StubHub Refunds $10M, Overhauls Pricing After FTC Deal

0:00It's April 13th. This is Tampa Bay News today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Cory with the story. Stubhub just inked a deal with the Federal Trade Commission to cough up $10 million in refunds to ticket buyers and totally overhaul how it. Shows prices online. The FTC hit them for hiding mandatory fees during ticket sales, making folks think they were paying less than the real total. This all went down over 3 days from May 12th to 14th, 2025, right when the NFL dropped its schedule and demand. Spiked. That's when Stubhub listings showed base prices without clearly flagging the full cost upfront, breaking the agency's new fees rule that kicked in. That same month, fans and buyers got burned, but the FTC's pushing hard for transparency, so no one gets surprised at checkout. A company rep says they don't agree with the charges, but are refunding fees anyway to settle things quick, covering just that short window of sales.

1:00Now, eligible buyers from those days get cashed back, either full fee refunds if their price wasn't clear, or partial for everyone else. Plus, Stubhub can't misrepresent prices, fees, or refund rules anymore, and they've got to make total cost pop on the site. All this ramps up from last year's Trump Executive Order cracking down on shady ticketing practices to keep live events accessible without the hidden gouges, and the deals headed to court for final approval.