The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ordered secondary ticketing site StubHub to make changes to its British website after it was found to be misleading consumers.
The CMA said StubHub had failed to adequately disclose that transactions may not ensure entry into an event, since some venues do not honor resold tickets. StubHub agreed to make the changes.
“StubHub UK has complied with everything that the CMA requested following their investigation into the online secondary ticketing sector in 2018,” StubHub’s NEMEA Regional Manager Wayne Grierson said in an emailed statement. “Our compliance with our undertakings was confirmed through a compliance audit in 2019. We have always cooperated closely with regulators in the interests of our fans, and will continue to do so.”
The CMA also noted that StubHub did not ensure its customers where they will sit in the venue and needs to take sufficient steps to show that the full addresses of business sellers are displayed. Grierson said that now, the CMA has asked StubHub to make additional tasks, and the company will “remain in dialogue with the CMA to address both these new tasks and any remaining valid concerns about disclosure of information on our site.”
“We are working closely to resolve these as quickly as possible, and in the best interest of our customers, the fans,” Grierson said.
In 2018, the CMA asked various resale platforms in the UK to increase its transparency requirements for sellers on their marketplaces. While StubHub agreed to the new transparency rules quickly, Ticketmaster’s Seatwave and GetMeIn both announced they would close down. Viagogo, the Swedish-based ticketing site which is in the process of acquiring StubHub from eBay for $4.05 billion, formally began court proceedings with the CMA after they were accused of anti-consumer practices.
After making some changes to its website – which included seat information and the fact that all resale tickets might not be accepted at the door – and adhering to the new rules in late 2018, the CMA suspended its legal action against Viagogo for addressing its outstanding concerns this past September. However, the regulator said that its continuing to monitor the site and its industry practices.
