Federal Court finds Viagogo misled sports and music fans

Fans risk having tickets cancelled and being stranded at venues if they buy from Viagogo, after the Federal Court ruled the site gave the wrong idea about scarcity and pricing.

Midnight Oil has waged a fan awareness campaign and anti-scalping measures. Picture: Damian Shaw

Global ticket reseller Viagogo has misled Australian music and sport fans about the scarcity and pricing of tickets available on their website, according to a Federal Court ruling.

Promoters have welcomed the judgment, but fear fans will still be caught in the trap of buying tickets from unauthorised sellers and risk having them cancelled when they front to the venue.

Chugg Entertainment, who will bring teen chart-topper Billie Eilish to Australia later this month for four sold-out concerts alongside her Groovin’ The Moo performances, have cautioned parents to wait with their children to make sure they get into the venue if they have bought tickets from anywhere but official sites.

“Due to the popularity of Billie Eilish’s Australian shows, and with tickets quickly exhausted, we are urging fans to take care,” said Chugg Entertainment in a statement to News Corp Australia.

Parents taking their children to see Billie Eilish have been cautioned to wait until their children are inside the venue. Picture: Getty Images for Coachella

“While we strongly discourage it, we anticipate that some fans will have purchased tickets from outlets other than the official partners listed at chuggentertainment.com, which means there’s a chance that the tickets may be fraudulent or invalid, and won’t allow entry to the concert.

“As this can often not be determined until the patron is entering the venue, we strongly advise parents who have purchased tickets from unauthorised outlets to wait until their children have successfully entered the venue before departing the area. “

People were still buying tickets on Viagogo for Billie Eilish’s sold-out shows at the Hordern Pavilion and Margaret Court Arena on Thursday afternoon after the ruling.

The Federal Court found the operators of Viagogo, the Swiss-based website which describes itself as a “secondary marketplace” misled consumers by claiming tickets to events were scarce.

“Viagogo’s claims misled consumers into buying tickets by including claims like ‘less than 1 per cent tickets remaining’ to create a false sense of urgency,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.

Billie Eilish tickets on Viagogo on Thursday. Picture: Supplied

The website was also found to have breached Australian consumer law by using the word “official” in their online ads which gave fans the impression they were buying tickets from an authorised site.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took Viagogo to the Federal Court in 2017 after receiving hundreds of complaints from fans who were unable to receive refunds via the site and were charged exorbitant fees on top of the ticket price.

Additional booking fees of at least 27.6 per cent were applied to most tickets and consumers would only discover the hike in price when they reached the checkout stage of their purchase.

“Viagogo was charging extraordinarily high booking fees and many consumers were caught out,” Mr Sims said.

“Today’s Federal Court decision is a reminder to businesses that consumers must be clearly told that there are additional fees associated with a displayed price.”

Viagogo has been found to have misled consumers on pricing and scarcity of tickets.

The ACCC and Australian concert promoters including Frontier Touring’s Michael Gudinski have ramped up warnings to consumers in recent years not to buy from Viagogo and similar scalping or unauthorised resale sites.

“We urge consumers to only buy tickets from authorised sellers, or they risk their tickets being dishonoured at the gates or doors,” Mr Sims said.

Gudisnki welcomed the Federal Court ruling

“I’m very pleased to hear that the Australian Federal Court finding has finally called to task Viagogo’s unscrupulous and devious business practices,” Gudinski said.

“Frontier has undertaken numerous campaigns to educate ticket buyers but it’s still heartbreaking to see people caught out by Viagogo’s misleading marketing tactics.”

Midnight Oil have tried to beat scalpers with ticket sales for their upcoming concerts. Picture: AAP

Midnight Oil has also waged a fan awareness campaign and introduced anti-scalping measures in an attempt to block tickets for their concerts being offered on sites including Viagogo.

But even their attempts have failed to stop tickets for two sold-out theatre shows in Canberra and Wollongong next month still being advertised for sale on Viagogo just hours after the Federal Court judgment.

Viagogo was advertising tickets from a whopping $438 to $2999 to the Anita Theatre show in Thirroul on May 23, a concert which sold out within minutes of going on sale last week.

The Oils urged fans not to “use Google to search for tickets as you may be directed to ticket scalping websites such as Viagogo”.

Midnight Oil tickets on Viagogo. Picture: Supplied

Viagogo tends to be the first result returned when sports and music fans search for tickets with many consumers unaware it is not an authorised ticket seller such as Ticketek, Ticketmaster or band and sporting organisation websites.

“The sports and entertainment industry will warmly welcome the Federal Court ruling,” said Geoff Jones, CEO of TEG, the owner of Ticketek.

“We will take this opportunity to remind fans about the dangers of online ticket scalping.

“For years the industry has been warning consumers about Viagogo and other unscrupulous operators in the resale scalping market. This ruling totally vindicates the industry’s concerns and I commend the ACCC for successfully running this case.

“The ruling spells out precisely why fans buying sports and entertainment tickets should avoid scalpers like Viagogo.”

Viagogo managing director Cris Miller said he was disappointed by the Federal Court ruling.

“It does not reflect our current ticketing platform and the many changes we have made. We strongly believe our website is compliant and we will continue to work closely and constructively with the ACCC,” he said.

“Our first priority continues to be to provide people with a safe and secure platform to buy or sell sport, music and entertainment tickets, many of which would otherwise not have been available to them due to the limited number that event organisers release to the box office.

“Without services like viagogo, people would be forced to return to buying and selling tickets outside venues, or to use informal social media platforms where no customer protection exists. We don’t believe anyone should have to take that risk.

“We are disappointed that the Chair of the Commission does not support the greater competition that viagogo and other ticket resellers bring to the market which provides greater choice for Australian consumers.”

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

Originally published as Federal Court finds Viagogo misled sports and music fans