Where booking fees hide

The headline rate is rarely the whole cost. Platforms have become skilled at moving money into places the comparison tables don't reach — and since the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act came into force, some of those places are now legally risky too. Here's where to look.

The six classic hiding places

1. Drip pricing. The fee appears at step four of checkout, after the buyer is committed. UK law now requires the total price — including mandatory fees — upfront in the advertised price.
2. VAT-exclusive quotes. '60p per ticket' means 72p; '4.99% + 49p' means ~6% + 59p once VAT lands. Always ask whether a quoted rate includes VAT.
3. Per-order charges. A £2.50 'order processing' fee looks small until you realise it's charged per basket on top of per-ticket fees.
4. Fulfilment on e-tickets. A 'delivery' charge for an email. Legacy of postal ticketing, still quietly billed.
5. Processing margin. Stripe charges ~1.5% + 20p; a platform charging you '2.9% processing' is keeping the difference.
6. Payout float. Not a fee line at all: your money, held until after the event, earning interest — theirs. With payouts 4–5 days post-event on some platforms, a summer of sales is a free loan from you.

What the law now says

Since April 2025, the CMA has had direct fining powers over drip pricing under the DMCC Act: mandatory fees must be included in the headline price, not revealed late. The first enforcement wave targeted exactly the 'plus fees' pattern ticketing normalised. For organisers this cuts both ways — your event's advertised price is expected to be the price a fan actually pays.

How to audit a platform in ten minutes

1. Run a real test purchase to the final payment screen (then abandon it). Screenshot the fee lines.
2. Compare the fan total against face value — that's the real fan-side rate.
3. Read the payout schedule: when does money reach you, and what does early payout cost?
4. Check the refund clause: who keeps the booking fee when a fan refunds? (Usually the platform.)
5. Ask for the VAT treatment of every quoted number in writing.

We keep verification dates and source links for every platform on this site — see the 2026 UK Fees Audit for the current state of transparency.