- District of Columbia AG Brian Schwalb has filed a lawsuit against StubHub, Inc., an online ticket exchange and resale platform, for allegedly hiding mandatory fees until the end of the purchase process and failing to provide clear and accurate information about the purpose and calculation of the fees, violating the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act.
- As alleged in the complaint, StubHub uses a variety of digital “dark patterns”—online practices that manipulate consumers into making choices that they would not otherwise make—to hide the true price of tickets, influence consumers to purchase tickets at higher prices, and prevent comparison shopping. Specifically, StubHub is accused of engaging in “drip pricing” by advertising deceptively low prices that exclude mandatory fees, only revealing the total price after consumers have invested significant time navigating the intentionally long purchase process. The District claims StubHub has made $118 million in hidden fees from District consumers and events since it allegedly abandoned its “all-in pricing” model in 2015.
- The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement, restitution, civil penalties, among other relief.