II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2957 

To protect consumers from unfair and deceptive acts and practices in 

connection with primary and secondary ticket sales, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2023 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. HIRONO, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To protect consumers from unfair and deceptive acts and 

practices in connection with primary and secondary ticket 

sales, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Better Oversight of 

5 Stub Sales and Strengthening Well Informed and Fair 

6 Transactions for Audiences of Concert Ticketing Act of 

7 2023’’ or the ‘‘BOSS and SWIFT ACT of 2023’’. 

8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ANCILLARY CHARGE.—The term ‘‘ancillary 

2 charge’’— 

3 (A) means any fee that must be paid in 

4 order to secure a ticket from a primary ticket 

5 seller or secondary ticket sales marketplace, in6 cluding a service fee, convenience charge, deliv7 ery and logistics fee, and any other mandatory 

8 charge; and 

9 (B) does not include taxes. 

10 (2) BASE PRICE.—The term ‘‘base price’’ 

11 means the price charged for a ticket other than any 

12 ancillary charge and tax. 

13 (3) BOX OFFICE.—The term ‘‘box office’’ 

14 means a physical location where tickets are offered 

15 for primary sale. 

16 (4) BUNDLED SERIES TICKETS.—The term 

17 ‘‘bundled series tickets’’ means a package of tickets 

18 for multiple events that are part of the same enter19 tainment series. 

20 (5) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

21 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

22 (6) DOMAIN NAME.—The term ‘‘domain name’’ 

23 means a globally unique, hierarchical reference to an 

24 internet host or service, which is assigned through 

25 centralized internet naming authorities, and which is 


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1 comprised of a series of character strings separated 

2 by periods, with the right most string specifying the 

3 top of the hierarchy. 

4 (7) PRIMARY SALE.—The term ‘‘primary sale’’ 

5 means, with regards to a ticket, the initial sale of a 

6 ticket. 

7 (8) PRIMARY TICKET SELLER.—The term ‘‘pri8 mary ticket seller’’ means an owner or operator of 

9 a venue or a sports team, a manager or provider of 

10 an event, or a provider of ticketing services (or an 

11 agent of such owner, operator, manager, or provider) 

12 that engages in the primary sale of tickets for an 

13 event. 

14 (9) PURCHASER.—The term ‘‘purchaser’’ 

15 means any person who purchases a ticket from a 

16 primary ticket seller or a secondary ticket seller, or 

17 on a secondary ticket sales marketplace. 

18 (10) RESALE; SECONDARY SALE.—The terms 

19 ‘‘resale’’ or ‘‘secondary sale’’ means, with regards to 

20 a ticket, any sale of a ticket that is not a primary 

21 sale. 

22 (11) SECONDARY TICKET SALES MARKET23 PLACE.—The term ‘‘secondary ticket sales market24 place’’ means a business, including a primary ticket 

25 seller, that operates or provides a website, software 


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1 application for a mobile device, or any other digital 

2 platform, whose purpose is to resell or facilitate the 

3 resale of tickets to purchasers. 

4 (12) SECONDARY TICKET SELLER.—The term 

5 ‘‘secondary ticket seller’’ means an individual, group 

6 of individuals, or company, including a primary tick7 et seller, who engages in the resale or secondary sale 

8 of tickets. 

9 (13) TICKET.—The term ‘‘ticket’’ means a 

10 printed, electronic, or other type of evidence of the 

11 right for admission to a sporting event, theater, mu12 sical performance, or place of public amusement of 

13 any kind, including bundled series tickets. 

14 (14) TOTAL COST OF THE TICKET.—The term 

15 ‘‘total cost of the ticket’’ means the base price of the 

16 ticket and any ancillary charge. 

17 (15) URL.—The term ‘‘URL’’ means the uni18 form resource locator for an internet website. 

19 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY OF MARKETING, DISTRIBUTION, 

20 AND PRICING BY TICKET SELLERS. 

21 A primary ticket seller, secondary ticket seller, and 

22 secondary ticket sales marketplace shall do the following: 

23 (1) Disclose clearly and conspicuously the total 

24 cost of the ticket, from the first time a ticket price 

25 is displayed and anytime thereafter. 


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1 (2) Provide the purchaser before purchase an 

2 option to view the base price of the ticket with any 

3 ancillary charge and tax itemized. 

