SYDNEY, NSW (CelebrityAccess) — An Australian court has fined ticket resale platform Viagogo $7 million after allegedly misleading consumers with advertising, added fees and made misleading claims about ticket inventory.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Company, Justice Stephen Burley imposed the fine on Friday, noting that some of the alleged violations were on an “industrial scale.”
Along with the penalty, Viagogo is also on the hook for the costs of the trial and is facing an injunction that bars them from continuing the offending conduct in Australia.
As well, Viagogo will be required to take place in a court-ordered compliance program.
The case, which was pursued by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, took issue with Viagogo’s use of the word “official” in its online advertising in 2017, which suggested they were primary marketplace and not a reseller, ABC reported.
“It fundamentally misled consumers as to the nature of Viagogo’s business in order to attract consumers to acquire tickets,” he said, per the ABC.
ABC reported that the court also found Viagogo’s use of phrases such as “only a few tickets left” deceptive, noting that Viagogo used it to refer only to their own ticket inventory, not the general availability of tickets for an event.
Viagogo has faced similar sanctions in other countries in recent years, including England and Italy.
