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Below, you’ll find the following:
- Definition of business models: You’ll need to identify the business model you belong to, in order to determine the requirements you need to meet to be eligible to run ads.
- Destination requirements by business model
- Ad requirements by business model
Definition of business models
- Primary provider: The event owner, organiser or venue that is initially selling the ticket, or a ticket seller that has been authorised to do so on their behalf, via a contractual agreement. The tickets, in either case, may not have been sold or allocated previously.
- Reseller: Businesses that resell tickets that have already been allocated or sold in the primary marketplace. A reseller or resale marketplace determines the price of the tickets (which may be above or below the face value) and any additional applicable taxes, or service charges, or fees. Requirements for resellers also apply to marketplaces that put resellers in touch with ticket buyers.
- Event-associated group: Any artist, tour, team, league, venue and similar event or group on behalf of whom tickets are sold.
- Ticket aggregator: Any site which aggregates ticket prices from other reseller sites, but does not conduct any ticket sales on their own site.
Destination requirements by business model
If you sell or link to sites for resale tickets, you must meet some or all of the following destination requirements. Note that if you’re a primary provider, you don’t have any destination requirements, unless you link to a site that sells resale tickets.
Below is a summary of each destination requirement, depending on your business model and what your ad is promoting.
Summary
URL domain
If you sell or link to resale tickets, you can have the event-associated group’s name in your URL domain only if you provide one of the following:
- A contract or legal documentation indicating affiliation or partnership between your company and the event-associated group
- A letter on company letterhead signed by an attorney or an executive at your company, attesting to having affiliation or partnership with the event-associated group
Disclosures
To protect customers from scams and prevent potential confusion, if you sell resale tickets, you must clearly disclose on your website or app that:
- You are a resale market and aren’t the primary provider of the tickets
- Your ticket prices may be higher than face value (that is, the price offered by the primary provider)
This disclosure should be easily visible and clearly explained in the top 20% (above the fold) of the reseller’s website, including the home page and any destination. This disclosure must not be provided in a closable or hideable notification format, and the font must be equal to or bigger than the majority of the text on the page.
Tax/fee breakdown
If you sell resale tickets, you must provide a price tax/fee breakdown during the checkout process, and before the customer provides payment information. The breakdown should show the specific costs added, such as taxes, and any fees that have been added.
By business model
Primary provider
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures (website) | Tax/fee breakdown (website) |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're a primary provider only | Primary tickets for an event | Not required | Not required |
| You're a primary provider but your homepage or event page links to a reseller's site | Primary tickets for an event | Not required on your website | Not required on your website |
| Your website only, or resale tickets for an event | Required only on linked reseller's landing page and homepage | Required on linked reseller's website |
Reseller
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an "authorised" or "official" reseller for specific events | Specific events | Required | Required |
| Your website only, or events you're not the official reseller for | Required | Required | |
| Specific pro sports leagues for which you are official reseller | Required | Required | |
| You're a reseller only and not 'authorised' or 'official' | Your website or resale tickets for an event | Required | Required |
| You're a reseller that a) is also a primary provider for specific events, b) links to primary providers, or c) links to other resellers | Primary tickets for an event | Required on homepage, but not on landing page if it shows only information related to primary tickets | Not required |
| Your website only, or resale tickets for an event | Required | Required |
Event-associated group
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a primary provider for your ticketing | Primary tickets for an event | Not required on your website | Not required on your website |
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a reseller for your ticketing | Your website only | Required only on linked reseller's landing page and home page |
Required only on linked reseller's website |
You're an event-associated group and your website links to both a primary provider and a reseller for your ticketing |
Your website only | Required only on linked reseller's landing page and homepage | Required on linked reseller's website |
Ticket aggregator
| Advertiser description | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| You're a ticket aggregator and link to resellers. You don't sell any tickets on your website. | Required on your site and linked reseller's website | Required on linked reseller's website |
Ad requirements by business model
If you’re not a primary provider of tickets, you must meet some or all of the following ad requirements.
Following is a summary of each ad requirement, depending on your business model and what your ad is promoting.
Summary
Use of the term 'official'
If your business model sometimes qualifies as a reseller or ticket aggregator, you may not imply that you’re only a primary provider of tickets by using words like 'official' in your ads, or in reference to your website (for example, 'official providers for EventName tickets' or 'official TicketReseller site').
However, if you have a legal agreement with an event-associated group specifying that you can refer to yourself as an official reseller for that group, or an official primary seller for that group, you’ll be allowed to use the term “official” in your ad, as long as you meet the following requirements:
- You must provide a letter from the relevant event-associated group that explicitly states that you’re allowed to use the "official" designation in reference to the group for your event ticket promotions.
- You can use “official” in one of the following phrases, followed by the name of the event-associated group (for example, “Official Fan to Fan Marketplace for [group name]”).
If the agreement is that you can refer to yourself as an official primary seller for an event-associated group
- Official Primary Ticketing Partner
- Official Primary Ticket Marketplace
- Official Primary Ticket Provider
- Official Primary Market Ticketing Partner
- Official Primary Market Ticketing Provider
- Official Primary Ticket Sales
- Official Primary Ticket Seller
If the agreement is that you can refer to yourself as an official reseller for an event-associated group
- Official Fan to Fan Ticket Marketplace
- Official Fan to Fan Marketplace
- Official Fan to Fan Secondary Marketplace
- Official Secondary Ticketing Partner
- Official Secondary Ticket Marketplace
- Official Secondary Ticket Provider
- Official Secondary Market Ticketing Partner
- Official Secondary Market Ticketing Provider
- Official Fan Ticket Marketplace
- Official Ticket Exchange/Marketplace
- Official Ticket Resale Marketplace
- Official Reseller
Display URL restrictions
To help ensure customers aren’t misled about your relationship to the event-associated group, if you’re a reseller or ticket aggregator, you cannot have any post-domain paths or subdomains in your display URL.
By business model
Reseller
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're a reseller, only | Your website or resale tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
| You're a reseller that a) is also a primary provider for specific events, b) links to primary providers or c) links to other resellers | Primary tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
| Your website only, or resale tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
Event-associated group
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a primary provider for your ticketing | Primary tickets for an event | Allowed | None |
| You're an event-associated group and your website links to a reseller for your ticketing | Your website only | Allowed | None |
Ticket aggregator
| Advertiser description | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| You're a ticket aggregator and link to resellers. You don't sell any tickets on your site. | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
Options to fix ad violations
If you see your ads disapproved for event ticket sale, please follow one of the two options below.
Request confirmation of eligibility
Businesses that sell event tickets are allowed to advertise through Google Ads after applying for and obtaining confirmation of eligibility from Google. Check eligibility criteria here and apply for confirmation of eligibility using this form.
Appeal policy decision
If you've fixed your destination or believe that we've made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account to request for a review. After we confirm that the destination is compliant, we can approve your ads.