Secondary ticketing market
There will be a Westminster Hall debate on the secondary ticketing market on 24 October 2024. The debate will be opened by Emma Foody MP.
There is a Library briefing on Ticket resales (CBP 4715) (PDF, 21 October 2024).
In the secondary market, tickets for live recreational, sporting, or cultural events are resold after their original sale, often (but not always) at prices other than their original ‘face value’. The online resale of tickets is regulated by consumer protection legislation. Specifically, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015), the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (the Unfair Trading Regulations), and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (the CCRs). The new Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act 2024 also contains provisions (not yet in force) to strengthen the CRA 2015 in relation to secondary ticketing by permitting the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to act as an enforcement authority in relation to existing enforcement powers.
The Digital Economy Act 2017, which received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017, is also relevant. Regarding secondary ticketing, it:
- criminalises the use of bots to purchase tickets in excess of a maximum number,
- puts the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Direct Marketing Guidance (PDF) (5 December 2022) on a statutory footing,
- and requires sellers to provide any unique ticket number that may help the buyer to identify the seat or standing area or its location.
There have been several investigations of the secondary ticketing market, especially its pricing practices. Notably, Professor Waterson’s independent report on the effectiveness of consumer protection measures in the secondary ticketing market, published in May 2016. The Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee have also held two one-off evidence sessions into ticket abuse. The first session took place on 15 November 2016 and considered the problem of software being used to harvest tickets from primary sellers. The second session was held on 21 March 2017.
In 2018, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, acted against four secondary ticketing websites in respect of misleading presentation of pricing information. Separately, in June 2016, the CMA began a compliance review of the secondary ticketing market. In December 2016, the CMA conducted a formal investigation into suspected breaches of consumer protection law culminating in enforcement action in November 2017 against four secondary ticketing websites.
On 16 August 2021, the CMA published Secondary ticketing: Recommendations to government for improving consumer protection (PDF), which included the recommendation that all secondary ticketing sites acquire a licence to operate in the UK. In its formal response to the CMA recommendations (10 May 2023), the government said it was “too soon to conclude that the only way forward was further legislation focused on this market”. More recently, on 5 October 2024, the CMA opened an investigation into the sale of Oasis concert tickets by Ticketmaster in the primary market, including the use of ‘dynamic pricing’.
The Labour government made a manifesto commitment to introduce new consumer protections on ticket resales, to “put fans back at the heart of events”. In September 2024, the government confirmed a consultation would be launched in the autumn to consider a range of options, including revisiting recommendations from the CMA’s 2021 report.
Parliamentary material
Debates
Dynamic Ticket Pricing - HC Deb 10 Sep 2024 - 753 cc797-806
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill. Committee stage fourteenth sitting - HC Deb 11 Jul 2023 – cc399-404 (Notes: Information corrected on 20 July at 736 c13-4MC)
Birmingham Commonwealth Games (Compensation for Enforcement Action) Regulations 2021 - HL Deb 30 Jun 2021 - 813 cc197-209GC
Consumer Protection (Enforcement) (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 - HL Deb 16 Nov 2020 - 807 cc581-593GC
Breaching of Limits on Ticket Sales Regulations 2018 - HL Deb 13 Jun 2018 - 791 cc1727-1735
Secondary Ticketing - HC Deb 07 Jun 2018 - 642 cc558-566
Draft Breaching of Limits on Ticket Sales Regulations 2018 - HC Deb 21 May 2018 – cc1-8
Ticket Touting: Musical Events - HC Deb 02 May 2018 - 640 cc161WH-169WH
Statements
Outcome of Review of Consumer Protection Measures applying to the Resale of Tickets through Secondary Ticketing Facilities - 26 May 2016 | Written statements | HCWS12
Parliamentary questions
A fan-led review of the music industry, UIN 5653, answered 11 Oct 2024
Ticketmaster, UIN 5138, answered 17 Sep 2024
Ticket Sales: Dynamic Pricing, HL Deb 11 Sep 2024, oral questions, 839 cc1571-4
Prime Minister's questions on ticket-selling websites and online touting, HC Deb 04 Sep 2024, 753 cc305-306
Stubhub and Viagogo, UIN 26394, answered 20 May 2024
Music Industry: Ticket Prices, HC Deb 18 Apr 2024, oral questions, 748 cc422-423
Tickets: Touting, UIN 18567, answered 19 Mar 2024
A comparative assessment of the protection available to consumers buying tickets, UIN 199301, answered 18 Sep 2023
Tickets: Touting, UIN 197059, answered 11 September 2023
Committee material
Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Oral Evidence: Ticket Abuse, 21 March 2017, HC 823
Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Oral Evidence: Ticket Abuse (PDF), 15 November 2016, HC 823
Further Reading
Government publications
CMA launches investigation into Ticketmaster over Oasis concert sales, Competition and Markets Authority, 5 September 2024
CMA recommendations on secondary ticketing: government response, Department for Culture, Media and Sport & Department for Business and Trade, 10 May 2023.
Secondary ticketing: Recommendations to government for improving consumer protection (PDF), Competition and Markets Authority, 16 August 2021
Secondary ticketing websites: The CMA is investigating suspected breaches of consumer protection law in the online secondary tickets market, Competition and Markets Authority, 16 August 2021
Government response to Professor Waterson’s Independent Review (PDF), HM Government, 13 March 2017
Secondary ticketing websites, Competition and Markets Authority, 19 December 2016
Consumer protection measures applying to ticket resale: Waterson review, Independent report commissioned by Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 26 May 2016
Wider reading
Change: Labour Party Manifesto 2024 (PDF), Labour Party, 13 June 2024, p87, “Labour will put fans back at the heart of events by introducing new consumer protections on ticket resales”
Clamping down on misleading pricing practices by secondary ticketing providers, Advertising Standards Authority, 7 March 2018