One of the biggest ticket resale companies in the world is facing a $25,000 fine after it allegedly failed to abide by a new Ontario law that prohibits gouging customers.
The province said SeatGeek Canada was issued the fine on Aug. 28, following an inspection conducted on Aug. 5. The U.S.-based company had 15 days to appeal the penalty to Ontario’s Licence Appeal Tribunal, but chose not to do so, according to the ministry involved.
“As it did not file an appeal within that period, the company is required to pay the $25,000 within 30 days of receiving the penalty.” The province did not say which event, or events, the ticket, or tickets, were being sold for.
In a breakdown of the penalty, the province alleged that SeatGeek was fined $10,000 for failing to ensure that tickets offered for sale on the secondary market did not exceed the total price originally paid to the primary seller, and another $10,000 for failing to disclose the original total purchase price of tickets offered for resale.
The company was slapped with an additional $5,000 fine for facilitating the resale of tickets without obtaining proof of the total price originally paid to the primary seller.
CTV News has reached out to SeatGeek for comment on the fine, which was previously reported, but has not yet received a response. The company said at the time that it had warned third-party sellers on its platform about the new law, but that it was still trying to get guidance from the province around how to comply with the regulations.
In the spring, the province made it illegal for tickets to any event in Ontario to be resold for more than their original cost. The province previously scrapped a law in 2019 that would have limited resale prices at 50 per cent above face value, calling it “unenforceable” at the time. But the sky-high resale prices for Blue Jays’ 2025 World Series tickets (some of which were in the tens of thousands of dollars per ticket) and other popular events in Ontario prompted the government to revisit the issue.
SeatGeek, along with StubHub Canada, is listed on the province’s Consumer Beware list, which tracks businesses with a history of consumer complaints, charges, or convictions.
The $25,000 fine is the maximum financial penalty ticket businesses can face under the new rule. Businesses can also face fines of up to $250,000 if convicted of an offence by the courts.
