The Federal Trade Commission put ticket marketplace StubHub on notice Wednesday, warning that some listings on its website appear to hide mandatory fees in violation of the agency’s new Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees.
In a letter sent the same day the National Football League unveiled its 2025 regular-season slate—traditionally one of the busiest nights of the year for ticket platforms—FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection staff said they had “identified instances in which StubHub’s displayed ticket prices failed to include all mandatory fees and charges.”
Those omissions, staff wrote, appear to violate the Fees Rule, which took effect May 12 and requires businesses to clearly display the “total price” of a live-event ticket, including service, fulfillment and other mandatory charges. Only taxes, shipping and optional add-ons may be excluded from the up-front figure.
“Companies have had sufficient time to prepare for these changes and update their advertising to ensure the total price of each product or service is appropriately disclosed,” Bureau Director Chris Mufarrige said in the release announcing the warning. “As this letter shows, the Commission will not allow companies to circumvent the rule to gain a competitive advantage.”
When contacted by TicketNews Tuesday upon initial reports of the non-compliance for some listings viewable on StubHub’s mobile app, a company spokesperson told TicketNews that the company was complying with the FTC’s rule, but the rollout was slow due to the size and scope of the marketplace.
Other TicketNews sources in the industry expressed skepticism at that explanation. They offered that it was likely a deliberate move to delay implementation in at least some spaces until after Wednesday’s NFL schedule announcement in order to maximize the competitive advantage that the hiding of service fees until the last stage of the transaction brings. That advantage was why StubHub itself halted an early “all-in” ticket pricing model a decade ago, when competition didn’t follow suit and took market share.
Each failure to comply can carry civil penalties of up to $53,088, the agency noted in its warning, adding that “each failure is a separate violation.” StubHub was urged to “immediately comply” or face potential enforcement action.
The FTC formally adopted the Fees Rule in December 2024, published it in January and gave businesses nearly four months to adjust before it became enforceable this week. The agency has since issued guidance documents to help companies—and consumers—understand the new requirements.
StubHub is the first major ticket seller publicly flagged under the rule. For now, the FTC’s message is clear: any ticket price that doesn’t include unavoidable fees up front risks running afoul of federal law.
