AusLeisure

Swiss-based ticket reseller Viagogo - which resold tickets to events including tennis’ Australian Open, Ashes cricket matches and music concerts - was making false claims to customers it was an official ticket seller according to Federal Court Justice Stephen Burley.

In Court today, Justice Burley advised that the reseller also broke the law by claiming tickets were about to sell out and by not stating clearly how much it would charge in booking fees.

In one case, a Victorian psychiatric nurse was charged $104.98 in fees when she booked two tickets to comedy theatre show The Book of Mormon in 2017.

The woman said several warnings that tickets were running out made her feel anxious and that she paid the fees as she was worried she’d lose her tickets.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Chief Executive Rod Sims said Viagogo used claims like “less than 1% tickets” remaining to create a false sense of urgency.

In a statement, Sims advised “Viagogo was charging extraordinarily high booking fees and many consumers were caught out."

The Court will decide penalties and orders against Viagogo at a later date.

Related Articles

5th April 2019 - Viagogo executives lobby Federal MPs against ticket resale restrictions

20th March 2019 - UK MPs call for Viagogo boycott and changes to ticket scalping laws

11th February 2019 - Concert promoter Michael Chugg says Viagogo is ‘out of control ... f**king thieves’

6th February 2019 - Commerce Commission describes Viagogo as a ‘marketplace for scalpers and fraudsters’ in Auckland High Court

1st December 2018 - UK court ruling set to see Viagogo having to reimburse fans

5th June 2018 - FIFA makes criminal complaint against ticket reseller Viagogo

8th March 2018 - Gudinski: ‘promoters aren’t the bad guys’ in Ed Sheeran ticket scalping debate

23rd November 2017 - Google updates AdWords policy to restrict online ticket scalpers

17th November 2017 - Australian Government begins ticket scalping consultation

5th October 2017 - Choice names Viagogo among Australia’s shonkiest products of 2017

6th September 2017 - AFL urges fans to avoid making Finals series ticket purchases through Viagogo

1st September 2017 - Google urged to block online resellers who dupe ticket buyers

28th August 2017 - ACCC commences legal action against ticket reseller Viagogo

22nd May 2017 - Inflated ticket resale prices impacting consumers’ discretionary entertainment spending

13th May 2017 - Labor shadow minister slams Google and Viagogo over sales of fake concert tickets

23rd February 2017 - Ticket reseller Viagogo hit by multiple Spanish legal actions

1st May 2016 - Frontier Touring issues Facebook warning on ticket scalping and unauthorised resellers

23rd February 2015 - Gumtree changes to deter ticket scalping

24th June 2014 - Federal Government leaves ticket scalping action to the ACCC

21st February 2014 - Calls for national crackdown on scalping at Federal Senate ticketing inquiry

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