The Competition and Markets Authority on Tuesday imposed a £889,200 fine on StubHub UK and ordered the online ticket reseller to pay refunds exceeding £590,000 to 51,350 customers who were charged hidden fees at the end of the booking process.
The regulator said it investigated the experience of fans buying tickets for concerts and sports events on StubHub between April 6 and December 7 of last year. During that period, the CMA found, the platform added mandatory delivery and service fees only at the final stage of checkout, without including them in the upfront price displayed to shoppers. That practice, known as drip pricing, violates UK consumer protection law.
Emma Cochrane, the CMA’s executive director of consumer protection, said the company’s behavior was unfair and broke the law. “Hitting customers with hidden fees is illegal,” Cochrane said in a statement. “It’s not fair to draw people in with what looks like a good deal, only for them to find the real price is higher when they get to the checkout due to extra charges that can’t be avoided.”
The watchdog said it identified 51,350 affected customers, with the average hidden fee amounting to £10.33 per transaction. The nearly £900,000 penalty was reduced by 40% because StubHub admitted the violation and agreed to settle the case, the CMA said. The company has been approached for comment.
The action is the second financial penalty the CMA has imposed for a breach of consumer law since it received new enforcement powers that allow it to decide on penalties directly rather than going through the courts. The CMA said that under the new powers it has so far secured more than £1.95 million in refunds and levied fines exceeding £5.7 million.
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer group Which?, welcomed the action. “The law is clear, hitting customers with hidden, extra fees that aren’t clearly disclosed from the start is completely unacceptable,” Concha said. “So it’s good to see the CMA using its new powers to secure hard-earned money back for consumers and issue a significant fine.”
The CMA said its investigation into StubHub competitor Viagogo UK remains open, with an update expected this summer. The regulator is also probing Gold’s Gym over whether its advertised membership costs omitted a one-off joining fee, and is examining homeware retailers Wayfair, Appliances Direct, and Marks Electrical to determine whether their time-limited sales ended when advertised and whether customers were automatically opted into additional services.