I didn't mark this as OT because I think the selling power of the Stones has had an impact on the fees being charged for the current tickets. This is the charge per ticket for the 5 different levels in Newark, with the percent per ticket in brackets:

$19.80 / $95 (21%)
$22 / 150 (15%)
$30 / 250 (12%)
$43 / 450 (9.5%)
$63 / 750 (8.4%)

What service is being provided? I believe delivery is extra although I haven't got that far in the purchase process yet (Grrr indeed!). All they do is provide a computer infrastructure and a few phone staff. These costs are extortionate and they have the monopoly so can set fees as they wish. Maybe I'm focussing my frustration on the wrong target but I am totally pissed with the ticketing system and especially the cost. If I do manage to score a ticket, after a horrendous process, these fees just add insult to injury.

A total RIP OFF,21% on the cheap tickets..><

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

It covers the credit card fees, venue fees and promoter profit. Big bands usually get 100% of the net price of the tickets before the fees come in. In some cases, like Jimmy Buffett 100% is not enough and he wants 105%...Buffett gets a cut of the venue parking, food and drink sales.

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SomeTorontoGirl
I didn't mark this as OT because I think the selling power of the Stones has had an impact on the fees being charged for the current tickets. This is the charge per ticket for the 5 different levels in Newark, with the percent per ticket in brackets:

$19.80 / $95 (21%)
$22 / 150 (15%)
$30 / 250 (12%)
$43 / 450 (9.5%)
$63 / 750 (8.4%)

What service is being provided? I believe delivery is extra although I haven't got that far in the purchase process yet (Grrr indeed!). All they do is provide a computer infrastructure and a few phone staff. These costs are extortionate and they have the monopoly so can set fees as they wish. Maybe I'm focussing my frustration on the wrong target but I am totally pissed with the ticketing system and especially the cost. If I do manage to score a ticket, after a horrendous process, these fees just add insult to injury.

Yup... they are not call TicketBastard for nothing... I rarely use them, I would rather buy on the secondary market.... although someone still pays fees... just not me.

Things sure have changed since the days when there were no added fees.

Some of the bands get a cut of the service charge. Very few know that, Ticketmaster is just a punching bag for what is really going on. They do not set the price.

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trainarollin
It covers the credit card fees, venue fees and promoter profit. Big bands usually get 100% of the net price of the tickets before the fees come in. In some cases, like Jimmy Buffett 100% is not enough and he wants 105%...Buffett gets a cut of the venue parking, food and drink sales.

Well.. if you watch the documentary in the other thread... the prompters are getting 90%... YES 90%... of the markup on seconary sales.

And what is being done about it?

Promoters... Marketing.. come the revolution...

I'm surprised there was not an uproar about Justin Bieber's mgmt scalping their own tickets. It's kind of a common practice, but they went overboard and the paper trail of exact seat locations proved it.

AEG is doing The Who tour and the Stubhub market is not buying them at the high prices, so they have been getting released back into the general ticket pool a handful at a time.

So was the final price of the $750's $813 or was there more on top of that?

It gets worse... If you go to the Box office here in NYC at Madison Square Garden and buy a ticket for any event, you still get charged service and convenience fees.

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njlstones815
It gets worse... If you go to the Box office here in NYC at Madison Square Garden and buy a ticket for any event, you still get charged service and convenience fees.

What the F--k is convinience fee??

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

What's the difference between Album of the year & Record of the Year?

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ROPENI

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njlstones815
It gets worse... If you go to the Box office here in NYC at Madison Square Garden and buy a ticket for any event, you still get charged service and convenience fees.

What the F--k is convinience fee??

That has to be the most ridiculous of all fees, the convenience fee.

It's the fee that's the inconvenience!

Does MSG have a 5% Facility fee tacked on too?

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treaclefingers

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ROPENI

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njlstones815
It gets worse... If you go to the Box office here in NYC at Madison Square Garden and buy a ticket for any event, you still get charged service and convenience fees.

What the F--k is convinience fee??

That has to be the most ridiculous of all fees, the convenience fee.

It's the fee that's the inconvenience!

LOL...

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

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njlstones815
It gets worse... If you go to the Box office here in NYC at Madison Square Garden and buy a ticket for any event, you still get charged service and convenience fees.

That's because the box office is no different than any other ticketmaster outlet. There really is no such thing as a "box office" any more.

I find the fees to be rather inconvenient

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trainarollin
What's the difference between Album of the year & Record of the Year?

What's the difference year to year?

Serious response: Album of the Year is awarded for "quality vocal or instrumental recording albums and Record of the Year is awarded for "quality vocal or instrumental recording tracks.

But something tells me you knew this already, since this thread topic involves Ticketmonster/Ticketscalper Serve-Us Cheeses.

So I revert to my previous response: What's the difference year to year?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-10-24 06:00 by stonesnow.

Surely the work involved in processing 2 x $95 tickets is the same as 2 x $750 tickets......I did hear once that price gouging is illegal in the US...(The news said someone was arrested for selling petrol way over the odds after a hurricane).........doesn't this count as that?

You would think the service fee would be the same for all tickets in a venue. It costs 'x' to print a ticket and put it in an envelope, regardless of teh price of a ticket.

THough with no evidence, I believe part of that service fee is going to the promotor or band. If not, a viable alternative to Ticketmaster would surely exist. In this day and age, how much does it cost to maintain a database of seat locations of various venues, and write some algorithms for location quality and grouping, and handling credit card transactions?

One should remember that many Ticketmaster "service" charges are channeled back to the promoter and / or venue. Typically the bigger the act the harder it is to make money on them so T'master charges provide a revenue stream the act can't touch.

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trainarollin
It covers the credit card fees, venue fees and promoter profit. Big bands usually get 100% of the net price of the tickets before the fees come in. In some cases, like Jimmy Buffett 100% is not enough and he wants 105%...Buffett gets a cut of the venue parking, food and drink sales.

Thanks for the info. I'm very slightly mollified. I didn't know that these fees don't go entirely to Ticketmaster. Credit card fees are totally understandable. But still, if promoters and venues (as some of the other posts also noted) still have to be paid out of ticket fees, that is out of line. You can't advertise a ticket range of, say, $95 to $750 then levy additional charges that are related to the actual concert! That's totally false advertising. I am still very grouchy about this whole thing!

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SomeTorontoGirl
I am still very grouchy about this whole thing!

You don't look all that grouchy !

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Edith Grove
You don't look all that grouchy !

I'm already green. It's just a matter of time until I turn into the Hulk and start tossing cars around!

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trainarollin
It covers the credit card fees, venue fees and promoter profit. Big bands usually get 100% of the net price of the tickets before the fees come in. In some cases, like Jimmy Buffett 100% is not enough and he wants 105%...Buffett gets a cut of the venue parking, food and drink sales.

Wish I new why I have to pay to park my car in their giant parking lot. The local mall or supermarket does not charge!

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Edith Grove
Things sure have changed since the days when there were no added fees.

Yeah, don't remember any when I use to get a ticket for $4.50 or $5.50.

And I do remember later on when they had them and the event was canceled, some/all of the fees were not refunded...