How Marquee Pass works
We rebuilt ticketing from the ground up.
Most ticket platforms were built to hide fees, lock you into closed inventory, and squeeze every dollar out of every transaction. We started over with a different premise: be honest, be open, charge fairly, and let the market figure out the rest.
The problem we solve
Ticketing got broken on purpose. Then everyone got used to it.
It wasn't always like this. Here's how we got to a world where buying a $50 concert ticket costs $64, and what changed.
Fees got obfuscated.
Ticketmaster, StubHub, and SeatGeek all advertise prices without fees. By the time you reach checkout, you've already decided to go to the show — and they know it. Industry data shows 20-30% of carts get abandoned at the fee reveal. The other 70-80% pay grudgingly.
Inventory got fragmented.
A single concert might have tickets on six different sites: the primary platform, two resale marketplaces, the venue's own page, the artist's fan club, and a partner aggregator. Each shows different prices, different fees, and different inventory. Comparison shopping is exhausting because the platforms designed it to be.
Resale got untrustworthy.
Buying a resale ticket today means hoping the seller is real, hoping the ticket is real, hoping it'll arrive in time, and hoping it'll scan at the gate. The big resale marketplaces have buyer guarantees, but they're hard to invoke and slow to pay out. The fraud rate is non-zero.
What we do differently
Four ideas. One platform.
Marquee Pass is built around four design decisions that compound on each other. Pull out any one and the platform stops working. Together, they're the reason fans save money and venues keep more of theirs.
01
We show you every option for every event.
We pull live pricing and inventory from every major ticket marketplace — Vivid Seats, StubHub, SeatGeek, TickPick, Gametime, Ticketmaster — alongside our own resale inventory. One search, every option, ranked cheapest first. The legacy approach is to hope you don't notice that another site has it cheaper. Ours is to put every option in front of you and trust that fair pricing wins.
02
Every price is the final price.
We normalize every listing to true all-in pricing — face value plus all fees, displayed as one honest number from the first click. Sorting, filtering, comparison — all of it happens on real totals. No surprises at checkout. No 'oh I didn't see the $14 service fee.' If a Vivid Seats ticket is actually cheaper than a StubHub ticket once fees are included, we'll tell you. If it's more expensive, same.
03
Resell in two taps. Buy with confidence.
Tickets you bought through Marquee Pass live in your wallet. When you can't make the show, listing for resale is two taps — we suggest a fair price based on real-time market data, and the listing goes live in under a minute. Buyers see verified seller reputation, our fair-price label on every listing, and a real buyer guarantee that pays out fast when something goes wrong. It works like Depop, not like StubHub.
04
Tickets and hotels, in one cart.
Going to a festival or an out-of-town concert is more than a ticket — it's a trip. We surface relevant hotels (via Booking.com and Expedia) on every event detail page, and our festival packages bundle tickets, lodging, transport, and add-ons into a single all-in price. Fewer tabs. One checkout. One support team if something goes wrong.
The honest unit economics
Yes, we make money. Here's exactly how.
Most ticket platforms are aggressively opaque about how they make money. We're going to do the opposite. Here are our four revenue streams, ranked by importance.
01
Affiliate commissions on partner inventory.
When you buy a ticket from Vivid Seats, StubHub, or any other partner through Marquee Pass, that partner pays us a commission — typically 5 to 10 percent of the transaction. You pay nothing extra. The price you see is the price you pay. This is most of our revenue today.
02
Resale marketplace fees (seller-paid).
When someone resells a ticket on Marquee Pass, we charge the seller a 10 percent fee on the sale price. Buyers pay zero fees. This is the opposite of how StubHub does it — they charge both sides. We charge only the side that's profiting from the transaction.
03
Hotel commissions.
When you book a hotel through Marquee Pass for an event, we earn a commission from Booking.com, Expedia, or the property direct. Same as the ticket affiliate model — you pay no markup, the rate is the rate.
04
Owned distribution service fees.
When a venue or festival uses Marquee Pass as their primary ticket platform, we charge an 8 percent service fee — significantly less than the 25 to 30 percent typical of Ticketmaster. The fan still sees one honest all-in price. The venue keeps full face value. We make our money on volume, not on squeezing.
Notice what's not on this list: no buyer-side fees, no junk processing fees, no "convenience" charges, no surprise checkout markups. We make money when fans get a good deal — not in spite of it.
What it looks like
If you're going to a show.
Here's what using Marquee Pass actually feels like, from the moment you decide to go to a show through the moment you walk into the venue.
You search.
"Coachella weekend two for two people under $3,000." Or "cheap comedy this weekend." Or just "Yankees." Marquee Pass searches every major ticket marketplace and our own inventory simultaneously.
You see real totals.
Every listing displays the true all-in price — face value plus all fees, baked in. Sorted cheapest first. Source labeled clearly so you know whether you're seeing Vivid Seats, StubHub, our own marketplace, or someone else.
You buy in two taps.
Saved payment methods, transparent breakdown on tap, and a single "Buy now" button. The ticket lands in your Marquee Pass wallet within seconds of payment clearing.
You optionally bundle.
Out-of-town show? Add a hotel from Booking.com or Vrbo with one more tap. Festival weekend? Add a package with lodging and transport baked in.
You go to the show — or you don't.
If plans change, list your ticket for resale right from your wallet. Two taps, suggested price, live in under a minute. Sold tickets pay out 24 hours after the buyer's verified entry.
What it looks like
If you run a venue or a festival.
Marquee Pass works two ways for the supply side: as a distribution channel that brings comparison shoppers to your existing platform, or as your primary ticketing platform with 60% lower fan-facing fees.
You sell tickets on whatever platform you use today.
Marquee Pass automatically displays your events alongside aggregated listings from every other platform. Your inventory gets put in front of comparison shoppers who would have defaulted to Ticketmaster.
If you want to go deeper, we become your distribution partner.
8% service fees instead of 28. Weekly settlement instead of post-event. Full data ownership — buyer emails, purchase history, the works.
Your fans pay less. You receive the same.
Face value goes to you directly. Lower fees mean higher conversion and fewer abandoned carts. Industry data: 20-30% of fee-revealed carts get abandoned.
You can leave any time.
We don't ask for exclusivity in year one. We don't lock you into a platform. If we're not delivering, you walk. We're betting we can earn the renewal.
Ready when you are.
We're opening early access this fall to fans and signing 25 founding venue partners now. Pick the door you came in through.
Be first to use Marquee Pass.
Drop your email and we'll tell you the moment early access opens.
Become a founding venue partner.
8% service fees, weekly settlement, full data ownership. Founding partners get locked-in terms.
See the venue pitch