StubHub UK must refund more than 50,000 customers after the Competition and Markets Authority found it hid mandatory fees in headline prices at the start of the booking process. The company also faces a financial penalty of almost £900,000. Affected buyers will get the money back automatically to the card used for purchase.
Emma Cochrane on hidden fees
Emma Cochrane, executive director of consumer protection at the CMA, said: “Going to a live gig or sports game is an event many people save for – and our action today means thousands of fans will get back money taken unfairly through hidden fees.”
£590,000 is the refund total tied to more than 50,000 customers, which works out at around £10 per transaction. That scale points to a pricing problem that was not a one-off slip: the CMA said StubHub failed to show the total price customers would actually pay when they started browsing tickets.
April 6 to December 7 2025
April 6 2025 was when the practice began, and December 7 2025 was when it ended. StubHub UK has scrapped the hidden fee practice that led to the CMA investigation and enforcement action, and the company will contact affected customers directly.
Under consumer law, unavoidable charges must be included in the total price shown upfront, not added later in the purchasing flow. This case sits inside the CMA's wider effort to push online sellers toward clearer pricing, and the automatic refund route means affected buyers do not need to make a claim to get the money back.
Almost £900,000 is the combined penalty and refund burden, and the unresolved issue is scale at the individual level: the CMA has set the average payout, but the exact refund on any one purchase will depend on what each customer paid.
