Ticketmaster Class Action Says Canadians Charged ‘Double-Dip’ Fees

Canadian consumers are forced to pay exorbitant fees for live events, according to a Ticketmaster class action lawsuit.

Plaintiffs Stacey Thompson-Marcial and Brian Smith say Ticketmaster allows and even facilitates a secondary market for tickets to live events to flourish, resulting in the ticket giant raking in extra fees from consumers who want to see live entertainment and sporting events.

Both plaintiffs claim that they attempted to buy tickets from Ticketmaster for events, but were forced to use a secondary ticket source after the event tickets sold out shortly after being released.

Thompson-Marcial and Smith say they both paid well-over face value for the tickets because Ticketmaster allows resale vendors to buy up all the tickets first.

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit alleges that the company is the largest source for tickets to live events in Canada. In addition to selling tickets from venues, the plaintiffs claim that Ticketmaster owns and operates “TradeDesk,” software that facilitates the buying and resale of these tickets.

Although there are supposed to be limits on the number of tickets sold to a single entity through Ticketmaster, Ticketmaster reportedly is well aware that resellers buy far beyond these limits and even facilitates the purchase of live event tickets for resale. The plaintiffs say that Ticketmaster, though TradeDesk, then double dips on the fees they charge for the sale of tickets.

TradeDesk, according to the Ticketmaster class action lawsuit, was rolled out in August 2013.

“TradeDesk is a web-based inventory management system that allows Resellers to list large quantities of tickets purchased from Ticketmaster for resale quickly,” explains the complaint. “TradeDesk enables the selling of Secondary Tickets on an industrial scale.”

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit notes that TradeDesk is touted as “The Most Powerful Ticket Sales Tool. Ever,” and sports the Ticketmaster logo.

Not only does Ticketmaster court the ticket resale market with TradeDesk, allege the plaintiffs, it goes so far as to provide a handbook to professional resellers.

Further, according to the complaint, investigations into the ticket resale industry reveal that bots are scooping up most face value tickets when they are released.

Despite Ticketmaster’s own policies against the sale of more than a limited number of tickets, say the plaintiffs, experts have shown that internet bots, or fake accounts on the internet, are able to purchase hundreds of tickets at a time.

Between the handbook, TradeDesk, and the ability of bots to purchase hundreds of tickets within moments of their release, the average consumer has almost no chance of scoring a live event ticket for face value, claims the class action lawsuit.

This is far from the first legal action lodged against Ticketmaster over Tradedesk and allegations of extorting exorbitant fees from consumers wanting to experience live events.

In 2018, an Illinois man claimed in another Ticketmaster class action lawsuit that the advent of TradeDesk, as well as the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, exacerbated the price of tickets, generating billions for the company.

The Ticketmaster class action lawsuit seeks to represent all Canadians who paid unfair and excessive fees for live event tickets through the secondary ticket markets allegedly fostered by Ticketmaster.

Have you had to pay excessive fees for live event tickets? Tell us your story in the comments below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Theodore P. Charney, Tina Q. Yang, and Remissa Hirji of Charney Lawyers PC, and Louis Sokolov, Jean-Marc Leclerc, and Mohsen Seddigh of Sotos LLP.

The Ticketmaster Class Action Lawsuit is Thompson-Marcial, et al. v. Ticketmaster Canada Holdings ULC, et al., Case No. CV-18-00605906-00CP, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Canada.

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