Ticketmaster and StubHub Must Now Display Upfront Prices for Concert Tickets

The largest concert ticket services, including StubHub and Ticketmaster, will include fees in default prices in compliance with new federal rules, according to Monday announcements.

Concert ticket fees aren't going away, but at least they'll now be visible from the get-go. Ticketmaster announced Monday that shoppers will see "all-in" pricing going forward, including the service fee (but not local taxes or delivery fees, if they apply). A pop-up on Ticketmaster event pages confirms, "We're all in."

The reason for the sudden change: A new Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, rule just went into effect targeting hidden fees for live-event ticketing, as well as hotel and short-term rental lodging. The purpose, per the FTC, is to eliminate "bait-and-switch pricing" by which consumers are told the price is one amount, only for additional charges to show up late in the checkout process.

Consumer advocates say this rule is about addressing longstanding consumer frustrations with hidden fees. Service and fulfillment fees can add 25% or more to the cost of the ticket, but most ticket sites used to default to showing the fees only upon checking out. Customers would think they'd found a decent ticket option to discover later additional charges that raise the price significantly.

Even though some ticket companies resisted making these changes for years, the industry is generally cheering the synchronized switch to all-in pricing, which ensures that ticket companies are playing by the same rules.

FTC junk fee rule targets live events, short-term lodging

The FTC junk fee ban includes several key rules:

• "A business must display the total price more prominently than other pricing information."
• Companies must "disclose excluded charges before asking for payment."
• The rules advise to "avoid vague phrases" including "convenience fees," "service fees" and "processing fees."

Several companies appeared to adjust their policies ahead of the change, which was approved in December but became effective Monday. Airbnb, for example, now displays a price that includes cleaning and service fees by default.

In a reply to a customer on X Monday evening, StubHub wrote that its "teams are actively working on the update now across all of our platforms to ensure the total price, with fees, is displayed in search results." By Tuesday, StubHub had implemented this change.

On Monday, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats announced that they, too, are now using all-inclusive pricing models.

Other ticketing platforms like TickPick were already offering tickets with upfront prices displayed before checkout. With all the major companies now displaying total prices, it should be easier for fans to quickly compare options on different ticket sites.

SeatGeek confirmed in its announcement that the change was done to be "in line" with the FTC guidelines.

"Fans deserve pricing that’s clear from the start," SeatGeek Co-Founder and CEO Jack Groetzinger said in a release. "We’re proud to roll this out across our platform and encouraged to see the industry move in this direction."

Lawmakers say they're not done pushing for price transparency. New York State Senator James Skoufis, a Democrat who has championed legislation to stop anti-consumer ticketing practices at the state level, told Money that these recent announcements from ticket companies are too little too late.

"I'll be watching with a healthy dose of skepticism that when they say 'all-in' they actually mean all-in. That ALL fees will appear — not just as a toggle option — but as the default setting prior to a single click made on a seat," he wrote in a email. "There are those in this space who want to protect consumers and those who want to make money, and I've found the latter camp's definition of all-in pricing is a far-cry from actual all-in pricing."

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