How the New FTC Hidden Service Fees Rule Affects Your Venue (Dec 2024)

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a major new rule targeting hidden fees (sometimes referred to as "junk fees") in the event ticketing industry.

This rule requires all ticketing platforms to display the total price, including all mandatory fees, upfront when advertising or displaying ticket prices. This change aims to eliminate surprise charges and make ticket shopping more transparent for consumers.

What This Rule Means for Your Venue

As a venue operator, you are now required to:

• Display the total price, including all mandatory fees, whenever you advertise or show ticket prices
• Ensure the all-in price is the most prominent pricing information in your advertisements
• Clearly disclose any additional optional fees (like shipping) before collecting payment information
• Maintain transparent pricing across all your marketing channels and ticket listings

This applies to all your promotional materials, website listings, and any third-party advertising platforms you use to promote your events.

Penalties For Violating the Junk Fees Rule

Non-compliance with this FTC rule carries serious financial consequences. Venues can face penalties of up to $51,744 per violation. With multiple events and listings across various platforms, these fines could quickly become substantial. A single non-compliant marketing campaign across multiple channels could result in multiple violations, potentially leading to debilitating financial impact for your venue.

Photo By: Kaboompics.com

When does the FTC's Junk Fee Rule take effect?

The new rule will take effect 120 after it is published in the Federal Register.

At the time of this posting (Dec 23, 2024), the rule has not yet been published to the Federal Register. It likely will be published in the coming days or weeks, meaning the rule will take effect some time in April or May 2025.

How CrowdWork is Protecting Your Business

CrowdWork (formerly Fourth Wall Tickets) understands that compliance with new regulations can be challenging. We also know that you're busy managing shows, performers, patrons and everything else.

That's why CrowdWork is here to help.

CrowdWork already has features to ensure your ticket listings meet the FTC requirements:

• Options to enable displaying "all-in pricing" to show the total price including mandatory fees
• Our reporting systems clearly break down fees while maintaining prominent total price displays
• Our support team is on stand-by to help assist as needed

REMEMBER: This rule does not only apply to platform fees or credit card fees. ALL fees must be included in the advertised amount. If your venue charges an service fee or convenience fee or anything else, no matter how small, it must be included as well.

Note that while CrowdWork is doing everything we can to help you become compliant, your business may have practices that fall outside of the CrowdWork platform. This post is not legal advice or a guarantee, and you should consult with an attorney in your area to make sure that you are in compliance.

If you're managing your venue's ticketing through another platform, you should contact them immediately to make sure you are compliant.

Interested in using CrowdWork?

Contact us today and our platform migration specialists can get your venue up and running. If you have questions, let's chat on a demo!

Want to learn more about how we can help your venue? Contact our venue support team hello@crowdwork.com

This post is not legal advice, and you should contact a lawyer in your jurisdiction to make sure that all your practices are compliant with any applicable laws and regulations.