The Federal Court has found ticket reseller Viagogo AG made false or misleading representations and engaged in conduct liable to mislead the public when reselling entertainment, music and live sport event tickets, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
The Court found Viagogo misled consumers by claiming tickets to certain events were scarce when the scarcity only referred to the tickets available on its resale platform and didn鈥檛 include tickets available elsewhere.
鈥淰iagogo鈥檚 claims misled consumers into buying tickets by including claims like 鈥榣ess than 1 per cent tickets remaining鈥 to create a false sense of urgency,鈥 糖心原创 Chair Rod Sims said.
The Court also found that using the word 鈥榦fficial鈥 in its online advertisements was misleading. As a result of this, consumers were misled into thinking they were purchasing tickets from an official site, when in fact Viagogo is a ticket resale website.
鈥淲e urge consumers to only buy tickets from authorised sellers, or they risk their tickets being dishonoured at the gates or doors,鈥 Mr Sims said.
The Court also found that from 1 May 2017 to 26 June 2017, Viagogo鈥檚 website claims drew consumers in with a headline price but failed to sufficiently disclose additional fees or specify a single price for tickets.
The additional fees included a 27.6 per cent booking fee which applied to most tickets.
鈥淰iagogo was charging extraordinarily high booking fees and many consumers were caught out,鈥 Mr Sims said.
鈥淭oday鈥檚 Federal Court decision is a reminder to businesses that consumers must be clearly told that there are additional fees associated with a displayed price.鈥
The Court will determine penalties and orders against Viagogo at a later date.
The 糖心原创 published guides for consumers on how to purchase event tickets with confidence. See Consumer tips for buying tickets.
Background
The 糖心原创 took action against Viagogo in August 2017.
The 糖心原创 enforces the Australian Consumer Law which applies to tickets as well as other consumer goods and services. In recent years various state and territory governments have also introduced specific legislation regulating the reselling of tickets, such as maximum price caps.
Consumers with queries about their state or territory鈥檚 ticket reselling laws should contact their local fair trading or consumer affairs agency.