Drip Pricing: Is Your Booking Fee Legal?

The line no checkout page wants to quote is paragraph 4.4 of the CMA's price transparency guidance (CMA209, 18 November 2025): "administration fees, however described, such as booking or processing fees" belong in the price you are first shown. That is the rulebook on drip pricing in one clause. If you cannot buy without the fee, the seller does not get to reveal it on the payment screen.

What Is Drip Pricing and Why Does It Matter?

Drip pricing is showing a low headline price, then adding mandatory fees later in the purchase; since 6 April 2025 the DMCC Act treats leaving those fees out of the first price as an unfair practice. It is not one of the 32 banned practices in Schedule 20. The CMA's guidance (CMA207, 18 November 2025) files it as an omission of material information under sections 225(4)(b) and 230, so cite those and CMA209 in a complaint. Schedule 20 is the wrong list.

The enforcement is real. On 15 April 2026 the CMA fined the AA and BSM driving schools £4.2 million over a mandatory £3 booking fee charged from April to December 2025: £7 million, less 40% for settling early. The ceiling is 10% of global turnover or £300,000 if higher, so settling looks rational. By our arithmetic that is 5.5 times the £760,000-plus ordered refunded, or roughly £9.50 for each of the 80,000-plus learners (both are lower bounds).

Two neighbouring rules: the UK subscription rules from January 2027 add a 14-day cooling-off on renewals, and EU right to repair, live since 31 July 2026, is another rule sellers would rather you did not quote.

StubHub UK's case, announced on 23 June 2026, shows the pattern at ticket scale. Delivery and service fees surfaced only at the final checkout stage, from 6 April to 7 December 2025. The CMA fined it £889,200 and ordered £590,000-plus back to 51,350 customers, £10.33 each on average: close to the AA learners' figure, so a fee worth a tenner can draw a fine. Four numbers decide whether chasing yours is worth it.

What matters at your kitchen table is the route the money took. StubHub's buyers filed nothing: the CMA says affected customers need take no action, and refunds went back to the card used. Treat that as the exception. Without an order, nobody sends your fee back until you ask.

Is It Illegal to Add a Booking Fee at Checkout?

Yes, if the fee is mandatory: under the DMCC Act a booking fee you cannot avoid must be in the headline price, so adding it at checkout is the unfair practice the CMA is enforcing. Find your situation below and read across.

Two rows settle most disputes: could you have bought without the fee, and is it a card surcharge. On a small fare the sting is the percentage, not the pounds (or not only the pounds).

Worked example: take a £20 coach fare with a £1.50 booking fee, booked 8 times a year, with 19 months since the rules began on 6 April 2025. These are assumptions, not findings. Step one: £20 + £1.50 = £21.50 all-in. Step two: £1.50 ÷ £20 = 7.5% on top of the headline, so divide your own fee by your own first price. Step three: £1.50 × 8 = £12.00 a year. Step four: £12.00 × 19 ÷ 12 = £19.00 paid since 6 April 2025. Put your numbers in below.

What have booking fees cost you?Enter a typical first price, the fee added at checkout and how often you book. The figures show what the fee adds.

Your numbers

First price you saw

£20

£5£500Fee added at payment

£1.50

£0.50£10.00Bookings a year

8

150Months since 6 April 2025

19

024

All-in price

£21.50

Fee on top of headline

7.5%

Fees paid a year

£12.00

Paid since rules began

£19.00

You have paid £19.00 in fees since the rules began. Ask whether each was shown in the first price.Reset to the article's exampleSliders need JavaScript. Figures shown are the article's example.Your own figures, tied to CMA209 paragraph 4.4 (mandatory fees belong in the headline price), as of November 2026. A sum of fees paid, not a legal ruling or refund promise.

Can You Get a Refund for a Hidden Booking Fee?

Sometimes: where the CMA has made an order, as with StubHub, refunds come automatically to your card; otherwise you must ask the seller, cite CMA209 paragraph 4.4 and keep proof of the first price you saw. Our call: ask in writing the week you notice, rather than wait for a regulator that can only take on a few firms. The limit: if you could have bought without the fee, it was optional under paragraph 4.2 and the claim collapses, so check that first against the CMA's price transparency guidance.

The rules stop short in places. The total-price rule covers how a price is marketed, not how or when you pay, so instalments are a separate question. Blaming a third party gets a seller no cover: paragraph 4.5 puts unavoidable supplier costs in the headline. Outside a CMA case the chase is yours alone, as with a closed Meta ad account balance.

• The CMA's investigations into Trainline, Virgin Atlantic and RED Driving School (19 August 2026) cover rail fees of £0.59 to £2.79, resort fees and £7-plus booking fees; no conclusions yet, so they show scope, not guilt.
• Each CMA case repays only its own period, so a fee outside it needs its own request.
• A per-person or per-kilo price can be lawful if the unit price is shown prominently and the total appears once you enter a quantity.

This week, pull up your last three booking confirmations, find any fee that first appeared on the payment screen, and email each seller asking for a refund, quoting CMA209 paragraph 4.4 and attaching your screenshot of the first price. The decision is whether the fee was optional: if you could have bought without it, drop the claim; if not, send the email. General information, not legal advice.