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Viagogo, Stubhub, Ticket Reseller Crackdown Overview:
- Who: The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a report on the laws that govern ticket resellers like Viagogo and Stubhub.
- Why: The agency says the laws are weak and ticket resellers have been allowed to take advantage of fans for too long.
- Where: The CMA recommended strengthening laws to protect UK consumers.
The UK’s competition regulator has declared that laws governing ticket resale companies — such as StubHub and Viagogo — are too weak, and the companies have been allowed to “unscrupulously” rip off fans.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the sites should be subject to licensing, and should be made to face sanctions such as fines and shutdowns if they violate consumer protection rules, The Guardian reports.
The agency recommended that the sites should not be allowed to let resellers sell more tickets for an event than the ticket limits set by organisers; that they be liable for touts printing incorrect information on tickets; and that they need to crackdown on speculative selling (where resellers advertise tickets they do not yet have).
According to The Guardian, £1 million worth of speculative tickets were being sold on Viagogo during an investigation, and the CMA found that resellers had been able to make millions of pounds by fraudulently selling tickets and forcing fans to pay inflated prices.
Viagogo, Stubhub Face Regulatory Scrutiny
The CMA has frequently censured StubHub and Viagogo — which now owns StubHub — over consumer law violations.
Senior Competition Director George Lusty told The Guardian that while it was clear that concerns about the sector remained, there were limits to what the CMA and other enforcers can do with their current powers.
“If adopted, these proposals will help prevent people getting ripped off by unscrupulous resellers online and we stand ready to help the government to implement them.”
FanFair Alliance, a music industry-backed campaign group, told the publication that the proposals but that they could have “far-reaching” benefits for fans, but said that the CMA should also focus on alleged practices that it already had the power to act on.
“Over the course of the pandemic, FanFair Alliance has continued to send substantial evidence to the CMA detailing a range of serious and current allegations about Viagogo in particular,” spokesperson Adam Webb said. “This has gone on for far too long.”
A spokesperson for Viagogo told The Guardian that while it welcomed the attention the investigation gave to Viagogo’s “customer protections,” “a ban on secondary platforms would lead to an explosion in black market sources for tickets.”
“We have argued strongly that the U.K. should grasp the opportunity of the COVID-19 recovery to improve the events industry and strengthen market collaboration between all players, including event organisers, venues, primary and resale platforms.”
The spokesperson added that the company there was a need to address the failings of the primary market and “we need to explore the risks of new and unregulated online resale channels.”
Do you think StubHub and Viagogo and other ticket resale websites should be subject to harsher penalties for consumer law violations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!
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