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ASA brings an end to 'misleading' ticket pricing on Viagogo

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By John Glenday, Reporter

September 4, 2018 | 2 min read

The Advertising Standards Authority is playing its part in a broader clampdown on shady practices in the secondary ticket market by forcing Viagogo to remove ‘misleading pricing information’ from its website.

Viagogo

ASA demands removal of misleading pricing from Viagogo

Viagogo will now clearly display the full costs to consumers by including both VAT and a compulsory booking fee in a single upfront price in order to escape a range of sanctions imposed upon it - including being blocked by search engines such as Google and Bing.

In a statement the ASA wrote: “The ASA can confirm it is now satisfied that Viagogo’s pricing information follows the advertising rules. Consequently, due to the significant changes that have been made, the ASA has removed all active sanctions it had in place including withdrawing its referral of Viagogo to National Trading Standards (NTS).

“This outcome follows the ASA’s ruling that Viagogo was misleading consumers by not being upfront and clear about additional booking fees and VAT that were added throughout the booking process. Since then, the ASA has worked with Viagogo to bring about these material changes to its website.

“The ASA’s decision to withdraw its sanctions and its referral to NTS is without prejudice to the court proceedings launched by the Competition and Markets Authority.”

A backlash against ticket touts has seen Ticketmaster axe its own resale platforms Seatwave and Get Me In by allowing purchasers to release unwanted tickets back onto its main site at face value.

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