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Oasis fans trying to buy tickets for their reunion tour in the UK and Ireland were left furious last weekend when — after waiting in online queues for hours — they discovered the price had skyrocketed by hundreds of pounds.
The outcry over Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” method, where prices change according to demand, has become so widespread that the UK government has promised to review dynamic pricing as part of a consultation on ticket sales. The UK’s competition watchdog has also begun an investigation of Ticketmaster.
In the US, the state of Minnesota passed a bill in May that requires sellers to disclose actual prices upfront, partly in response to the use of dynamic pricing. The so-called “Taylor Swift bill” was introduced after fans complained that tickets to the singer’s Eras tour were priced much higher than advertised.
UK consumer protection law allows dynamic pricing — and it is an established practice at hotels, trains and airlines, which charge more at peak times. Last year, there were even reports of pubs adopting this pricing structure, with Stonegate Group, the UK’s biggest pub chain, stating 800 of its 4,000 pubs would introduce “dynamic pricing” to raise the cost of a pint during evenings and weekends.
While this practice is allowed, according to UK consumer protection law businesses are not permitted to mislead consumers about the price they pay for a product, with the law saying that vendors should not provide false information or provide it too late.
So what do you think — should governments do more to regulate dynamic pricing? Tell us your views by voting in our poll or commenting below the line.
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