Two darlings of the peer-to-peer marketplace revolution (or “sharing economy”) have joined forces in what Kijiji and Stubhub are calling a “marriage made in online heaven”.
StubHub, the world’s largest, most secure market for live-event tickets, will provide access to their vast ticket catalog on Kijiji, Canada’s most popular online classified service, and extend its risk-free, safe, secure system for ticket sales to all Kijiji users.
Kijiji of course is the immensely popular direct buyer-to-seller marketplace, that lists anything from rideshares to Toronto to used furniture.
“We know Canadians love to use Kijiji because over 40 per cent of the Canadian internet population goes there at least once a month,” said Anthony Lipschitz of StubHub Canada. “Now Kijiji users who want to buy or sell tickets to tens of thousands of sports, concert, theatre and other live entertainment events will have all the benefits of StubHub’s unique online marketplace — a trusted, secure, safe place to buy or sell tickets, backed by our FanProtect Guarantee.”
In the peer-to-peer trust hierarchy, Stubhub generally assumes a position below secure ticketing websites like ticketmaster, but above baseline peer-to-peer sites like Kijiji, in terms of safety and assurance. With kijiji, after the online agreement, anything could logically go wrong before the buyer actually obtains the agreed-upon product (like concert tickets).
On the other hand, there’s no guarantee that a seller won’t try and rip a consumer off on Stubhub, but this company is betting on a flawless customer service experience to enforce their community of buyers and sellers. They can’t guarantee that a buyer won’t encounter a bad seller, but they can gaurantee that the team will do everything in its power to make that buyer happy.
StubHub was created in 2000 and has become the most popular site in North America for the resale of tickets to live events.
“StubHub is a platform for fans that helps them discover and access what they want to do this weekend. With the StubHub FanProtect Guarantee, fans are protected from that awful experience of buying a ticket from a stranger outside an event because you couldn’t get one anywhere else and then being turned away at the door because there’s something wrong with the ticket,” said Mr. Lipschitz. “Offering that same peace of mind to Kijiji users is good for everyone.”
The agreement adds a nice layer of authenticity to Kijiji for ticket-buyers seeking out a pair of tickets to an event. Stubhub gains the exposure while Kijiji should reap some financial benefit.