4 (3) Display the total cost of the ticket in any 

5 price quote and advertisement that includes the tick6 et price. 

7 (4) Not change the total cost of the ticket dur8 ing the purchase process unless there is a clear and 

9 conspicuous notice that the total cost of the ticket 

10 has changed. 

11 (5) If a ticket is not delivered (except for a case 

12 in which there is nondelivery due to a cause beyond 

13 reasonable control of the seller, including a natural 

14 disaster, civil disturbance, or otherwise unforeseeable 

15 impediment) provide the purchaser, at the option of 

16 the purchaser, at minimum— 

17 (A) a full refund for the total cost of the 

18 ticket and any tax; or 

19 (B) subject to availability, a replacement 

20 ticket in a comparable or upgraded location. 

21 (6) Disclose clearly and conspicuously whether 

22 any given ticket is being offered as a primary sale 

23 or secondary sale. 

24 (7) Disclose clearly and conspicuously the guar25 antee or refund policy, including whether any ancilVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Sep 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2957.IS S2957

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1 lary charge and tax will be refunded to the pur2 chaser, before the completion of the sale of a ticket. 

3 (8) Prohibit the design, modification, or manip4 ulation of a user interface with the purpose or sub5 stantial effect of obscuring, subverting, or impairing 

6 user autonomy, decision making, or choice. 

7 (9) Not knowingly sell a ticket for the same 

8 seat to more than one person. 

9 (10) Report to the Commission any actual or 

10 constructive knowledge of activity that may be in 

11 violation of the BOTS Act of 2016 (15 U.S.C. 45c; 

12 Public Law 114–274). 

13 SEC. 4. PRIMARY TICKET SELLER REQUIREMENTS. 

14 A primary ticket seller shall do the following: 

15 (1) Disclose clearly and conspicuously on the 

16 website of the seller and at the box office of the 

17 venue where the event will be held, the total number 

18 and total cost of tickets that will be offered for sale 

19 to the general public by the seller not less than 7 

20 days before the date on which tickets are made 

21 available for primary sale. 

22 (2) Not restrict or hinder the ability of a pur23 chaser who has purchased a ticket from a primary 

24 ticket seller from— 


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1 (A) reselling any such ticket independently 

2 of the primary ticket seller or any secondary 

3 ticket sales marketplace owned or affiliated 

4 with the primary ticket seller; and 

5 (B) reselling such ticket on the secondary 

6 ticket sales marketplace the purchaser chooses. 

7 (3) Not require a minimum or maximum price 

8 for the resale of any ticket purchased from a pri9 mary ticket seller. 

10 (4) Not sanction or deny a purchaser admission 

11 to an event, deny rights to bundled series tickets or 

12 the renewal thereof, or otherwise discriminate 

13 against a purchaser on the basis that the purchaser 

14 resold a ticket, gifted a ticket, or purchased a resold 

15 ticket. 

16 SEC. 5. SECONDARY TICKET SELLER AND SECONDARY 

17 TICKET SALES MARKETPLACE REQUIRE18 MENTS. 

19 A secondary ticket seller or secondary ticket sales 

20 marketplace shall comply with the following requirements: 

21 (1) If a secondary ticket seller does not control 

22 the ticket at the time the ticket is offered for sale— 

23 (A) the secondary ticket seller shall provide 

24 a clear and conspicuous statement on the initial 

25 ticket listing that the secondary ticket seller 


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1 does not control the ticket and cannot guar2 antee that the seller will be able to obtain the 

3 ticket; and 

4 (B) the secondary ticket sales marketplace 

5 shall implement and maintain a mechanism on 

6 the platform of the marketplace to clearly and 

7 conspicuously display the statement required in 

8 subparagraph (A). 

9 (2) A secondary ticket sales marketplace shall 

10 provide a clear and conspicuous explanation of how 

11 to obtain a refund of the total cost of the ticket and 

12 any tax if the purchaser receives a ticket that does 

13 not match the description of the ticket provided by 

14 the secondary ticket seller. 

15 (3) A secondary ticket sales marketplace shall 

16 disclose clearly and conspicuously to a purchaser 

17 when the secondary ticket sales marketplace is also 

18 the primary ticket seller for a venue, team, or artist 

19 associated with the event. 

