Hello,
My husband and I are visiting London in April (we're from Australia) and to surprise him, I'm planning to purchase a couple of tickets to an English Premier League Game (this is a big splurge for us).

The problem is, the ticket sites require a UK mailing address to have the tickets posted there in advance. We're staying in a hostel near Kings Cross, and I don't feel confident in having our expensive tickets sent there.

We arrive in London the day before the game is scheduled, and I'm more than happy to go pick up the tickets, but are there alternate options? Can we get it sent to a postal office or any other place but our hostel? Unfortunately we don't know anyone from London. It's a shame we can't get electronic tickets sent to us by email.

Any input is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Since you aren't staying at a full service hotel or w/ friends/family, the only practical option is to collect the tickets ate the stadium.

oops -- AT the stadium . . .

First thing - are you buying from a legal source? If not there may well be no tickets to worry about.

Hi Jsc1010

Our son has bought a number of tickets to football matches to attend when visiting London but he has always bought these through an official club site - he has some kind of local membership connection here in Australia.
He too warns of the risk of buying from other sources.

Depending on the club you are wanting to see you might be able to get some sort of low level membership that will allow you access to the tickets and then you also have the option of actually contacting the club and asking for a secure way to purchase/collect if tickets are available.

Be careful and good luck!

I didn't read anything that indicates the OP is buying from a scalper (possibly so -- but I just got the feeling she is buying from the club)

"..... the ticket sites"

Alarm bells ring....

Good warning, nevertheless! Many people have lost money buying tickets to concerts, etc from bogus websites.

Oh - I missed the 's' - yep, looks like possibly a reseller. Be very VERY careful.

Thank you everyone for your input.

I have done some more research and yes it appears that many of these 'ticket sites' are resellers. A friend of mine said she bought a pair of tickets, met the reseller at the game and the reseller 'beeps' them into the stadium. You don't receive a ticket at all. She says it's legit but I'm taking no chances especially if I'm paying for them in advance and there's always the possibility of being stood up.

As per love_travel_aus, I have signed up for low-level free membership with the football club directly so I can buy directly for them when tickets are available.

Great to hear that you have a way to try for tickets - all the best!

A friend of mine said she bought a pair of tickets, met the reseller at the game and the reseller 'beeps' them into the stadium. You don't receive a ticket at all. She says it's legit .....

If by legit she means illegal then I guess so...

From the Premier League website.

If you are looking to buy tickets for matches in the Barclays Premier League you should buy them directly from Premier League Clubs.

You can purchase tickets safely from official Club websites or the ticket office, in person or over the phone.

Clubs will also provide details of any authorised ticket partners on their official website. You can visit the Club websites via our Club Profile pages (or click on the Club crests at the top of this page)

Last season 25,000 purported
 Manchester United tickets with an
 advertised value of £8million were on sale
 on unauthorised ticketing websites
; Crystal Palace have cancelled
 375 memberships for fraudulent ticketing 
activity

I notice that Jsc1010 indicates that they are approaching this as suggested:

"I have signed up for low-level free membership with the football club directly so I can buy directly for them when tickets are available."

Hopefully they will get the tickets for their chosen match.

We have purchased Man City tickets several times through the club and the tickets were at the will call office when we arrived at the stadium.

We were able to choose our seats when we went through the UK club where we are members, but when we went though our US club, they confirmed tickets, but not where we were sitting. Not sure if it was due to the sold out status of the game (City vs.United) or because we went through a different supporters club that was legal, but not a high enough status.