FTC Announces StubHub Refunding $10MM in Fees for Alleged Deceptive Ticket Pricing

On April 9, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission announced that StubHub, the nation’s largest ticket exchange and resale ticket provider, will pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company violated the FTC Act and the agency’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees by allegedly deceptively advertising ticket prices on its website without clearly and conspicuously disclosing up-front how much consumers actually would pay, including 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 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 FTC’s action against StubHub Holdings, Inc., follows a warning letter the agency sent the online ticket platform in May 2025 alleging that multiple prices displayed on its website appeared to be in violation of the Fees Rule.  Under the Unfair or Deceptive Fees (aka Junk Fees) Rule, which took effect on May 12, 2025, it is an unfair and deceptive practice for any business to offer, display, or advertise the price of a live-event ticket without clearly, conspicuously, and most prominently disclosing the total price, which the Rule defines as “the maximum total of all fees or charges a consumer must pay for any good(s) or service(s) and any mandatory ancillary good or service.”

Misrepresenting prices also violates the FTC Act.

The action also follows the Administration’s recent Executive Order on Ticketing, which includes a directive for the FTC to “take appropriate action . . . to ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market.”

According to the FTC’s complaint, in mid-May 2025—after the Rule went into effect—StubHub advertised its ticket prices without disclosing the full price consumers would actually pay by failing to include mandatory fees and to disclose the total price everywhere it displayed prices.

The FTC alleges StubHub failed to provide the total price for tickets—including high-demand National Football League tickets in the lead-up to when the NFL schedule was announced on May 14, 2025—in the first three pricing displays on its website.  On the initial two pricing displays, in numerous instances, the advertised price purportedly did not include all mandatory fees, and StubHub allegedly failed to disclose the total price.  On the third pricing display, StubHub purportedly listed multiple fees and charges but allegedly did not disclose the total price.

The proposed order settling StubHub’s alleged violations of the FTC Act and the Fees Rule requires the company to pay $10 million, which the company will use to provide monetary relief to eligible consumers through a settlement and consumer redress distribution program.  The order also prohibits StubHub from misrepresenting the total price of any good or service; any fee or charge, including its nature, purpose, amount, or refundability, as well as why the fee or charge is being imposed; the final payment amount for any transaction; and any other material fact including those related to refunds or cancellations.

The proposed order also prohibits StubHub from:

• Offering, displaying, or advertising any price of a good or service without clearly and conspicuously disclosing the total price;
• Failing to disclose the total price more prominently than any other pricing information;
• Failing to clearly and conspicuously disclose the amount of any fees or charges that have been excluded from the total price and what they are for, as well as the final payment amount—before the consumer agrees to pay for a product or service; and
• Violating the FTC Junk Fees Rule.

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

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and stipulated final order was 2-0.  FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson issued a separate statement.  The FTC filed the complaint and final order in the U.S. District Court for the District of Southern District of New York.

Contact an FTC compliance and defense lawyer if your company has received a CID, is the subject of an enforcement action, would like to implement compliance protocols, or otherwise has questions about the subject matter of this article.

Richard B. Newman is an FTC compliance and defense attorney at Hinch Newman LLP. 

Informational purposes only. Not legal advice. This article is not intended to and should not be construed as legal advice. May be considered attorney advertising.