Germany plans to cap ticket resales at €20 over original price

The German government is considering a new law aiming to stop ticket resellers from reselling tickets for much more than the original purchase price.

Hubig targets ticket resellers

When Taylor Swift was stomping across Europe in 2023 and 2024, fans who missed their chance to buy a standard ticket for around 100 euros were forking out between 400 and 500 euros for a resale ticket, according to Reuters.

This is the industry which Federal Justice and Consumer Protection Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) hopes to target with a new law. “We need a clear price limit for resales,” the minister told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

Hubig’s plan would mean that tickets for cultural and sporting events could only be resold at 20 percent more than the original purchase price, or a maximum of 20 euros more than the original price. 

Germany needs to catch up and protect venues

Speaking to NOZ, the minister added that other countries had long since introduced laws against rip-offs on the secondary ticket market and that it was “high time” Germany “followed suit”. 

Indeed, many of Germany’s neighbouring countries, including France, Belgium, Denmark and Poland, have laws restricting for-profit ticket resales.

Hubig said that alongside audience members, she hoped the new law would better protect clubs, organisers and artists, “many of whom also offer affordable tickets so that people on a tighter budget can attend too”.

A draft of the so-called “Ticket Protection Act” is now undergoing internal consultation within the government. Hubig said she aims to have it enforced before many major sports events and concerts next summer.