FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees

Also called junk fees rule, 16 CFR Part 464

The federal junk fees rule, effective May 12, 2025, which covers only live-event ticketing and short-term lodging.

What it is

The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 C.F.R. Part 464, took effect May 12, 2025. Its scope is far narrower than the coverage suggests: it applies to live-event ticketing and short-term lodging. It does not cover long-term housing, pre-recorded performances, or merchant services generally. Within its scope, the mechanics matter for payments. The total price must include all mandatory fees the business knows about and can calculate up front, and that expressly includes unavoidable payment processing fees. Taxes and government charges, shipping, and genuinely optional ancillary services may be excluded from the up-front total but must be disclosed before payment. The card fee treatment is the piece worth understanding even outside the covered industries, because it is a clean statement of a principle regulators keep reaching for. If card is the only payment method, a card fee is mandatory and must be baked into the advertised total. If a fee-free alternative exists, the fee may sit outside the headline price but must be clearly disclosed before checkout. Enforcement runs through compliance orders, consumer refunds and civil penalties.

Why it matters to your business

If you operate a hotel, short-term rental or ticketed venue, this rule applies to you directly and your advertised price must include mandatory fees including unavoidable payment processing fees. If you do not, the rule does not reach you, but its logic does, because state law and Florida's own consumer protection statute apply the same basic idea. The safest general practice, regardless of industry, is that the first number a customer sees should be the number they pay, unless a genuinely avoidable alternative exists and the fee is clearly disclosed before checkout. This is education, not legal advice; scope questions under a federal trade regulation rule should go to counsel.

Where it gets contested

The gap between what the rule does and what people believe it does is itself the story. Marketing and commentary have described a broad federal junk fee ban; the rule reaches two industries. Merchants in other sectors who assume they are now regulated federally, or who assume they are now safe because they are outside the rule, are both mistaken about their actual exposure, which sits in state law. The binding constraints on an ordinary Florida business remain state all-in pricing and disclosure statutes, state consumer protection law including FDUTPA, and network rules, which are contract rather than statute but carry the fines. There is a pointed irony worth naming: nothing in the rule regulates processor-to-merchant fees. The disclosure standard being demanded of businesses toward consumers is markedly higher than the standard the payments industry applies to its own merchant statements. That gap is a policy conversation that has not been had, and it is one a transparency-first provider should be willing to hold itself to voluntarily.

How to check it yourself

Look at the first price a customer sees on your website or listing and compare it to the total at checkout. If the two numbers differ because of a mandatory fee, determine whether your industry is covered by the federal rule and whether your state's law reaches you anyway.

Receipts

Claims above that are checkable, with where to check them. Published so you do not have to take anyone's word for it.

The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect May 12, 2025
ftc.gov ↗
FTC frequently asked questions on the rule, including scope and treatment of mandatory fees
ftc.gov ↗
The Florida Attorney General treats undisclosed fees as a potential unfair or deceptive trade practice under Florida law
myfloridalegal.com ↗