Viagogo

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viagogo AG
legal form Corporation
founding 2006
Seat Geneva , SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland 
management Eric Baker
Branch Ticket sales
Website www.viagogo.de

Viagogo is an intermediary and ticket agent criticized for its business practices, with headquarters in Geneva , a subsidiary in London and further offices in over 50 countries. The company has been repeatedly convicted by courts and banned by government agencies.

history

Viagogo was founded in London in 2006 by Eric Baker, who was also co-founder of StubHub , a platform for the distribution of tickets. In 2012 Viagogo moved its headquarters to Geneva.

The founding goal was to create a marketplace for reselling and buying tickets for events. At the beginning of the platform there was a partnership with Chelsea FC and Manchester United , "to enable ticket holders to resell tickets if they could not go to the game themselves". Manchester United ended its collaboration with Viagogo in 2011. On November 25, 2019, it was announced that eBay is selling StubHub to Viagogo for € 3.68 billion. In a February 21, 2020 CNBC interview, Eric Baker said that of the $ 4.05 billion purchase price, approximately $ 2 billion was financed through loans.

criticism

Viagogo is criticized and sued by consumer protection organizations and organizers.

Prominent artists publicly opposed Viagogo and criticized its business practices, in particular the early buying up of large quantities of tickets and the later resale at highly overpriced prices (with a surcharge of more than 100%, up to 4 times the price), with some tickets unsold and thus Seats remained empty. The Swiss comedian Emil Steinberger speaks of “fraud that is at my expense and at the expense of the fans” and appeals not to buy tickets from such “ticket service traders”. Also Rammstein and Ed Sheeran warned against buying tickets on Viagogo.

The design of Viagogo's internet sales platform is also criticized, as there is often a simulated scarcity of tickets and the pressure to buy them quickly, as otherwise the tickets would no longer be available. Viagogo also acts like an official ticket sales portal, but in many cases it is a ticket exchange that only sells tickets and therefore does not itself offer any guarantee.

In August 2013 Bayer 04 Leverkusen obtained an injunction against Viagogo. As a result, "the court forbade the sale of tickets for Bayer 04 Leverkusen football matches on the Viagogo online ticket exchange before day tickets for these games are offered for sale at Bayer 04 Leverkusen or third parties authorized by Bayer 04." In addition, Viagogo must not give the impression of a partnership with Bayer Leverkusen. Schalke 04 had previously terminated its contract with Viagogo without notice . The DFB also announced that it would examine legal steps against the company.

Viagogo sold tickets for Ed Sheeran's 2019 tour of Germany , sold tickets at alleged original prices much more expensive and tricked customers with fake tickets. Since the company had previously been prohibited from doing so by the Hamburg Regional Court, Viagogo had to pay a fine of 10,000 euros. In December 2019, Viagogo ticket holders were denied entry to a Helene Fischer show . Even at concerts by Rammstein and Ed Sheeran, visitors were refused entry because they had bought tickets at Viagogo, but Viagogo was not authorized to do so.

In May 2020 the Competition Protection Association Austria and has to litigation Commerce of Upper Austria the Austrian Supreme Court , ruled that Viagogo disclose future the buyer the name of the ticket seller needs and also what type of tickets is, so if it for example around is a personalized ticket.

In May 2020, the Vienna Higher Regional Court declared 42 clauses of the Viagogo General Terms and Conditions to be illegal in the second instance - not legally binding .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Mark Sweney: Clubs launch ticket resale site . In: The Guardian . August 18, 2006, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed March 30, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Mark King: Why can't we sell unused Manchester United season tickets any more? In: The Guardian . September 9, 2011, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed March 30, 2020]).
  3. ↑ heise online: Ebay sells Stubhub to Viagogo - for four billion dollars. Retrieved March 30, 2020 .
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VDaN617z_Y
  5. ↑ a b Viagogo online ticket exchange: high risk and high prices. Consumer advice center NRW, May 29, 2019
  6. ↑ a b Tickethaie: The gray ticket market is flourishing undisturbed. In: Balance , May 11, 2016
  7. ↑ a b c Viagogo sells tickets that don't exist - This is how the ticket exchange puts potential customers under time pressure. (PDF) In: K-Tipp , January 30, 2019, p. 6
  8. ↑ a b Zoff about Ed Sheeran tickets: Viagogo has to pay a lot. March 10, 2020, accessed on March 30, 2020 (German).
  9. ↑ Watch out! Don't take part! on the Stans laughs website , May 25, 2016, accessed April 11, 2020
  10. ↑ a b Viagogo trouble again! No admission to Helene Fischer. December 17, 2019, accessed on March 30, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ Bayer takes action against Viagogo. In: RP Online. August 6, 2013, accessed October 12, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Supreme Court judgment: ticket platform viagogo has to reveal names of the sellers. In: Kurier , May 6, 2020.
  13. ↑ OLG-Urtreil: Verdict confirmed: Viagogo has to refund the ticket price In: Kurier , May 13, 2020.