August 23, 2024, New Delhi: Deceptive marketing practice to advertise a low ticket price for a show or movie or an event and then levying a hefty online booking fee at the last step is one of the most common dark patterns reported by many consumers across India. Another common practice as reported by consumers is that of ticketing platforms adding a contribution or some other charge in the basket and requiring consumers to uncheck it and remove it. Such a practice is also identified as a dark pattern known as Basket Sneaking. The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) in a gazette notification on November 30th, 2023 identified 13 such deceptive practices and classified them as dark patterns and classified them as amounting to misleading advertisement or unfair trade practice or violation of consumer rights. These 13 dark patterns include false urgency, basket sneaking, confirm shaming, forced action, subscription trap, interface interference, bait and switch, drip pricing, disguised advertisement, nagging, trick question, SaaS (software as a service) billing and rogue malwares.

Over the last 9 months since these deceptive practices have been identified as dark patterns by the CCPA, LocalCircles has received over one thousand such complaints related to movie, shows or event ticketing platforms. To understand the magnitude of the issue, LocalCircles conducted a national survey which received over 22,000 responses from users of movie and event ticketing apps located in over 296 districts of the country. 61% respondents were men while 39% respondents were women. 44% respondents were from tier 1, 31% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.

73% users of movie and event ticketing platforms surveyed say they have frequently experienced Basket Sneaking where a social contribution or other charge was added to their transaction or cart without consent

From physical stores to eCommerce platforms it is not unusual to seek consumers’ contribution for a social cause. Sometimes this contribution is added to the consumers’ bill without consent. The survey asked consumers, “How often have you experienced with movie and event ticketing platforms that a social contribution or other charge is added to your transaction or cart without your consent (Basket Sneaking approach)?” The query received 11,037 responses with 46% of respondents indicating Basket Sneaking happens “very frequently”; 27% indicating “sometimes”; 10% indicating “rarely” and 17% of respondents not giving a clear response. To sum up, 73% users of movie and event ticketing platforms surveyed say that they frequently experienced Basket Sneaking where a social contribution or other charge was added to their transaction or cart without consent.

80% users of movie and event ticketing platforms surveyed say that they frequently experienced hidden charges (other than taxes) that were not disclosed upfront while making the selection

Hidden charges other than taxes which are not disclosed upfront is another vexing problem consumers both online and offline face while booking tickets for movies and events. This is also known as Drip Pricing in the dark pattern terminology. The survey next asked consumers, “How often have you experienced with movie and event ticketing platforms that there are hidden charges (other than taxes) that are not disclosed upfront when making the selection but they are levied when the transaction concludes?” The query received 11,210 responses with 59% of respondents indicating the problem of hidden charges happens “very frequently”; 21% of respondents indicated that it happens “sometimes” and 10% indicated “rarely” does it happen. However, 10% of respondents stated that they have “never” faced this problem. To sum up, 80% users of movie and event ticketing platforms surveyed say that they frequently experienced hidden charges (other than taxes) that were not disclosed upfront when making the selection but levied when the transaction concluded.

In addition to the survey, LocalCircles also sought inputs from users of such movies and event ticketing platforms about the presence of dark patterns. A subset of the same users who participated in the survey submitted their ratings for PVR, BookMyShow and PayTM Insider online ticketing platforms. Users reported experiencing 3 dark patterns i.e. Basket Sneaking, Drip Pricing as well as False Urgency on BookMyShow. On PayTM Insider and PVR both Basket Sneaking and Drip Pricing were reported as well.

Dark Patterns reported by consumers on Movie and Event Ticketing Platforms

In summary, the survey reveals that several online ticketing platforms for movies and events are ridden with the Basket Sneaking and Drip Pricing dark patterns. 73% users of these platforms surveyed say that they frequently experienced Basket Sneaking where a social contribution or other charge was added to their transaction or cart without their consent. Similarly, 80% of such users say that they frequently experienced hidden charges (other than taxes) that were not disclosed upfront while making the selection but levied at the conclusion of the transaction. Platforms like BookMyShow, PayTM Insider and PVR all currently have prevalence of dark patterns per the user feedback exercise and there is an urgent need for them to fix it given that it has already been a CCPA requirement for 9 months now. In absence of that, CCPA needs to step in and levy penalties and drive corrective action.

Survey Demographics

The survey received 22,000 responses from users of movie and event ticketing apps located in over 296 districts of the country. 61% respondents were men while 39% respondents were women. 44% respondents were from tier 1, 31% from tier 2 and 25% respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.