The UK competition watchdog has said that Ticketmaster may have broken consumer protection law in the way it sold more than 900,000 tickets for Oasis’s reunion tour last year.
An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that Ticketmaster may have misled fans, some of whom paid more than £350 for tickets with a face value of £150, in the way it priced tickets for the band’s comeback gigs this year.
The CMA said the ticketing giant may have “breached” consumer protection law by labelling certain seats as “platinum”, and selling them for almost 2.5 times the price of standard equivalent tickets, without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer any additional benefits and were often located in the same area of a stadium as standard tickets.
The regulator also said fans were not informed there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices, with many waiting lengthy periods in online queues without understanding they would be paying much higher prices than they expected.
Hayley Fletcher, interim senior director of consumer protection at the CMA, said: “Fans reported problems when buying Oasis tickets from Ticketmaster and we decided those concerns warranted investigation.
“We’re concerned that Oasis fans didn’t get the information they needed or may have been misled into buying tickets they thought were better than they were.”
Consumer group Which? has previously said that Oasis and Ticketmaster should refund fans who paid hundreds of pounds more than the face value of tickets after “dynamic pricing” was used to inflate prices.
However, the CMA said on Tuesday that, while many fans were under the impression that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model during the Oasis sale, which adjusts prices in real time in line with demand, it had not found evidence this was the case.
Instead, Ticketmaster sold a number of standing tickets at a lower price and, when those sold out, it released more at a much higher price.
“Although prices were not adjusted in real time using an algorithm, the CMA is concerned that consumers were not given clear and timely information about how the pricing of standing tickets would work,” said the CMA, “particularly where many customers had to wait in lengthy queues to see what tickets were available.”
The CMA said that, since it opened its investigation, Ticketmaster has made changes to “some aspects” of its ticket sales process, but that the regulator “does not currently consider these changes are sufficient to address its concerns”.
The regulator is now in consultation with the ticketing giant.
“We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns so, in future, fans can make well-informed decisions when buying tickets,” said Fletcher. “All ticketing websites should check they are complying with the law and treating their customers fairly. When businesses get it right, consumers benefit – and that’s the best outcome for everyone.”
Ticketmaster said in a statement: “At Ticketmaster, we strive to provide the best ticketing platform through a simple, transparent and consumer-friendly experience. We welcome the CMA’s input in helping make the industry even better for fans.”
On Monday, the CMA said for the first time that it would back a ceiling on “secondary” ticket prices. The move would all but outlaw the resale of music and theatre tickets, which is not illegal, although some touts have been jailed for using fraudulent methods as part of their business practices.
