Eventim Austria prevails in legal dispute over fees

The Austrian Supreme Court has issued a final ruling in a legal dispute over the service fees charged by Eventim Austria’s ticketing platform, oeticket.

A judge found that the clauses used by oeticket are transparent and not grossly discriminatory, and the charging of the service fee is, therefore, permissible. Clauses that provide for the non-refund of the service fee – for example, in the event of a cancellation – are also allowed.

“Service fees enable the high-quality offering for the cultural and event scene, for which more than 150 Eventim Austria employees in Austria work every day,” says Christoph Klingler, CEO of Eventim Austria. “With transparently disclosed service fees, oeticket can contribute to the diversity of the Austrian event landscape and offer first-class service for event organisers and visitors.”

“Service fees enable the high-quality offering for the cultural and event scene”

The legal dispute dates back to 2023, when The Association for Consumer Information (VKI) sued CTS Eventim Austria on behalf of the Ministry of Social Affairs due to various clauses in the contract terms.

The Commercial Court of Vienna declared the contested regulations regarding the service fee inadmissible, and the Higher Regional Court of Vienna (OLG) also considered the provisions to be non-transparent and disadvantageous.

The Austrian Supreme Court, however, has now overturned the rulings of the lower courts.

The Ministry of Social Affairs previously took Eventim Austria to court in 2017 over the fees it levied on print-at-home tickets.

Last week, CTS Eventim lodged an appeal after a German court ruled the pan-European giant breached the Digital Services Act with its methods of offering ticket insurance during the ordering process.

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