A ticketing fee, also known as a service fee, is an additional charge added to the base price of a ticket for an event, transportation, or other service. Ticketing fees are quite common and can make up a significant portion of the total cost paid by the consumer. In this article, we will examine what ticketing fees are, why they exist, who benefits from them, and strategies for avoiding high fees when purchasing tickets.
What is a Ticketing Fee?
A ticketing fee is an extra charge added to the base price of a ticket by the ticket seller. It is essentially a surcharge that is collected by the ticket vendor in order to cover various operating costs and generate additional profit.
Some key things to know about ticketing fees:
– They have different names – service fee, convenience fee, processing fee, etc. But fundamentally they all refer to the same thing: an added cost that the customer must pay on top of the ticket’s face value.
– Fees are retained by the ticket seller, not passed along to any other parties. The venue or performers do not receive any portion of the fees.
– Fees can make up a hefty percentage of the total ticket cost. In many cases, ticketing fees add 25-40% extra to the base price.
– Fees apply to all types of tickets – concerts, sports, theater, transportation, events, etc. Anywhere that tickets are sold through an intermediary will likely have fees.
– The fee amount is not consistent. Fees vary greatly depending on the event, site/app you use to buy tickets, shipping method, and other factors.
So in summary, a ticketing fee is an additional surcharge added onto ticket prices by the ticket vendor themselves, not the venue or performers. This extra fee can significantly drive up the total cost paid by customers in order to attend events.
Why Do Ticketing Fees Exist?
Ticketing companies charge service fees for a few key reasons:
– To cover operational costs – There are expenses involved in selling tickets online and processing orders. Fees help pay for website hosting, staffing for customer service, payment processing, insurance, and other overhead costs.
– As a revenue source – Fees are highly profitable for ticket sellers. The fees provide millions in extra income beyond just the base ticket sales.
– For profit maximization – Fees allow ticket companies to capture more value from high-demand events. The higher the demand, the higher they can push fees.
– To discourage ticket resales – Some fee amounts are purposefully set high to discourage ticket holders from reselling and transferring tickets. The fees make tickets less profitable to flip.
– To shift blame for high prices – Fees allow ticket vendors to charge very high total prices but deflect blame onto the “fees” rather than the base ticket price.
Essentially, fees are an easy way for ticket sellers to generate significant extra revenue without appearing to directly raise ticket face prices. The costs are shifted to customers through add-on fees rather than baked into the initial ticket price.
Who Benefits From Ticketing Fees?
The party that primarily benefits from ticketing fee revenue is the ticket seller itself. The major ticket companies like Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek, VividSeats, etc, retain the bulk of fee amounts.
None of these added fees go to the event venue, performers, or promoters. The exception is cases where the venue is selling tickets directly through their own box office. In those situations the venue keeps 100% of ticketincome, including fees.
Third-party ticket resellers can also benefit from fees if they tack on large fees when reselling event tickets on secondary markets. However, they have to pay the original fees upfront when initially purchasing tickets.
In essence, it is the intermediary ticket companies that win big on service fee income. They get to charge extra while the venues, performers, and customers bear the actual costs.
Types of Ticketing Fees
There are a number of different types of fees that Ticketing companies commonly charge on top of the base ticket price:
– Service fees – This is the standard processing fee added to all tickets for using the ticketing site. Usually $5-25 per ticket.
– Order processing fees – One-time charge per order for handling the order processing. Can be $5-$15 per order.
– Delivery fees – For shipping physical tickets, usually around $10-$25 per order. Electronic delivery also sometimes carries a $5-$10 fee.
– Facility charges – An additional fee some venues charge per ticket to fund facility maintenance and improvements.
– Convenience fees – For the “convenience” of buying tickets online or via phone instead of in-person.
– Tax – Sales tax and other local taxes will be added onto orders.
– Resale service fees – Large fees changed by resellers like StubHub for brokerage services. Can be up to 25% of a ticket’s resale value.
Many major ticket sellers have even begun charging “order processing fees” on top of their “service fees.” So customers get hit with multiple layers of fees on a single order.
Examples of High Ticketing Fees
To illustrate how exorbitant ticketing fees can get, here are some real-world examples:
– An SEC football ticket with a face value of $75 incurred $43.95 in fees, a 159% markup. The total cost became $118.95.
– A $100 concert ticket came with $37.15 in fees from Ticketmaster & LiveNation. A 37% surcharge.
– A family of 4 spent $1,928 on Disneyland tickets. Of that total, $412 were fees – over 21%.
– On StubHub, a $55 NFL preseason ticket had $42.50 in fees added. So the final price was $97.50 – fees were 77% of the base price.
– A Harry Styles concert ticket originally $99 ended up costing $179.61 after all the fees were added, an 81% premium.
These outrageous fees have prompted lawsuits, public complaints, and calls for investigation into the ticketing industry. But thus far, the high fees remain standard practice across most major ticket sellers.
Strategies to Avoid High Fees
While ticketing fees are usually unavoidable, here are some tips to minimize fees when buying tickets:
– Buy directly from the venue box office – Cut out the middleman fees by purchasing directly from the venue.
– Choose electronic delivery – Physical ticket shipment carries extra fees. Opt for e-delivery if available.
– Buy fan club presales – Artists will sometimes give special presale code access to fan club members with reduced/no fees.
– Avoid reseller sites – Resale sites like StubHub build in massive fees. Go through primary sellers when possible.
– Buy season tickets or bundles – Per-ticket fees can be reduced by buying season packages or multi-event bundles.
– Use low/no fee sites – Some sites like CashorTrade.org offer cheaper fees by operating as ticket exchanges instead of brokers.
– Buy onsite – Buy at the box office on event day to bypass online fees. Risk tickets selling out though.
– Negotiate groups/corporate rates – Big group orders may be able to negotiate fee discounts or corporate rates.
As annoying as fees may be, they are a reality of the modern ticketing landscape. But following some of these tips can help attendees save on egregious processing fees and keep more money in their pockets.
The Future of Ticketing Fees
Looking ahead, there are some signs that the tide of high ticketing fees may be slowly turning:
– Scrutiny from lawmakers – US Congress and state governments are investigating anti-competitive practices in the industry.
– Consumer frustration – Backlash against ridiculous fees is growing among the public. Customer opinion has significant influence.
– Ethics over profits – Some event promoters are prioritizing ethics over profits when it comes to fees, like Pearl Jam’s anti-fee stance in the 90s.
– Secondary market competition – Resale sites like StubHub provide an alternative to high primary market fees in some cases.
– Blockchain ticketing – Blockchain-based ticketing platforms tout fee-free transactions as a key innovation of the tech.
– Artists controlling tickets – Some prominent musicians like Louis CK and Kid Cudi are selling tickets directly.
However, fees are hugely profitable and the major ticket sellers have little incentive to voluntarily decrease them. And they lobby heavily to preserve the status quo. So while consumer sentiment is shifting, substantive changes to fee structures industry-wide will be difficult to achieve and slow to be realized.
Conclusion
In summary, ticketing fees are unavoidable surcharges added onto the base ticket price by sellers like Ticketmaster. While frustrating for customers, the fees generate millions in revenue for ticket companies. Buyers have little power but to factor in these fees when budgeting for events. Avoiding high fees requires diligent shopping tactics like buying directly from venues, choosing e-tickets, or using low/no fee exchanges when possible. The prevalence of outrageous fees has caused growing resentment, and signs point to a gradual rebalancing in the future. But ticketing service fees remain a reality that savvy customers must deal with for the time being when purchasing tickets.