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Viagogo, stylized by the company as viagogo, is a multinational
ticket exchange A ticket exchange, also known as a secondary ticket outlet, is a market where tickets are bought and sold. Ticket exchanges allow people to buy and sell tickets online. Typically, ticket exchanges are used by individuals wanting to buy or resell tic ...
and
ticket resale Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of ...
brand. It is headquartered in the United States and owned by StubHub Holdings. It was founded in 2006 by Eric Baker, the co-founder of
StubHub StubHub is an American ticket exchange and resale company. It provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater, and other live entertainment events. It is the world's largest ticket marketplace. While the compa ...
. Viagogo is backed by
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
investment firm
Index Ventures Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/ AI, and security. Since its ...
as well as
Brent Hoberman Brent Shawzin Hoberman (born 25 November 1968) is a British entrepreneur and investor. During the dot-com boom, he co-founded lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox in 1998, where he was CEO from its inception, before selling the business to Sab ...
, the co-founder and former CEO of lastminute.com, and
Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, (born 29 April 1936) is a British peer, investment banker and a member of the Rothschild banking family. Now mostly retired, he has held many important roles in business, finance and ...
. In February 2020, it acquired
StubHub StubHub is an American ticket exchange and resale company. It provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater, and other live entertainment events. It is the world's largest ticket marketplace. While the compa ...
. The company has been criticized for inflation via
ticket resale Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the individual or company in possession of ...
, lacking transparency, and in some cases, having sold counterfeit tickets. These controversies have led to legal action in some of the countries where Viagogo operates, and also led the UK
Competition & Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
to order changes to Viagogo's operations.


History

Viagogo was founded in 2006 in London by Eric Baker, the co-founder of US-based
StubHub StubHub is an American ticket exchange and resale company. It provides services for buyers and sellers of tickets for sports, concerts, theater, and other live entertainment events. It is the world's largest ticket marketplace. While the compa ...
. It was established to provide an online marketplace that allows consumers to buy and sell tickets to sports, music, theatre and comedy events. The company's launch included partnerships with
Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...
and Manchester United F.C. offering season ticket holders the chance to sell tickets to matches they could not attend to other club members, without having to lend their season card. Manchester United ended its commercial agreement with Viagogo in 2011. As unauthorized reselling of football tickets was illegal under
British law The United Kingdom has four legal systems, each of which derives from a particular geographical area for a variety of historical reasons: English and Welsh law, Scots law, Northern Ireland law, and, since 2007, purely Welsh law (as a result of ...
in 2006 with the purpose of preventing
hooliganism Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events. Etymology There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...
, Viagogo's official reselling authorizations with Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC marked the first time
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
tickets were legally resold in the United Kingdom. In 2012 in the UK, Labour MP
Sharon Hodgson Sharon Hodgson (born 1 April 1966) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Washington and Sunderland West, previously Gateshead East and Washington West, since 2005. Hodgson was appointed as the Par ...
's proposal that legislation be introduced to cap resale prices at 10% higher than their face value was rejected by the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...
leaving Viagogo free to continue operating in the country without price caps. In 2012 Viagogo extended its European ticketing agreement with
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
. In September 2013, Viagogo launched in Australia. The launch was accompanied by two new partnerships with Melbourne-based AFL clubs Collingwood and Richmond. Viagogo was the official ticket marketplace for the various music festivals in 2013, including the
Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
, the Boyzone 20th Anniversary Tour, the Benicàssim Festival and Weekend Festival. In 2014, Viagogo partnered with
SFX Entertainment LiveStyle, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based live events conglomerate founded by media entrepreneur Robert F. X. Sillerman. The company was formed in June 2012 as SFX Entertainment—the new incarnation of Sillerman's previous company of the same name ...
and in 2015 with the Australian Soundwave festival, and Ultra Beach Bali. In 2016, Viagogo was announced as the official ticketing partner of Ultra Singapore 2016. After a website "glitch" reportedly overcharged dozens of UK customers, in 2017 Viagogo was criticized for allegedly denying prompt refunds. In February 2018, Viagogo was found to have been marketing tickets for a non-existent performance by a Hungarian stand-up comedian for about twice the normal price. By 2012, Viagogo's ticket pricing policy had become a frequent subject of controversy in the United Kingdom. After a number of
Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, k ...
tickets, one reportedly marked up from face value of £23.50 to £200, proved invalid in November 2012, Viagogo assured the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
that it was a rare occurrence and the tickets would be refunded or replaced. In March 2019, the
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...
warned consumers not to buy or sell tickets through Viagogo. In July 2019, Google ceased paid advertising by Viagogo for breaching Google's internal advertising policies. Google resumed advertising for Viagogo in November 2019, after Viagogo made "suitable changes to their account." In November 2019, StubHub disclosed having sold $4.75 billion in tickets in 2018 with $1.1 billion in annual fees, while Viagogo had not disclosed its financial details. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, Viagogo operated in 70 countries and was particularly popular in Europe and Britain, while StubHub sold tickets in 44 countries and was most popular in the United States. After announcing its intent to purchase StubHub from eBay in late 2019, Viagogo agreed to purchase StubHub for $4 billion in February 2020, with Viagogo's owner Pugnacious LLC to become the holding company for both. The deal was put on hold in 2020 by the
Competition & Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
(CMA) over competition concerns, as combined, the two companies held a 90% market share of secondary ticketing in the United Kingdom. As part of the deal, StubHub agreed to sell its business outside of North America, including its UK business, to Digital Fuel Capital LLC. Through the merger, Viagogo and StubHub became owned by the new entity StubHub Holdings.


