The Competition and Markets Authority has ordered StubHub UK to refund more than 50,000 customers and pay an £889,200 penalty after finding that mandatory ticket fees were not shown upfront.
The decision against TICKETBIS S.L., which trades as StubHub UK, is one of the clearest early signals that the CMA intends to use its new consumer enforcement powers directly against online businesses whose checkout journeys obscure the real price paid by consumers.
The CMA found that between 6 April and 7 December 2025, some customers buying tickets for gigs and sporting events through StubHub UK were required to pay service and delivery fees that had not been included in the total price shown at the beginning of the sales process.
StubHub UK must repay more than £590,000 to 51,350 affected customers, with an average refund of about £10.33 per transaction. The company admitted the breach, settled the case and received a 40 per cent reduction in the penalty, while agreeing not to appeal or challenge the decision in court.
The regulatory context is the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which has moved the CMA into a more direct enforcement role in consumer cases. Rather than relying on court proceedings in every case, the regulator can now issue infringement notices, impose financial penalties and require customer redress.
Emma Cochrane, the CMA’s Executive Director of Consumer Protection, said hidden fees are illegal and warned businesses to be transparent on costs or risk CMA action.
The StubHub UK decision also sits within a wider online pricing campaign. In November 2025, the CMA opened investigations into StubHub, viagogo, AA Driving School, BSM Driving School, Gold’s Gym, Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Marks Electrical, while also sending advisory letters to 100 businesses across 14 sectors.
Those investigations cover different sales practices, including mandatory fees, time-limited offers and default opt-ins, but the common issue is whether consumers are being shown accurate price information before they commit to a transaction.
Pricing compliance can no longer be treated as a narrow consumer-facing or marketing issue. Legal review now needs to reach the first price a customer sees, the timing of unavoidable charges, the wording around optional fees and the evidence businesses keep to justify their checkout design. Digital marketplaces, travel operators, gyms, driving schools and online retailers should expect the CMA to test the user journey itself, not just the wording of terms and conditions.
StubHub UK must report to the CMA over the next six months on the refund process, and in-house teams advising online platforms should treat that monitoring requirement as a concrete warning that settlement does not end consumer-law exposure.