He argued that Viagogo should be served in its home country of Switzerland.
Viagogo had no place of business in NZ, he said, and its website was based offshore.
The commission has argued that serving in Switzerland would take at least six months.
Lloyd said his appearance did not mean Viagogo accepted local jurisdiction. He indicated a protest would be filed on that basis.
He said all fees and costs were properly disclosed.
Addressing the commission's claims about misrepresentation of ticket scarcity, Lloyd said Viagogo was a reseller "so of course it doesn't have all the tickets to an event available. So it flows from that that when Viagogo says, for example, only 10 tickets are available to an event, that means only 10 tickets via Viagogo."
He added, "Look, maybe that's not clear enough, but that's a matter of degree, not a breach [of the Fair Trading Act]," he said.
Judge: "It's difficult not to form the view that consumers have been mislead"
"It's difficult not to form the view that consumers have been mislead, on the evidence that I've got," Justice Patricia Courtney said at one point as Lloyd made an argument that no guarantee could be absolute.
Lloyd made an analogy to toasters, which he said sometimes broke down.
He added that someone re-selling a ticket over the Viagogo platform only got their money once a buyer had successfully gained entry to an event.
Viagogo says it's changed
Lloyd indicated that policy was the result of a recent change, along with other changes that he said addressed problems raised by the commission.
When pressed for more details, he said the fact he was appearing on a Pickwick basis limited the amount of detail he could go into at this point.
ComCom argues Viagogo hasn't changed
Meredith Connell's Nick Flanagan said Viagogo was guilty of "extensive fraudulent behaviour - and the evidence is that it continues to the present time." Complaints continued to come in up to a few days ago when the regulator finalised its affidavits, he said, adding they were "of the same nature they have always been."
Viagogo broke law by selling Lions tickets, court hears
Earlier, lawyers for Meredith Connell, acting for the Commission, told the court that broke the law by offering customers tickets to the 2017 Irish and British Lions tour of New Zealand.
While second-hand sales or "scalping" of tickets is not ordinarily illegal, the Major Events Management Act (2007) rules out the practice in specific cases, including Lions tours, the commission said through Crown lawyers Meredith Connell.
The regulator submitted an email from Viagogo to customers as evidence.
The commission is seeking an interim injunction against the Swiss-based Viagogo, which it alleges has made false claims about the number of tickets left for various events; frequently allowed the same ticket to be resold multiple times; gave the impression it is an official ticket for events when it is not - and made false representations about a money-back guarantee. The regulator alleges that at least 79 Kiwis have been sent invalid tickets.
It also alleges that undisclosed fees increase the price of a ticket by a third, and says that Viagogo's dispute-resolution process, which requires a customer to work through a Swiss court, is unreasonable.
"Pressure sales tactics"
Meredith Connell's Nick Flanagan told the court that as a second-hand ticket seller, Viagogo had no access to information about the number left for an event. He said Viagogo used "pressure sales tactics" that included inconsistent accounts of the number of tickets left for an event, and a barrage of messages about other buyers waiting in the wings.
He also argued that Viagogo could not fulfill its guarantee to supply valid tickets, because once a customer arrived at an event and discovered their ticket had been sold twice, the event could be sold out. It noted that Viagogo left refunds to its discretion if a replacement ticket could not be supplied.
He also that in one case where Viagogo customers from Christchurch arrived at a Bruno Mars concert in Auckland to find their tickets had already been scanned, the Swiss ticket seller did phone and offer to buy general admission tickets - however, they were what it called the "inferior" standing area, meaning a child with the party would not have been able to see the concert.
Flanagan noted that Viagogo had made changes to its UK website following orders won by the Competition Markets Authority in November last year (separately, the CMA has complained that it has "serious concerns" Viagogo is not following another part of the orders - to submit to an independent review of instances were its ticket guarantee was not followed through)
Decision reserved
Justice Courtney asked lawyers for both sides to supply memoranda with more information, and did not give a time frame for ruling on the ComCom's request for an interim injunction.
Viagogo responds
Viagoogo sent the Herald the following statement after the hearing concluded:
"All tickets on Viagogo are valid and it is perfectly legal to resell a ticket or give it to someone else if you want to. The tickets sold on Viagogo's platform are genuine tickets that have been sold on by the original ticket purchaser in good faith. viagogo aims to provide buyers with the widest possible choice of tickets to events, and enables sellers to reach a global audience. Every ticket is backed with the Viagogo guarantee.
"Viagogo will continue to work with the Commerce Commission to address their concerns. We remain committed to providing a secure platform for people to buy and sell sport, music and entertainment tickets to events all over the world."
The Herald is waiting for responses to questions including what changes have been made to Viagogo's site and trading policy and when, and Viagogo's reaction to the ComCom's claim that it illegally offered tickets to the 2017 Lions tour.
