New Zealand High Court rules against Viagogo in consumer protection case

Global ticket reseller Viagogo has lost a six-year legal battle against the New Zealand Commerce Commission after being found to have repeatedly misled customers in claims that its website was an official ticketing outlet.

The High Court has found Viagogo used tactics to drive sales and induce ticket-buyers to pay an inflated amount of money for tickets with High Court Justice Mary Peters ruling that many of the tactics breached New Zealand’s Fair Trading Act, as they were likely to mislead people looking to buy tickets to concert and sporting events.

Justice Peters agreed with the consumer watchdog’s assertion that 90% of the tickets resold through the Viagogo website were sold by professional ticket scalpers with intent to resell for profit.

She ordered the Switzerland-based company to correct the misleading information on its website and update its terms and conditions to make it clear grievances can be heard by the New Zealand courts.

The civil case was brought against the secondary ticketing company by the Commerce Commission after it received more than 700 complaints from members of the public. The Commission alleged that Viagogo used five different tactics to mislead consumers: advertising misled buyers as an official ticketing site, claimed that tickets are 100% guaranteed, tickets were scarce, fees were not included until checkout, and it was not made clear that Viagogo operates as a resale site.

While Viagogo denied its behaviour breached the Fair Trading Act, Justice Peters found the Commission had proved breaches in all five tactics.

Advising that Viagogo was one of the Commerce Commission's most complained about traders, as many consumers had been left out of pocket after unknowingly buying fake tickets, Commerce Commission Fair Trading General Manager, Vanessa Horne told media “the Commission is aware of a large number of reports from consumers who had purchased event tickets from Viagogo, booked flights and travel to attend the event, only to be turned away at the entrance when they found out for the first time that their tickets weren't authentic. This resulted in significant distress and financial impacts for consumers.

"We took this case on behalf of every one of those Kiwi consumers and pursued this large global entity over more than eight years - and we now have a ruling that will require Viagogo to be upfront with Kiwi consumers about what they're buying and ensure a fairer resolution system for settling disputes against Viagogo in the future."

The Commerce Commission launched its legal action in 2018, but Viagogo challenged efforts to subject it to New Zealand jurisdiction.

Viagogo's terms and conditions required any customer disputes to be dealt with through the Swiss courts, which the High Court has now deemed to be an "unfair contract term" under the Fair Trading Act.

It also advised that it had made changes to its operations in 2019 and 2020 after the commencement of legal action against it.

Viagogo has appealed the judgment but Horne said it would be "strongly defended" by the Commission, noting “this case was about holding a global business to account for the harm they were causing in New Zealand and paving the way for individuals to have the ability to stand up for their consumer rights against international companies.

"The New Zealand Fair Trading Act requires businesses to make accurate claims and consider the overall impression a consumer would have based on their representations."

In Australia, Viagogo’s website now advises “we're the world’s largest secondary marketplace for tickets to live events. Prices are set by sellers and may be below or above face value. This is a ticket resale service. You are not buying from a primary ticket provider.” 

Australasian Leisure Management has reached out to Viagogo for comment.