UK regulator orders StubHub to amend website

By Muvija M

(Reuters) - StubHub has been ordered to make changes to its British website after the ticket reseller was found to be misleading people about ticket availability months after Viagogo was pulled up for similar violations.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said StubHub had failed to adequately disclose that transactions may not ensure entry into an event as some venues did not honour resold tickets.

Ticket reseller Viagogo Ltd is in the process of acquiring StubHub after it agreed to buy the company from EBay Inc for $4.05 billion in November.

The CMA said StubHub has agreed to make changes to its website, failing which the watchdog will consider legal action.

"We remain in open dialogue with the CMA to address both these new asks and any remaining valid concerns about disclosure of information on our site", Wayne Grierson, Northern EMEA Regional Manager of StubHub UK said.

Grierson added that company had complied with the CMA's requests following its investigation into the online secondary ticketing sector in 2018.

The CMA also raised other concerns including StubHub's failure to ensure people know exactly where they will sit in a venue, and in taking sufficient steps to make sure that the full addresses of business sellers are displayed.

The CMA said in September that Viagogo had addressed its outstanding concerns about how it presents important information to its customers.

On Wednesday, the regulator said it was also continuing to monitor Viagogo.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Shailesh Kuber and Keith Weir)