Challenge a hidden fee at checkout

The short version

• The first price you see must include every compulsory fee.
• A company can add optional extras at checkout, like seat selection or insurance.
• Before you pay, check the final total against the first price you saw.
• If a compulsory fee turns up late, the company has broken the law. Ask for a refund and report the company.

What the law says

Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, a company must show the total price up front.

The total must include every charge that everyone buying has to pay.

Booking fees, service charges and unavoidable taxes such as VAT are all part of that total. They belong in the first price you see, not the last.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) explains the rules in its price transparency guidance.

What’s still allowed

A company can add a genuinely optional extra later, like seat selection, insurance or gift wrapping. If you can buy the product without it, it can wait until checkout.

Some fees can’t be worked out in advance, such as delivery priced by where you live. These don’t have to be in the first price you see. But the company must still tell you clearly that they apply, and how it works out the charge.

How to spot it

This is often called ‘drip pricing’, because the extra fees appear one at a time on the way to checkout.

You’re most likely to see it when you book event tickets, cinema tickets, gym memberships and hotels.

Note the first price you see, then watch the running total.

A charge you had no way to avoid, that wasn’t in the first price you saw, is exactly what the law bans.

A ‘from’ price that no real order can reach is the same problem.

What you can do

You don’t have to buy if the price changes on you.

If a company already charged you, take these steps:

• Ask the company to refund the fee that should have been in the first price you saw.
• Keep the pages or emails that show both prices.
• Report a problem to the CMA, which enforces this rule.
• Report the company to Trading Standards too, through the Citizens Advice consumer helpline.

The CMA can’t step in or advise on your complaint. It uses reports to decide which companies to investigate.