StubHub to pay $10M to settle FTC allegations over ‘deceptive’ ticket pricing - BERITAJA

StubHub has agreed to salary $10 million to settee Federal Trade Commission allegations that the summons marketplace grounded to intelligibly disclose the afloat value of tickets.

The national agency said successful a projected colony revenge connected Thursday that StubHub violated the FTC Act and its Rule connected Unfair aliases Deceptive Fees by “deceptively” advertizing summons prices connected its website without intelligibly disclosing upfront what the full costs would be, including each mandatory fees.

In May 2025, the FTC began requiring summons marketplaces to guarantee value transparency astatine each stages of the ticket-purchase process. The agency’s title alleges that aft the norm went into effect, StubHub advertised its summons prices without disclosing the afloat price.

“Given StubHub’s acquisition and nationalist support for the rule, I was disappointed to study that it was allegedly 1 of the rule’s first awesome violators,” FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said successful his statement. “[…] StubHub chose to slow-walk compliance pinch the norm successful portion because the NFL was about to merchandise its regular-season schedule. The title notes that the NFL schedule merchandise is ‘a 99th percentile postulation event’ for StubHub and alleges that executives decided that the competitory advantage from misleading consumers outweighed the consequence of being caught.”

The FTC sent a informing missive to StubHub connected May 14, 2025, and the institution fixed the rumor the adjacent day.

The $10 cardinal secured by the FTC will screen StubHub’s 3 days of noncompliance pinch the norm and will beryllium utilized to return “ill-gotten” profits to consumers done refunds of the fees paid to StubHub, Ferguson wrote.

“We person agelong supported all-in pricing because it provides clarity for fans,” a StubHub spokesperson said successful a connection to TechCrunch. “This colony covers a constricted number of transactions, spanning conscionable 3 days successful May 2025, wherever immoderate listings connected our tract whitethorn person displayed summons prices exclusive of fees. While we powerfully disagree pinch the FTC’s position of the case, we are addressing their concerns by refunding a information of those buyers’ fees.”

The lawsuit against StubHub marks the FTC’s latest crackdown connected summons marketplaces. Last September, the agency sued Ticketmaster and its genitor company, Live Nation, for engaging successful forbidden summons resale strategies and deceiving consumers about value and summons limits. The companies person asked a national judge to throw out the case.

Last August, the FTC sued a Maryland-based summons broker for allegedly utilizing unlawful strategies to bypass summons purchasing limits for celebrated events, specified arsenic Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and past reselling those tickets astatine importantly higher prices.