Online ticket reseller Viagogo has been ordered to pay $7 million for misleading consumers.

Viagogo has been ordered by the Federal Court to pay a penalty of $7 million for breaching the Australian Consumer Law by making false or misleading representations when reselling tickets for live music and sports event.

Viagogo made false or misleading representations to consumers that it was the ‘official’ seller of tickets to particular events, that certain tickets were scarce, and that consumers could purchase tickets for a particular price.

This was not the case, because significant fees (including a 27.6 per cent booking fee) were not disclosed until late in the booking process.

Viagogo’s website attracted consumers by advertising a headline price which did not specify a total price for tickets. It also failed to adequately disclose to consumers that it was not a primary ticket seller.

In imposing the penalty of $7 million, Justice Burley described the misrepresentations as serious or very serious, and considered the conduct demonstrated a level of deliberateness. He described one category of representations as having been made on “an industrial scale”.

Viagogo’s responses were described by the judge as giving it “the appearance of being a company that is indifferent to the interests of Australian consumers and which prefers to elevate its own profit motives above those interests, even when on notice of the potential for harm being done”.

ACCC Chair Rod Sims said: “Viagogo’s business practices were unacceptable. Viagogo misled thousands of consumers into buying tickets at inflated prices when they created a false sense of urgency by suggesting tickets were scarce and when they advertised tickets at a lower price by not including unavoidable fees.”

“Today’s $7m penalty sends a strong signal to businesses like Viagogo conducting business in Australia that they cannot get away with profiting from misleading Australian consumers about the price of the tickets they are selling, or other misleading conduct.”