My vent of the day - ticketmaster fees

[mdurette]

I'm online holiday shopping and noticed Cirque du Solei is having a Black Friday sale. But, ticketmaster fees are so insane, I'm not going to, just because I'm annoyed. 23% of the total cost!

 

[Passepartout]

I'm with you. I ordered tix for a show/concert next month. the seats were $150 each and the service charge was over $90. Tax not included in the whole shebang for a total near $450 for 2 tickets. Sure hope it's good!

 

[RX8]

That is a monopoly that needs to be addressed. Ticketmaster has a 70%+ share of all venue sales. They also have significant fees that can be as much as 78% of the price of the ticket. Why? Because they can.

Over 2.4 million Taylor Swift tickets were sold through Ticketmaster. Not sure how much fees were for Swift but looking at Ed Sheeran, the cheapest ticket is $79 and the fees are $22 (not including the $4 faculty fee because that all goes to the venue). The average ticket fee is going to be greater than $22 but we will use that to see how much Ticketmaster is making.

2.4 million x $22 is $52.8 million in Ticketmaster fee income and that is just for Taylor Swift!

 

[Timeshare Von]

Highway robbery, yes because they can.

 

[LannyPC]

But, ticketmaster fees are so insane, I'm not going to, just because I'm annoyed. 23% of the total cost!

Bingo! If you think it's too expensive, then don't go. There are many things in life that I would love to have. But if they're too expensive, then I just have to do without.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

We've found that if we can go to the ticket window direct, a day or two in advance for Broadway shows, that you can avoid all of the charges and non-sense. We were able to get tickets at the box office center front auditorium floor for Wicked for $90/ticket with no ticketmaster fees. Even if we went to the last minute ticket booth in Times square, they take a bite and it would have been $30/more per ticket for a nosebleed seat in the back.

Won't work for Taylor Swift or other sell-out shows but if you can wait to buy when demand cools, that helps too.

 

[DaveNV]

I've noticed the same. In some cases, the fees add up to as much as the ticket prices. Adding "Dynamic Pricing," where Ticketmaster raises prices due to popularity of the event, and it gets to be ridiculous. If nothing is done to reverse the Ticketmaster acquisition of Live Nation, giving them a monopoly, expect pricing to be even more outrageous.

What geographic location or show are you trying to buy tickets to see? If it happens to be in Las Vegas, there are other ticket buying options.

Dave

 

[wackymother]

The insane fees are exactly why the whole Taylor Swift thing is so infuriating. Ticketmaster has a monopoly and charges fee after fee after fee. Swift says her people asked Ticketmaster again and again if they were prepared for the demand that her shows would generate, and Ticketmaster insisted that they were ready. Well, they charge about 30 percent in fees and they were not ready. Then they had the nerve to blame Taylor Swift for being too popular!

 

[ScoopKona]

And yet, every time a band has tried to sell tickets on their own and bypass the whole Ticketmaster monopoly, it ends up being worse.

Only the Grateful Dead managed it -- but only selling "season tickets" to an entire tour. The individual shows, they then turned over to Ticketmaster.

 

[Brett]

The insane fees are exactly why the whole Taylor Swift thing is so infuriating. Ticketmaster has a monopoly and charges fee after fee after fee. Swift says her people asked Ticketmaster again and again if they were prepared for the demand that her shows would generate, and Ticketmaster insisted that they were ready. Well, they charge about 30 percent in fees and they were not ready. Then they had the nerve to blame Taylor Swift for being too popular!

next time they will charge 50% fees

The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/...-ticketmaster-investigation-taylor-swift.html

 

[wackymother]

The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/...-ticketmaster-investigation-taylor-swift.html

Good. About time.

 

[silentg]

We saw the Beatles Love, last visit to Vegas. We bought our tickets at the venue, don’t remember additional fees.

 

[am1]

It is annoying but to the all in price is the important number. Some may prefer the fees broken down so they know where the money is actually going.

 

[LannyPC]

It is annoying but to the all in price is the important number. Some may prefer the fees broken down so they know where the money is actually going.

Kind of like with airline tickets.

