Building a Better World, Together

The tide is turning against the use of “junk” fees by sellers of tickets for live events such as concerts and sporting events.

In June—under pressure from the White House—concert conglomerate Live Nation, its Ticketmaster subsidiary, and ticket reseller SeatGeek pledged to introduce “all in” pricing that will let consumers see the full price of tickets up front, fees included. Last year, New York passed the first state law requiring ticket sellers to disclose all fees and charges up front.

CR has been at the center of the fight against junk fees, so-called because they’re often not included in advertised prices and frequently surprise consumers late in the purchasing process, when it’s too late or too inconvenient to back out. They make it hard for shoppers to compare prices.

In 2018 we launched a campaign to spotlight the problem across many industries. More recently we urged federal regulators to clamp down on the worst abusers, briefed White House staff members on the issue, and endorsed the Junk Fee Prevention Act now being debated in Congress.

The National Economic Council found in 2016 that event ticketing fees were “among the larger unavoidable fees, as a percentage of price, in the consumer marketplace.” Voluntary all-in pricing by a handful of major ticket sellers is a good step toward addressing the problem, but it’s not enough. “We need oversight and enforcement to make sure there is no gaming of the system or backsliding,” says CR advocacy program director Chuck Bell.

You can help by signing our petition in support of the federal Junk Fee Prevention Act.

Buy now, pay later loans, which let you break the cost of goods and services into several payments, are now offered in almost every retail transaction, online and off. But a recent CR investigation found that some BNPL loans lack built-in protections and can put consumers at risk in ways they don’t realize. Among other issues, fees and interest rates are not always clearly disclosed and there’s often no way for consumers to dispute unfair charges. Join us in urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to put rules in place to address these and other concerns.

What’s at stake: When the lithium-ion batteries that power electric bikes are poorly made, they can cause fires that are hard to extinguish.

In just the first half of 2023 in New York City, 113 fires, 71 injuries, and 13 deaths were linked to these batteries—pointing to an urgent need to address the issue nationwide.

What CR is doing about it: December 2022, CR published an investigation on the growing number of battery fires. “‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ The Perplexing, Deadly Electric Bike Problem” highlighted regulatory challenges surrounding the batteries, including a 2016 trade law change that allows products that cost less than $800 to be imported with minimal safety oversight and without being subject to tariffs. That has enabled a flood of poorly made, inexpensive e-bikes to enter the U.S. largely uninspected.

It also said that only 13 of hundreds of e-bike manufacturers were certifying their products to UL 2849, a voluntary standard for batteries and electronics in e-bikes.

Shortly after the investigation, the Consumer Product Safety Commission sent letters to more than 2,000 manufacturers, importers, and retailers, urging compliance with the voluntary standards and warning of potential enforcement action.

CR also endorsed the Setting Consumer Standards for Lithium-Ion Batteries Act, which would require the CPSC to establish strong, mandatory safety standards for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in micromobility devices.

What you can do: Learn how to prevent an electric-bike battery fire.