CANADA (CelebrityAccess) – Canada’s Competition Bureau has fined StubHub Canada Ltd. and StubHub Inc. $1.3 million CAD for “misleading pricing claims in the online sale of tickets to entertainment and sporting events”.
An investigation conducted by the Bureau found that StubHub was advertising “unattainable prices” across various websites and mobile apps, and that “consumers could not buy tickets at advertised prices because StubHub charged consumers mandatory fees in addition to the prices advertised.” Additionally, the Bureau found that consumers were unable to see prices inclusive of fees prior to the final stages of the purchasing process unless they manually turned on optional filters that enabled them to do so prior to checkout.
As part of StubHub’s agreement to comply with Canada’s Competition Act, the ticket reseller must also ensure that prices for tickets to events in the country now include all mandatory fees throughout the ticket purchasing process.
StubHub was recently acquired by rival ViaGogo for just over $4 billion US, however, the companies must continue to operate independently until a separate ongoing investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into the merger has been completed.
