UK online ticket distributor StubHub fined £900,000 for illegal ‘drip pricing’, 50,000 customers receive refunds World News

Online ticket reseller StubHub UK has been fined for drip pricing.

StubHub UK has been fined £889,200 and ordered to refund more than 50,000 customers after the UK competition watchdog found it failed to clearly disclose the full cost of tickets up front, The Guardian reported.StubHub is a massive online marketplace where fans can buy and sell tickets to live sporting events, concerts, theaters and other entertainment events around the world.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said StubHub added mandatory fees, including service and delivery fees, at the end of the checkout process rather than including them in the initial fare shown to customers. This practice, known as “drip pricing,” violates consumer protection laws.As part of the enforcement action, StubHub must refund more than £590,000 to 51,350 customers affected by hidden fees. According to the CMA, the average refund per transaction is around £10.33.The regulator’s investigation found the practice took place between April 6 and December 7 last year, when customers buying tickets for concerts and sporting events were shown lower prices at the start of the booking process, before fees were inevitably added at checkout.Emma Cochrane, executive director of consumer protection at the CMA, said businesses must be transparent about costs from the outset and warned they risked enforcement action if they failed to do so.The regulator said the £889,200 fine included a 40% reduction as StubHub admitted it had breached consumer law and agreed to settle the case.The action marks the second financial penalty imposed by the CMA under its new consumer enforcement powers, which allow the regulator to take direct action against businesses without first going to the courts.The agency said it had obtained more than £1.95m in customer refunds and issued more than £5.7m in fines since the new powers came into effect.The CMA last year launched an investigation into the ticket sales practices of eight companies, including Viagogo UK.