Ticket resale platform StubHub has been fined just under £900,000 and ordered to repay more than 50,000 customers after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found it failed to show fans the full price of their tickets before they reached the checkout.

The watchdog ruled that StubHub UK breached consumer law by hiding mandatory charges, the practice known as “drip pricing”, in which a tempting headline figure creeps upwards once unavoidable extras such as delivery and service fees are bolted on. Between 6 April and 7 December 2025, fans buying through the site were drawn in by one price only to be presented with a higher one once compulsory costs appeared later in the journey.

More than 50,000 customers are now in line for refunds totalling over £590,000, with the average payout expected to be around £10 per transaction. The CMA said StubHub would contact affected fans directly, so there is no need for buyers to come forward themselves.

“Hitting customers with hidden fees is illegal,” said Emma Cochrane, executive director of consumer protection at the CMA. “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 company admitted breaking the law and agreed to settle the case early, earning a 40 per cent reduction on its financial penalty in the process. It is worth noting that stubhub.co.uk is operated by Ticketbis S.L. and, the CMA stresses, is not connected to or affiliated with the US-listed StubHub Holdings Inc.

The StubHub ruling is the latest sign that the CMA intends to use the muscle handed to it under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. Since April 2025, the regulator has been able to investigate suspected breaches of consumer law and impose penalties directly, without first having to take a business to court, a shift that has visibly quickened the pace of enforcement.

The action against StubHub follows hot on the heels of a far larger penalty for the motoring giant the AA, which was fined £4.2m and told to refund more than 80,000 learner drivers over a hidden booking fee. Hidden charges of this kind are reckoned to strip around £2.2bn a year out of consumers’ pockets, and the CMA has made clear it is only getting started, having already opened investigations into a further eight firms over their online pricing practices.

The rules themselves are simple enough. Any charge a customer cannot realistically avoid, whether a booking fee, a service charge or a delivery cost, must now be baked into the price shown up front rather than sprung at the till. For the events and entertainment sector, where mandatory fees have long been part of the furniture, the message from the regulator could hardly be blunter, as set out in its wider consumer protection drive on online pricing.

StubHub’s troubles are not confined to these shores. In the United States, the firm agreed to refund some $10m to consumers after the Federal Trade Commission accused it of advertising live-event tickets without fully disclosing compulsory fees, a settlement the FTC announced earlier this year. For a business that floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2025, the twin actions on either side of the Atlantic land at an awkward moment and underline how quickly transparent pricing has climbed the regulatory agenda.

For SME founders and finance teams, the broader lesson is straightforward, if uncomfortable. The era in which a low advertised price could be quietly topped up at checkout is drawing to a close, and the cost of clinging to it, in fines, refunds and reputational damage, now plainly outweighs any short-term uplift in conversions. Honest pricing, it turns out, is not merely good manners. It is fast becoming the law.

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