In some cases, tickets for popular concerts and events are being sold online for as much as eight times the face-value price.
In January and February 2025, the consumer champion searched for some of the most popular concert and event tickets listed on Viagogo and StubHub International. It found many tickets are being sold at eye-watering price hikes and against event guidelines – meaning fans risk being turned away at the door.
Festivals and gigs
Which? found tickets for Reading Festival listed at £596 on Viagogo and £616 on Stubhub International, despite the fact that face-value tickets (costing £325) were still available through the official ticket agents.
To make matters worse, Reading Festival explicitly lists Viagogo and Stubhub International as unauthorised ticket agents and warns people against buying tickets through them – meaning fans who buy tickets from these sites risk being turned away.
Tickets for an IDLES gig in Bristol in August 2025 cost £59.65 at face value and are still available to buy via the primary ticket seller. However, tickets were listed on Viagogo for as much as £480 – eight times the face-value price.
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Sporting events
Which? also found tickets for popular sporting events being sold at inflated prices on Viagogo and Stubhub International.
Royal Ascot tickets were listed on Viagogo for £150-154 and on Stubhub International for £96, despite the fact that tickets were still available on the official website for just £34.
Tickets for the 2025 British Grand Prix were also listed on Stubhub International for £181, while face-value tickets were still available on the Silverstone website for £159.
On the ticket listing page for the British Grand Prix, Stubhub International included a disclaimer stating ticket resales were restricted for this event and that your ticket may not be valid for entry – but claimed that this was “unlikely”.
However, Silverstone told Which? that fans attempting to use a ticket at the gate that had not been purchased directly from an official ticket agent run the risk of being refused entry.
To make matters even more confusing for music and sports fans, secondary ticketing sites often appear at the top of the Google search results when looking for tickets. This means many fans may not realise they are not on the official ticket seller’s site.
Calls for stronger consumer protections
The Government announced in January that it will carry out a consultation into the secondary ticket industry, with plans to clamp down on ticket touts and cap the price of resold tickets for gigs and sporting events.
Last month saw FanFair Alliance accuse Viagogo of allowing “speculative selling” – when a tout advertises a ticket they do not have. In response, Viagogo said its policies prohibit speculative listings.
Which? is calling on the Government to make ticketing fairer for fans by shutting down online ticket touts operating on resale platforms.
It is calling for a price cap to ensure that music, sports and theatre tickets can only be resold on secondary sites at the original price paid – the ticket’s face value plus any fees.
Which? also believes that resale platforms should be required by law to verify that the seller owns a ticket before it can be listed on their site and should also verify key information about a ticket, such as the original price and location within the venue.
Rocio Concha, Which?’s director of policy and advocacy, said: “It’s shocking that secondary ticketing sites like Viagogo and StubHub International are allowing sellers to charge more than eight times the face-value price for tickets to popular music and sports events.
“These sites often appear at the top of Google search results – making it hard for fans to decipher which platform is the official ticket seller. Tickets also appear on these sites despite warnings from the event organisers that anyone buying from a secondary seller risks being turned away at the door.
“Which? is calling on the Government to make the ticketing industry fairer for fans by banning touts selling tickets for inflated prices and making secondary sites responsible for stopping tickets being sold if they won’t be valid at the door.”
Which? has also widely criticised the use of dynamic pricing by primary ticket sellers after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that Ticketmaster’s Oasis ticket sale could have breached consumer law.
Viagogo claims ‘transparency is a core value’
A Viagogo spokesperson said: “The listings identified by Which? were still visible simply because they hadn’t yet sold which often indicates sellers need to adjust their prices to meet current demand. On Viagogo, high or unrealistic listings rarely sell. As an open marketplace, much like eBay or Amazon, Viagogo operates on the principles of supply and demand. Sellers are free to list tickets at the price they choose and buyers decide what they’re willing to pay. With a fulfilment rate approaching 100% across events, it’s clear millions of Viagogo users understand and engage comfortably with this model.
“We hope that during their investigation, Which? also noted that a healthy marketplace fit for consumers fluctuates up and down. alongside listings above face value, there are also hundreds of tickets for Beyoncé’s London shows listed on Viagogo for under £75 – significantly cheaper than the lowest-priced tickets available from the official primary partner.
“Transparency is a core value at Viagogo. The price you see is the price you pay. In addition, we include all required CMA disclosures, highlighting any primary ticket restrictions so that buyers are fully informed before completing a purchase – even if those restrictions are rarely enforced.”