Operations

The Viagogo brand facilitates the sale of live sport, music, and entertainment tickets through an online platform. The company charges a variable booking fee on top of ticket price, and a service fee from sellers. Viagogo has a policy to "provide comparable replacement tickets or a refund". Along with partnerships with entertainers and music festivals, the company has partnerships with various sports properties.


Pricing and sales tactics

The company has been criticized for its use of "drip pricing" in certain countries, where not all charges are shown until the end of a transaction. According to Swedish newspaper ''
Göteborgs-Posten ''Göteborgs-Posten'' (lit. "The Gothenburg Post"), abbreviated GP, is a major Swedish language daily newspaper published in Gothenburg, Sweden. History and profile ''Göteborgs-Posten'' was first published in 1813, but ceased publication in 1 ...
'', during purchases of secondhand tickets in 2018, one price was shown up front, while additional costs such as
value-added tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...
or booking fees were shown to buyers later in the checkout process. The newspaper criticized the practice as disingenuous. In 2018, a CMA order dictated that Viagogo's UK portal include all-in pricing to make the platform more transparent to customers. At that time of the CMA order, customers were presented with several messages about tickets being about to run out and in the user interface, the "continue" button jumped and a timer kept counting down. According to executive Chris Miller, the messages were intended to show customers they were visiting a "dynamic market place" and helped buyers "make an informed decision". During a test where three tickets were purchased, the average transaction took about ten minutes to complete which did not leave time to read the purchase conditions. Once the transactions were completed, the average price paid was about twice that charged by official ticket sellers. Although Viagogo offers some tickets at face value it is well known for vastly inflating prices for events. In 2018, the Swedish Consumer Agency received 132 reports about the company, making it the seventh most reported business operating in Sweden. A frequent criticism was that customers felt stressed and pressured into finishing their purchases. Pressure marketing and countdown timers were removed from the UK website in 2018.


