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, but it's a violation of the Consumer Protection Act,” Curtis said, noting civil penalties can be substantial: “it's up to $10,000 per violation.”

Why it matters: committee members were urged to weigh consumer confusion and venue impacts against a functioning resale market. Curtis said venues sometimes still have tickets at far lower face value than consumers paid through resellers and that preselling — where a reseller accepts payment before actually owning the tickets — can leave buyers without seats if a later purchase fails.

Key details provided to the committee included: - Volume and enforcement: CAP receives roughly 8,000–12,000 consumer calls annually across all topics; ticket-resale reports are a small share but can involve substantial individual losses. - Complaints and market actors: CAP staff identified about a dozen resale companies that operate in Vermont, with a mix of large, established platforms and smaller niche sellers; about 34 complaints since 2019 involved roughly a dozen different companies. - Preselling and ownership: Curtis flagged proposed language in other states (he referenced a California bill, “b 13 49,” as an example) that would require a reseller to own tickets before reselling them to consumers. - Automated purchases (bots): Vermont already has a law intended to prevent bulk automated purchases of tickets; Curtis said enforcement is difficult without venue or consumer reports that show who is using bots and where tickets are being diverted. - Jurisdictional limits: Curtis warned that out-of-state actors and platforms create jurisdictional questions, especially where purchases, sellers and venues are based outside Vermont.

Committee members asked practical questions about enforcement and marketplace fixes. One committee member noted the need for testimony from venues and resellers; Curtis recommended the committee hear from both sides before drafting prescriptive rules. An attendee who identified himself as an IT professional suggested exploring targeted online alerts (for example, advertising or popup notices) to warn consumers when they visit known fraudulent sites; Curtis said it was an “interesting idea” but outside his lane and flagged privacy and technical considerations.

No formal motion or vote was taken on H.512 at the session. Curtis urged the committee to consult with venues, legitimate resale platforms and committee staff to determine whether statutory clarifications — for example, owner-before-resale, disclosure requirements about seller identity, or limits on deceptive urgency claims — should be added to a draft.

The committee also heard that CAP routinely collaborates with venues, the office's Small Business Advocate and other partners on prevention and education and that venues can play a role in identifying suspicious resale activity.

What's next: the committee did not adopt any statutory language during the session; members were advised to collect more testimony and for committee staff to review out‑of‑state proposals before considering regulatory or disclosure requirements for resale platforms.