20 (4) A secondary ticket sales marketplace shall 

21 disclose clearly and conspicuously upon offering a 

22 ticket for resale— 

23 (A) the delivery method and the delivery 

24 timing; and 


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1 (B) the precise section and row of the seat 

2 or space to which the ticket would entitle the 

3 bearer, or, if information about the precise sec4 tion and row of the seat or space is not avail5 able, descriptive information about the location 

6 of the seat or space, such as a description of a 

7 section or other area within the venue where 

8 the seat or space is located. 

9 (5) A secondary ticket sales marketplace— 

10 (A) shall provide a clear and conspicuous 

11 statement, before a visitor creates an account 

12 with the secondary ticket sales marketplace or 

13 selects a ticket, that the marketplace is engaged 

14 in the secondary sale of tickets and is not affili15 ated or endorsed by a venue, team, or artist, as 

16 the case may be, unless the marketplace has the 

17 express written consent of the venue, team, or 

18 artist, as applicable; and 

19 (B) shall not use a domain name, or any 

20 subdomain thereof, in the URL of the market21 place that contains— 

22 (i) the name of a specific team, 

23 league, or venue where concerts, sports, or 

24 other live entertainment events are held, 


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1 unless authorized by the owner of the 

2 name; 

3 (ii) the name of the exhibition or per4 formance or of another event described in 

5 clause (i), including the name of a person, 

6 team, performance, group, or entity sched7 uled to perform at any such venue or 

8 event, unless authorized by the owner of 

9 the name; 

10 (iii) any trademark not owned by the 

11 secondary ticket sales marketplace, includ12 ing any trademark owned by an authorized 

13 agent or partner of the venue or event 

14 identified in clauses (i) and (ii); or 

15 (iv) any name substantially similar to 

16 those described in clauses (i) and (ii), in17 cluding any misspelling of any name de18 scribed in those clauses. 

19 (6) Shall not permit the unauthorized sec20 ondary sale of a ticket by an individual employee of 

21 any venue, primary ticket seller, team, artist, pro22 moter, secondary ticket sales marketplace, or box of23 fice, that is directly involved in hosting, promoting, 

24 performing in, or selling tickets if such secondary 

25 sale— 


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1 (A) is for a higher total cost than the total 

2 cost in the primary sale of the ticket; or 

3 (B) is made to any third party and the em4 ployee has actual knowledge, or knowledge fair5 ly implied on the basis of objective cir6 cumstances, that the third party intends to sell 

7 the ticket for a higher total cost than the total 

8 cost in the primary sale of the ticket. 

9 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 

10 (a) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.—A violation of 

11 sections 3, 4, or 5 of this Act, or any rule prescribed pur12 suant to this Act, is enforceable as a violation of a rule 

13 defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice prescribed 

14 under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commis15 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Commission shall 

16 enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same means, 

17 and with the same jurisdiction as though all applicable 

18 terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission 

19 Act were incorporated into and made a part of this Act. 

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the author21 ity of the Commission under any other law. 

22 (b) STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para24 graph (6), in any case in which the attorney general 

25 of a State has reason to believe that an interest of 


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1 the residents of that State has been or is threatened 

2 or adversely affected by the engagement of any per3 son in a practice that violates a rule prescribed pur4 suant to this Act, the State, as parens patriae, may 

5 bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the 

6 State in an appropriate district court of the United 

7 States or other court of competent jurisdiction to— 

8 (A) enjoin that practice; 

9 (B) enforce compliance with the rule; 

10 (C) obtain civil penalties; 

11 (D) obtain damages, restitution, or other 

12 compensation on behalf of residents of the 

13 State; and 

14 (E) obtain such other relief as the court 

15 may consider to be appropriate. 

16 (2) NOTICE.—The State shall serve written no17 tice to the Commission of any civil action under 

18 paragraph (1) at least 60 days prior to initiating 

19 such civil action. The notice shall include a copy of 

20 the complaint to be filed to initiate such civil action, 

21 except that if it is not feasible for the State to pro22 vide such prior notice, the State shall provide notice 

23 immediately upon instituting such civil action. 

24 (3) INTERVENTION BY FTC.—Upon receiving 

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1 sion may intervene in such civil action and upon in2 tervening— 

3 (A) be heard on all matters arising in such 

4 civil action; 

5 (B) remove the action to the appropriate 

6 United States district court; and 

7 (C) file petitions for appeal of a decision in 

8 such civil action. 

