Drip pricing tactics that have increased the price of entertainment and live sport tickets by up to 31 per cent have landed ticket reseller Viagogo before the Federal Court.
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commissions launched proceedings against the ticketing platform on Monday, amid allegations it made false or misleading representations, and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by failing to disclose substantial fees included in the price of tickets.
In one example, from May this year, the price of a Book of Mormon ticket increased from $135 to $177.45 after the $37.50 booking fee and $4.95 handling fees were revealed later in the purchase process.
Another price check revealed tickets for three Ashes 2017-18 tickets increased by 29 per cent to $426.82, when the $91.71 booking fee and $4.95 handling fees were included.
"We allege that Viagogo failed to disclose significant and unavoidable fees upfront in the ticket price, including a 27.6 per cent booking fee for most events and a handling fee," said ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard.
"This has caused huge frustration ... people see the headline price to start and some don't even pick up on the extra charges."
The global ticketing company describes itself as a fan-to-fan-based platform that enables customers to exchange tickets online.
Fans of Coldplay, Adele and Midnight Oil have all recently lost out to ticket scalpers selling tickets at inflated prices on the Viagogo platform.
The consumer watchdog has received 473 contacts about the reseller from Australian consumers this year.
It alleges that Viagogo's use of phrases such as "less than 1 per cent of tickets remaining", represented that particular events were likely to sell-out soon, without qualifying that the figure only referred to tickets on the Viagogo platform.
Ms Rickard said the "sense of urgency" created by such language caused consumers to act immediately, often before they have familiarised themselves with significant booking fees.
The ACCC further alleges that consumers were misled by Viagogo's use of the world "official" in search engine advertisements on Google.
"When you do a search you will often find the top result is the Viagogo site. But it is really important to make a point of dealing with the authorised seller, so you have greater confidence your tickets are legitimate will be honoured," Ms Rickard said.
She added that while the regulator had looked at other ticket resellers, "Viagogo seems to be the worst of them".
Viagogo has been contacted for comment.
The ACCC is dealing with Viagogo's Australian lawyers and is seeking declarations, injunctions, pecuniary penalties, corrective publication orders, orders for a compliance program and costs.
The Federal Court action follows a public warning about the Swiss-based ticket reseller from the NSW and Queensland governments.
On Sunday Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean called out Viagogo for "unfair and unsatisfactory sales tactics" and urged consumers to use caution if shopping on the platform.
He estimated around 600 consumers had lost almost $130,000 to Viagogo this year alone.
In response to the growing ticket-reseller market, peak body Live Performance Australia has released a "safe tix guide" to educate consumers.
"We're increasingly hearing from consumers buying from resale sites and paying way above the face value of the ticket ... only to find out the ticket they bought was fake," LPA chief executive Evelyn Richardson said.
The guide encourages consumers to always pay for tickets with a credit or debit card, and to look out for restricted view seats, restricted ages, cancellation policies and other special conditions.
