Eventbrite Refutes Mach’s Claims About WWF Payouts, Hints at Possible ‘Actions’

Amid the fallout from the Wicked World’s Fair (WWF), show organizer Jeff Mach has repeatedly blamed Eventbrite, the online ticketing and event management platform, for his inability to cover the event’s expenses. But in a statement provided Wednesday to The Steampunk Explorer, Eventbrite refuted key aspects of his claims.

WWF was held Feb. 23-25 at the SureStay Plus hotel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Mach used Eventbrite to manage ticket sales, as well as sales of vendor spaces. During the event, as a sound crew was awaiting payment and vendors were requesting refunds, he told them that Eventbrite had frozen his account, preventing use of the platform’s payout features.

In the weeks that followed, Mach continued to blame Eventbrite for payment issues at WWF. “I had repeated assurances from Eventbrite that the money would be forthcoming,” he remarked in one statement to The Steampunk Explorer. “Why Eventbrite had the account locked down, but refused to tell us, I don’t know.”

This was the company’s response on Wednesday: “Eventbrite offers, but does not guarantee, multiple ways to request funds ahead of the event date. Due to an error on the organizer’s end, we can confirm that a few of these advance payouts were delayed. This was quickly remedied, and the organizer received much of his payout ahead of the event and has now been paid out in full.”

The statement also clarified Eventbrite’s refund policies. “When it comes to refunds, we expect organizers to refund their customers when they do not deliver what was advertised and provide them with multiple paths to do so, depending on whether or not they have received their event funds. Should an organizer fail to adhere to our Refund Requirements, we may take actions to preserve the integrity of our marketplace.”

The statement did not specify what actions the company might take.

When asked for comment on Eventbrite’s statement, Mach responded with a laughing emoji.

From Past to Present

Mach has been a controversial figure in the steampunk community dating back to his time as organizer of the Steampunk World’s Fair (SPWF) in New Jersey. SPWF was once among the largest steampunk events in the U.S., but collapsed in 2018 following allegations that he had engaged in shady business practices and sexual misconduct. Mach denied the allegations.

Participants at the latest event in Bethlehem cited a litany of problems, many apparently related to overbooking of vendors. Some vendors said they received spaces smaller than what they had paid for, and that their subsequent requests for refunds were declined. Many have discussed their experiences in Disgruntled Wicked Vendors, a private Facebook group that was established in the event’s aftermath.

Mach has denied that he overbooked the vendors. But the event’s former vendor coordinator and operations manager both told us that he placed vendors in spaces that were originally designated for other uses.

One vendor who sought a refund shared a screenshot of the Eventbrite app with this message from Jeff Mach Events: “We were unable to complete part of what we needed to do because Eventbrite failed to live up to the sense of its advertising, if not necessarily (but very possibly) the legal meaning. This is Eventbrite’s responsibility. Don’t get me wrong—please do email me, because I’d like to start paying you slowly out of my own pocket once I can get my second job going. But Eventbrite has frozen our funds. Please complain/talkk (sic) to me about anything, but blame them for that.”

Paying the Sound Crew

Mach also blamed Eventbrite for his failure to pay LAW Sound & Lighting, the company he hired to provide production services for WWF’s musical performances.

MJ Law, the company’s owner, said he quoted a price of approximately $6,500 for the weekend. Half was due immediately as a deposit to hold the booking. Mach was to pay the remainder when the sound crew arrived at the event.

Mach, he said, persuaded him to relax the terms. “He said he was dependent on ticket sales and that payments from Eventbrite were not coming through,” Law said, so he agreed to take half on arrival and the rest later.

“I saw it as a ground-level situation,” Law said, where he would have an opportunity to work with Mach on other events. “So I let things slide a little bit.”

The deal included sound and lighting equipment for the main stage in a hotel ballroom and a smaller stage in a bar. The sound equipment included speakers, microphones, digital mixing consoles, and a drum kit.

