All the extra charges make tickets far too expensive
Sarah Lanni | COPY EDITOR
If you’ve ever purchased tickets through Ticketmaster, you know that the original amount a ticket is being sold for isn’t the amount you end up paying.
I recently bought tickets through ticketmaster.ca for “The Most Races Show on Earth” comedy show which were advertised as $25.
But after the ‘convenience charge’, facility charge, order processing fee and ticket delivery charge were added on, my ticket ended up costing $34.25.
I understand the venue needs to be paid, as well as the performer and Ticketmaster, but all these additional charges are ridiculous and they should be included in the advertised price.
Ticketmaster’s entire purpose is to sell tickets. But an extra $10 in fees on top of a ticket price isn’t affordable for students.
Ticketmaster’s website attributes the ‘convenience charge’ to cover the cost of Ticketmaster providing the tickets, and explained the charge varies by event. I don’t know who this charge is convenient for, but I can guarantee it’s not me.
The site also says “there is typically no convenience charge when you drive to a box office to purchase tickets,” but that’s not convenient for customers, which is one reason Internet purchasing is so popular.
The facility charge goes directly to the venue and can vary, depending on the facility. Buying tickets directly from the venue and avoiding Ticketmaster altogether should eliminate this charge, but sometimes that isn’t possible.
According to the Ticketmaster website, the order processing fee covers the cost to fulfill your ticket request when you purchase the tickets online or by phone. However, even if you purchase tickets in person, you still have to pay this.
Finally, there is the delivery charge. Customers have the option of having tickets e-mailed or couriered to them, or they can pick them up at the venue. The delivery charge varies depending on the event and the kind of delivery. Although picking up tickets at the event is supposed to be free, the website states, “there will still be an order processing fee, and occasionally, delivery prices may in fact still be charged.”
It seems like there is no way of avoiding all the fees, no matter how tickets are purchased.
Personally, I think it’s just Ticketmaster’s way of sucking the fun out of going to events.
If people added up the amount of additional charges they have had to pay for every event they have gone to, the amount of money spent on fees would come close to being the same as the amount spent on events.
