Congressional panel set to question online ticket brokers for potentially deceptive practices

TicketMaster, StubHub among those being investigated by the committee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nearly every consumer who's gone online to purchase a ticket to an upcoming live show or sporting event has felt the frustration of having to pay large, and often hidden, fees to complete their transaction.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations panel – led by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) – will hold a hearing to investigate a growing list of potentially deceptive and unfair practices being employed by some of the nation's largest online ticket brokers. Executives from the top six ticket sellers in the U.S. – including TicketMaster, StubHub, AXS, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork and Tickets.com – have been called to testify.

"Despite our ongoing efforts to protect consumers from potentially deceptive and unfair practices, millions of Americans are still feeling cheated when they are forced to pay these ticket brokers an exorbitant fee to see an upcoming show," DeGette said. "Our panel wants to know exactly what is driving these companies to use such practices, and what we can do to better protect consumers going forward."

The hearing, which will begin at 10:00 a.m. EST in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building, comes in the wake of a Government Accountability Office report that found several industry practices that are likely misleading consumers and putting them at a disadvantage as they look to buy tickets through one of these sites.

The GAO's findings led DeGette and others on the panel, which is responsible for overseeing the nation's consumer protection laws, to send a series of letters to the six largest U.S. ticket sellers requesting detailed information and documents about their company's ticket-selling policies and practices.

In writing to the companies, the lawmakers specifically cited the industry's growing use of hidden fees that are often charged to consumers at the end of the ticket purchasing process, and the use of sophisticated software that allows ticket brokers to quickly purchase and resell large quantities of tickets to a particular show.

The lawmakers also raised concerns about the use of so-called "white-label websites" that are designed to look like the websites for popular venues but charge consumers even higher fees than they would pay otherwise if they had purchased those tickets directly from the event's organizers.

In 2017, online ticketing services reportedly represented a $9 billion market in the United States.

According to the GAO's findings, consumers, on average, are forced to pay hidden fees ranging from 27 to 31 percent of the ticket price before they can complete their purchase through some of the most popular ticket-selling websites.

New research also found that nearly 40 percent of all traffic on ticketing websites comes from bots that are allowing ticket brokers to quickly purchase a substantial amount of tickets to a specific event and then resell those tickets at a marked-up price on the secondary market.

Tomorrow's hearing will give DeGette and others on the panel an opportunity to directly question the companies responsible for most online ticket sales in the U.S. about their ticket-selling practices.

The hearing will begin at 10:00 a.m. EST and will be streamed LIVE online here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoim5FInvN4&feature=emb_title

Following is a list of the executives set to testify:

• Amy Howe
  • President & Chief Operating Officer
    ​Ticketmaster
• Bryan Perez
  • Chief Executive Officer
    ​AXS
• Stephanie Burns
  • Vice President and General Counsel
    ​StubHub
• Ryan Fitts
  • Vice President, Legal Affairs
    ​Vivid Seats
• Don Vaccaro
  • Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
    ​TicketNetwork
• Joe Choti
  • President & Chief Executive Officer
    ​Tickets.com