Commerce Commission suing ticket re-seller Viagogo for alleged breaches of Fair Trading Act

August 15, 2018

Many New Zealanders have been left out of pocket.

The Commerce Commission says Swiss ticket reseller Viagogo has breached the Fair Trading Act and it intends to sue them.

Viagogo is a platform where tickets for events can be sold to other people - it's popular with scalpers who buy lots of tickets to an event and then on-sell them for a much greater price, giving Viagogo a cut.

The website is popular among scalpers who buy multiple tickets to events, and sell them on for an inflated price.

The Commision said this afternoon in a statement that Viagogo misled consumers by saying it was an "official seller" when it was not, by implying tickets were limited or about to sell out, by saying consumers were "guaranteed" to receive valid tickets to their event, and by misleading customers about the true price of tickets.

They also say Viagogo has a term in its contract which is grossly unfair to consumers - that any dispute the consumer raises with Viagogo must be done so in the Swiss law system - but Viagogo itself can choose to take court action against consumers within their own country.

Consumer New Zealand's Sue Chetwin speaks about controversial ticket resale site Viagogo.

"The Commerce Commission now joins a growing group of international enforcement agencies who are bringing similar cases against Viagogo," the Commission said in a release.

"Viagogo faces court or enforcement action in Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Australia. It has been fined in Italy and sued by FIFA.

"Since the beginning of 2017 the Commission has received more than 400 complaints about Viagogo, making it the most complained-about trader in that period."

The Commission will seek declarations that Viagogo breached the Act, an injunction restraining it from further breaches, and corrective advertising orders.

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