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Ticketmaster convenience charge (pg. 4)
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| JRinger |
Oh I don't have a problem with venues/events choosing to use TM exclusively -- I mention it only b/c a number of people have mentioned in this thread that "you always have the option to go to the venue directly if you want to avoid TM's fees"
My issue with TM is that their fees are excessive. You get hit with a per-ticket convenience charge, then you get hit with a non-refundable (i.e., even if the event is cancelled) per-transaction charge, then you get hit with extra fees if you want to print the ticket out at home. (you also sometime get hit with "facility charges", which are, granted, outside of TM's control). It's not uncommon for all of TM's fees to raise the total cost of the ticket by 30-50%.
This isn't the same as an airline having to add in government and airport surcharges and taxes, or a utility adding in taxes and surcharges -- those are all added costs dictated by the government and regulators. The TM fees are simply extra fees that they, as distributor, have decided to charge the consumer simply for the right to use their service -- and the size of that fee is, as far as most people are concerned, exhorbitant. |
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| raveed |
| its funny how why they never gave us the option of buying the tickets on ticketmaster and then collecting it at the venue for free. |
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| EvilDust |
umm...is there actually a way to go to these large events and pay just the advertised price?
I don't really mind paying the extra 4 dollars for convenience. But I think that should already include the convenience of printing it yourself at home. Another extra 4 dollars is just brutal. and I can't believe a regular consumer is actually defending them. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by JRinger
This isn't the same as an airline having to add in government and airport surcharges and taxes, or a utility adding in taxes and surcharges -- those are all added costs dictated by the government and regulators. The TM fees are simply extra fees that they, as distributor, have decided to charge the consumer simply for the right to use their service -- and the size of that fee is, as far as most people are concerned, exhorbitant. |
No they aren't
Most surcharges are NOT government imposed. For example the system access charge on your cell phone is NOT government imposed. |
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| Sly_Guy |
| I thought we had already fully discussed this topic by the end of page 2. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sly_Guy
I thought we had already fully discussed this topic by the end of page 2. |
yeah but some people dont understand basic economics :) |
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| JRinger |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
For example the system access charge on your cell phone is NOT government imposed. |
you mentioned "sales tax, flight surcharges, electricity surcharges, fuel surcharges, cell phone access fees etc etc etc" as an example of "extra charges above and beyond the listed price"
Of those, only the cell phone access fee is in the direct control of the distributor who is charging you. |
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| Jayx1 |
| actually except for sale taxes the rest are either partially government imposed or imposed directly by the utility or service provider. Although these services may be regulated, the utlilities are not forced to charge you these surcharges. |
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| JRinger |
Let's take a "fuel surcharge" for example.
Sure, a carrier isn't "forced" to charge it back to the consumer, but it needs to in order to contain costs, as a result of an operating expense that it has no control over -- in this case, the cost of fuel. This a cost that the company has no direct control over that's passed on to the consumer. TM has full control over all it's charges (except the "facility fee", as I mentioned), and has decided to hit consumers with "convenience charges" and "transaction charges" as it sees fit. |
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| baystreetboi |
Just had a look at Ticketmaster's parent company's financial statements. In Sept-Dec '04, they had $190 million in revenue related to ticketing, and an operating profit of about $32 million. Multiply that by 4, and Ticketmaster itself makes about $120 million profit a year. I wouldn't say that's exorbitant, given they are likely the world's largest ticketing agency.
The large difference between revenue and operating profit also tells you that there are quite a few expenses involved in running this operation. In this case, expenses are 84% of revenue. So given the $4 surcharge or what have you, they could only knock about 60 cents off it before they are just breaking even. Is $4 exorbitant but $3.50 not?
On a side note, it's interesting to see that this same company also owns Expedia, Hotels.com, 2 home shopping networks in the US, and match.com. |
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| QryS |
I always go to record shops to buy tickets. Not an option for everything, true, but for concert/party tickets there are usually non-TM non-venue options, like Play de Record, Release, etc.
If Ticketmaster is the only option, then what can you do except to think of the service charges as part of the ticket price? It's not like you can haggle with TM. |
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| big_charm |
| I bought my Decadence ticket a while back for $35 (early bird)..then the total came to almost $45...:wtf: Damn service charges |
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