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Seatwave

Online Ticket Exchange Marketplace

Published on 07/26/2009

Rated 3 out of 5 stars by AppAppeal Editor

18 comments for this app

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What can you use the app for?

Seatwave.com is Europe’s largest online ticket exchange for concerts, sporting events and theatre. Sellers post the tickets they have for sale on the Seatwave site, and buyers bid on them. Tickets go to the highest bidder. The site offers guaranteed delivery of tickets and only takes a small price of the ticket sold for compensation. The site features TicketCover, which guarantees that the user is refunded the price of their tickets if an event is cancelled. The site ensures the integrity of the transaction by collecting credit card information from the seller. Registered users can buy or sell tickets on the Seatwave site. The site has an arrangement with UPS to provide for easy sending of tickets from seller to buyer. The site features a comprehensive listing of tickets for upcoming concerts, sporting events, theatre and festivals. The majority of the tickets for sale on the site are for European events, there is no US version of the site. There are identical Seatwave sites available for the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and France.

What is the history and popularity of the app?

London-based Seatwave.com was founded in January 2006 by Joe Cohen. He is currently President and CEO, while Ged Waring is VP Technology and James Hamlin is Director Online Marketing. The site has undergone continuous growth since launch, and currently serves tens of thousands of monthly visitors. The site has an Alexa page rank well below the 20,000 mark.

What are the differences to other apps?

Competition to Seatwave comes from sites such as TicketMaster, TicketsNow, StubHub, Viagogo, Craigslist and Ebay. Ticketmaster is a retail brick-and-mortar ticket seller. TickecktsNow is Ticketmaster’s online sales venue similar to Seatwave – it brings buyer and sellers together. Ebay and Craigslist have a ticket category on their various websites, including in the US. Buying tickets on Ebay and Craiglist is a bit more risky than Seatwave or TicketsNow. StubHub and Viagogo also provide a similar service to Seatwave, however Viagogo offers both fixed price listings and auctions.

How does the web app look and feel to use?

The SeatWave site has a clean and uncluttered look and feel. Navigation on the site is intuitive, and page loads are quite responsive. There is a convenient top menu bar shown on all pages on the site. The menu bar features selections for All Events, Concerts, Theatre, Sports, Festivals, Corporate (sales to corporate customers) and Sell Tickets. There is no advertising displayed on the site, and everything is well-organized into convenient categories. Buyers can also search for an event by keyword rather than browsing by category.

How does the registration process work?

Registration to the Seatwave site is free and is required to use the site. The registration process simply asks for an email address. The email address is verified by sending an auto-generated password to the email address.

What does it cost to use the application?

There is no charge to use the service for buying tickets, but a small percentage of the selling price is charged the seller for selling tickets. There is no premium membership available to the site.

Who would you recommend the application to?

The Seatwave site is recommended to users wishing to buy tickets to an event at a reduced rate, or to find tickets for an event that is sold out through regular channels. The site has a good reputation and is safe to use. The site is limited to European events, however, so users in other countries should consider TicketsNow or Ebay.

Seatwave Features

Users can buy tickets to a variety of European concerts, sporting events, theatre and festivals
Ticket sales are conducted as auctions – buyers bid on tickets for sale
Sellers can sell unwanted tickets on the site
The site charges the seller a small percentage when the tickets are sold
The site is dedicated to the European market

Seatwave pricing

Permanently free version

Languages

English

Spanish

French

German

Dutch

Italian

18 comments for this app

Website

http://www.seatwave.com/

18 comments (newest first)

David Rock
on 03 Jan 2012 at 13:55

We bought tickets to "We Will Rock You" at Edinburgh Playhouse for Dec. 20. We paid double the face value plus around 40 quid in Seatwave fees, including postage...even though the tickets were never posted. The night of the performance, the box office had no tickets for us and had not heard from Seatwave. We got the best available tickets which were not near as good as friends of ours who paid half the amount as we did and got their tickets directly from the theatre. We complained to Seatwave, and they refunded a mere 23 quid out of more than 160 we had paid. Very bad service and totally unaccepatable refund. Do not use them or you will lose your money. David Rock ddkrock@hotmail.com

joker
on 03 Dec 2011 at 00:24

tried to buy tickets fo Paul McCartney concert 9times, but site doesn't work properly: you can see seats available, but can't buy them. it was way too strange to us, and we bought from viagogo - more expensive, but definitely safe'n'proven website

