The CMA Cracks Down on Negative Pricing Practices
Written by Ted Culley - 17 July 2026
Those partial to an online shop will be all too familiar with the dread that accompanies the sneaky increase in price of your shopping basket at every step of the checkout process. Ultra-express shipping? Sure. Insurance? Best be safe. Fancy gift wrap? Go on then! Before you know it, your brand-new item’s price is almost double its advertised figure.
The rate at which consumers are bombarded by optional extras at the virtual check out can feel out of hand at times, but since it’s a prime opportunity to sell some additional products or services, companies are going to do it. To be on the right side of the law, however, businesses must ensure that any additional services they are charging receive positive input from the customer and are not added on without the consumer’s knowledge. They must also not sell any products that have a final price which is higher than that which is initially displayed, a practice known as drip pricing.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the UK regulatory body tasked with promoting competition and protecting consumers. It has recently been cracking down on businesses employing negative online pricing practices with renewed vigour. The CMA has been taking full advantage of its newfound power to undertake direct consumer enforcement under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
Back in November 2025 a CMA press release revealed that it had launched investigations into StubHub UK, Viagogo, AA Driving School, BSM Driving School, Gold’s Gym, Wayfair, Appliances Direct, and Marks Electrical, for breaching the law surrounding consumer protections. Within these investigations the chief executive of the CMA, Sarah Cardel, commented: “Whether you’re spending your hard-earned cash on concert tickets or driving lessons, joining a gym or buying furniture and appliances for your home, you deserve a fair deal…It’s our job to protect consumers from misleading prices and illegal pressure selling.”
Some months on from this announcement, we have now seen a few of these matters resolve. Marks electrical, a consumer electronics company, was found to have automatically opted in consumers to additional services, whilst AA and StubHub were all found to have used drip pricing. Marks Electrical was ordered to refund customers around £600,000 (roughly £15 per customer) and also received an additional £720,000 fine. AA was ordered to refund more than 80,000 customers and pay a fine of £4.2 million, whilst StubHub was required to refund 50,000 customers and pay a fine close to £900,000. In all of these cases, offending companies received a 40% co-operation penalty reduction for conceding that they had broken the law, and co-operating with the CMA.