In the wake of the province's law — which requires individuals or businesses to list tickets for no more than the total original cost, including service fees and taxes — the popular ticket resale website was fined with three administrative penalties after a seller "facilitated the sale of a ticket [that] exceeded the resale price cap."
The Ontario government has fined SeatGeek $25,000 for failing to comply with the province’s face-value ticket resale limits.
Per the province’s Consumer Beware List, the popular ticketing resale site was slapped with three administrative penalties on Aug. 28, including: $10,000 for making “a ticket available or facilitating the sale of a ticket [that] exceeded the resale price cap,” $5,000 for failing to disclose the total price of a ticket when purchased from the primary seller and $10,000 for facilitating a “sale without proof of total price when purchased from primary seller.”
There weren’t any further details provided about the sale or the primary seller.
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A business or individual is added to Ontario’s Consumer Beware List “when they fail to respond to consumer complaints or violate provincial consumer protection laws,” specifically “in relation to the Consumer Protection Act or other acts of the ministry.”
SeatGeek’s major fine comes only a few months after the province passed Bill 97, a law prohibiting individuals or businesses from reselling tickets in Ontario for more than the total original cost, including service fees and taxes.
It’s an amendment to 2017’s Ticket Sales Act and an effort to crack down on the sky-high resale prices that some Ontario fans were being faced with following last year's World Series games in Toronto. Reportedly, tickets were being resold for as high as $10,000, and Premier Doug Ford claimed resellers were "gouging" buyers.
Back in June, Joe Freeman, SeatGeek’s vice-president of government affairs, gave The Canadian Press an example that season ticket holders for sports events don’t always have access to the original face value of tickets, as many are sold as a bundle.
“This is information that only a primary ticketer like Ticketmaster would have, and Ticketmaster has not been forthcoming with that information,” he said.
Previously, it wasn’t clear how resale sites like SeatGeek and StubHub would adhere to the updated law. When listing resale tickets, there are disclaimers stating that sellers need to list their tickets for exactly what they paid, but there is no way to verify the price’s validity during the listing process.
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In June, the Ontario government revealed that they had investigated 27 major resale ticketing platforms for compliance with the province’s updated law and would pursue “enforcement actions where appropriate, including issuing some compliance orders to date.” In addition, the maximum fine was set to $25,000, up from the previous limit of $10,000, and the business would be added to the Consumer Beware List.
“By increasing penalties and holding offenders publicly accountable, we’re helping ensure Ontarians can attend the events they love without needing to worry about being ripped-off by exploitative resellers,” said Stephen Crawford, Ontario’s minister of public and business service delivery and procurement.
While SeatGeek is currently under fire, StubHub, an equally popular ticket resale site, has been added to the Consumer Beware List. Both platforms were issued notices of proposed compliance in late May, over allegations that they deflected from the province's strict ticket resale .laws
Earlier this week, StubHub told The Globe and Mail they are “upholding our responsibility as best we can, despite the law’s silence on some core issues, including how a seller should verify the original price of a ticket,” a spokesperson for the company said.
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“The government has acknowledged this gap and indicated that there is a need for implementation guidance. We will continue to engage in productive conversation to address these matters.”
