The seller probably never had tickets in the first place, which is why they had to cancel the order, since they would have taken a huge loss trying to flip tickets.<p>It happens all the time with big events: tickets will appear on StubHub before they even go on sale to the general public. Speculators will gauge interests using StubHub for tickets they do not even own. If they make a StubHub purchase, they have time to find a cheaper ticker to cover the transaction.