AOL Launches Consumer-Resale Ticket ServiceAOL Launches Consumer-Resale Ticket Service

America Online Inc. on Tuesday expanded its ticket service to include hard-to-get tickets offered for resale by consumers.

The new Ticket Marketplace includes the inventory of online secondary-ticket service TicketsNow.com, as well as AOL's current partner, StubHub, the Dulles, Va.-based, web portal said. The combined services mean AOL can offer both primary and secondary tickets, and let individual sellers post their tickets for sale.

AOL, which launched its ticket service four years ago, offers tickets to more than 40,000 events at more than 6,000 venues, according to the company.

"With the launch of the Ticket Marketplace, we're taking it one step further by creating a centralized home for secondary tickets to provide a new level of customer convenience," Scott Richman, vice president and general manager of AOL CityGuide, said in a statement.

AOL offers its ticket service through its local search and event service CityGuide.

Besides ticket sales, Ticket Marketplace also offers email alerts for information about new tours going on sale, presales and special ticket offers.

As of July, Ticketmaster, owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, was the leading online ticket service with more than 14 million unique visitors that month, according to web metrics firm ComScore Networks. Tickets.com was a distant second with 2.4 million visitors, followed by TicketsNow.com, 1.9 million; StubHub, 1.7 million; Clear Channel Entertainment, 1.6 million and AOL Tickets, 1.1 million.

Online consumer sales in event tickets, excluding movies, increased by 10 percent in July to $1.7 billion from $1.6 billion the same month a year ago, according to ComScore Networks.