StubHub has agreed to pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the ticket marketplace failed to clearly disclose the full price of tickets.

The federal agency said in a proposed settlement filed on Thursday that StubHub violated the FTC Act and its Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees by “deceptively” advertising ticket prices on its website without clearly disclosing upfront what the total cost would be, including all mandatory fees.

In May 2025, the FTC began requiring ticket marketplaces to ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process. The agency’s complaint alleges that after the rule went into effect, StubHub advertised its ticket prices without disclosing the full price.

“Given StubHub’s experience and public support for the rule, I was disappointed to learn that it was allegedly one of the rule’s first major violators,” FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said in his statement. “[…] StubHub chose to slow-walk compliance with the rule in part because the NFL was about to release its regular-season schedule. The complaint notes that the NFL schedule release is ‘a 99th percentile traffic event’ for StubHub and alleges that executives decided that the competitive advantage from misleading consumers outweighed the risk of being caught.”

The FTC sent a warning letter to StubHub on May 14, 2025, and the company fixed the issue the next day.

The $10 million secured by the FTC will cover StubHub’s three days of noncompliance with the rule and will be used to return “ill-gotten” profits to consumers through refunds of the fees paid to StubHub, Ferguson wrote.

“We have long supported all-in pricing because it provides clarity for fans,” a StubHub spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. “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. 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.”

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The case against StubHub marks the FTC’s latest crackdown on ticket marketplaces. Last September, the agency sued Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, for engaging in illegal ticket resale tactics and deceiving consumers about price and ticket limits. The companies have asked a federal judge to throw out the case.

Last August, the FTC sued a Maryland-based ticket broker for allegedly using unlawful tactics to bypass ticket purchasing limits for popular events, such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and then reselling those tickets at significantly higher prices.

Topics

Apps, Apps, FTC, Government & Policy, stubhub

Aisha Malik

Consumer News Reporter

Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.

You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing aisha@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal.

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StubHub to pay $10M to settle FTC allegations over 'deceptive' ticket pricing