Google is giving a subtle but potentially quite effective middle finger to ticket scammers. Starting in January 2018, secondary ticketing market businesses will be required to get certified before using its AdWords service. In a statement, Google confirmed that secondary ticketing providers will also be required to post both the face value and the reseller's price starting in March.
"To be certified, resellers can't imply that they are the primary or original provider of event tickets and must disclose to customers that they are a reseller," Google announced Thursday. "Resellers must also tell customers that prices may be higher than the face value (the price offered by the primary provider). Prices must be broken down to show the values of included fees and taxes during checkout and before the customer provides payment information."
The move, of course, has no impact on major ticket providers like Ticketmaster. Sites like StubHub, Get Me In, and Viagogo, however, will be required to comply with Google's new rules. According to Billboard, Google will also deny certification to resellers using the artist's name or anything else official-esque in its URL. The changes are mainly aimed at sites that offer fraudulent tickets using Google's search results placement service.
In an effort to fuck up the scalper business model, Live Nation and Ticketmaster recently launched the Verified Fan feature. Ahead of tickets for an event going live, fans can register their contact information—which is checked for authenticity—and then receive a unique that provides access to ticket sales. The Verified Fan feature reduced secondary market scalping by 90 percent for participating artists, according to a Vulturereport from earlier this year.
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