The UK's Drip Pricing Ban: What Every Event Organiser Needs to Know
Drip pricing costs UK consumers £2.2 billion per year. That figure comes directly from the Department for Business and Trade, and the event ticketing industry was the single worst offender. In a government review, 93% of ticketing businesses used drip pricing to inflate costs at checkout.
As of 6 April 2025, it is illegal.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) fundamentally changed the rules on how ticket prices must be displayed. If you sell tickets in the UK, this affects you. Here is what changed, what the regulator is already doing about it, and what you need to do next.
What is drip pricing?
You see a ticket listed at £25. You click through. By the time you reach checkout, it is £34.50.
That is drip pricing: the practice of advertising a low headline price, then gradually adding mandatory fees during the purchase journey.
The fees have many names. Booking fees. Service charges. "Facility fees." Processing fees. Some platforms even charged £2 to £3.25 for the privilege of downloading a PDF e-ticket you print yourself.
Which? research found that a £25 ticket could attract £9.50 in compulsory fees, a 38% increase over the advertised price. A typical major-platform checkout stacked charges like this: £6.10 service charge, plus £1.75 facility charge, plus £2.75 order processing fee. The full cost only appeared at the final checkout screen.
This was not just annoying. It was commercially engineered. A UC Berkeley study involving millions of StubHub users found that hidden fees made people spend 21% more per transaction. But here is the catch: those same users were 45% less likely to complete a purchase when the real total was finally revealed. Drip pricing was a short-term sugar rush that poisoned long-term trust.
The tipping point: Oasis and the public backlash
If drip pricing was the slow burn, the Oasis reunion was the explosion.
In August 2024, fans queued for up to 10 hours online for Oasis reunion tickets. When they finally reached checkout, many found ticket prices had doubled from £148 to over £400 through "dynamic pricing." Dynamic pricing is a separate mechanism from drip pricing, but the two issues compounded into a single wave of public fury about opaque ticket pricing.
The numbers tell the story. 64% of British consumers called dynamic pricing for live events unfair, the highest figure across 17 markets surveyed by YouGov in 2024. Meanwhile, Which? found that 4 in 5 consumers called booking fees a "rip off," and 89% wanted fees included in the headline price.
This public anger became the accelerant. The government fast-tracked the consumer protection provisions of the DMCCA, and the ticketing industry found itself squarely in the crosshairs.
The law: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
The DMCCA received Royal Assent in 2024. Its consumer protection provisions (Part 4, Chapter 1) came into force on 6 April 2025, replacing the older Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
Here is what matters for ticketing:
- Section 230 makes it an unfair commercial practice to omit "material information" from an "invitation to purchase." Material information explicitly includes the total price inclusive of all mandatory fees.
- In plain English: the first price a customer sees must include all unavoidable charges. Booking fees, service charges, platform fees, taxes. All of it, upfront.
The details that matter
- Per-order fees (such as a flat £2.50 booking fee regardless of ticket quantity) must be reflected in the displayed price. For example, a £20 ticket with a £2.50 per-order fee should show as "from £22.50."
- Optional add-ons like ticket insurance can still be shown separately, but they must be genuinely opt-in, never pre-ticked.
- Dynamic pricing must be disclosed if used. If your platform uses surge pricing, it must say so.
- Enforcement sits with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which now has direct enforcement powers. No need to go through the courts first.
- Fines can reach up to 10% of annual worldwide turnover, or £300,000, whichever is greater.
The CMA published detailed guidance in document CMA209, "Unfair commercial practices: price transparency," which sets out exactly how businesses should comply. Stephenson Harwood's analysis provides a useful legal summary of the enforcement regime.
The CMA is already enforcing it
This is not a law sitting on a shelf. The CMA is actively pursuing non-compliant businesses.
On 18 November 2025, the CMA launched what it called a "major consumer protection drive" focused on online pricing practices. Since April 2025, it had reviewed over 400 businesses across 19 sectors.
The headline action: the CMA opened investigations into 8 businesses, including StubHub and Viagogo, specifically for not including mandatory ticket fees in upfront pricing.
The CMA also sent advisory letters to 100 businesses across 14 sectors.
In September 2025, the CMA secured voluntary undertakings from Ticketmaster, requiring clearer pre-sale pricing, accurate ticket labelling, and ongoing compliance reporting. Taylor Wessing's analysis noted that these undertakings signal the CMA's willingness to pursue the biggest players in the industry.
As of February 2026, UK ticketing businesses are rushing to comply. If your platform has not already made changes, you are behind.
What this means for event organisers
You might be thinking: "I use a ticketing platform. Surely this is their problem?" Partly, yes. But not entirely.
Your responsibilities
Your ticketing platform should handle fee display compliance within its own checkout flow. But you are still responsible for how you advertise ticket prices on your own channels.
If you post "£20 tickets" on Instagram but your attendees see £24 at checkout because of platform fees, that could be non-compliant. The law applies to the "invitation to purchase," and your social media post counts.
What to check with your platform
Ask your ticketing platform these questions:
- Does it include its fees in the headline ticket price that attendees see?
- Are per-order charges (booking fees) reflected in the "from" price?
- Is there a running total that updates as attendees add tickets to their basket?
- Are optional add-ons genuinely opt-in, not pre-ticked?
If the answer to any of these is no, your platform may be putting you at risk.
The absorb-or-pass question
Before the DMCCA, the debate was whether to absorb platform fees into your ticket price or pass them on to attendees. That debate has shifted.
The question is no longer "should I hide the fee?" That is now illegal. The question is: "should I build the fee into my ticket price?" That is a business decision.
Here is where your choice of platform matters commercially. On a platform charging 11% in fees, absorbing those costs into your ticket price is painful. On a platform charging 2% + 50p, it is barely noticeable. A £20 ticket costs £20.90 all-in. Your attendee sees £20.90. No surprises. No complaints.
Why transparent pricing is better for everyone
The Berkeley/StubHub research makes the commercial case clearly. Hidden fees might boost the average transaction value by 21%, but they increase cart abandonment by 45%. You are losing nearly half your potential buyers to protect a margin trick.
Transparent pricing delivers real benefits:
- Higher completion rates. Attendees who see the real price upfront are more likely to finish checkout.
- Fewer complaints and refunds. No one emails you asking why their ticket cost more than advertised.
- Stronger trust. Repeat attendees come back because they know what to expect.
- Cleaner marketing. The price you put on your poster is the price people pay.
For organisers, this is straightforward. Transparent pricing removes friction. Removing friction sells more tickets.
What is coming next
The DMCCA is not the end of the regulatory road. The UK government has also announced plans to ban ticket resale above face value, a measure estimated to save fans approximately £112 million annually.
The direction of travel is clear: more transparency, stronger enforcement, fewer loopholes. Organisers and platforms that get ahead of this curve will have a competitive advantage. Those that drag their feet will face fines, enforcement action, and reputational damage.
Where KwikTix stands
KwikTix was built with transparent pricing from day one. Our fees are 2% + 50p per ticket. They are always shown upfront. They are always included in the total price your attendees see.
No booking fees. No service charges. No facility fees. No surprises at checkout.
The DMCCA did not require us to change anything. We were already compliant.
If you are looking for a ticketing platform that keeps things simple, transparent, and on the right side of the law, take a look at our pricing or get started for free.
