Mere months after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, secondary market retailer StubHub has been sued for deceiving customers about ticket prices.
The new lawsuit filed by Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia claims that the resale platform conceals the true cost of tickets from customers using the predatory tactic of "drip pricing": a series of additional steps in the checkout process where fees accumulate without explanation until the transaction is completed, all while under the pressure of a timer. Further, the lawsuit notes that StubHub fees designated as "fulfilment and service" are actually adaptable markups, occasionally related to supply and demand.
According to Schwalb, this practice violates D.C. consumer protection laws. He's seeking a court order for StubHub to simplify its checkout process and pour out more than $100 million USD in profits from hidden fees, plus damages.
The filing also notes that StubHub had tested a more transparent "all-in" pricing model in 2014 and 2015, but the platform discovered it could maximize profits by keeping fees hidden (gee, who'd have thought?). While the retailer offers a ticket pricing preview that takes all mandatory fees into consideration, the attorney general's suit claims that this breakdown, hidden behind multiple drop-down menus, prevents most customers from exploring it.