4 ms·
I wonder if the FTC would be interested in this. Section 5 of the FTC Act lets the agency regulate deceptive marketing practices. The FTC's test for deception h
by chasb 9y ago
I wonder if the FTC would be interested in this. Section 5 of the FTC Act lets the agency regulate deceptive marketing practices. The FTC's test for deception has three requirements:
1. There must be a representation, omission, or
practice that misleads or is likely to mislead the
consumer.
2. The act or practice must be considered from the
perspective of the reasonable consumer.
3. The representation, omission, or practice must
be material.
The post suggests StubHub is making very specific misrepresentations about specific ticket rights; the tactic here would deceive a reasonable consumer; and the misrepresentation is made to induce the sale.
- dawnerd 9y agoI think they key is that they're pulling ticket that are actually sold out: > When you load a page they get a list of tickets that have already sold I'm sure they could argue that since they are real tickets are actually sold out then they're not actually being deceptive. I really hate these dark patterns - been getting worse and worse on travel sites.
- chasb 9y agoPossibly, but here StubHub would have to explain why they displayed it as unsold with a delay, and why the FTC should not consider that deceptive. If the ticket was already sold, why the delay? A reasonable consumer think that specific ticket had just been sold at that moment, which sounds like a material misrepresentation.
- dawnerd 9y agoTotally agree with you. Unfortunately, I don't have faith the FTC would side with consumers on this. Now, if Stubhub advertised the ticket as being available on a prior page knowing it was sold out...
- diggernet 9y agoIt was displayed as being available for a few seconds before it changed to sold...
- SilasX 9y agoYou forgot: 4. The FTC must give a darn to the point that it actually wants to spend money prosecuting.