Canada Suing Major Ticket Selling Sites Over "Deceptive" Pricing

Do you think you pay too much for concert and sporting event tickets?

You might be right — tickets to see the Raptors', the Jays, Beyonce, Drake, and beyond might just be more expensive than they should.

The Competition Bureau of Canada thorough Merchant Law Group LLP recently launched a national class action litigation against Canada’s two leading online ticket sellers: Ticketmaster and Live Nation.

The reason behind the legal action? According to the Competition Bureau, it’s “for allegedly making deceptive claims to consumers when advertising prices for sports and entertainment tickets.”

The practice is known as “drip pricing,” where consumers reportedly end up paying much higher prices than advertised. According to the Competition Bureau, these “mandatory fees” can inflate advertised ticket prices by more than 20 per cent. In some cases, ticket prices are allegedly increased by over 65 per cent.

The Competition Bureau says that the mandatory fees imposed by Ticketmaster vary by ticket, and include “service fees,” “facility charges” and “order processing fees.”

"In July, we called on ticket vendors to review their marketing practices,” said John Pecman, Commissioner of Competition in a recent statement. “Today, we are filing an application with the Tribunal to stop Ticketmaster from making deceptive claims to consumers. Together, these actions send a strong signal to online retailers: consumers must have confidence that advertised prices are the ones they will pay."

The Competition Bureau seeks to put an end to these alleged deceptive marketing practices and add an administrative monetary penalty.

“The litigation will seek compensation for all Canadians who purchased tickets through Ticketmaster,” says Merchant Law Group LLP.

If you feel like you’ve been affected by hiked ticket prices, you can learn more here.