Exasperating and vague ‘extra’ fees are added to almost all theatre, concert, sport events or cinema bookings made online. Euroconsumers’ Spanish member OCU says this is a completely unjustified expense that can push the price of the event up by an average of 11%.

OCU’s research found that 80% of 50 official ticketing websites charged management fees. These fees added a significant amount to the total paid – on average it was around 7% of the final price, but in many cases it exceeded 10%.

The highest excessive costs are charged on music concerts and festivals, where they can exceed 10% of the final price. There were also more extreme cases where the additional fee was around 20%.

It’s also common to find the fees charged per individual ticket and not per transaction which can really add up if you’re buying for a group – and buying through resale sites can add on even more charges.

What does the extra fee pay for? 

This hits consumers financially but is also frustrating and unfair – in most cases, the final price is not clear until you reach the online checkout which makes comparing prices hard.  If tickets are in high demand, this could you lead to people paying more than planned as they don’t want to lose out.

It feels like the potential for online services to lead to lower prices has been slowly replaced with hidden, unjustified and disproportionate fees for vague ‘management’ or ‘administrative’ services. 

If consumers are organizing, choosing seats, booking, making payment and even printing out tickets – it’s hard to see what actual ‘management’ the online ticketing companies do.

Call for action from the Spanish Consumer Protection Authority

OCU responded to Spain’s Directorate General for Consumer Affairs’ publication on ticketing issues in July 2024 and called for much stricter regulation and enforcement against platforms that apply disproportionate, unjustified and misleading fees. 

They wanted to see maximum limits on charges that are in proportion to the ticket price, and upfront transparency about all the additional charges before the final purchase screen.

However, while the authorities largely agreed that problems existed, when a complaint about six specific companies was brought by OCU in October 2024, they concluded that the fees had ‘no practical effect on online sales’.

OCU feels strongly that consumers deserve more, and that the unjustified added management fees add up to abusive practices that must be dealt with. They identified these breaches of consumer law:

• Concealing the amount of the management fee: websites do not indicate the fee in the first price offered to the user.  
• Charge per unit instead of per transaction carried out, thus multiplying the final cost.
• No justification for the charge: there are no grounds for the extra services included in the management costs.  

OCU and Euroconsumers see this as an unfair practice which must stop, and consumers refunded for any overcharges.  Online bookings should be there to empower people to make their own choices at their convenience, and they shouldn’t be penalised for that. We’d like consumers to be offered tickets at a clear, inclusive price with no surprises at checkout.