What’s the story on Oasis and surge pricing?

Attempting to buy tickets online can be a soul-destroying experience. Waiting for the online sales to open. Worrying you are on the wrong page. Finding out you are 21,4525th in the queue. Being kicked out of said queue. Nightmare.

And things do go wrong. Oasis fans had to roll with it when they found they were left waiting to buy tickets all day as the websites buckled under the strain.

However, only at the checkout did tempers really fray. Because thanks to “surge pricing”, ticket costs had increased from £135 to a whopping £355 plus fees.

So what is surge pricing? Here’s my guide.

Price points

Surge – or dynamic – pricing is where businesses increase or decrease the underlying cost of goods or services depending on demand. This is becoming increasingly common in all walks of life, but is most contentious when it comes to gigs and event tickets.

Drip-pricing is the “art” of hiding the true cost of goods or services by offering a cheap starting price, then adding on so many additional extras that the price at the checkout can be much higher. Think of buying an airline ticket for £30, then adding on seat charges, luggage, priority boarding etc and actually spending £150.

Micro-charging is where businesses charge you small amounts for things or goods that used to be free. For example, you might be charged £4 for “basic” gig insurance even though you automatically get your cash back if the gig is cancelled or rearranged.

Is surge pricing a bad thing?

There are a lot of apologists for surge pricing at the moment. But they are wrong. Surge pricing is generally a bad thing.

If we don’t know what the “basic” cost of goods is, it’s impossible to know if we are getting a good deal. It makes it harder to compare things you might want to buy with those provided by competitors.

Because surge pricing is created by “high” demand, it means that we tend to panic and pay way over the odds out of fear of missing out. However, no-one is policing how businesses are actually doing this.

Technically, fiddling surge pricing is banned. But do you trust an airline when it says prices have doubled two hours after you last checked flights? Or a hotel that claims there’s just “one remaining room” left before prices go up. What about that taxi ride when it’s raining that’s suddenly 3.5 times the usual fare? Without oversight – and fines for misbehaving firms – we can’t be sure we are getting a good deal.

But where surge pricing becomes truly outrageous is when it’s applied to gig, event and concert tickets. Some fans in the US were shocked when tickets for Bruce Springsteen rocketed past $5,000 per ticket plus fees. When a business sells tickets like this, there will always be high demand. So artists and ticket firms should be honest and upfront about what they actually want to charge so people can make a fair decision.

What’s the government doing about surge pricing?

UK governments have been worried about surge pricing – and gigs and events in particular – for a few years. But the Oasis debacle has forced the issue back out into the open. The Labour manifesto agreed to look at rip-off ticket resale agencies, but the government has indicated that this will be expanded to look at surge pricing.

The Competition and Markets Authority has long warned about this and many other aspects of the ticketing industry. So the tide might finally be turned against the twin evils of surge pricing and ticket resale agencies.

But not soon enough for Oasis fans on a tight budget.

Martyn James is a leading consumer rights campaigner, TV and radio presenter and journalist. Read more from him here.