He assigned three technicians to work on site. “When my guys showed up, there was no money,” Law said. “He was telling my guys, and me, that he was having problems getting money out of the account.”

Mach, he said, promised to come through with the money later that night, so the crew agreed to stay and provide production services for Friday night’s performances.

“At 6:30 a.m., the money wasn’t there,” he said, so the crew left. This meant that bands on Saturday’s program would have to provide their own sound gear.

Following the event, Law said, he adjusted the invoice and asked Mach for $2000 for the services provided on Friday night.

Enter Dawn Marie

On the last day of WWF, angry vendors confronted Mach and some associates during a meeting that was captured on video. One clip has been viewed more than 1.2 million times on Facebook.

Among those associates was a woman named Dawn Marie, who stood before the vendors and appeared to speak on the event’s behalf.

Mach later told a local newspaper that a new ownership group had taken over WWF and would assume responsibility for refunds. We repeatedly asked him to provide details about this group, including Dawn Marie’s role, but he did not respond.

When we spoke with Law, he helped to connect those dots. Mach, he said, “was telling me that Dawn was taking over the business and he referred all my questions to her.”

Since then, Dawn Marie has emphatically stated that she is not assuming responsibility for the business.

“Jeff Mach Events has seriously created a very bad press situation,” she said in a statement to The Steampunk Explorer. “There are so many different stories about not paying his debts. I am not interested in buying his company, at all. I had volunteered to help him with the refunds to VIP guests and vendors from the Wicked World’s Fair, but he has not sold the company to me. I had offered my accounting skills, and not my financial wallet to him, and any amounts refunded to vendors were to be paid from the show’s funds.”

Law still has not been paid. At this point, he said, he’ll settle for $1300 to cover his costs for paying the crew.

“It’s been aggravating, but it’s not going to make or break [the business],” Law said. On the other hand, he said it was “heartbreaking” to see what the vendors were going through. He mentioned one who had planned to use the event to launch a new business.

As for Mach, “he has been passing the buck every time I have talked to him,” Law said.

Gargantuan Tax Bill

As Mach contends with angry vendors and potential actions by Eventbrite, his biggest worry might be the state of New Jersey. State court records indicate that he owes more than $900,000 to the state’s Division of Taxation.

The court records show two judgments. Both are from 2023, identifying the Division of Taxation as the creditor and Mach as the debtor. One shows a debt of $893,523.79 and lists Mach’s company Widdershins LLC as an alternate name. The other shows a debt of $10,745.07. The records indicate that Mach represented himself in both cases.

We asked Mach how he incurred so much tax debt. He did not respond.

Dissing Eventbrite

On Sunday, Feb. 25, the last day of WWF, Mach posted this message on one of his Facebook pages: “Life is an adventure. May I recommend never working with Eventbrite?”

One commenter posted: “Ticketleap.com is the only way.” This was a reference to an online ticketing platform that competes with Eventbrite.

Mach’s reply: “Ahhh, not since they didn’t let us pay them back for SPWF.”

We asked Mach to elaborate on the issues he had with Ticketleap, and whether he can use that company’s services.

His response: “I’m not exactly sure that it’s terribly helpful for me to try to respond to these things. It’s true that I’m grateful to have a chance to see my allegations, but that’s because my circumstances are unusual and it’s not really something I should be grateful for.”

He went on for three more paragraphs and then concluded: “You can go and make your rather comic documentation of me as some sort of supervillain, but I think I’m done playing.”

Meanwhile, it appears that Mach has at least two more events planned this year: A weekend market in May and a Halloween-themed event in October. Both are at venues in New York’s Hudson Valley.

Correction: We first reported that MJ Law “adjusted the invoice and asked Mach for $3000 for the services provided on Friday night.” The actual amount was $2000. The story has been corrected.

Related coverage: What Happened at Wicked World’s Fair?

Complaints of “Utter Chaos” and Unkept Promises at Pennsylvania Event

Wicked World’s Faire: Jeff Mach Responds to Complaints (Or At Least We Asked)