I would claim I had legal possession of the tickets due to the fact the seller had accepted my money, and that when the value appreciated, that was therefore my value, not theirs, and that ~$5000 was stolen from me.<p>I won&#x27;t guarantee victory because of course I can&#x27;t, but this strikes me as a fairly basic argument about possession suitable for a small-claims court, not a bizarre legal theory.<p>By contrast, had I merely &quot;reserved&quot; the tickets <i>but no money transfer had occurred</i>, in a transaction clearly labeled as a &quot;reservation subject to cancellation&quot;, I&#x27;d expect the court to tell me to go pound sand and that I was lucky to get coupons in that value. But buying a ticket on StubHub looks and feels like a purchase, not a reservation subject to arbitrary cancellation. StubHub&#x27;s terminology is all about &quot;Buy&quot; and &quot;Sell&quot; on their website, not &quot;Reserve&quot;. (Just checked to be sure.)