{"coverage_note":"Five categories were searched for discrepancies on eventim.de: (1) discrepancy_pricing \u2014 no verified evidence of hidden fees or deceptive checkout pricing specific to eventim.de was found; generic industry-wide fee complaints and US regulatory actions against other platforms were returned but did not name Eventim; (2) discrepancy_availability \u2014 no verified evidence of ghost inventory, bait-and-switch availability, or seats disappearing at checkout on eventim.de was found; results were largely unrelated; (3) discrepancy_identity \u2014 a clear, court-tested finding was identified: Eventim's T&Cs position it as a mere intermediary while it collects full payment, and German courts (LG M\u00fcnchen I) plus the vzbv's active Musterfeststellungsklage confirm an unresolved split-liability structure between Eventim and event organisers; (4) discrepancy_policy \u2014 individual consumer complaints about refund denials were surfaced but no independently-verified, systematic enforcement gap between stated and actual policy was documented; and (5) discrepancy_undisclosed_constraint \u2014 general grievances about booking fees and app bugs were noted but no primary-source evidence of a material undisclosed platform constraint was identified. The identity finding is the only category with a substantiated, court-grounded discrepancy; all other categories returned no verified findings rather than no search being conducted.","human_handoff_required_for":[{"action":"Escalate to a human when a refund is required following an event cancellation or postponement on eventim.de, because the platform collects the full payment but asserts it is only liable for its own pre-sale fees \u2014 not the base ticket price \u2014 leaving the event organiser as the separate contractual counterparty for the ticket value. An agent cannot resolve the full refund through Eventim alone.","evidence":[{"description":"Eventim's own T&Cs declare the contractual relationship from ticket purchases exists exclusively between the consumer and the event organiser, positioning Eventim as a mere intermediary (Vermittler) despite collecting all funds at checkout.","reference":"https://www.eventim.de/service/agb/"},{"description":"The LG M\u00fcnchen I ruled that Eventim's blanket exclusion of pre-sale fee refunds in its T&Cs was unlawful; the vzbv's active Musterfeststellungsklage reports Eventim continued withholding fees despite the ruling, confirming the split-liability structure remains unresolved.","reference":"https://www.vzbv.de/pressemitteilungen/vzbv-klagt-gegen-eventim"}],"last_checked_date":"2026-06-29"},{"action":"Escalate to a human when a pre-sale or service fee paid to Eventim is disputed after an event cancellation, because German courts have found Eventim cannot lawfully retain these fees under a blanket contractual exclusion, yet Eventim has continued withholding them \u2014 meaning an automated claim routed only to the event organiser will miss the fee liability that sits with Eventim specifically.","evidence":[{"description":"The LG M\u00fcnchen I found Eventim's T&C clause blanket-excluding refund of pre-sale fees to be unlawful, establishing Eventim's separate liability for those fees distinct from the organiser's liability for the base ticket price.","reference":"https://www.vzbv.de/pressemitteilungen/vzbv-klagt-gegen-eventim"},{"description":"Despite the court ruling, the vzbv's Musterfeststellungsklage documents that Eventim continued withholding pre-sale fees from consumers, indicating the dispute pathway for these fees requires active escalation rather than automated resolution.","reference":"https://www.vzbv.de/pressemitteilungen/vzbv-klagt-gegen-eventim"}],"last_checked_date":"2026-06-29"},{"action":"Escalate to a human when attempting to identify the correct legal counterparty for any post-purchase dispute (refund, chargeback, or complaint) on eventim.de, because the platform's split-liability structure \u2014 Eventim as fee-collecting intermediary, organiser as ticket-price counterparty \u2014 means directing a claim to the wrong party will result in it being deflected without resolution.","evidence":[{"description":"Eventim formally defines itself as an intermediary in its T&Cs while simultaneously collecting full payment, creating an ambiguous counterparty situation that courts have had to adjudicate to clarify which entity bears which liability.","reference":"https://www.eventim.de/service/agb/"},{"description":"The vzbv's active model declaratory action against Eventim specifically arose because consumers could not obtain refunds through normal channels due to this split-liability structure, requiring judicial intervention.","reference":"https://www.vzbv.de/pressemitteilungen/vzbv-klagt-gegen-eventim"}],"last_checked_date":"2026-06-29"}],"record_verification":{"last_checked_agentic_scan":"2026-06-30","last_checked_human_verified":null},"vendor_id":"eventim","verified_discrepancies":[{"actuals":"Despite framing itself as a mere intermediary, CTS Eventim collects the full ticket price (including pre-sale fees) directly from consumers and, when events are cancelled or postponed, has withheld pre-sale fees from refunds by invoking its own T&Cs. German courts (LG M\u00fcnchen I) and the national consumer federation (vzbv) found that Eventim cannot blanket-exclude refund of these fees. Consumers are left without a clear single counterparty: Eventim deflects ticket-price liability to the organiser while also retaining fees it collected \u2014 a split-liability structure that courts have repeatedly contested. As of the vzbv's active model declaratory action (Musterfeststellungsklage), Eventim is reported to continue withholding fees despite the court ruling.","discrepancy_start_date_est":"March 2020 (mass complaints began with COVID-19 cancellations; ongoing as of 2026)","evidence":[{"description":"The Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (vzbv) documents that after LG M\u00fcnchen I struck down Eventim's T&C clause excluding refund of pre-sale fees, Eventim continued to withhold those fees, prompting a formal Musterfeststellungsklage (model declaratory action) against CTS Eventim that consumers can join.","reference":"https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/vertraege-reklamation/kundenrechte/verlegte-veranstaltungen-urteil-und-musterklage-gegen-eventim-46263"},{"description":"A legal commentary on eventim.de's own AGB quotes the clause: contractual relations from ticket purchase arise 'exclusively between the cardholder and the respective organiser,' establishing Eventim formally as intermediary while it holds the consumer's payment \u2014 creating the identity/liability split.","reference":"https://www.legalsmart.de/blog/rechtslage-bei-absagen-von-veranstaltungen/"},{"description":"The Berlin consumer protection forum explains that Eventim invoked its T&Cs to retain pre-sale fees when organisers delegated refunds to Eventim, even though full-price refunds were legally required, illustrating how the intermediary framing was used to reduce consumer refunds.","reference":"https://verbraucherschutzforum.berlin/2022-05-08/klage-gegen-eventim-252103/"}],"interim_guidance":"When completing a transaction on eventim.de, do not assume CTS Eventim is the single legal counterparty for ticket-price disputes or refunds. For any cancellation or postponement scenario, separately identify the event organiser as the primary contractual counterparty for the ticket price, and treat Eventim as liable only for its own service/pre-sale fees. If a refund is needed, direct the claim for the base ticket price to the organiser and the pre-sale fee claim to Eventim; do not rely on Eventim to handle the full refund end-to-end without escalation.","last_checked_date":"2026-06-30","status":"active","type":"identity_discrepancy","vendor_claim":"Eventim's own terms of business state that by purchasing a ticket, the contractual relationship is established exclusively between the customer and the respective event organiser (Veranstalter), positioning CTS Eventim solely as a ticketing intermediary (Vermittler) \u2014 not the merchant of record \u2014 for the core ticket transaction."}]}