Just paid 31% in fees for ticketmaster tickets

[JPK]

I just bought 2 $50 tickets to an upcoming show. With all the convenience, facility, surcharge, and other BS fees, my total came to $131.

I would much rather just pay $76 per ticket. All the other fees are just BS add ons.

Is there anyone who likes ticketmaster?

JPK

[decay]

I can't understand how they are legally allowed to operate as a monopoly.

Their fees are robbery, and they are the ONLY way to order tickets for most shows.

Ordering tix for a friend, the face value is $35, Tikkketba$tard fees are $10 per ticket plus $5 on top of the whole order.

[freeradical]

They're not the only ones who do this. I recently bought some tickets from tickets.com that were $29.50 each. After all of the fees were added on, they cost $41.50 each.

[itsmylittlebrothersbike]

Our anniversary is on Saturday so I would surprise the wife with Jackson Browne tickets.

The ticket: $63 each

Fee: $5.50 each

Sales Tax: $8.82

Parking Tax: .26 cents

Ticket parking fee: $3.74

Order processing: $3.00

Getting raked over the coals......priceless

[AlphaDog]

If you guys would simply refuse to buy tickets to these events as long as Ticketmaster is the only game in town, I bet things would change rather quickly. Continuing to pay the price and complain ain't getting you anywhere.

[RAMd®d]

If you guys would simply refuse to buy tickets to these events as long as Ticketmaster is the only game in town, I bet things would change rather quickly. Continuing to pay the price and complain ain't getting you anywhere.

This is sage advice that would work on any service provider, including cellphone companies and cable companies, the lack of governmental oversight not withstanding.

But as always, the problem is getting enough people to follow it to make a difference.

If I recall, there have been a couple of groups and events that have tried to do an end run around a ticket agency, but except for free concerts, that hasn't been successful.

[AlphaDog]

RAMd®d wrote:
If you guys would simply refuse to buy tickets to these events as long as Ticketmaster is the only game in town, I bet things would change rather quickly. Continuing to pay the price and complain ain't getting you anywhere.

This is sage advice that would work on any service provider, including cellphone companies and cable companies, the lack of governmental oversight not withstanding.

But as always, the problem is getting enough people to follow it to make a difference.

If I recall, there have been a couple of groups and events that have tried to do an end run around a ticket agency, but except for free concerts, that hasn't been successful.

You are, of course, right. This is just one more example of the way people would rather complain about something than work together toward a worthy goal. Oooops! Did I just forget this isn't the "other" side?!

[M A V I C]

That's not as bad as one local venue - $10 parking fee per ticket. We always used to get a van full of people and park in one spot. But now that'd cost us $80 in parking. So I avoid the venue and write every band that I like that goes there and tell them why I'm not going to see them.

[Dennis S]

People have tried protesting Ticketmaster and it doesn't work. Pearl Jam, the band, protested and got their ass handed to them. Get used to it.

[decay]

http://www.ticketnews.com/Ticketmaster-T...Deal018158

With the announcement earlier today that Ticketmaster was buying TicketsNow for an estimated $265 million, one thing is certain, the secondary ticket market is clearly where the action is.

Ticketmaster, which has dominated the primary ticket market for years, had watched as StubHub! and a host of other companies gobbled up portions of the secondary market, making it a more engaging marketplace for consumers who not only found easily found tickets to sold out events but also often found bargains in the process. The ticketing giant tried suing some of its rivals, such as StubHub!, and tried fighting against state legislation to legalize ticket reselling, but ultimately realized that it couldn’t stop progress.

But, the deal to buy TicketsNow is not necessarily a slam dunk. It will require federal regulatory approval, and even though it will instantly make Ticketmaster the number two secondary ticket reseller behind StubHub!, the deal will also require some finessing by the two sides to make it work.

Ticketmaster paid handsomely for TicketsNow, especially considering the company is only about half the size of StubHub! When eBay bought StubHub! early last year it paid just over $300 million, almost $30 million of which went toward debt. Ticketmaster just agreed to pay nearly the same amount for a company half the size of StubHub!

“This probably makes a lot of sense for Ticketmaster, but it was a defensive, panic move,” one financial analyst, who wished to remain anonymous, said to TicketNews. “They [Ticketmaster] were reacting to Live Nation.”

Last week, Live Nation spelled out details of an aggressive plan to enter the ticket-selling market in 2009 when its contract with Ticketmaster expires. Live Nation is Ticketmaster’s largest client, but Live Nation intends to go after several of Ticketmaster’s other clients over the next several years.

In addition, there is the thorny issue of Ticketmaster, which recently signed a contract with the National Football League to become the league’s authorized secondary ticket reseller, and the New England Patriots. Ticketmaster will own a company that resells Patriots tickets, something the Patriots have long fought against and recently won a judgment against StubHub! over the issue.

Then, there is also the network of brokers that currently work with TicketsNow, a group that has long distrusted Ticketmaster. The two companies will have to smooth over some of the ruffled feathers of brokers who are not enamored of the deal.

“This deal is also incredibly contradictory to the position Ticketmaster has trumpeted in the past, suing companies that produce broker technology to acquire tickets, setting geographic restrictions for ticket on sales as well as limits on ticket purchases. All of those measures are designed to thwart the ticket broker community. Then today, Ticketmaster buys the largest ticket brokerage on the internet?” Sean Pate, spokesperson for StubHub!, told TicketNews.

However, on a positive note, the deal “further validates the secondary ticket market,” said Eric Baker, founder of secondary ticket reseller viagogo.com. Baker, an industry veteran, helped create StubHub! back in 2000 before opening viagogo in Europe. “This is now the hot growth area in the ticketing industry. This is where the opportunity is.”