The UK’s competition watchdog has opened investigations into eight companies amid concerns over potentially misleading online pricing tactics, marking the first cases brought under its

strengthened consumer protection powers.

Ticket resale platforms StubHub and Viagogo, driving schools AA and BSM, Gold’s Gym, Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Marks Electrical are all under scrutiny by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The regulator is examining practices such as hidden fees, time-limited promotions and automatic opt-ins for added services.

Alongside the formal probes, the CMA has written to a further 100 firms across sectors including travel, homeware, fitness, entertainment, parcel delivery and food services, warning them to review their pricing practices or face possible enforcement action.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said shoppers needed to be confident that online prices were transparent at a time of “constant pressure” on household budgets. “It’s crucial that the price they see is the price they’ll pay, and any sales are genuine,” she said.

The investigations follow a wide-ranging review launched in April, which assessed pricing behaviour across more than 400 businesses. Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, introduced last year, the regulator can now directly determine whether consumer law has been breached, order compensation for customers and levy fines of up to 10% of a company’s global turnover.

The CMA is focusing on tactics including “drip pricing” – where extra charges appear late in the checkout process – pressure selling and potentially misleading countdown timers.

Which? policy and advocacy director Rocio Concha welcomed the move, saying the regulator should “not hesitate to use its new consumer enforcement powers to fine any firms that have broken the rules”.

The CMA set out its initial concerns about each of the eight companies:

StubHub and Viagogo: suspected use of mandatory additional charges added late in the ticket-buying process.

AA Driving School and BSM: the prominence and timing of booking-fee disclosures.

Gold’s Gym: how its joining fee for annual memberships is presented, including concerns that it may be introduced mid-sign-up and omitted from advertised prices.

Wayfair: whether time-limited sales end when advertised.

Marks Electrical: possible automatic opt-ins to extra services.

Appliances Direct: both the timing of sales deadlines and opt-in practices.

The watchdog stressed that no findings of wrongdoing have yet been made.

AA and BSM, both operated by Automobile Association Developments Limited, said they were “comfortable” their £3 lesson-booking fee was transparent but had already taken steps to display it earlier in the customer journey. Photo by Chmee2, Wikimedia commons.