S Poddar
In light of fan outrage, ticket reseller Twickets has backtracked on plans to charge exorbitant booking fees for Oasis’s reunion shows next summer. It was something of a controversy when fans learned they would be charged over £100 in booking fees from the site, which markets itself as an ethical alternative for reselling tickets.
One fan group highlighted a particularly steep fee of £138.74 for two tickets, each with a face value of £488.25. This backlash follows frustrations over Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model that saw many fans fail to get tickets after queues of several thousand people.
After an investigation by *The Independent*, Twickets founder Richard Davies said that his company would introduce a cap of £25 per ticket for its forthcoming shows. Davies said: “We want to make sure that Twickets remains highly competitive against other secondary market platforms.
“Due to the phenomenal demand for the Oasis tour in 2025, we have reduced our booking fee to 10 percent, in addition to a 1 percent transaction fee which covers bank charges, for all purchasers,” Davies said. “We have also brought into place a £25 per-ticket cap for these performances. Sellers are not charged by Twickets to list tickets.”
That’s presumably part of the policy shift designed to keep Twickets an attractive, fairer alternative to competitors like Viagogo, Gigsberg, and StubHub.
The initial announcement of the Oasis reunion saw widespread excitement, which soon turned to frustration as ticketing issues arose. Twickets, a fan-to-fan resale platform that had praise for allowing tickets to be resold at face value, its 10 percent booking fee-that can rise to as much as 15 percent-led to criticism from the fans who were expecting more affordable access.
So, basically both TM and Twickets are earning a mint. This whole situation leaves a really bad taste when we should be buzzing,” one said via Twitter.
Another user questioned the fees due: “I get they need to make a profit, but that’s ludicrous. What’s the fee actually for? You’re not paying your staff that much; nor does a first-class stamp cost £138.74 either.”
Oasis reunion tickets have been in such demand that dynamic pricing models have propelled the prices upwards. Oasis tried to limit ticket scalping, stating that the only authorized sites that can resell Oasis tickets at face value are Ticketmaster and Twickets. Some fans leaped to Twickets’ defence against backlash.
“This is attacking the wrong people,” one fan said on X. “Twickets does a great job going up against the likes of StubHub. The issue here is the ridiculous face-value price. The percentage is the same.”
Another said: “The fee is set as a percentage of the cost of the tickets across the board. So if you sell a £40 ticket, the fee is only gonna be a couple of quid. Hard to begrudge them that. I don’t blame Twickets in this instance.”
As the debate rages on, Twickets’ move to cap fees may ease some concerns, but the greater issue about ticket pricing remains an unresolved issue.
