UK Takes Unique Measures to Ban Ticket Resales Above Face Value

On Nov. 19, the UK's Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Business and Trade announced plans to make reselling tickets above face value illegal. Concerts, theatre, comedy, sport, and other live events will all be protected. The ban will apply to any platform reselling tickets to UK fans, including secondary ticketing platforms and social media websites.

Resale above face value will be defined in legislation as the original ticket price plus unavoidable fees. This includes service charges from resale platforms. They'll be capped to stop the price limit from getting undermined.

Individuals will also be banned from reselling more tickets than they were entitled to buy in the initial ticket sale. Companies that break the regulations could face high financial penalties from the Competition and Markets Authority under new powers introduced in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. 

"For too long, ticket touts have ripped off fans, using bots to snap up batches of tickets and resell them at sky-high prices," said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, according to Gov.UK. "This government is putting fans first. Our new proposals will shut down the touts' racket and make world-class music, comedy, theatre, and sport affordable for everyone." 

Dan Smith, lead singer of Bastille, added, "It's such great news that the government has stepped up and introduced a price cap on resale tickets — something I've been campaigning for alongside O2 and the FanFair Alliance for a long time."

Trading Standards investigations uncovered evidence of tickets that were resold for up to six times their original cost. These measures could save fans around £112 million per year, according to The Guardian. The average ticket price paid by fans on the resale market could decrease by £37, including all fees paid. Shares in StubHub Holdings tumbled about 20% since news of the ban broke.

The implementation date for the new legislation hasn't been confirmed. Last week, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, and Radiohead were among artists who urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to cap ticket resale prices. Critics of the change warned that caps could push resale underground and raise fraud.