By Elena Vardon

The U.K.'s competition watchdog said it is looking into online pricing and sales practices and has opened investigations into eight businesses, including secondary ticketing sites StubHub and Viagogo, as part of an effort to ensure that customers get a fair deal.

The Competition and Markets Authority on Tuesday said it issued advisory letters to 100 companies to share its concerns about hidden fees and certain sales tactics, and published guidance for businesses to comply with price transparency laws.

A spokesperson for Viagogo said the company has engaged constructively with the CMA and will be fully cooperating with the investigation.

The regulator said the eight businesses it is probing also include AA Driving School, BSM Driving School and home retailer Wayfair.

The investigations will allow the regulator to decide whether consumer laws have been broken rather than having to go through the courts, it said. If laws have been broken, the CMA can order businesses to compensate affected customers and issue a fine of up to 10% of their global turnover.

AA Driving School and BSM Driving School--which are both owned by the Automobile Association--are being investigated for how they presented mandatory fees on their website, the regulator said. "We are comfortable that the 3-pound [$3.95] booking fee for lessons is already transparent and in line with the CMA's rules and are more than happy to additionally notify customers earlier in the journey as well, which we have already done," a spokesperson for the AA said.

StubHub and Wayfair didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

"At this stage, the CMA has reached no conclusions about whether the law has been broken in any of these investigations," the regulator said.

The CMA has reviewed more than 400 businesses across 19 different sectors since April to check their compliance with price transparency rules and has written to businesses in which it identified areas of concern.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 18, 2025 03:44 ET (08:44 GMT)

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