Secondary ticketing site SeatGeek is reportedly facing a lawsuit over accusations of breaching New York State ticketing laws.
According to Law360, three New York-based ticket buyers are suing the company for “improperly charging consumers on their website in violation of the New York Arts and Cultural Affairs Law.” New York’s 2022 ticketing law states that any platform that sells or resells tickets must “disclose the total cost of the ticket, inclusive of all ancillary fees that must be paid in order to purchase the ticket, and disclose in a clear and conspicuous manner the portion of the ticket price stated in dollars that represents a service charge, or any other fee or surcharge to the purchaser.”
The plaintiffs claim that SeatGeek is not abiding to this law, writing that the tickets “initially quoted one price, only to later be shown the true total ticket, which includes an additional ‘fees.’”
“These added fees are only presented after consumers select their ticket option and pass through multiple screens in the purchase process,” the lawsuit reads.
The plaintiffs are seeking a class action lawsuit against SeatGeek for all ticketbuyers affected, claiming the ticketer sold at least 100,000 tickets through its website and therefore, is liable for a minimum of $5 (£3.95/€4.60) in statutory damages for each ticket sold.
TicketNews reached out to SeatGeek for comment.
SeatGeek isn’t the only one under fire for the all-in pricing law; a federal lawsuit filed late last month in California accuses ticket resale giant StubHub of a systematic underestimation of its fees, which the complaint alleges is a deliberate effort to mislead consumers.
Ticket fees and the resale market have been heavily scrutinized following the COVID-19 pandemic. While Live Nation/Ticketmaster lobby and other venue-backed organizations have tried to pin the skyrocketing prices on ticket resale — and the ticketing giant is facing an investigation into its monopolistic practices by the Department of Justice — one thing is clear across the primary and secondary market: “hidden” fees need to end.
Consumers search for tickets, and while they’re shown one price, they’re asked to pay another during checkout. The “hidden” fee problem has become known across the U.S.; even President Biden and his administration have made a point of going after such fee structures. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission has made plans to issue new rules requiring such price disclosures, and both state and federal lawmakers have introduced legislation to make ticket price transparency required by law – but only a handful (New York and Connecticut among them) have passed such efforts and seen them gone into effect.
