Viagogo will have to pay a $7 million penalty for misleading consumers when it resold concert and sports tickets five years ago, after its appeal against a prior court decision was tossed.
On Wednesday, the Full Court dismissed Viagogo’s appeal of a 2019 judgment which found the firm had misled consumers through “a marketing and transactional web” on an industrial scale.
“Notwithstanding that Viagogo is not happy with the result, it has failed to establish error on the part of the primary judge,” the appeal judges wrote.
Viagogo failed to show any mistakes in findings it had falsely claimed it was the “official” reseller of certain tickets and that tickets were scarce, and that it had hidden significant fees of up to 28 per cent from ticket buyers until later in the booking process.
Arguments that a $7 million penalty meted out in October 2020 was “manifestly excessive” were also dismissed by the court.
The case, which was brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in August 2017, focused on statements made by Viagogo between May and June that year.
During that time, Viagogo advertised headline ticket prices on its website without disclosing the total prices that people would pay.
It also failed to tell consumers that it was not a primary ticket retailer, but rather a reseller of tickets.
In October 2020, after the penalty was announced, then–ACCC chairman Rod Sims said Viagogo’s business practices were “unacceptable”.
“Viagogo misled thousands of consumers into buying tickets at inflated prices when they created a false sense of urgency by suggesting tickets were scarce and when they advertised tickets at a lower price by not including unavoidable fees,” he said at the time.