Legal action

They have also faced criticism after they resold charity tickets to an
Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently re ...
cancer benefit concert at highly inflated prices. After the company failed to appear before the
Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department for ...
of the UK Parliament in March 2017, Hodgson and fellow committee member
Nigel Adams Nigel Adams (born 30 November 1966) is a British politician who served as Minister of State without Portfolio at the Cabinet Office from 2021 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Selby and Ains ...
visited its London headquarters the following July, but the party was turned away. In early 2011, Viagogo sold personalised tickets for Take That's 2011 ''Progress'' tour to German customers. Some people were not able to enter the concerts in Hamburg and Munich. A German court banned Viagogo from claiming that the validity of the Take That tickets is “100% guaranteed”. They were involved in a legal battle with the UK Rugby Football Union (RFU) after they sold tickets which the RFU had forbidden from being resold for profit. Viagogo lost the initial trial and an appeal in the lower courts in December 2011, resulting in the issuing of a Norwich Pharmacal order. In August 2017, the
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trad ...
launched legal action against Viagogo with "allegations it made false or misleading representations, and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by failing to disclose substantial fees included in the price of tickets." In August 2018, New Zealand's
Commerce Commission The Commerce Commission ( mi, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko) is a New Zealand government agency with responsibility for enforcing legislation that relates to competition in the country's markets, fair trading and consumer credit contracts, and regul ...
sued Viagogo after it sold non-existent tickets for a Bruno Mars concert for NZ$700. On 27 November 2018, the UK
Competition & Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
stated that Viagogo had, effective 17 January 2019, agreed to perform a "comprehensive overhaul" of its services in order to improve their transparency, and strengthen the guarantees it provides to consumers. Among other changes Viagogo agreed to list the identity of the seller and whether they are a professional trader (defined as performing more than 100 sales in a year), as well as seat numbers and the original face value of the ticket, and any risk that the ticketholder may be turned away due to resale restrictions. In addition, the company was required to cease using misleading indications of how many seats remain for an event, and not to advertise ticket sales for events whose ticketing policies restrict resale. The company is the only ticket resale site to have refused to work with Ed Sheeran to prevent ticket touts reselling tickets for his tours. In May 2018, the UK's
Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries In the Government of the United Kingdom, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts and Heritage is a ministerial post in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The post is usually a junior to middle-ranking minister to the mor ...
,
Margot James Margot Cathleen James (born 28 August 1957) is a British politician who served as Minister of State for Digital and Creative Industries from 2018 to 2019. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Stourbridge from 2010 to 2019. Elected as a Conserva ...
, told BBC Radio 5 Live listeners planning to buy from secondary ticket sites, "don't choose Viagogo - they are the worst". She gave this advice after the Advertising Standards Authority asked National Trading Standards to investigate Viagogo's alleged breaches of UK advertising rules about making any additional fees clear. Viagogo is no longer under investigation by trading standards after complying with the ASA ruling. In August 2018, the UK
Competition & Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
confirmed it would be seeking court action against Viagogo following concerns that it is breaching consumer protection law. In July 2019, the UK Competition and Marketing Authority began legal proceedings against Viagogo for contempt of court as a result of the company ignoring repeated warnings to comply with consumer law. In October 2020, the
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trad ...
fined Viagogo AU$7 million for misleading consumers, stating that they were an "official" seller of tickets to particular events, that certain tickets were scarce and for failing to disclose a 27.6% booking fee until late into the booking process. In 2021, complaints were received by the agency WellingtonNZ concerning Viagogo overpricing tickets to the musical Jersey Boys and the art event Van Gogh Alive. As at February 2021 the New Zealand Commerce Commission is continuing to pursue legal action against Viagogo for false representations about ticket prices, their scarcity and the validity of tickets sold.


Legal and government actions


See also

*
Better Online Tickets Sales Act The Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016Pub.L. 114-274, S.3183 commonly referred to as the BOTS Act) was signed into federal law by President Barack Obama on December 14, 2016. This act was created to thwart attempts by individuals and organizatio ...
*
List of United Kingdom Supreme Court cases This is a list of judgments given by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between the court's inception on 1 October 2009 and the most recent judgments. Cases are listed in order of their neutral citation and where possible a link to the offici ...
* Online ticket brokering


References


External links

*{{url, https://www.viagogo.com Ticket sales companies Companies based in Geneva Companies based in London Internet properties established in 2006 2006 establishments in England Online marketplaces of the United Kingdom