D.C. Attorney General Sues StubHub for “Drip Pricing”

Ryan J. Farrick — July 30, 2024

Image via Tookapic/Pexels. Public domain.

“For years, StubHub has illegally deceived District consumers through its convoluted junk fee scheme,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a press release. “StubHub lures consumers in by advertising a deceptively low price, forces them through a burdensome purchase process, and then finally reveals a total on the checkout page that is vastly higher than the originally advertised ticket price.”

The District of Columbia has filed a lawsuit against StubHub, claiming that the ticket platform deceives consumers by advertising low prices that don’t include high fees added at checkout.

The practice, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb says, makes it more difficult for consumers to compare prices and make informed decisions about purchases.

“For years, StubHub has illegally deceived District consumers through its convoluted junk fee scheme,” Schwalb said in a press release. “StubHub lures consumers in by advertising a deceptively low price, forces them through a burdensome purchase process, and then finally reveals a total on the checkout page that is vastly higher than the originally advertised ticket price.”

“This is no accident,” Schwalb said. “StubHub intentionally hides the true price to boost profits at its customers’ expense.”

The lawsuit claims that StubHub’s practice of adding fees at the checkout screen is a form of “drip pricing,” in which companies advertise artificially low prices to attract consumers.

But, when customers try to make a purchase, they’re forced to navigate multiple pages—sometimes more than a dozen—before reaching the checkout screen, at which point a series of “fulfillment and service fees” are added to the price of their ticket.

A gavel. Image via Wikimedia Commons via Flickr/user: Brian Turner. (CCA-BY-2.0).

“StubHub intentionally misleads consumers by deceptively offering a low price at the front end, luring them into a long, protracted buying process, oftentimes running consumers through multiple dozens of screens before they’re eventually given the final price,” Schwalb told CBS News.

Schwalb emphasized that consumers attempting to purchase tickets from StubHub are often incentivized through a countdown timer. If the time reaches zero, customers could lose their “deal” or be forced to restart the lengthy purchase process.

“At the end,” he said, “consumers are paying more than they thought they were going to pay and have not had an opportunity to comparison shop along the way.”

Aside from allegedly violating consumer protection laws, Schwalb says that StubHub fails to provide any explanation as to what its “fulfillment and service” fees entail.

StubHub has since issued a statement expressing its “disappointment” with the lawsuit.

“We are disappointed that the D.C. Attorney General is targeting StubHub when our user experience is consistent with the law, our competitors’ practices and the broader e-commerce sector,” StubHub said. “We strongly support federal and state solutions that enhance existing laws to empower consumers, such as requiring all-in pricing uniformly across platforms.”

The lawsuit seeks damages and restitution for D.C. residents, as well as a court order blocking StubHub from continuing to employ allegedly deceptive advertising tactics.