Resale tickets: UK Government reveals plans for resale price cap - what you need to know

• Price hikes on resale tickets are set to be combated by the UK Government.
• As part of its Plan For Change, the Government is looking at price caps on resale tickets and looking into the practice of ‘dynamic pricing’.
• The move comes after numerous complaints from music fans about the lack of accessibility to huge shows this year, including Oasis’ much-vaunted reunion performances.

The UK Government has revealed plans to eliminate price gouging on reseller tickets for concerts, sporting fixtures and many more ticketed events.

The move comes after an outcry in 2024 over the price hike many discovered when attempting to purchase tickets for events, including Taylor Swift’s much-vaunted shows in the UK, which were being sold at heavily inflated prices.

A joint press release from the Department for Business and Trade and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport laid out plans to tackle the resellers market, including a public consultation to “look at new measures to prevent consumers being fleeced by ticket touts as part of the Government’s Plan for Change”.

There are also plans to address the issue regarding ‘dynamic pricing’, after many fans attempting to pick up tickets for Oasis’ reunion performances through Ticketmaster found that the price of tickets while waiting in the virtual queue were wholly different to the price initially advertised.

That led Oasis to release a statement announcing they did not know about the ‘dynamic pricing’ model - however the band did take the step to ensure that resold tickets for their shows would only be honoured if purchased through Twickets.

What are the Government's plans to stop resale ticket price gouging?

The Government is considering introducing a cap on the price of resold tickets, with options ranging from the original price to a maximum 30% uplift. This also includes limiting the number of tickets resellers can list.

"These measures would prevent organised touts reselling a large number of tickets at vastly inflated prices and disincentives industrial scale touting,” the press release stated regarding this move.

Resellers may face restrictions on the number of tickets they can list for resale, aligning with the maximum number allowed for purchase on primary ticketing platforms, while the platforms themselves will face increased accountability for the sales by creating new legal obligations where the resale outlets “are held responsible by Trading Standards and the Competition and Market Authority for the accuracy of information they provide to fans."

"Strengthening consumer enforcement – review of existing legislation to bring it up to date, including stronger fines and a new licensing regime for re-sale platforms to increase enforcement of protections for consumers," the press release states.

The plans also called for evidence to explore how dynamic pricing affects fans and whether further regulation is needed to make pricing practices more transparent and fair, with the Government considering “whether there is potential for new harms to consumers to arise from emerging business trends including the use of new technologies and dynamic pricing."

Do you think these plans from the UK Government will help combat the issue with ticket resellers and price hiking, or do you think more could be done? Let us know your thoughts on this matter by leaving a comment down below.