StubHub Ordered by FTC to Refund $10M to Fans

Photo Credit: StubHub

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered StubHub to pay $10 million to fans for deceptively advertising ticket prices on its website.

The country’s largest ticket exchange and resale ticket platform, StubHub, has to fork over $10 million to fans to settle charges lodged against it by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over violations of the FTC Act. Specifically, StubHub was found to have violated the agency’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees by advertising ticket prices on its website without clearly disclosing up front how much customers would pay at checkout after all mandatory fees.

“The Commission’s Fees Rule makes it very clear that the total price of live-event tickets must be disclosed up front to enable consumers to make fully informed purchasing decisions,” said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Price transparency is essential to a free and competitive marketplace. Today’s settlement underscores the Commission’s commitment to ensuring that consumers pay the price they are promised.”

The agency’s action against StubHub follows a warning letter sent to the company in May last year, which stated that multiple prices listed on its website appeared to be in violation of the Fees Rule. That rule went into effect on May 12, 2025.

The rule states that it is an unfair and deceptive practice to offer, display, or advertise the price of a live-event ticket without “clearly, conspicuously, and most prominently disclosing the total price.” This is defined as “the maximum total of all fees or charges a consumer must pay for any goods or services and any mandatory ancillary goods or services.”

To settle StubHub’s alleged violations of the FTC Act, the company is required to pay $10 million, which will go to eligible consumers through a settlement and consumer redress distribution program. StubHub is also prohibited from misrepresenting the total price of any goods or services, any fees or charges, the final payment amount for any transaction, and other material facts, including those related to refunds or cancellations.

StubHub must pay two groups of eligible consumers within 90 days of the date of the order. Eligible consumers include those who bought tickets for live events in the U.S. between May 12 and May 14, 2025. The first group includes those to whom the total price of tickets was not disclosed on the initial pricing display. The second group includes all other consumers who bought tickets during that period.