Apr 13, 2026
While much of the event-going public's attention of late has been on the Ticketmaster settlement (1) and subsequent maneuvering, ticket reseller StubHub has agreed to a settlement of its own, which will result in $10 million in refunds to some customers.
The company was accused of deceptive ticket pricing by the Federal Trade Commission. Authorities, in a release (2), said StubHub had violated the FTC Act and the agency's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees by displaying online ticket prices without disclosing the total amount consumers would pay.
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StubHub, the FTC said, advertised tickets on its website for three days last May without disclosing up front how much consumers would actually pay.
"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," Christopher Mufarrige, director of FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, wrote in a statement (3).
"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."
StubHub, in a statement to Moneywise, said it supported all-in pricing and that the settlement with the FTC covered "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' fee," the statement went on to read.
Who's eligible for a refund?
To qualify for a refund, you'll have to have bought a ticket on StubHub for a live event between the dates of May 12 and May 14, 2025. The ticketing site will notify qualified buyers via email over the next two weeks. They will not have to fill out a claim to receive the payment.
According to an injunction (4) filed in the Southern District of New York, StubHub is also required to launch a website with settlement information, and maintain a customer service line and email for questions.
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People whose ticket price did not disclose the full, final price will receive a full refund of the site's mandatory fees. Others who bought a ticket in that time frame will receive a prorated refund of the fees. The exact amounts of the refunds will depend on the number of people who qualify for the two groups.
Refunds will be issued within 90 days.
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In the shadow of Ticketmaster
StubHub's settlement with the FTC comes just weeks after Ticketmaster reached a $280 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over antitrust laws. Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, as part of that agreement, said it would cap service fees at owned venues at 15% and allow competitors to sell tickets at its venues (5).
The $280 million is a fine and there has been no talk, so far, of any customer refunds.
While the federal government has settled its case, 34 states are continuing their antitrust trial (6) against Live Nation-Ticketmaster, alleging a monopoly on live events. That case is currently in the hands of the jury (7), which did not reach a verdict in its first day of deliberations on April 10.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Bloomberg (1); Federal Trade Commission (2),(3),(4); New York Times (5); Ohio Capital Journal (6); The Associated Press (7)
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Chris Morris is a veteran journalist with more than 35 years of experience, the majority of which were spent with some of the Internet’s biggest sites, including CNNMoney.com, where he was director of content development, and Yahoo! Finance, where he was managing editor. His work has also appeared on Fortune, Fast Company, Inc., CNBC.com, AARP, Nasdaq.com, and Voice of America, as well as dozens of other national publications.
