Frustrated buying event tickets online? Relief may be coming soon

Marlon Banks said he recently tried to buy playoff basketball tickets for him and his son. He got excited when he found a pair of tickets to a Knicks game for $400, but said he had to back off when surprise service fees raised the total price to $590.

“I was like $590? This is crazy,” Banks said. “It’s definitely unfair and I feel like it happens a lot.”

The end may be near for all those annoying hidden fees and deceptive online ticketing practices. This week the House passed the Transparency in Charges for Key Events Ticketing Act, which adds a slew of consumer protections in the online ticketing industry.

The TICKET Act requires the total price of an event ticket to be displayed upfront, guarantees refunds for event cancellations and postponements, and bans the sale of a ticket that a seller doesn’t actually own, a practice known as speculative ticketing.

National Independent Venue Association Executive Director Stephen Parker said the ticketing industry has been “an unregulated space” for too long.

“There are customers and fans who go on websites, buy tickets they think are real, then they get to the gate and their ticket either hasn’t been delivered to them or doesn’t work. That’s a problem,” Parker said. “If you don’t own a ticket, you shouldn’t be able to sell it.”

Consumer advocates praised the TICKET Act and are pushing the Senate to approve a similar piece of legislation. Attorney General Andrea Campbell said in December she wanted to ban the practice of hidden fees in Massachusetts. Campbell proposed state regulations similar to what the Federal Trade Commission proposed in October.

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