Ticket sales for major acts such as Oasis, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have thrown the ticketing industry into the spotlight over the past year.
All too often, fans are forced to battle misleading pricing, ticket touts and scammers when trying to get tickets to popular events.
In January, the government launched a consultation into the ticketing industry in a bid to tackle some of these issues.
Here, we look at the problems with resale sites and dynamic pricing – and our calls on the government to make ticket sales fairer for fans.
Price caps and ticket verification for resale sites
Which? believes the government must take action to shut down online ticket touts.
Around four in 10 people have concerns about buying tickets on secondary sites, a Which? survey recently found*. For example, people worried that the ticket might be fake, a scam or not valid.
These concerns are validated by the number of fans who had problems. One in five of those who bought tickets through secondary sites experienced an issue. Worryingly, six in 10 of those who had issues with their ticket never made it to the event – they were either refused entry at the venue, or their ticket was either fake, invalid or never arrived.
We believe that resale platforms should be required by law to verify that the seller owns a ticket before it can be listed on their site. They should also verify key information about a ticket, such as the original price and location within the venue.
These secondary ticketing platforms should also be responsible for preventing the listing of tickets when the primary seller has prohibited resale.
Tougher enforcement and a ban on dynamic pricing practices
Alongside changes to how resale sites work, Which? also believes the government should tighten the rules on dynamic pricing - by banning the practice being used to increase the price of tickets during the transaction process.
To ensure that ticketing sites adhere to these rules, Which? is calling for a tougher enforcement regime to oversee and issue penalties where businesses break the law.
A licensing regime may also be needed, which should extend to social media sites or pop-ups to prevent illegal sales moving onto these platforms.
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said:
'Music, sport and theatre fans currently face an uphill battle against misleading pricing, ticket touts and scammers to secure tickets to popular events.
'The government must fix the broken ticketing industry and ensure consumers can buy tickets online without worrying about ticket touts or that prices could rise unexpectedly during the checkout process.
'Which? is calling for the government to stop online touts by introducing a price cap to ensure that tickets can only be resold on secondary sites at the original price. Ministers should also ban dynamic pricing being used to increase prices during the checkout process – and ensure that there is an effective enforcement regime in place to make sure businesses stick to the rules.'
Read more:* Yonder, on behalf of Which?, conducted an online representative survey of 4,133 UK adults aged 18+ between 7 and 17 March 2025.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/which-calls-for-a-price-cap-on-resale-tickets-and-tougher-enforcement-aTr7A8h0sETX