The online ticket reseller StubHub UK has been fined almost £900,000. ordered to make payments to more than 50,000 fans for not showing the full price of tickets at the time of booking, an illegal practice known as “drip pricing”.
The UK competition watchdog. which launched an investigation into the sales practices of eight companies including the rival reseller Viagogo UK last year, said StubHub must issue refunds exceeding £590,000 to customers.
The Competition. Markets Authority (CMA) said the average refund for the 51,350 customers it identified who had a “hidden fee” added at the end of the online ticket buying process was about £10.33 for each transaction.
The CMA also fined StubHub £889,200 for infringing consumer protection law.
Emma Cochrane, the executive director of consumer protection at the CMA, said: “Hitting customers with hidden fees is illegal. 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 CMA investigated the experience of fans buying tickets for gigs. sports events on StubHub and found that between 6 April and 7 December last year some were required to pay mandatory costs such as delivery and service fees.
These fees were added at the final stage of the checkout process. were not included in the price shown at the start, which broke consumer law.
The competition watchdog said the penalty of almost £900,000 included a 40% reduction because StubHub admitted breaking the law. chose to settle the case.
Cochrane said: “Our message to businesses is simple: be transparent on costs or risk CMA action. Going to a live gig or sports game is an event many people save for –. our action today means thousands of fans will get back money taken unfairly through hidden fees.”
StubHub said the issue of hidden fees was an “isolated platform error” – not a part of its business model –. that it has fixed the issue.
“StubHub International supports the CMA’s work to protect consumers online. fully cooperated with this investigation,” said a spokesperson for the company. “Our platform is designed to display all fees upfront.
“Due to an isolated platform error, some minor fees appeared at checkout rather than earlier in the buying process. We identified and corrected the issue promptly, and all affected customers will receive an automatic refund.”
It is the third financial penalty the CMA has imposed for a breach of consumer law since it was granted new powers to enable it to decide whether to take action rather than having to go through the courts.
Last week, the CMA fined the appliances retailer Marks Electrical £720,000. ordered the company to refund £600,000 to nearly 40,000 customers for automatically charging for extra services such as recycling old appliances and repackaging products.
The CMA said that under its new consumer enforcement powers it had so far secured more than £1.95m in refunds for customers. levied fines exceeding £5.7m.
Rocio Concha, the director of policy. advocacy at the consumer group Which?, said: “The law is clear, hitting customers with hidden, extra fees that aren’t clearly disclosed from the start is completely unacceptable. So it’s good to see the CMA using its new powers to secure hard-earned money back for consumers. issue a significant fine.”
The CMA said its investigation into Viagogo was continuing and it expected to issue an update in the summer. It is also investigating Gold’s Gym over not including its one-off joining fee for its annual membership in advertised membership costs.
The homeware retailers Wayfair. Appliances Direct are being investigated to determine whether their time-limited sales ended when they said they would, or whether customers were being automatically opted in to buy additional services.
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