Tricky Ticket Websites

Jamie Clark

Picture this scenario: You discover that your favorite artist has announced a long-awaited tour, the must-see musical is coming to your town, or the top mixed martial artist is facing off against their fiercest rival. Excitedly, you go online and enter the artist’s, musical’s, or fighter’s name into the search bar, and to your astonishment and good fortune, the top search results display available tickets! You click on the website and make your purchase, only to later realize that the tickets aren’t officially on sale yet or that you’ve paid significantly more than the going ticket price. Or, to make matters worse, you arrive at the venue and present your tickets, only to be told that your assigned seats don’t exist. What happened? How is this possible? You bought your tickets from the venue’s website, or so you thought.

These scenarios result from deceptive or “white label” sites; these sites utilize URLs, site names, and site designs that closely resemble venues, artists, or primary ticket sites and employ paid advertising to appear as the top results for internet searches.[1] These websites give rise to several concerns, including the potential sale of speculative tickets[2], fans being duped into believing they are purchasing tickets from an official source (sometimes inaccurately listed as at face value)[3], and the tendency for fees and ticket prices to be higher compared to other resale platforms, even when similar tickets are accessible from the original seller at a lower cost[4]. Primary sellers, secondary sellers, governmental entities, and consumer advocacy groups agree these sites are problematic.[5]

The life of a ticket begins in the primary market, where the event is organized, and typically, where tickets are initially made available for sale.[6] In the world of concerts, it’s usually the promoter’s job to book the talent and secure the venues, and then all three parties—promoter, talent, and venue—come together to work out a revenue-sharing agreement.[7] Sometimes, the promoter and act work together more so as partners to decide the ticket price.[8]  The venue manages ticket sales, often through an arrangement with a ticketing agency.[9] While fans can purchase tickets directly at the venue’s box office, the ticketing agency sells most of the tickets because it has a broader outreach than the venue.[10] Usually, the ticket’s cost of entry is displayed on the ticket itself and is commonly referred to as the “face value.”[11] The secondary market encompasses activities revolving around the resale of tickets, whether initially bought from the primary market or obtained through other means.[12] In the secondary market, you’ll find professional ticket brokers who buy tickets to resell them at a profit by marking up the price from the ticket’s original face value.[13] Ticket brokers can take the form of either individuals or business entities.[14] Sellers and buyers of resold tickets transact online through secondary ticket exchange platforms[15]; some resellers may be consumers who can no longer attend or see an opportunity to profit, but most resellers are professional brokers.[16] 

Speculative tickets involve the resale of tickets that the seller doesn’t actually possess; instead, they aim to locate the tickets at a lower cost and profit from the resale.[17]  Fans purchase “options” and specify their preferred seating area within the venue.[18] Even when a website clarifies that it doesn’t possess the actual tickets at that moment and cannot guarantee specific seats, this process often leaves fans perplexed, as they may mistakenly believe they have secured actual tickets.[19]  Speculative websites may advertise shows that haven’t gone on sale yet, and fans remain unaware that they haven’t obtained tickets until later.[20] If the seller cannot procure the tickets for resale, they may refund the fan; however, the fan may still incur losses on travel expenses like flights and accommodations.[21]  

The secondary ticket market thrives mainly due to the initial underpricing of tickets by promoters and, in some cases, by artists.[22] This underpricing can result from deliberate strategies or simply a lack of knowledge about the true market value of a ticket and what fans are genuinely willing to pay.[23] Promoters seek to maximize profits while ensuring that artists do not perform to empty venues, which can result from overpricing tickets.[24]  The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) cites several reasons for intentionally underpricing tickets despite the desire to maximize profits.[25] The artist’s connection with their fan base significantly contributes to this phenomenon.[26] Artists often aim to avoid appearing money-driven and may have a reputation for placing their fans’ interests above maximizing profits.[27] For instance, The Cure, an English band, priced tickets for their 2023 amphitheater tour as low as $20.[28] Similarly, artists desire to make tickets affordable for their fans, regardless of the fan’s income level.[29] Because the primary market frequently undervalues tickets, brokers have an incentive to obtain tickets for the purpose of reselling them at a profit.[30]

Deceptive websites resell tickets while masquerading as official or affiliated ticket sellers, likely in an attempt to boost their resale volume. While no federal laws prohibit these sites, there is regulation in a handful of states- Arkansas[31], California[32], Maryland[33], Michigan[34], Nevada[35], New Jersey[36], New York[37], Tennessee[38], Texas[39], Utah[40], and Virginia[41]. Several of these states have passed their laws in recent years, with Washington, in 2023, being one of the most recent states to introduce legislation addressing deceptive websites.[42] The statutes typically prohibit the same or substantially similar names of venues, artists, events, or teams in the domain or subdomain name and the use of graphics, web page designs, or any combination thereof on resale websites. For instance, Nevada, with one of the more comprehensive statutes, prohibits secondary seller websites from utilizing trademarked or copyrighted content, including URLs, titles, designations, images, marks, or other symbols, without obtaining written consent from the trademark or copyright holder.[43] The state also prohibits secondary seller websites from employing any combination of text, images, web designs, or internet addresses that closely resemble those used by venues or events websites.

Furthermore, Nevada requires secondary seller websites to prominently display a notice in the top 20% of the webpage using a font size that matches or exceeds the majority of the page’s font size. This notice informs consumers that the site is a reseller or exchange platform, not the primary seller.[44] Nevertheless, secondary sellers may use the name of the venue, artist, or event to describe the ticket they are offering.[45] An individual harmed by a reseller’s violation of a ticketing statute can bring a civil lawsuit against the reseller.[46] Potential awards in such cases may include injunctive relief, monetary compensation based on the number of violations, triple the amount of actual damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, and punitive damages.[47]

While some websites include notices identifying themselves as resale platforms, the notices are not consistently prominent enough for fans to easily recognize. Despite the existence of proposed federal legislation over the years, including the most recent iterations of the “Better Oversight of Stub Sales and Strengthening Well-Informed and Fair Transactions for Audiences of Concert Ticketing Act of 2023” (BOSS and SWIFT ACT of 2023)[48], state legislation will likely be more successful in the short-term for regulating deceptive websites along with various other event ticketing reforms, such as addressing speculative tickets, enhancing price transparency, and establishing regulatory frameworks for both primary and secondary ticket sellers. However, a patchwork of differing laws, including some states with no regulations for deceptive websites, is less than ideal for fan protection. Federal regulation could establish a consistent baseline of protection, regardless of a fan or website operator’s location, ultimately reducing confusion, disappointment, and unrecoverable expenses incurred by those attending events. Until there’s comprehensive regulation and effective enforcement against deceptive websites, it’s essential to be vigilant about the source of your ticket purchases.