Why resale tickets cost more (and when they’re worth it)
€85 at the on-sale. €210 on the resale market six months later. Same ticket, same standing section, same night at Paris La Défense Arena. Nobody enjoys that — us included, and we sell resale tickets for a living. Here's why it happens, what you're actually paying for, and most importantly: when it's worth it, and when it's a bad deal.
Supply, demand, and 280,000 disappointed fans
A ticket's face value is not its market price. It's the price the promoter chose, often months in advance, balancing fill rate, the artist's image and the pricing tiers. When 300,000 people want 20,000 seats, face value sits artificially below real demand — and the gap spills into the resale market.
That's not a bug and not a conspiracy. It's what happens every time demand crushes supply, with tickets as with everything else.
What the fees actually pay for
On a guaranteed marketplace, the gap above face value covers two things: the market price of the ticket itself — what the seller gets — and the platform's margin. That margin isn't pure profit. It pays for seller vetting, fraud absorption (when a ticket is refused at the door, the platform eats the refund), human support, and the refund risk carried on every single order. It is, quite literally, insurance baked into the price.
When resale is a bad deal
Let's say it plainly: if the event is not actually sold out, resale is probably a bad deal. Check the official box office first. Always. Seats reappear there regularly — cancellations, released holds, adjusted production — at face value. Buying a resale ticket that's still available at the official counter means paying a premium for nothing.
The other case: medium-demand events where resellers aimed too high. Pressure usually pushes prices down — a week out, the ticket listed at €180 may be worth €120. If you can wait, wait.
When it's the rational move
On the other hand, resale is perfectly rational when the event is genuinely sold out; when the date matters — a birthday, a farewell tour, the only French date; or when your realistic alternative is a stranger on Facebook with zero recourse. Paying €40 more for a guaranteed ticket instead of risking €160 with no safety net is arithmetic, not weakness.
The honest question isn't "is this more than face value?" It is, almost always. The question is: "is this show worth this price, to me?" Only you have that answer.
All-in pricing vs. surprise fees
One last point, and not a small one: the same "€150" ticket can cost you €150 or €196 depending on the platform. Drip pricing — showing one price, then stacking service fees, delivery fees and "processing fees" at checkout — is still standard practice at several major players, StubHub historically chief among them. Always compare final totals at the payment step, never the listed prices.
At Zenntry, the price you see is the price you're charged. That's a choice — and frankly, it should be a legal requirement.
Resale will never be cheap. It can at least be honest about what it costs.
Prices on Zenntry are shown all-in — what you see is what you pay. Browse concerts