Face Value Ticket Resale: What You Get If You Cannot Go

You fought through the November 10 presale and landed two seats for Noah Kahan at Fenway. Then the wedding invite arrives, or the work trip, or the baby. Under the old rules you would list the pair on a resale site and maybe walk away with triple what you paid. On this tour, face value ticket resale is the only resale there is, so the most you can ever get back is the price on your receipt.

That rule protects the fan buying from you. It also changes what your ticket is worth to you, when your money comes back, and whether you should buy at all if your plans are shaky. Here is how the system works, what a pair of tickets actually returns, and why more states are writing the same idea into law.

How Face Value Ticket Resale Works on the Kahan Tour

Kahan's run covers 24 stadium shows in 17 cities, from Athens, Georgia, in late April to two extra Fenway Park nights in late June, according to Ticketmaster's tour announcement. The artist presale opened on November 10 and the general sale on November 12. The same announcement states the resale rule plainly: tickets can only be resold on Ticketmaster at face value.

Ticketmaster adds one detail that matters if you live in a state that protects your right to transfer. Where state law blocks resale restrictions, it says it will still keep resale prices at face value on its own site. You may be allowed to move a ticket elsewhere, but the official marketplace will not let it climb.

What "face value" means in dollars

People often read face value as the printed ticket price. Ticketmaster defines it more generously. Its Face Value Exchange help page says the listing price is locked to the total you paid, including the artist's price plus fees and taxes. You cannot raise it or lower it.

Selling is also free. Ticketmaster says the exchange charges sellers nothing, which is unusual: on open resale sites you typically give up a cut of the sale. If you want to see how much of a ticket total is fees in the first place, our breakdown of why a $100 ticket becomes $134 at checkout walks through each line.

When Your Money Actually Comes Back

Here's where most buyers get surprised. Getting your money back is not the same as getting it back soon. The help page sets out the mechanics, and several of them change the math for anyone short on cash:

• No sale is guaranteed. Listings sell first come, first served, and you cannot pick the buyer.

• You can list late. Listings stay open until one hour after the show starts. Unsold tickets return to your account.

• Payment waits for the show. Ticketmaster says payouts typically land within 7 business days after the event, once your details are on file.

• Paperwork first. For US events you need a US bank account, a valid card on file, and tax seller details such as a Social Security number or ITIN before you are paid.

Put those together and a ticket bought in November for a June show ties up your money for about seven months. Sell it in January and you still wait until summer. That is a real cost if you put the tickets on a credit card you planned to pay off from the resale.

In finance terms, a face value ticket has poor liquidity: you can turn it into cash, but only at one price, on one platform, and on a fixed date. A ticket on an open market can be sold for whatever someone will pay, whenever they pay it.

A Worked Example: What Two Tickets Return

Say you paid $300 for a pair, all fees and taxes included, and you cannot go. Here is what that pair is worth to you under three different sets of rules.

Under Face Value Exchange

You list both seats at $300, the only price allowed. If they sell, you receive the full $300, because there is no seller fee. If they do not sell before the show starts, you keep the tickets and get nothing. Best case: you break even, paid out about a week after the concert.

Under a 110% cap

The cap Massachusetts is debating would let you list the same pair at up to $330. That is a $30 ceiling on profit, or $15 a seat. Governor Maura Healey's version would also cap the resale site's fees at 10% of the price, so fees on that $330 sale could not top $33.

On the open market

This is the world the rules are aimed at. State Senator Dylan Fernandes said Kahan's earlier sold-out Fenway shows averaged about $125 a ticket at face, topping out near $400. Resale listings on StubHub for those nights ran from $900 to $3,900, WBUR reported.

Run the numbers on a single $125 seat. At the cheapest listing, the reseller asked $775 above face, roughly seven times the original price. Under a 110% cap that same seat could sell for no more than $137.50. Under Face Value Exchange the next fan pays $125.

The tradeoff in one line: the rule caps your upside at zero so the fan who buys from you saves hundreds. You cannot lose money on a sold ticket, and you cannot make any either.

Resale Price Caps Are Spreading State by State

Kahan is not only using a platform rule. He has lobbied for laws that would do the same thing at every sale, not just on his tour.

Vermont went first with a firm number. Governor Phil Scott signed a law in May that caps resale at 110% of the original ticket price, effective July 1, Pollstar reported. Kahan sent video testimony to the state Senate in April backing it.

Massachusetts is still arguing. Healey announced her "Great Divide Act" in July, a nod to Kahan's album, with the 110% cap and a 10% limit on resale fees. Her office says many platforms now charge service fees of roughly 20% or more, according to WBUR. On October 21 the House voted 152 to 0 for a $2.35 billion supplemental budget without the ticket provisions, TicketNews reported. House Ways and Means chair Aaron Michlewitz told WBUR the "ticket sale conversation is already happening" in a separate economic development bill that a House and Senate conference committee is negotiating.

Maine shows how wording decides everything. Its law also uses a 10% figure, but Pollstar reported that the state attorney general reads it as applying only to resale service fees, not the ticket price. A cap on fees and a cap on prices sound alike. For your wallet, they are very different.

Should You Buy If Your Plans Might Change?

Face value rules reward fans who are sure they will go. They punish anyone who treats a ticket as a hedge. Use these checks before you buy a seat on a tour that runs this system.

Buy now if

• You are at least fairly confident about the date, and the price fits your budget even if you never resell.

• You can wait months for a refund without it hurting your credit card balance.

Think twice if

• You are buying extra seats to "sell later." A face value ticket isn't just cheaper for the next fan, it's an investment that can only ever return zero.

• Your date depends on someone else's schedule, like a shift roster or a trip that is not booked yet.

Stay inside the official system

Ticketmaster says Kahan's tickets are mobile only and restricted from transfer where the law allows. A seat offered above face on a social post or a third-party site sits outside the system the tour enforces. You could pay a premium for a ticket that will not scan, with no exchange standing behind it.

The same caution applies to big film nights. Before you pay up for a premium screening, check what each format adds, as we did in our look at Avengers: Doomsday tickets without an IMAX option.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sell Noah Kahan tickets for more than I paid?

Not on Ticketmaster. The tour uses Face Value Exchange, which locks the listing price to your original total. Ticketmaster says it keeps resale at face value on its site even in states whose laws block resale restrictions.

Do I get the fees back when I resell at face value?

Yes, if the ticket sells. Ticketmaster says the face value listing price includes the fees and taxes you paid, and the exchange charges sellers no fee. A $300 order returns $300.

When does Ticketmaster pay you for Face Value Exchange tickets?

Ticketmaster says payouts typically arrive within 7 business days after the event, not after the sale. You also need a US bank account, a card on file, and tax details such as an SSN or ITIN for US shows.

Is there a law that caps ticket resale prices?

Vermont caps resale at 110% of the original price, effective July 1. Massachusetts is negotiating a similar 110% cap. Maine's 10% rule, as its attorney general reads it, limits service fees rather than ticket prices.

The Bottom Line on Face Value Resale

A face value ticket is a safe purchase and a poor speculation. If it sells, you get back every dollar, fees and taxes included, with no seller fee. If it does not, you keep a ticket you cannot use, and even a sale pays you only after the show.

So buy for the night you plan to attend, not the one you might sell. Watch Massachusetts' conference committee too. If a 110% cap passes there, the rules Kahan chose for one tour start to apply to every concert in a second state.