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Ticombo Review

last updated - 27/11/2024

One of the world’s leading ticket resale sites, Berlin-based Ticombo is a source for tickets for everything from concerts to live comedy and a wealth of sports, including the Premier League. In our detailed Ticombo review we’ll do a deep-dive on the platform, and work out what it does well and what could be improved as we find a definitive answer to the question, “Is Ticombo Legit?”. Join us for our in-depth assessment of Ticombo, and we’ll also pore over the company’s online reputation on sites like TrustPilot. 

VISIT Ticombo
Pros
  • Massive choice of tickets for Premier League
  • Competitive ticket prices
  • 100% or even 150% guarantees
  • Exceptional customer service
Cons
  • Service fees are relatively high at 30%
  • Service fees only appear at checkout
  • A clunky user interface especially on mobile
  • Payment is in Euros and not local currency (GBP)

Headquartered in Berlin, Ticombo bills itself as a ticket marketplace that streamlines how fans buy and sell tickets for live events. The company calls attention to its use of technology and customer-centric design to provide a platform that puts an emphasis on security, transparency, and fairness.

By trying to give direct connections between organisers, resellers, and fans, Ticombo aims to offer tickets at competitive prices and cut down on unreliable sellers and excessive costs. In 2017, the European Commission awarded Ticombo the Seal of Excellence, which is noted clearly on the website, including when you prepare to make a purchase.

The platform incorporates features like delivery tracking, direct seller communication, and the TicProtect program, which promises a 100% money-back guarantee for an assortment of issues that may come up in a transaction. Sellers are categorised and rated through a trust-based system, ranging from verified individuals to official organisers.

Ticombo collaborates with partners like UPS and Stripe and emphasizes fair pricing and transparency, positioning itself as an option for those seeking a straightforward ticket-buying experience.

In our Ticombo review, we’ll work out whether the whole experience is as safe and slick as the website claims.

Buying Experience with Ticombo

In this part of our Ticombo Review we’ll address various aspects of using the website, from finding tickets to completing payment.

Finding Tickets with Ticombo

Using the Ticombo website was straightforward, even if football tickets are a little difficult to find if you’re in a rush. As an option, they aren’t prominently displayed on the home page, which is geared more towards concerts and theatre shows.

screenshot of Ticombo website

Instead, you need to navigate a rather small dropdown menu, click “Sports” and go from there.

screenshot of All Events menu

Even when you get to “Sports”, football isn’t presented as an option, which is curious because Polo is a choice.

screenshot of the Sports page

However, scroll down the page and you start seeing a mix of geographically targeted fixtures and clubs.

But while the website feels clunky when you search for the basics, the experience becomes a lot smoother once you get onto match listings.

screenshot of the Arsenal FC vs Nottingham Forest page

Ticket Availability on Ticombo

We were impressed by the sheer number of listings on this platform, with 1,554 tickets available for our chosen match, which was the Premier League fixture between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest on November 23, 2024.

screenshot of the Arsenal FC vs Nottingham Forest tickets page

This is a vast number of tickets for one match, especially compared to competitors like StubHub, which had 230 tickets for this fixture.

We found tickets for £121, which represented good value against competitors like LiveFootballTickets (£175 in the same section) and StubHub (£136). Naturally, you have to take fees into account, which we’ll come to later in this review.

screenshot of the Arsenal FC vs Nottingham Forest tickets

There are some excellent touches on the listings that help to instill confidence. One is the “Tickets in Possession” icon, which eliminates some of the doubt that may come up when buying.

screenshot of the Shortside Upper Tier ticket

On the secondary market, ticket resellers may occasionally receive their tickets within 24 hours of an event, which can cause an anxious wait for buyers. Knowing that the seller has them ready to send is a bonus.

Also reassuring is the hierarchy for sellers. Because they have to verify their email address and phone number, every seller on the website is a “Verified Seller”.

However, consistently reliable sellers on the platform can earn the tag, “Trusted Seller”, which is another big trust signal, and worth looking out for. There’s also a star rating, complete with a total number of reviews.

What’s more, after selecting the tickets you want to buy, you can browse and read these reviews, so you’ll feel a little more confident about going through with a purchase.

screenshot of the Seller reviews

As is always the case, it’s impossible to pick the exact location of your seat, but if you’re familiar with a stadium, as we are with the Emirates, you will have a good idea of where you will watch the match.

Payment Process on Ticombo

Ticombo is a site that requires registration and won’t let you check out as a guest. While registration, combined with a stringent password selection process, may take a little time, it also adds a little reassurance and reminds you that you’re buying from a platform that takes security seriously.

screenshot of the Refund Protection

The option to purchase Refund Protection for an additional £11 is a little confusing, but applies to the buyer in case they can’t make a date because of illness or travel problems.

Ticombo claims to offer a 100% (150% on certain occasions) refund if an event is cancelled and not rescheduled.

Checking out was simple, however we did notice that it wasn’t possible to use PayPal, which is an option on many of the top football ticket resale platforms.

screenshot of the Terms and Conditions

The site informs you that you will be billed in Euros, which may come as a surprise as all of the tickets were listed in GBP for us.

Ticombo Service Fees

screenshot of the Order

To make our Ticombo Review absolutely fair, we should say that service fees are to be expected on resale websites. As a necessity, they help keep the top resale sites running, but also help to maintain trustworthiness by helping to vet resellers and provide high-quality customer service.

