Deceptive Patterns
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Ticketmaster: High fees added at final step

Author
Dark Patterns Tip Line
Date
12 Nov 2022

“Ticketmaster is perhaps the prime example of this – you probably have gotten multiple submissions. They add high fees that aren’t revealed until the final step before “Complete purchase”. It costs more than my budgeted amount for tickets frequently when I purchase tickets via Ticketmaster. A friend of mine once was going to buy a ticket, only to discover that the Ticketmaster fees were more than the cost of the ticket itself – he did not purchase the ticket. You can recreate the experience by purchasing any ticket via Ticketmaster. Photo sourced from: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/opiq9b/8178_in_fees_for_two_concert_tickets_but_dont/”

Ticketmaster was reported to the Deceptive Design Tip Line over fees that are not revealed until late in the purchase. According to the report, high fees are added that are not shown until the final step before “Complete purchase”, frequently pushing the total above the budgeted amount. The reporter recounted a friend who went to buy a ticket only to find that the Ticketmaster fees came to more than the cost of the ticket itself, and so did not complete the purchase.