Is Viagogo Safe to Buy Tickets in the UK? What You Need to Know

Scammers are using Viagogo's reputation to steal thousands from UK ticket buyers — here's exactly how to stay safe.

By Alex Bacsa · Published 2026-05-13 · 6 min read

What Viagogo is — and why it has such a bad reputation

Viagogo is a secondary ticket marketplace, meaning it connects people who have tickets to sell with people who want to buy them. It is a real company that has operated in the UK since 2006. However, it built a lasting bad reputation through a practice called drip pricing: listing tickets at an attractive base price, then adding large booking fees, order processing charges, and delivery costs at the checkout stage, by which point many buyers had already committed emotionally to the purchase.

In 2018, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured a court order against Viagogo — one of the few times the CMA had to go to court after a company refused to offer undertakings voluntarily. The order required Viagogo to show the total ticket price upfront and to provide clearer information about sellers. The CMA subsequently monitored compliance and threatened contempt proceedings before suspending further action once changes were made. Buyer complaints about fees, refunds, and invalid tickets have continued to be reported since then.

The fees: what you actually pay versus the listed price

The price shown on a Viagogo listing is not the price you pay. Buyers typically pay a booking fee (a percentage of the ticket price), an order processing charge, and sometimes a delivery fee on top. These can add a significant amount to the listed price — check the total carefully before committing.

Since the CMA intervention, Viagogo is required to show the total price earlier in the buying journey. In practice, the additional charges appear at the confirmation stage rather than the listing stage. Always check the total before entering payment details, and compare the final figure against face value or official resale platforms before committing.

Are Viagogo tickets valid? What can go wrong

Many buyers receive valid tickets and attend their event without issue. However, several things can go wrong:

• Duplicate or cancelled tickets. A seller may list the same ticket to multiple buyers, or the original ticket may be cancelled by the promoter. Viagogo should replace these under its buyer guarantee, but the process takes time and can be difficult if the event has already passed.

• Nominative tickets. Some events link tickets to the original buyer's name and require photo ID at the door. These cannot legitimately be resold. Buyers who purchase nominative tickets from any resale platform, including Viagogo, are at risk of being refused entry regardless of how genuine the ticket looks.

• Late or non-delivery. Viagogo often releases tickets close to the event date, though timing varies by event. If tickets have not arrived, contact Viagogo support through the platform before assuming fraud.

Your rights if something goes wrong

Viagogo offers a buyer guarantee: if your tickets turn out to be invalid, the company should provide replacement tickets of equal or greater value, or a full refund. Exercising this in practice can be slow, and disputes are harder once the event has passed.

For stronger protection:

• Pay by credit card. Purchases over £100 are protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, meaning your card provider is jointly liable if the goods are not delivered as described. This is the most reliable protection available to UK buyers.

• Chargeback. If you paid by debit card and the seller does not deliver, contact your bank and request a chargeback. Most card providers allow up to 120 days from the transaction date.

• If a seller contacts you and asks for payment outside the Viagogo platform — by bank transfer, PayPal Friends and Family, or gift cards — stop immediately. This is a scam separate from Viagogo's own practices, and no buyer protection applies. Report it to Viagogo and to Action Fraud.

When it is definitely a scam — not just Viagogo being Viagogo

Separate from Viagogo's own controversial practices, fraudsters exploit Viagogo's reputation in specific ways:

• Fake Viagogo websites. Scammers build replica sites with near-identical URLs (viag0go.com, viagogo-tickets.co.uk, or similar) to harvest payment details. Always confirm the URL is viagogo.com exactly before entering any information. Type the address directly into your browser rather than clicking a link from an email or social media.

• Off-platform sellers. Someone contacts you on social media, by email, or via a classified ad claiming to have Viagogo tickets and asking for direct payment. Viagogo does not operate this way. Any seller asking you to pay outside the platform is conducting a fraud.

• Fake order confirmation emails. Phishing emails mimicking Viagogo ask you to confirm or verify your booking by clicking a link. These are credential harvesting attempts. Viagogo does not send confirmation links requiring you to log in again after purchase.

Frequently asked questions

Reporting routes in this guide are checked against our verified canon of official UK sources — Action Fraud, the National Cyber Security Centre, and Citizens Advice — by an automated accuracy gate before publication. Published 2026-05-13. Read about how Beat the Scam writes guides.