Online ticket sellers to display fees upfront

Richard Lloyd, executive director at Which?, said: “People are still concerned at the level of some fees so we will continue to challenge the industry to clearly explain their fees and set them at a fair level."

Under rules set by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), all non-optional charges should be included in or alongside the advertised price.

The ASA said it has been conducting enforcement work since September to make sure that ticket sellers are up front about compulsory admin fees and consumers aren’t misled.

Lynsay Taffe, of the ASA, said: "We’ve assessed 130 websites, including major ticket agents and London theatre websites, and have worked directly with 55 businesses to correct the pricing on their sites. We’re now conducting the same exercise with regional theatre websites where around 50pc of 650 sites are being contacted to bring them into line."

In October and November, Which? Money looked at ticket prices and extra costs for 15 different events across three genres - music, theatre and comedy.

For each event, it went through the online booking process with a range of ticketing companies, selecting tickets with the same face value in each case. In total, it looked at 20 different ticket companies.

It found tickets to see Jimmy Carr at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, which should cost £25, were priced at £34.50 by See Tickets. This included a £3 booking fee and a £6.50 delivery charge.

A ticket to see War Horse cost £62.50 at the National Theatre, but £73.50 with Lastminute.com, £74.25 at Ticketmaster and £81.25 at Stargreen.

Which? said that of 78 individual bookings made by its researchers, only two tickets cost face value. Of nine companies who charged for delivery only three, Eventim, Gigantic and Ticketline, advised customers of the fact on the first page of the website.

Which? findings:

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