9 (4) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this sub10 section shall prevent the attorney general of a State 

11 from exercising the powers conferred on the attorney 

12 general by the laws of such State to conduct inves13 tigations or to administer oaths or affirmations or to 

14 compel the attendance of witnesses or the production 

15 of documentary and other evidence. Nothing in this 

16 section shall prohibit the attorney general of a State, 

17 or other authorized State officer, from proceeding in 

18 State or Federal court on the basis of an alleged vio19 lation of any civil or criminal statute of that State. 

20 (5) VENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS; JOINDER.— 

21 In a civil action brought under paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) the venue shall be a judicial district in 

23 which the defendant or a related party is found, 

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1 ever venue is proper under section 1391 of title 

2 28, United States Code; 

3 (B) process may be served without regard 

4 to the territorial limits of the district or of the 

5 State in which the civil action is instituted; and 

6 (C) a person who participated with a de7 fendant or related party in an alleged violation 

8 that is being litigated in the civil action may be 

9 joined in the civil action without regard to the 

10 residence of the person. 

11 (6) PREEMPTIVE ACTION BY FTC.—Whenever a 

12 civil action or an administrative action has been in13 stituted by or on behalf of the Commission for viola14 tion of any rule described under paragraph (1), no 

15 State may, during the pendency of such action insti16 tuted by or on behalf of the Commission, institute 

17 a civil action under paragraph (1) against any de18 fendant named in the complaint in such action for 

19 violation of any rule as alleged in such complaint. 

20 (7) AWARD OF COSTS AND FEES.—If a State 

21 prevails in any civil action under paragraph (1), the 

22 State can recover reasonable costs and attorney fees. 

23 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—Any person who 

24 suffers injury as a result of another person’s violation of 

25 a rule prescribed pursuant to section 3(1) or 4(2), may 


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1 bring a civil action against such person in a United States 

2 district court and may recover from such person damages 

3 for such injury plus $1,000 for each requirement or prohi4 bition set forth in such sections that such person violated 

5 with respect to a ticket sold to the person bringing such 

6 action, and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs. 

7 SEC. 7. NONPREEMPTION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall affect the authority of any 

9 State or local government to establish or continue in effect 

10 a provision of law of the State or local government relating 

11 to the regulation of the resale of tickets to events or the 

12 pricing of such tickets for resale, except to the extent that 

13 such provision is inconsistent with this Act or a regulation 

14 promulgated under this Act, and then only to the extent 

15 of the inconsistency. A provision of law of a State or local 

16 government is not inconsistent with this Act or a regula17 tion promulgated under this Act if such provision provides 

18 equal or greater protection to purchasers than the protec19 tion provided under this Act or such regulation. 

20 SEC. 8. FTC STUDY OF TICKET MARKET. 

21 (a) EFFECT OF BOTS ACT OF 2016.—Not later than 

22 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

23 Commission shall submit to Congress a report on the ef24 fect of the enforcement actions by the Commission since 

25 the date of the enactment of the BOTS Act of 2016 (15 


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1 U.S.C. 45c; Public Law 114–274) on the ticket market, 

2 including the following: 

3 (1) Any enforcement action taken since such 

4 date. 

5 (2) How the Commission collects evidence of 

6 potential violations of the BOTS Act of 2016. 

7 (3) Any recommendation to improve enforce8 ment of the BOTS Act of 2016, including whether 

9 additional regulations may be needed to encourage 

10 reporting by primary ticket sellers, secondary ticket 

11 sellers, and secondary ticket sales marketplaces of 

12 activity that may be in violation of the BOTS Act 

13 of 2016. 

14 (b) EFFECT OF THIS ACT.—Not later than 2 years 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commis16 sion shall submit to Congress a report on the effect of 

17 this Act on the ticket market, including the following: 

18 (1) Any enforcement action taken since such 

19 date. 

20 (2) How the Commission collects evidence of 

21 potential violations of this Act. 

22 (3) Any recommendation to improve enforce23 ment of this Act, including whether additional reguVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:10 Sep 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2957.IS S2957

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1 lations may be needed to encourage reporting of ac2 tivity that may be in violation of this Act. 

Æ 


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