Software Engineer 1

The secondary ticket market is free falling... The secondary market is in free fall... Not metaphorically. Let me show you some evidence: * StubHub just paid a $10M settlement to the FTC over deception charges. * Wisconsin then hit StubHub for $17M in back taxes. * Vivid Seats stock is sliding. Down 60% or more from its peak. * Ticketmaster: the biggest player in resale just received a monopoly verdict. * Consumer confidence in tickets has collapsed. Fans buy. But they feel ripped off. I see three structural problems...and no one is offering good solutions. The Regulatory Squeeze: Ontario, Canada, is getting on board. The UK may follow. Governments around the world have decided: extraction is the enemy...and the secondary market is the leading combatant. The secondary market's response? Lawsuits. Lobbying. That's something. But it also looks like drift because there isn't anything pulling the entire plan together minus "free markets" and "distribution." The Primary Market Pivot: StubHub put a bet down on AI and direct issuance. SeatGeek has always bet on combining the primary and the secondary. Vivid and TickPick are in on the direct issuance game as well. You can't out-tech a monopoly. Ticketmaster owns the venues, the contracts, the data, and more. The antitrust case in New York may open the door to creating change, but "building a better mousetrap" doesn't matter if the foundations of the business remain the same. The Trust Vacuum: Fans don't know what a ticket should cost. Hidden fees. Dynamic pricing. Platinum seats. Resale merging with the primary to create "the market." Every layer adds opacity and frustration. Fans get angry. Everyone points at someone else. That's not a market. That's a maze meant to confuse and extract. The Way Out The secondary market built a casino. Not a marketplace. Odds stacked against the fans. The house always wins. Lights and noise to hide the extraction. That worked...while fans were willing to play along. Now fans are waking up. Regulators are circling. The monopoly trial proved that the system is rotten. Here's the hard bit: You don't want governments to ban resale above face value. You don't want resale caps. You definitely don't want fans to stop buying tickets entirely. Consider this: A casino only works if people stay at the table. They're leaving. Trust is gone. Confidence is gone. There are still "hot" events, but those are fewer and further between. You can keep fighting regulation. Hiding behind "free markets" might work for a while longer. Or you can ask the scary question: "What happens when fans stop buying?"

StubHub reaches settlement to refund $10 million to customers over 'deceptive' pricing. Apr 12, 2026 - 10:16 StubHub will refund $10 million to consumers and revamp how it displays ticket prices after the Federal Trade Commission accused the company of deceptively advertising live-event tickets without fully disclosing mandatory fees upfront. "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," FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige wrote in a statement. "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 company had advertised ticket prices on its website during a three-day stretch last May "without clearly and conspicuously disclosing up-front how much consumers actually would pay, including all mandatory fees," the FTC wrote in a complaint and proposed settlement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A StubHub spokesperson said the company disagreed with the FTC's view of the case but is refunding a portion of affected buyers' fees to address the agency's concerns. "This settlement covers a limited number of transactions, spanning just three days in May 2025, where some listings on our site may have displayed ticket prices exclusive of fees," the spokesperson said. The agency began enforcing its "Fees Rule" in May of 2025, requiring businesses to clearly disclose the total price of live-event tickets. The FTC said it had sent a warning letter to the ticketing platform after the rule was formed. Through this settlement, the company will provide monetary relief to eligible consumers and the order also requires StubHub to disclose the total price more prominently on its platform. The agency has increased its enforcement efforts following the Trump administration's executive order on ticketing in March of last year, which directs the FTC to "take appropriate action... to ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market." "My administration is committed to making as accessible as possible the arts and entertainment that enrich Americans' lives," Trump's order said. "The rent-seeking behaviors surrounding the ticketing industry are contrary to this goal. They are detrimental to consumers and capitalize on market distortions that must not be allowed to persist." The FTC highlighted sales of high-demand NFL tickets around May 14, 2025, when the league schedule was announced, as an example of the alleged violations. The settlement would require StubHub to fund a $10 million consumer redress program for eligible buyers who purchased tickets for U.S. live events between May 12 and May 14, 2025. Within 90 days of the order, the company must provide refunds to two groups: consumers whose total ticket price was not disclosed on the initial pricing display, and all other consumers who bought tickets during that period. Beyond the monetary relief, the proposed order would bar StubHub from misrepresenting the total price of goods or services, the nature or amount of fees, the final payment amount, and other material facts, including refund and cancellation terms. The commission voted 2-0 to authorize the complaint and stipulated final order. The case was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The settlement will take effect if approved by a district court judge.

StubHub settles with FTC over ticket pricing violations for $10M. StubHub will pay $10 million to resolve accusations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the ticket platform intentionally ignored new "junk fee" rules by failing to properly disclose fees and charges. In court filings on Thursday (April 9), the consumer watchdog said StubHub had "unfairly and deceptively hidden and misrepresented the price of its tickets" by tacking on fees and other charges later in a transaction - violating new federal rules imposed last May that require "all-in" pricing on ticket platforms. The case was sparked by StubHub's decision to delay for three days after the rules went into effect last spring - until after the NFL's annual release of tickets for the upcoming season. In a statement, FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson said the company chose to "slow-walk compliance" to make more money on the lucrative NFL release. "Executives decided that the competitive advantage from misleading consumers outweighed the risk of being caught," Ferguson said. "StubHub thus allegedly seduced consumers away from honest competitors with low prices before jacking up the price with fees at the end of the transaction." The $10 million will be used by StubHub to fund a settlement program in which certain fans can seek refunds for tickets purchased during the three-day window. In a statement, the company stressed that the case dealt with only a "limited number of transactions, spanning just three days." "We have long supported all-in pricing because it provides clarity for fans," a StubHub spokesman said. "While we strongly disagree with the FTC's view of the case, we are addressing their concerns by refunding a portion of those buyers' fees." The FTC's ban on "junk fees" went into effect on May 12, barring ticket platforms and hotels from advertising anything other than the final price a consumer would pay at checkout. It was designed to combat "drip pricing" - a practice where sites list deceptively low pricing, only to increase the total with hidden fees and surcharges as consumers near checkout. According to the FTC's lawsuit, internal StubHub documents show that the company knew the NFL rollout - set for just two days after the rule was to go into effect - was a "99th percentile traffic event." So rather than complying immediately, the FTC says StubHub intentionally chose to "comply in phases over two days." "Defendant recognized that it could secure a competitive advantage from its delayed fees rule compliance rollout," the agency writes.