DC attorney general sues StubHub for deceptive pricing

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued StubHub on Wednesday, accusing the online ticket exchange platform of deceptive pricing.

The lawsuit alleges that StubHub uses a system called “drip pricing,” in which the platform advertises a deceptively low price to ticket buyers but charges a much higher total at checkout after adding on hidden fees.

The company leads customers through a needlessly long checkout process while a countdown clock creates a false sense of urgency, according to the lawsuit.

“By the time customers have made it past StubHub’s numerous pages — often over a dozen — to the end of the lengthy checkout process, they are often charged a final price substantially higher than the advertised price due to cryptic ‘fulfillment and service’ fees tacked on without adequate explanation of the fees’ purpose,” Schwalb’s office said.

“Faced with this inflated total and the countdown timer threatening to make them start the whole process over, consumers are pressured into the purchase out of fear that they risk losing the tickets,” it added.

The lawsuit says StubHub’s pricing practices violate Washington’s consumer protection laws by interfering with buyers’ ability to compare prices and make informed decisions about their ticket purchases.

The pricing model affects Washington residents in particular because they spend more per capita on live entertainment in the district than residents of many other major U.S. cities, according to the suit.

“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,” Schwalb said in a statement.

StubHub is one of the largest ticket resale platforms in the world.

Since it began utilizing the drip pricing model, it has sold nearly 5 million tickets to Washington consumers and extracted around $118 million in hidden fees, according to the lawsuit.