The illusion of “control”
Every ticketing company eventually faces a strategic crossroad: Should we build our resale solution in-house or buy one?
At first glance, “building” seems like the smart move. Full control, internal ownership, no vendor dependency. But once you dig into the realities of time, complexity, and scale, the illusion fades fast.
1. The resale reality
Unofficial marketplaces dominate the secondary market. Meanwhile, a few giants built integrated resale tools. The result? Basic systems that “work,” but come with constant maintenance, limited innovation, and massive operational cost.
Everyone else? They’re still losing resale traffic (and revenue) to third-party sites.
Every day without an in-brand resale option equals lost revenue, lost data, and lost fan trust.
Every day without an in-brand resale option = lost revenue, data, and trust.
2. Why integrated resale matters
- Revenue: keep both buyer and seller fees inside your ecosystem.
Data: understand who’s buying, selling, and attending. - Brand: protect your customer experience with verified transfers.
- Compliance: maintain control of KYC, AML, and audit trails.
In short: resale is no longer optional. It’s an operating model.
The build trap
Building resale isn’t a “feature”, it’s an entire business engine.
A true resale system needs:
- Ownership-transfer logic and ticket-state synchronization.
- Fraud detection, KYC/AML, and sanctions screening.
- Payouts, tax handling, and reporting.
- Dynamic pricing rules and liquidity management.
- Audit trails, moderation tools, and dispute workflows.
That’s not a 6-month project. It’s a multi-year investment with dedicated teams, constant iteration, and compliance overhead.
The buy advantage
When you buy, you go live in weeks, not years.
You get access to:
- Proven, battle-tested flows used by leading enterprises.
- Predictable cost structures instead of open-ended maintenance.
- Enterprise reliability and compliance from day one.
Time-to-value matters. Every month spent building is a month of lost profit.
Conclusion
Build if resale is your company’s core product.
Buy if you want to focus on your core ticketing experience—and launch resale right, fast, and at scale.
Resale done right means revenue, control, and compliance from day one.
That’s what menta tech delivers.
👉 Book your demo and see how enterprise resale works in practice.
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