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
