Vermont committee weighs consumer protections for ticket resellers as H.512 is drafted

The Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development heard May 27 from Christopher Curtis, Assistant Attorney General and director of the Attorney General’s Office Consumer Assistance Program (CAP), about recurring consumer complaints tied to ticket resellers and questions for a short-form bill, H.512.

Curtis told the committee that ticket reselling is legal in Vermont but that the Consumer Assistance Program has recorded consumer reports raising deceptive or unfair practices: “since 2019 … it looks like we've had about 34 consumer reports of unfair or deceptive ticket reselling,” he said. He described common problems as sellers that can appear to be a venue box office, high markups, preselling practices and transactions involving automated purchases (bots).

The committee heard that CAP already has enforcement authority under Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act and that a regulatory statute could create clearer rules of the road for resellers. “If you violate these, not only is a violation of the statute,…