In the ‘primary’ market, tickets for live recreational, sporting or cultural events are sold for the first time at their original price (as determined by artists, event organisers or box offices). In the ‘secondary’ market, tickets 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). There have been several investigations of the secondary ticketing market, especially its pricing practices, leading to enforcement activity and new statutory provisions.
Notably, Professor Waterson’s independent report on the effectiveness of consumer protection measures in the secondary ticketing market, commissioned by the government, was published in May 2016. The government responded to the report on 13 March 2017, accepting Professor Waterson’s nine recommendations in full. It said Parliament would be invited to consider proposals for reform of the secondary ticketing market within the context of the Digital Economy Bill.
The Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee have 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.
The Digital Economy Act 2017 received Royal Assent on 27 April 2017. In regard to 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.
- Requires sellers to provide any unique ticket number that may help the buyer to identify the seat or standing area or its location.
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 Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began a compliance review of the secondary ticketing market and in December 2016 it conducted a formal investigation into suspected breaches of consumer protection law.
Following on from this investigation, the CMA began enforcement action in November 2017 against four secondary ticketing websites. Three of those sites made a formal commitment in April 2018 to overhaul the way they do business. In respect of the fourth site, Viagogo, the CMA issued legal proceedings which resulted in a court order being made on 27 November 2018. The CMA suspended its court action in September 2019 after Viagogo addressed concerns about how it presented information to consumers.
On 16 August 2021, the CMA published Secondary ticketing: Recommendations to government for improving consumer protection (PDF). In this report, the CMA set out its concerns about continued non-compliance with consumer law in the secondary ticketing sector. Recommendations included a requirement that all secondary ticketing sites acquire a licence to operate in the UK. In its formal response to the CMA recommendations, published on 10 May 2023, the government said it was “too soon to conclude that the only way forward was further legislation focused on this market”.
During the progress of the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Bill through Parliament, House of Lords’ amendments to introduce new specific requirements in relation to secondary ticketing were rejected. However, new provisions to strengthen the enforcement of the CRA 2015 in relation to secondary ticketing were agreed. They are expected to come into force late in 2024.
The Labour government made a manifesto commitment to introduce new consumer protections on ticket resales, to “put fans back at the heart of events”. On 10 September 2024, during a House of Commons debate on dynamic ticket pricing, Chris Bryant, Minister for Creative Industries, Arts and Tourism, confirmed a consultation would be launched in the autumn to consider a range of options, including revisiting recommendations from the CMA’s 2021 report.
Separately, on 5 October 2024, the CMA opened an investigation into the sale of Oasis concert tickets by Ticketmaster in the primary market. This investigation is to include the use of ‘dynamic pricing’.
This briefing summarises the current regulation of the secondary ticketing market, including new enforcement provisions contained in the DMCC Act 2024 (but not yet in force). It considers past CMA enforcement activity against certain secondary ticketing sites and the recommendations made in the CMA’s 2021 report to improve regulation. Finally, this briefing considers recent government proposals to tackle consumer detriment in the secondary ticketing market.