Federal Court hits Viagogo with $7 million fine for misleading Australian ticket buyers

Ticket reseller Viagogo has been fined $7 million by the Federal Court for misleading Australian consumers with Google advertisements, added fees and claims about the scarcity of tickets.

Last year, a Federal Court judge found the Swiss-based company had breached Australian Consumer Law through false or misleading representations.

As reported by the ABC, Justice Stephen Burley today ordered Viagogo to pay a penalty of $7 million, saying some of the misrepresentations were "on an industrial scale".

Awarding costs against Viagogo, Justice Burley issued an injunction which prevents the company from continuing the offending conduct and ordered Viagogo to take part in a compliance program.

Having been the target of customer complaints, as well as court action overseas, in 2017 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) filed its case against Viagogo.

Taking action against Viagogo in relation to its practices when reselling tickets for entertainment, music and live sport events, the ACCC focused on Viagogo's use of the word ‘official’ in its Google advertisements over two months in 2017, leading many customers to conclude it was an official seller rather than an online marketplace.

Justice Burley labelled that as "qualitatively a very serious misrepresentation", noting “it fundamentally misled consumers as to the nature of Viagogo's business in order to attract consumers to acquire tickets.”

The Court found Viagogo's use of phrases such as ‘only a few tickets left’ was deceptive because they related to tickets available through its own website - not the overall availability of tickets to an event.

Justice Burley said those phrases "had the effect of drawing the consumer further into a marketing web and also a transactional web”, adding that customers were "lured by repeated assurances that the only tickets available at the venue are going fast.

"The misrepresentations were on an industrial scale for the relevant period.”

Justice Burley went on to say that Viagogo’s actions gave it “the appearance of being a company that is indifferent to the interests of Australian consumers and which prefers to elevate its own profit motives above those interests, even when on notice of the potential for harm being done”.

ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said the statements created a false sense of urgency and that he hoped the fine would serve as a lesson to similar businesses.

Sims told the ABC “today’s $7 million penalty sends a strong signal to businesses like Viagogo conducting business in Australia that they cannot get away with profiting from misleading Australian consumers about the price of the tickets they are selling, or other misleading conduct.”

The ACCC also successfully pursued the company over its added fees, which included a 27.6% booking fee that applied to most tickets in the 2017 period.

In a statement, Viagogo said the platform had been "overhauled" since the Court's initial decision and that it has changed its practices and now fully disclose all ticketing fees.

In 2018, Tash Sultana, Amy Shark, Gang Of Youths and Laneway Festival all backed a campaign to ban Viagogo from Australia.