Yelp Ends Integration With Secondary Ticketer After NIVA Calls For End To ‘Deceptive Ticket Practices’

After the National Independent Venue Association publicly called on Yelp to stop “empowering the sale of fake and price-gouged tickets” via a relationship with a secondary ticketer, the company swiftly ended the integration

In a letter to Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman that went public at midnight Eastern Aug. 28, NIVA executive director Stephen Parker wrote “predatory ticket resellers” are “deceiving Yelp users.”

“Your site redirects users from purchasing legitimate tickets at face value from small businesses and nonprofits, instead sending them to a Yelp-branded TicketNetwork website that is price gouging and selling fake tickets,” Parker wrote. “These deceptive practices are to consumers’, artists’ and concert venues’ detriment, but we know you can stop these practices. While our outreach has gone unanswered, we stand ready to dialogue to fix it.”

Roughly two hours after the letter went live on Pollstar and other media, Yelp issued a statement that it was ending the integration.

“For 20 years, Yelp’s mission has been to connect people with great local businesses, including independent venues. We thank NIVA for bringing their concerns about TicketNetwork to our attention, and have taken immediate steps to turn off that integration,” a Yelp spokesperson told Pollstar.

In a statement, TicketNetwork said it is “unfortunate to see the consumers on Yelp’s platform lose access to a free and independent marketplace hosting resale tickets to events across the globe.”

The statement went on to tie NIVA’s efforts to Live Nation and its ongoing antitrust lawsuit, accusing NIVA of being an “astroturf” group.

“The extremely biased letter from the so-called ‘independent’ organization … regurgitates talking points generated by a company currently being sued as an illegal monopoly by the Department of Justice and Attorneys General representing more than 296 million Americans,” the statement begins. “They are a desperate attempt to distract consumers and lawmakers from the real causes of wildly surging prices for live events – centralized, coordinated control by a handful of major players working together to squash consumer choice.

“Independent marketplaces regularly feature tickets offered at far less than the original sold price from the box office, saving consumers millions of dollars every year. Despite a coordinated industry effort to paint any platform not subject to direct artist management or promoter control as offering ‘fake’ or ‘counterfeit’ tickets, marketplaces like TicketNetwork guarantee that consumers will receive the tickets purchased, a suitable replacement (subject to buyer approval), or a full refund.

“NIVA and other industry astroturfing efforts are pushing for legislation designed to enhance Live Nation Entertainment’s allegedly monopolistic dominance of ticketing by extending it to ticket resale. TicketNetwork, joined by other independent marketplaces and numerous consumer advocacy groups urge support for true reform in ticketing, either isolated to true ‘all-in’ price transparency TICKET Act as passed by the House of Representatives, or via the comprehensive reforms promised by the BOSS and SWIFT Act championed by the late Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey.”

In his letter, Parker wrote that promoters, venues and festivals discovered Yelp placed a button that redirects to TicketNetwork on their profile pages.

“They are selling resale ‘tickets’ on Yelp that, in many cases, do not actually exist
or are marked up two to four times the price of face value tickets that are often still available from the venue,” he wrote.

The letter includes screenshotted examples: tickets for events with incorrect day and times; tickets for shows that do not exist or have been canceled; marked-up tickets — sometimes as much as 15 times — for shows that have tickets available through the venue or the primary tickets; and tickets that appear to speculative.

As a secondary matter, Parker says the event listings on Yelp are often incorrect.

“We call on your company to immediately remove all ‘ticket’ links to Yelp’s and TicketNetwork’s predatory resale sites from the Yelp profiles of independent venues, festivals, and promoters. By doing so, you will not only restore the confidence of your users and shareholders, but also demonstrate Yelp’s commitment to ethical business practices and the well-being of the communities you serve,” Parker wrote.