While some secondary market websites are up-front about the surcharge that you have to pay, Ticombo is one of the sites that hits you with the fee at checkout.

In this case it was £36, which works out at 29.75% for a £121 ticket. From our experience, where fees tend to range between 15% and 35%, this is above average, but is by no means the highest service fee we’ve encountered.

Customer Support on Ticombo

A detail that sets Ticombo apart from many other football ticket resale sites is that there’s an email address on the “Contact Us” page, as well as a UK phone number that you can call, even before you buy your tickets.

I decided to test this email address to clear up the doubts I had about the Xcover.com Refund Protection, and sent them a message.

screenshot of the Email conversation

I got an automated email back within minutes, and then a detailed email from a customer service rep within half an hour. So that’s extremely impressive.

screenshot of the Email conversation

After the purchase, Ticombo prides itself on its swift customer support, with direct communication with your seller, and help when you need it from a Ticombo representative.

This direct contact with a seller sets Ticombo apart from a lot of its competitors. In many cases you will have to communicate with the seller through a third party for the buyer’s security. Perhaps because Ticombo goes to extra lengths to verify the reliability of its sellers, it allows this direct communication.

Ticombo Terms and Conditions

In this Ticombo Review we’ll also take a moment to peruse the site’s terms and conditions. This is something we think every buyer should do before using a secondary market platform.

Firstly it’s vital to know where you stand as a consumer, but also because one site’s terms can be very different from another’s. To illustrate:

“TicProtect – Up to 150% Guarantee Ticombo stands behind every order so you can buy and sell tickets with absolute confidence.”

Ticombo’s “Ticprotect” programme reinforces every transaction on the website, so there is no danger of you being scammed and not receiving the tickets, or not getting your money back if the tickets don’t work.

“2. If you received tickets that are not the same than the ones you ordered, you are eligible to receive a full refund (including any fees and shipping/handling charges).”

This is big. Many of Ticombo’s competitors—and we’ve noted it in other football resale site reviews—do not make any guarantees about the reseller’s listings and won’t intervene if you get tickets that are different from what you paid for. With Ticombo you are eligible for a refund provided you make the claim at least TWO DAYS before the event takes place.

“4. Cancellation If an event is cancelled and not rescheduled, you will receive a full refund (including any fees and shipping/handling charges). If an event is postponed and rescheduled, you may use the tickets on the rescheduled date or, time permitting, list them for sale on Ticombo. We do not provide refunds for postponed or rescheduled events, partial performances, or venue, date, line-up, or time changes.”

The last part is also something to remember with Secondary Marketplaces. You don’t get a refund if the event is rescheduled.

“Sec.6…The Seller should not take direct contact with the Buyer via email, phone, or social media to do deals outside of the Platform. This will result in being blocked from the Platform and Ticombo might withhold funds.”

This is another important point. While Ticombo facilitates contact between buyer and seller, this communication has to stay on the platform. It’s a common-sense measure and works to everyone’s benefit.

Ticombo Reviews and Trustpilot Ratings

At the time of writing this Ticombo review, the company had a superb score of 4.6 stars on Trustpilot, with 82% of reviewers giving 5 stars and just 5% leaving a 1-star review. From our experience this is rare and should be noted.

screenshot of the Ticombo review page on the Trustpilot

Ticombo Negative Reviews

A common complaint among the negative reviews is the seating location being different from advertised, including less than ideal views or even restricted views. In each instance the feedback is addressed by a representative from Ticombo, explaining mix-ups between the organisers and sellers. Unfortunately, you may come across a rare unreliable seller on any resale site.

screenshot of the Ticombo negative review on the Trustpilot

Another issue that comes up, and it’s a common one on secondary marketplaces, is people being refused a refund for rescheduled events. There are many instances of people booking flights and accommodation only for an event to be rearranged, and for the buyer to be left severely out of pocket.

This is one of those unfortunate things that can happen on resale sites, and there isn’t much recourse beyond reselling your ticket if you can’t attend the rescheduled event.

Something we have noticed is that when a disgruntled customer leaves a negative review on Trustpilot and there is no doubt that Ticombo is in the wrong, the representative goes the extra mile to make things right with the buyer.

Ticombo Positive Reviews

We should point out that more than 8/10 of all people who have left a review for Ticombo are delighted customers.

Like us, these happy customers report a near perfect transaction, with tickets in their inbox within minutes of a purchase, and customer support representatives on hand to answer questions swiftly and courteously.

Importantly, many of these customers recognise Ticombo’s relatively high service fees, but claim that the extra cost was justified by an entirely smooth experience.

screenshot of the Ticombo positive review on the Trustpilot

It’s also telling that many of these positive reviews are customers who encountered a problem with Ticombo, and that this issue was resolved with no fuss. Again this speaks to the high quality of Ticombo’s customer service.


Verdict

So to answer the question, “Is Ticombo legit?’, our answer is “absolutely”.  Everything went smoothly, from the purchase to receiving our tickets. Although the Sports section of their website has a slightly amateur look and feel, once you navigate to the fixture listings everything is seamless and professional. For the match we chose there was a huge choice of tickets, and the price was reasonable for secondary market standards. From that point onwards, the customer service was exceptional and everything went without a hitch. Slight drawbacks include the lack of a PayPal option, and paying in Euros instead of GBP.  

VISIT Ticombo
Ticket price
4
Ease to Use
3
Match Day Experience
4
Quality of Support
5

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