Theatr app: Sellers beware 👎

The Theatr app has recently completely overhauled the buying/selling process without letting anyone know. I just bought tickets 10 days ago and it wasn’t like this, but I have a pair of tickets listed and it’s completely different now. They never said a word about it to anyone, which is a wild customer service move.

In the past, when sellers made an offer they also committed to buying the ticket(s). Their CC was pre-authorized and if the offer was accepted, it was fully charged. If the offer was not accepted, the charge never went through.

NOW, a buyer makes an offer & a seller has 24 hours to respond (the same). However, the buyer then has ANOTHER 24 hours to commit to the accepted offer and make the payment.

In the past, sellers could see all their offers available and finish the sale when they chose to do so. I waited almost 24 hours after listing and getting offers to see if anything better came along. I set an alarm to make sure to accept an offer before they expired (knowing full well buyers can retract their offers, that was my risk to take). I accepted it and now it’s still pending. The buyer can still back out - they have 24 hours to commit/pay - and all other offers are now gone/expired.

Theatr said they’re doing this to encourage people to make more offers, but I feel like this is counterintuitive to finalizing sales. I myself have made offers and bought tickets where if I had 24-48 hours to sit and think about it, I may not have gone through with it. Sure, people might be hesitant to commit not knowing that it’s a done deal, but they know they can retract offers at any point in time. If using a credit card, the payment is never processed if it’s not accepted. Also, if people can’t have a pre-authorization on their credit card without having financial problems, that’s their own issue - not the ticketing platforms’.

If I go to resell via another ticketing platform I will get a finalized sale as soon as someone hits buy. Why would I want to wait for this wishy-washy back and forth process to hopefully finalize? While I truly love that I can buy tickets at face, if I’m selling I would want to have the fewest obstacles to finalizing a sale. I could also possibly sell at a higher price and still get that immediate finalized sale. Of course theatr’s customer service has no way of backtracking the lack of communication in this shift, nor can they finalize my sale so now I just sit and wait. I don’t understand how UX thought this would be a good idea - I don’t understand how it helps anyone. If I’m buying a last minute ticket, this also adds more steps to fumble through when showtime is hours, or sometimes minutes away.

Just thought I’d share so no one else has to deal with any frustration from their lack of communication and transparency.