Court confirms: Eventim influences customers when selling tickets
The ticket provider Eventim uses "dark patterns" when taking out ticket insurance. In doing so, it influences customers in an unauthorised manner.
Eventim.de uses unauthorised tactics to persuade its customers to take out ticket insurance. This was the conclusion reached by the Higher Regional Court in Bamberg, Franconia. The court partially upheld a complaint by the German consumer advice centre and deemed the repeated, intrusive advertising of the insurance company to be undue influence.
Source: Verbraucherzentrale.de
If you want to buy tickets for events online at Eventim, you will be offered ticket insurance in the same breath - for a fee, of course. This is highlighted in colour and positioned in such a way that you could initially perceive it as mandatory. And if you decide not to take out ticket insurance, you cannot simply initiate the payment process. A pop-up window will appear and urge you to take out insurance again.
You can only continue with the purchase once you have clicked on the "I bear the full risk" button. This procedure should now be over.
The court writes that this scam deliberately creates uncertainty and fear of financial loss. This violates the European Digital Service Act (DSA) and German competition law. It influences customers and drives them to make purchasing decisions that they would not otherwise have made. This corresponds to the prohibited "dark patterns".
Eventim takes a different view: insurance is an optional but legitimate offer and the pop-up is merely a reminder. The judgement is not yet final; Eventim can still appeal to the next higher instance - the Federal Court of Justice.
What about Ticketcorner and co.
From a Swiss perspective, this is interesting in that the Swiss ticket retailer Ticketcorner is 50 per cent owned by CTS Eventim AG (the other 50 per cent belongs to Ringier Verlag). The pop-up also appears there - and what's more: the ticket insurance for 5.90 francs is automatically activated. Only those who actively uncheck the box waive the insurance and do not have to pay the fee. It remains to be seen whether the court ruling in Germany will also change things in Switzerland.
Source: Florian Bodoky
Header image: Shutterstock
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I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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