junk fees

Ticket reselling platform StubHub is being sued by the Attorney General of Washington, DC for allegedly using hidden fees and deceptive pricing to increase its profits. According to Variety, Brian L. Schwalb, the AG of DC, filed the lawsuit today, claiming StubHub has been using “drip pricing” to generate over $115 million since 2015 — and that’s just in DC.

According to Variety, drip pricing is “the practice of advertising low prices that become inevitably inflated by hidden fees at the purchase point.” These “fulfillment and service” fees are never really explained, and even worse, StubHub uses a site timer to increase pressure on customers so they never have time to review these fees. If you’ve used the site, you’re likely familiar; a 10-minute timer appears when you search for tickets, giving a sense of urgency. “Hurry up and buy before someone else claims these,” it seems to imply, rushing customers through a series of unnecessary filler pages, adding extra steps that seemingly justify all those additional fees once it’s time to enter your credit card information.

The timer also prevents customers from shopping around at other sites and comparing prices, leading to paying way more as a result of added fees and no other options. The DC AG’s office says StubHub actually tested all-in pricing and drip pricing, comparing the results, and learning customers were more likely to buy the higher priced tickets if the fees were hidden until the end of the purchase, rather than included in the upfront pricing.

The lawsuit states, “For years, StubHub has illegally deceived District consumers through its convoluted junk fee scheme. StubHub lures consumers in by advertising a deceptively low price, forces them through a burdensome purchase process, and then finally reveals a total on the checkout page that is vastly higher than the originally advertised ticket price. This is no accident—StubHub intentionally hides the true price to boost profits at its customers’ expense. The District is home to one of the nation’s largest and most vibrant live entertainment scenes, and StubHub’s predatory tactics disproportionately harm District residents. That is why today we’re suing to end StubHub’s exploitative pricing scheme.”

StubHub isn’t the only ticketing platform to receive official scrutiny this year; in May, the US Justice Department sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster for monopolistic business practices, just about a year after Ticketmaster updated its own policy to show full prices upfront. “Junk fees” have been a point of emphasis of the current Presidential administration, a trend that can be expected to continue if Vice President Kamala Harris is elected this November.