Quick answer: There are a few potential reasons why Ticketmaster may not be allowing customers to use gift cards as a payment option when purchasing tickets online:
- Technical limitations – Their system may not be set up to process gift card payments properly
- Financial considerations – They may earn higher fees from other payment methods like credit cards
- Promotional strategy – They want to encourage purchases with Ticketmaster gift cards specifically
- Policy decision – They may have decided to disable gift card functionality for certain events or ticket types
The main options Ticketmaster does provide for ticket purchases are major credit/debit cards, PayPal, and their own Ticketmaster gift cards. The lack of support for general retailer gift cards is likely due to some combination of the factors above. However, customers should still have options like asking the gift card provider for a refund and using that to make a Ticketmaster purchase instead.
Why Doesn’t Ticketmaster Allow General Gift Cards?
There are a few potential reasons why Ticketmaster does not seem to allow customers to use retailer gift cards from places like Amazon or Best Buy to make ticket purchases on their website:
Technical Limitations
One possibility is that their internal systems are not set up to properly process and validate payments made with gift cards from hundreds of different retailers. Ticketmaster has to handle millions of ticket purchases daily across thousands of events, so their payment system needs to be efficient and consistent.
Integrating support for such a wide range of different gift card providers into their ordering flow could introduce bugs or errors that compromise the reliability of their systems. So they may have simply decided to avoid the hassle by only supporting their own Ticketmaster gift cards and major card brands they already have integrated.
Financial Considerations
Ticketmaster also likely makes much higher profit margins on ticket fees when customers pay with credit cards versus gift cards. Credit card payments incur processing fees, interchange fees, and other card brand charges that Ticketmaster factors into their service fees on each ticket purchase.
Gift cards have much lower associated costs in comparison, so Ticketmaster would earn less revenue on gift card ticket sales. As a large public company, they prioritize profitability and may have disabled gift card functionality partially for this financial reason. Their terms of use do note that payment methods are subject to their discretion.
Promotional Strategy
Another potential factor is that Ticketmaster wants to encourage customers to purchase their own branded gift cards instead of using retailer gift cards. When customers buy Ticketmaster gift cards, the company gets an upfront influx of cash before the cards are even used. This provides them with a bit of free financing.
Ticketmaster also earns double fees when their gift cards are redeemed – once when the card is purchased and again when tickets are bought with it. So only accepting their own gift cards is financially advantageous.
Policy Decision
Lastly, Ticketmaster may have disabled gift cards for certain types of tickets or events altogether as a policy decision. For very popular shows that sell out instantly, they may want to reduce complications with the purchasing process to avoid technical glitches or delays for buyers.
Or for resale tickets, the unknown source and validity of 3rd party gift cards could pose problems, so Ticketmaster may have banned them across the board for certain ticket types. Event organizers likely have a say as well in what payment methods are enabled.
Options for Using Gift Cards on Ticketmaster
While the reasons above help explain why Ticketmaster does not directly take other gift cards, customers do still have some options to use gift cards for ticket purchases:
Get a Refund and Repurchase
One way around it is to take the retailer gift card to the store it belongs to and ask for a refund back to an original payment method. Many physical gift cards can be turned in and exchanged for cash, store credit, or a refund to your credit/debit card.
Once you have that money back, you can simply make a purchase on Ticketmaster with your card as normal. It adds an extra step, but gets the same end result.
Buy a Ticketmaster Gift Card
Some gift card exchange services also allow you to trade in retailer gift cards for a Ticketmaster gift card specifically. You may take a bit of a loss in value, but it converts the gift card directly into a type accepted by Ticketmaster for tickets.
The company will then get their double fees as discussed above, so they have no reason to block these gift card redemptions.
Use Gift Cards for Related Expenses
Another option is to use the gift cards to cover other costs associated with concert and event trips instead. You can’t use the Best Buy card on the Ticketmaster website, but you could utilize it to buy new headphones, cameras, or other gear to enhance the experience.
Retailer gift cards for gas, hotels, rental cars, and restaurants can all be put towards expenses of traveling to the event location or making a trip out of the concert.
Will Ticketmaster Ever Take General Gift Cards?
There is certainly consumer demand for more flexible gift card acceptance policies on Ticketmaster. But whether they ever decide to implement support for general retailer gift cards depends on a few factors:
Processing Costs
If Ticketmaster can negotiate better gift card processing rates in the future, the financial disincentive to accept them would be reduced. They may be willing to absorb slightly lower margins if they can outsource much of the implementation and validation work.
Consumer Pressure
Consistent customer feedback requesting gift cards could nudge them toward adding support. If competitors begin accepting gift cards, they may change their stance to match consumer expectations. But Ticketmaster holds a dominant market position, so consumer pressure may not impact them very quickly unless it grows very loud.
Strategic Priorities
Ticketmaster seems focused now on driving uptake of their own branded gift cards and shifting consumers to digital wallets. Unless accepting 3rd party gift cards becomes a strategic priority, it may remain a lower priority feature for their technical teams compared to other initiatives.
Conclusion
In summary, Ticketmaster currently does not provide the ability to directly use retailer gift cards as a payment method due to a mix of technical limitations, financial considerations, promotional priorities, and policy decisions.
Customers do still have some options like exchanging gift cards for cash to fund ticket purchases or using them to cover ancillary costs associated with concerts and events.
But support for general gift card redemption is unlikely to be added to Ticketmaster anytime soon unless consumer demand grows, processing costs decline, or the competitive landscape shifts significantly. The combination of their market position and financial incentives give them little reason to change course at the moment.