Ticketmaster quietly adds new hidden charges to cover crackdown on ‘junk fees,’ report says Months after U.S. regulators banned surprise fees that appear while purchasing tickets, Ticketmaster raised the cost of other fees to “offset the revenue loss,” according to a report. The company had previously vowed to display all-in ticket pricing upfront after a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ban on so-called “junk fees” took effect in May 2025. While Ticketmaster stopped charging small amounts it tacked on at checkout to comply with the rules, it increased the price of other fees to make up for the loss, documents obtained by The Guardian revealed. In an email to the Findlay Toyota Center in Arizona last year, Ticketmaster stated, “To account for the loss of order processing revenue, we must adjust fees to offset the revenue loss.” The venue had eliminated its $6 order processing fee but raised its service fee by $2 per ticket. The Guardian obtained copies of Ticketmaster’s contracts with 26 venues nationwide, most of which included an order processing fee similar to the one mentioned in the email. However, such fees are no longer allowed under FTC rules. At least eight venues amended their contracts to raise other fees following the all-in pricing rules, according to the report. Grouping an illegal fee with another charge could violate the FTC’s rule against misrepresenting fees, which took effect in May 2025. John Newman, a former economist at the FTC, warned that Ticketmaster may effectively still be charging the fee by disguising it as something else. “That type of behavior can run afoul of the FTC rule,” he said. The Independent has contacted Ticketmaster for comment. In a statement to The Guardian, the company said, “Since May 2025, tickets on Ticketmaster.#ticketmaster #live_nation_entertainment #ftc #the_guardian #findlay_toyota_center
Ticketmaster secretly raised fees at 26 venues after FTC Internal documents obtained from publicly owned venues reveal that Ticketmaster eliminated order processing fees as required by federal regulations but quietly raised service charges to offset the lost revenue, effectively shifting costs without reducing overall prices for consumers. The findings, first reported by The Guardian, show that after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) banned surprise fees at checkout, Ticketmaster stopped charging order processing fees in apparent compliance with the all-in pricing rule. At the same time, the company increased per-ticket service charges at affected venues, leaving buyers paying the same or more despite the regulatory changes. Internal communications sent to venues explicitly acknowledged the need for fee adjustments to compensate for the revenue loss caused by the regulatory shift. The strategy is exemplified by the Findlay Toyota Center in Arizona, where the venue eliminated its $6 order processing fee to comply with all-in pricing requirements. Ticketmaster responded by raising the per-ticket service charge by $2, resulting in no meaningful reduction for buyers. Similar tactics were applied across multiple venues, including Wintrust Arena in Chicago, where ticket fees increased by 2.3%, and Florida State University, which saw a 3% rise. In California, where a state law banning hidden mandatory charges took effect in July 2024, Ticketmaster raised fees at multiple venues. For instance, the city of Sacramento experienced a 25% increase in its per-ticket fee, climbing from $3.45 to $4.25, while Cerritos saw an identical fee increase around the same period. Former FTC officials who reviewed the documents expressed serious concerns about the practice.#ticketmaster #ftc #findlay_toyota_center #wintrust_arena #florida_state_university
