StubHub has been fined £889,200 by the UK’s competition watchdog for not showing people additional fees on tickets until they got to checkout.
The live event ticket marketplace has also been ordered to refund more than 50,000 customers, with an average payout of £10.33 each.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated StubHub as part of its broader effort to tackle illegal and unfair online pricing practices.
The watchdog found that StubHub was using ‘drip pricing’, an illegal practice which can cause fans to be caught out by extra charges and means they may not have had a chance to accurately compare prices between sellers.
Mandatory costs, including delivery and service fees, were applied to some ticket purchases on the platform between April 5 and December 7 2025.
But the charges were applied at the final stage of the checkout process and not given upfront at the start, the CMA found.
Emma Cochrane, 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.”
StubHub will contact the 51,350 fans about their refund which will be automatically repaid onto the card used to purchase their tickets.
The company immediately took steps to end the practice and worked with the CMA during its investigation, the watchdog said.
It also admitted to breaking the law and agreed to settle the case early, meaning it qualified for a 40 per cent reduction on the fine.
The CMA is also investigating rival secondary ticket website Viagogo over concerns about hidden fees and will share an update later in the summer.
The regulator has been probing eight companies in total since November last year over their online pricing practices.