 

[klpca]

And they charge fees on both sides. We buy season tickets for SDSU basketball. Sometimes if we can't go we want to sell our tickets. There is a substantial fee for the sale that comes out of our proceeds plus the buyer also pays fees. Ridiculous.

 

[isisdave]

Kind of like with airline tickets.

Also kind of like resort fees. As the OP noted, the ticket price was discounted, but not the fees. Same thing at resorts: this allows them to claim "50% DISCOUNT" without actually discounting that much.

Also, I wonder if Ticketmaster kicks back any of that fee to anyone, and whether they pay a fee to the concert organizer to be the ticket agency. It's kind of strange that no one else has started a competing business. It's so scalable, you could easily start with a regional presence and gradually expand.

 

[klpca]

I wanted to add on to my post above about fees. What it also leads to are inflated prices. If we list our tickets at face value, after fees we take a loss. So of course we increase the price to account for the fees. Now the ticket price is more than face which then increases the fee that the buyer pays. It is such nonsense.

 

[pedro47]

I've noticed the same. In some cases, the fees add up to as much as the ticket prices. Adding "Dynamic Pricing," where Ticketmaster raises prices due to popularity of the event, and it gets to be ridiculous. If nothing is done to reverse the Ticketmaster acquisition of Live Nation, giving them a monopoly, expect pricing to be even more outrageous.

What geographic location or show are you trying to buy tickets to see? If it happens to be in Las Vegas, there are other ticket buying options.

Dave

Ticketsmaster is now a monopoly in their industry.

 

[mdurette]

OP here - I ended up finding a local theatre that was offering a nice play the afternoon of NYE and the only fee they charged was $2 for mailing of hard copy tickets, they handle their own ticket sales. I'm going to couple this with a brunch at a local restaurant and that will be our holiday gift to family.

Back on topic, the pic below is actually the event that set me off a couple months ago. It was a ComicCon.. The kicker with this one is they required Will Call, so had to pay to pick up! Annoyed at these fees too, I went digging through the Comic Con website and noticed buried on their ticket page that ToyVault locations also sold tickets and on their FB page, they were promoting "no fees". Lucky for me, there is one in the next town over, so I went their and purchased. Yep, no fees, but they charged $60 for the ticket, a $10 upcharge. No win either way.

But, in the end if you want the tickets, you pay whatever the "extra" is going to be.......

 

[Patri]

OP here - I ended up finding a local theatre that was offering a nice play the afternoon of NYE and the only fee they charged was $2 for mailing of hard copy tickets, they handle their own ticket sales.

An area theatre here hosts great plays and concerts. Once on their page I saw a Ticketmaster link and was shocked. The fees were significant. I called the box office. They sold me the tickets over the phone at face value and I could pick them up there the day of the show. The lady said too many people didn’t realize they could call or come to the box office for the best prices. Maybe management required the TM option for convenience. (I just looked at their webpage. Both choices are more obvious now).

 

[pedro47]

Food for Thought a restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia are suggesting you pay in cash or they will be charging you a service fee for using a credit card.

 

[TheHolleys87]

Food for Thought a restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia are suggesting you pay in cash or they will be charging you a service fee for using a credit card.

At least one local restaurant here is doing that. It’s posted on the entry door as well as on a sign inside the entry.

 

[LannyPC]

Food for Thought a restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia are suggesting you pay in cash or they will be charging you a service fee for using a credit card.

It's not just restaurants. The city where I live allows you to pay civic taxes with a credit card but will charge a service fee for doing so.

Some restaurants and bakeries here have a "cash only" policy.

 

[Kat05]

I ran into the same thing yesterday pricing tickets for a Christmas gift. In the end I was lucky enough to have a connection go to the box office and purchase the tickets for me. The ticketmaster fees are way out of line and I go out of my way to avoid them when ever I can.

 

[DaveNV]

We saw the Beatles Love, last visit to Vegas. We bought our tickets at the venue, don’t remember additional fees.

Generally, tickets purchased onsite don't have extra fees attached. Ticketmaster levies these outrageous fees because they can, pure and simple. It's pure greed.

Dave