Google has announced that it will impose new restrictions on ticket resale companies that attempt to scam customers by charging them higher than face value.
In the past, sites such as Viagogo and StubHub have come under fire for claiming to be “official” vendors, despite selling secondhand tickets.
Starting in March 2018, Google will require resale platforms to make it explicitly clear in the top 20 percent of their sites or apps that they are secondary sellers. Sites also cannot imply in any way that they are official sellers, such as by using “ArtistNameTickets.com” or “VenueNameTickets.com” as their URLs.
Moreover, these sites must state that their ticket prices are likely higher than face value and provide a full breakdown of prices (including taxes and other applicable fees) both
Resale sites will also have to be certified by Google before they can use its AdWords service, which allows companies to pay for higher positions in Google’s search rankings.
According to Google, the new measures are designed to “protect customers from scams and prevent potential confusion.”
Certification will begin in January.
Source: Google Via: The Guardian
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