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The UK's competition regulator has fined ticket resale platform StubHub UK nearly £900,000 and ordered the company to compensate more than 50,000 customers after finding it used illegal "drip pricing" practices.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that StubHub UK must refund over £590,000 to affected consumers who were charged additional mandatory fees that were not clearly displayed when they first selected tickets.
According to the CMA, around 51,350 customers purchased tickets between April and December last year without being shown the full cost upfront. Instead, extra charges such as service and delivery fees were added at the final stage of the checkout process, making tickets more expensive than initially advertised.
The average refund for affected customers is expected to be approximately £10.33 per transaction.
Consumer protection officials said the practice violated UK consumer laws, which require businesses to be transparent about unavoidable charges from the beginning of the purchasing process.
Emma Cochrane, Executive Director of Consumer Protection at the CMA, stressed that hidden fees are unfair to consumers and can mislead buyers into believing they are getting a better deal than they actually are.
The regulator noted that the £889,200 fine includes a 40% reduction because StubHub acknowledged the violations and agreed to settle the case.
The investigation forms part of a wider CMA review of ticket resale platforms, including rival company Viagogo, which remains under investigation.
Officials say the action should serve as a warning to businesses that fail to provide transparent pricing, emphasizing that consumers deserve clear and accurate information before making purchases.
The CMA added that since receiving stronger consumer enforcement powers, it has secured nearly £2 million in refunds for customers and imposed more than £5.7 million in penalties against businesses found to have breached consumer protection laws.
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