As Biden-era ‘junk fee’ rule takes effect, Ticketmaster says it will display fees more clearly
By DEE-ANN DURBIN Associated Press As a Biden administration ban on so-called junk fees took effect Monday Ticketmaster announced it will start displaying the full price of a ticket as soon as consumers begin shopping Ticketmaster long a subject of complaints about its hidden fees was among those targeted by the new rule which was stated in December by the Federal Agreement Commission The rule requires ticket sellers hotels vacation rental platforms and others to disclose processing fees cleaning fees and other charges up front Ticketmaster disclosed Monday it commended the FTC s action Ticketmaster has long advocated for all-in pricing to become the nationwide standard so fans can easily compare prices across all ticketing sites Ticketmaster Chief Operating Officer Michael Wichser commented in a announcement Related Articles Michael Jordan is joining NBC as a special contributor for its NBA coverage The researchers charged with defending the planet against asteroids Episcopal Church says it won t help resettle white South Africans granted refugee status in US Who is Edan Alexander the Israeli-American hostage issued by Hamas Georgia become second US state to shield maker of Roundup weed killer from several cancer indicates Ticketmaster stated it will also tell shoppers where they are in line when they log in to buy tickets to an event It will also give real-time updates to customers whose wait times exceed minutes letting them know ticket price ranges availability and whether new event dates have been added Ticketmaster which is owned by Beverly Hills California-based concert promoter Live Nation is the world s largest ticket seller processing million tickets each year in more than countries Around of tickets for major concert venues in the U S are sold through Ticketmaster Ticketmaster announced Monday s changes will bring North America in line with the rest of the world where the full ticket price was already displayed as soon as customers started shopping It has been in the hot seat since when its site crashed during a presale event for Taylor Swift s upcoming stadium tour The company revealed its site was overwhelmed by both fans and attacks from bots which were posing as consumers in order to scoop up tickets and sell them on secondary sites Thousands of people lost tickets after waiting for hours in an online queue Last year the U S Department of Justice sued Ticketmaster and Live Nation accusing them of running an illegal monopoly that drives up U S ticket prices and asking a court to break them up That circumstance is ongoing President Donald Trump is also eyeing the industry In March he signed an executive order that he explained will help curb ticket scalping and bring commonsense changes to the way live events are priced Under the order the FTC must ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process and take enforcement to prevent unfair deceptive and anti-competitive conduct Anyone who s bought a concert ticket in the last decade maybe years no matter what your politics are knows that it s a conundrum reported Kid Rock who joined Trump in the Oval Office as Trump signed the order
