Viagogo says fee of 28% isn’t a ‘significant’ portion of ticket, document reveals
VIAGOGO — owned by this man — has hit back at the ACCC, denying its 28 per cent booking fee isn’t a “significant” part of ticket prices. But the basis for at least one of its denials may raise eyebrows.
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EXCLUSIVE
WHEN is a 28 per cent ticket booking fee not “significant”? When you’re Viagogo.
In its Federal Court case against the Switzerland-based scalping giant, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has said “Viagogo fees comprised a significant percentage of the total ticket prices charged to consumers, with the booking component of the ‘VAT and booking fee’ being the most significant at 27.6 per cent for most events”.
The ACCC filed proceedings in August last year, claiming Viagogo had made false or misleading representations and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct over the price of tickets on its website by failing to disclose substantial fees.
Viagogo has now officially denied all the ACCC accusations, according to a document obtained by News Corp Australia from the Federal Court.
However, the basis for at least one of its denials may raise eyebrows.
MORE: Details of the ACCC’s case against Viagogo
In defending the allegation its fees are a “significant” add-on, Viagogo appears to rely on semantics as much as anything else. Viagogo says its service fees didn’t comprise a significant percentage of the total ticket price charged to consumers because they “did not comprise part of the total ticket price”.
The ticket price, Viagogo argues, is set by the person selling the tickets on the Viagogo site.
Viagogo then calculates its fees based on the price set by the seller. How persuasive this proves to be with the court remains to be seen.
Little is known about Viagogo. Its founder and CEO is Eric Baker, a reclusive 44-year-old Californian who studied at Harvard then did an MBA at Stanford before establishing a ticketing business called StubHub which was sold to eBay in 2007 for more than $US300 million ($A390 million). Viagogo was then set up to be the European version of StubHub.
It originally operated from London before relocating to Geneva. Its profitability is unknown. The ACCC had some difficulty even serving court documents on Viagogo, which is owned by Mr Baker’s company Pugnacious Endeavors, which is incorporated in the US state of Delaware.
The ACCC uses three examples from May 18, 2017 in its statement of claim to argue consumers were slugged big extra charges late in the purchase process.
The examples are:
— a Book of Mormon ticket jumped from $135 to $177.45 (a 31% increase) when the $37.50 booking fee and $4.95 handling fees were included;
— three Ashes 2017-18 seats leapt from $330.15 to $426.82 (29% extra) when the $91.71 booking fee and $4.95 handling fees were included; and
— two Cat Stevens tickets rose from $450.00 to $579.95 (29% more) when the $125 booking fee and $4.95 handling fees were included.
“The total prices of the tickets for the May 18 advertised events were able to be quantified by Viagogo by at least the ‘Delivery Page’ of the Viagogo Australian website (if not sooner for the Book of Mormon ticket and Ashes tickets).
“By that stage in the booking process, Viagogo had all necessary information to calculate the Viagogo fees because the number of tickets I had been selected, Viagogo had information that the purchaser was Australian (so VAT was not payable), and electronic delivery was the only method of delivery available.”
But prospective purchasers weren’t given the total price.
Viagogo denies the total prices was able to be determined at that stage.
It also denies the ACCC allegation that use of the words “Buy Now, Viagogo Official site” in advertisements on Google created the misleading impression “Viagogo was the official seller”.