listings.

Why did we build Limelight?

We want SeatGeek to be the highest quality, most comprehensive source of events possible. Reconciling the listings from all our partner event & ticket sites only gets us part of the way there. The ability for approved users to contribute events directly to the site means that our event listings will be even more complete & canonical.

Why should I care about Limelight?

Prior to Limelight, team & band managers had no option to add events directly to SeatGeek. Limelight gives them the opportunity to do this (and thereby gain additional exposure).

As a SeatGeek user, you'll see more and better event listings (for example, in your recommendations calendar). Plus, developers who integrate with the SeatGeek API's events endpoint can trust that their own applications will contain the most authoritative event listings.

Privacy

Will you sell my data or e-mail address?

No. We hate spam and take user privacy very seriously.

Do you have a privacy policy?

Yes. Check out our Privacy Policy for details.

Miscellaneous

Will I get a refund if there is an event cancellation?

For playoffs, or other conditional events, the ticket provider will often offer a refund when it is determined that the specific game will not be played. You should review the ticket providers' websites for their refund policy.

What if I want to cancel an order or there is a problem with my tickets?

SeatGeek aggregates tickets, but we do not sell them. If there is a problem with your order, contact the ticket provider directly.

What should I do if I cannot find an answer to my questions in the FAQs?

If you are still having problems, you can reach out to us directly via Twitter, Facebook, or email. We'd love to chat with you.