Christina Spicer  |  September 28, 2018

Category: Consumer News

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An Illinois man alleges that Ticketmaster artificially inflates the prices of tickets to supposedly “sold out” events by cultivating a resale market for scalpers.

Lead plaintiff Salvatore Vaccaro claims in the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit that the company “apparently creates and distributes ‘doubledip bots’ to resellers to allow them to purchase or repost these tickets automatically which ultimately artificially inflates the prices to consumers.”

Vaccaro says that Ticketmaster garners a fee on the first sale of the ticket using this system, but on the resale as well – generally on steeply marked up tickets.

According to the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit, the 2010 merger of the company with Live Nation exacerbated the ticket prices charged for live events.

In addition to exerting a great deal of influence on touring operations, the company has expanded into secondary ticket exchanges.

“TICKETMASTER has dramatically expanded its secondary ticket exchanges – ticket reselling operations – which now generate billions in annual sales according to TICKETMASTER’s public releases,” claims the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit.

“These exchanges primarily involve resales of tickets that were originally sold on TICKETMASTER through its primary exchange, thus setting up a perverse set of financial incentives for TICKETMASTER and its supplier clients.”

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit alleges that the company encourages resellers, also called scalpers, to purchase an excess of tickets to events and then to resell them at a steep price increase.

Naturally, alleges the plaintiff, Ticketmaster has its own secondary marketplace where the marked-up tickets can be sold to fans who weren’t lucky enough to buy tickets when they were initially offered.

“When TICKETMASTER sells a ticket to a reseller, it not only collects the full commission from that primary sale, but it has a significantly higher chance of that ticket being placed on one of its secondary ticket exchanges – after all, resale is what resellers do,” alleges the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit. “TICKETMASTER then receives a second, ‘double-dip’ commission on the resale of that ticket.”

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit alleges that the company goes a step further to increase the resale of tickets on its site.

The company creates artificially “sold out” events, says the plaintiff, by allowing automated resellers, or doubledip bots, to put tickets up for sale on the secondary market at an even greater price.

“TICKETMASTER even sabotages its Verified Fan program, which it publicizes as a means to provide special advance tickets to a special set of consumers with codes, by releasing the same tickets for sale simultaneously at the box office, without requiring any special code, and with full knowledge that ticket resellers will staff the box office to purchase the tickets immediately,” alleges the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit.

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit points out that the company has been investigated by the New York Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission. An investigation by the FTC lead to a $400 million settlement in 2014 over allegations of overcharging, points out the plaintiff.

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit says that the use of doubledip bots to drive the resale market, as well as artificially creating “sold out” events violates Illinois state law.

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit seeks to represent Illinois residents who purchased tickets from a secondary ticket exchange that originated from the Ticketmaster website from Sept. 26, 2015 until Sept. 26, 2018.

The plaintiff is represented by Heather L. Blaise of Blaise & Nitschke PC.

The Ticketmaster Sold Out Ticket Prices Class Action Lawsuit is Vaccaro v. Ticketmaster LLC, Case No. 1:18-cv-06574, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.

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146 thoughts onTicketmaster Class Action Says ‘Sold Out’ Events Artificially Inflates Prices

  1. Curtis says:

    I have purchased tickets from ticketmaster on numerous occasions, and had to pay their inflated prices to go to a show. Please add me.

  2. Nicole Boswell says:

    Please add me

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