Getting a refund on an event ticket

If you bought your ticket from an official seller you can get a refund if the organiser cancels, moves or reschedules the event. The organiser will tell you how to get a refund.

You’re unlikely to get a refund if you bought your ticket from a reselling (or secondary ticketing) website, a private seller or a fan-to-fan website. Read more about buying event tickets safely online.

You’re not entitled to a refund if you change your mind about going or realise you can’t go anymore.

What you’ll get back

You’ll probably only get the face value of the ticket back - the amount printed on it. Some sellers might refund postage if, for example, the event is cancelled before the tickets are sent. If you had to pay any booking or card fees, you might not get those back.

You won’t usually get any travel or accommodation costs back unless they were part of a package which included the ticket.

Check the ticket seller’s website for their terms and conditions to find out what liability is excluded or limited.

Reselling the ticket

Check the terms and conditions on the ticket seller’s website you use to see what they say about reselling tickets. You can’t resell tickets to football matches, although you might find some on reselling sites if the match organiser has authorised this.

You should also check what the event or artist’s website says about reselling tickets. You might be able to give them to family or friends, but check first - they might be asked to prove that they’re the person named on the ticket.

If you decide to resell, think about the following points:

• you and the buyer are likely to have to pay a fee of around 10% to 15% on most reselling sites

• you might not get your money until after the event has happened

• there are some fan-to-fan sites, such as Twickets and Scarlet Mist, that ask you to sell at face value or less only

If the ticket seller won’t give you a refund

Check that they’re a member of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR). If they are, you can use STAR’s complaints procedure. STAR members should refund face value if the event is cancelled and the organiser has agreed to refunds.

If they’re not a member of STAR, check how you can solve an ongoing consumer problem with a business seller.

If you can’t get your money back that way, check if you can get your money back from your card company.

You should contact Action Fraud if your ticket is fake and report a ticket seller to Trading Standards if a ticket seller causes you problems because they:

• give you wrong or misleading information - like selling you a ticket for a seat but sending you a ticket for a standing area

• use unfair terms - like putting a restriction on reselling tickets in very small print

• engage in unfair activities - like putting pressure on you to buy by saying there are only a few tickets left