StubHub to Pay $10M to Settle FTC Accusations Over All-In Ticket Pricing Violations

StubHub will pay $10 million to resolve accusations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the ticket platform intentionally ignored new “junk fee” rules by failing to properly disclose fees and charges.

In court filings on Thursday (April 9), the consumer watchdog said StubHub had “unfairly and deceptively hidden and misrepresented the price of its tickets” by tacking on fees and other charges later in a transaction — violating new federal rules imposed last May that require “all-in” pricing on ticket platforms.

The case was sparked by StubHub’s decision to delay for three days after the rules went into effect last spring — until after the NFL’s annual release of tickets for the upcoming season. In a statement, FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson said the company chose to “slow-walk compliance” to make more money on the lucrative NFL release.

“Executives decided that the competitive advantage from misleading consumers outweighed the risk of being caught,” Ferguson said. “StubHub thus allegedly seduced consumers away from honest competitors with low prices before jacking up the price with fees at the end of the transaction.”

The $10 million will be used by StubHub to fund a settlement program in which certain fans can seek refunds for tickets purchased during the three-day window. In a statement, the company stressed that the case dealt with only a “limited number of transactions, spanning just three days.”

“We have long supported all-in pricing because it provides clarity for fans,” a StubHub spokesman said. “While we strongly disagree with the FTC’s view of the case, we are addressing their concerns by refunding a portion of those buyers’ fees.”

The FTC’s ban on “junk fees” went into effect on May 12, barring ticket platforms and hotels from advertising anything other than the final price a consumer would pay at checkout. It was designed to combat “drip pricing” — a practice where sites list deceptively low pricing, only to increase the total with hidden fees and surcharges as consumers near checkout.

According to the FTC’s lawsuit, internal StubHub documents show that the company knew the NFL rollout — set for just two days after the rule was to go into effect — was a “99th percentile traffic event.” So rather than complying immediately, the FTC says StubHub intentionally chose to “comply in phases over two days.”

“Defendant recognized that it could secure a competitive advantage from its delayed fees rule compliance rollout,” the agency writes.