Rob
on 20 Jul 2011 at 16:01

SEATWAVE RIPPED ME OFF! the ticket pick up window was only open for two hours and wasnt even in the same city as the venue! I was unable to pick the tickets up in the short window and they told me to kick rocks! No Refund!

ananymous
on 21 Jun 2011 at 12:08

Hi, So glad you like Seatwave! We've made more improvements to the site that we think will help fans find those just-right tickets even easier than before. A key focus has been our interactive (clickable) maps that fans can use to see all the tickets in a venue at a glance. We hope our maps will make it even easier for fans to find the seats they want in the row they want at the price they want from the provider they want. Please let us know what you think.

Nina tripathi
on 21 Jun 2011 at 12:05

I love it

Gig girl
on 21 Jun 2011 at 12:01

Cool app, I love it

Richard Fraser
on 21 Jun 2011 at 10:26

Great app

Reena Gauther
on 21 Jun 2011 at 10:25

FULLY AGREE. Selection of tickets and ordering process very easy, shipments and follow up was great. Works great cross EU

Sam Gregory
on 21 Jun 2011 at 10:23

I bought the tickets and it came pretty fast and really great support

Dan Poulton
on 21 Jun 2011 at 10:22

Seatwave's iPhone app finds upcoming tickets for events in the user's local area. The Seatwave app uses information on the user's location and the contents of the iPod to recommend upcoming concerts. The app allows you to search according to your current location, or else set a location manually. In my area, there isn't much on offer, unless N-Dubz is your thing, but there are many more events listed around London. If you want to find recommendations that are closer to your own tastes, then the app will scan the contents of your iPod and recommend any upcoming concerts from artists it has found there: There is also the option to search manually by artists, venues or dates, but this link to iTunes is a great way to simplify the process. Once you've found a concert, you can click for more details on ticket prices and availability. So we can see that there are a few tickets left for Barry Manilow at the O2 Arena: You can also see what kind of view you will get with the help of this seating map: If you want to go ahead and book, you can do this through the app, and the checkout has been optimised for mobile: Conclusion This is a well-designed and easy to use app, which makes great use of location and the mobile user's musical tastes to recommend upcoming concerts. It should also be a great way to shift tickets at the last minute to consumers in the local area, and fill up any spare capacity. The fact that tickets for last minute gigs have be collected in person from somewhere other than the venue makes the whole process less easy than it should be. This is where mobile ticketing would be a massive bonus, though this has yet to be widely adopted by big players in the market. This blog post from Seatwave explains why this might be.

JOANN
on 09 Mar 2011 at 17:27

I AM STILL WAITING FOR TICKETS I PURCASED 9 DAYS AGO AND WAS JUST TOLD THAT SEATWAVE WILL NOTIFY THE SELLER TO SHIP THE TICKETS NOW. THE EVENT IS IN FLORIDA AND THERE IS ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT. I DON'T BELIEVE I WILL GET THEM IN TIME. WHAT IS UP WITH THEIR BUSINESS ETHICS JOANN

john
on 17 Jan 2011 at 18:27

FULLY AGREE. Selection of tickets and ordering process very easy, but shipments and follow up are terrible. Lied to several times, finaly they managed to arrange for ticket pickup at the venue. But no refund of very expensive UPS freight costs. DO NOT USE IF OUTSIDE UK......

Madde
on 30 Jun 2010 at 15:07

Does seatwave guarantee that I will get my ticket at any purchase? I mean, how can they know that the salesman actually will send it to me?

Anonymous
on 19 Aug 2009 at 20:28

WARNING - DO NOT USE I'll keep things short and sweet! Do not use this company! I ordered V tickets, it's one day to the event and they've not even been sent. Customer services contradict themselves, and that's when you get someone who speaks good english. I've spent £15 in call fees and have sent nurmerous emails. I'm now being told that they'll come Saturday before 9am! The concert starts at 12pm! Leaving me no time to travel EVEN if they do arrive! Please don't waste your money! Ticket touts would have been a better option in hindsight!

Anonymous
on 19 Aug 2009 at 20:28