Telecharge Service Fees? — Page 2

So Taryn, when I bought tickets for a concert two days before my Lionel Richie show and was charged the usual $10 -$12 per ticket and then charged $31 for Lionel, according to your theory Ticketmaster must have hired a hell of alot more people and their operating expenses tripled, so that is why I paid more than their usual fee cost. My original post was NOT why does Ticketmaster charge fees but why did the usual $12 fee go up to $31 for this concert. Also can you edit your post? I did not state the first paragraph. That was Rangersrule.

I never understood why something labor intensive as buying a ticket at a box office attracts no fee, but buying online that has minimal labor fees attracts an exorbitant booking fee?

Also I hardly buy tickets in advance because of the booking fees and wait until I get to New York. Hamilton aside what show do you need to book in advance?

Theatergoer3, avoiding fees by paying at the box office also works for concerts or other events...not just Broadway shows. If you go to the arena or performing hall and buy your ticket from them directly you will avoid Ticketmaster fees. They will still charge you a facility fee, but that is usually one or 2 dollars.

Were the Lionel Richie tickets more expensive than the other concert? I think the fees are related to the cost of the ticket.

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Yup, two years ago I think I looked at tickets for the Tonys just for fun - I never intended to pay that much. The tickets were something along the lines of $350 and $600 depending on the seating location, and Ticketmaster added another $60 or $80 dollars in fees to those prices. I don't remember exactly, but it was in that ball park.

I wish more theaters had their own ticketing system. All the non-profits have, and so do Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, City Center etc. and they all have very small online fees compared to what Telecharge and TM charge. Maybe the cost of operating their own ticketing system is somehow reflected in the ticket price, but I'd much rather give my money to the production/the theater company etc. than some crappy website who's overcharging for little to no service.

GoodyProctor said: "I wanted to purchase a ticket to Anatasia on the Telecharge website yesterday. Besides the fact that the website crashed when I tried to complete my transaction, I was (going to be) charged $11 for a service fee and $3 for a handling fee.

I usually go to the box office and I don't recall fees being that steep. Is this something new?"



I remember when the service fee was only $8.50 then it increased to $9.50 and now $11 -- really crazy. However, their customer service is top notch and really try to help resolve issues (exchanging dates etc) but Ticketmaster's cs is horrible! Since I live and work it Queens, travel costs negate the savings by purchasing at the BO.

I recently purchased a ticket to "How to transcend a happy marriage" during the LCT membership presale and the telecharge fee was around $4.50… that lead me to believe it was associated with ticket cost but now, I'm not sure.

ArtMan said: "Theatergoer3, avoiding fees by paying at the box office also works for concerts or other events...not just Broadway shows. If you go to the arena or performing hall and buy your ticket from them directly you will avoid Ticketmaster fees. They will still charge you a facility fee, but that is usually one or 2 dollars."



Thank you so much for this info. I had no idea.

I also thought service charges were much too high, but go along for convenience, certainty, see what's available and get to pick seats. Ticketmaster is much bigger and and somewhat higher. For a $34 ticket to a college basketball game the total came to $49 each.

haterobics said: "I've never sorted out why, when I act as my own box office manager, select my own seats, process my own payment, and use my own computer, printer, and ink to create my own ticket, *I* have to pay more money... but if I go to the box office, and make someone who is already on salary do that, and use all of their resources, then it is free? Doesn't that seem backwards?"

I can't help but think of how many banks now charge a fee for services if the customer comes into a lobby and interacts with a teller, but the same service is free if the customer does it online.

There's usually more to a service charge than covering the cost of processing a purchase. Most promoters or producers get a per ticket rebate (kickback) from ticketing companies. Many times another rebate is added on top of that for the artist. Also, the bank fees for the processing of the credit card transaction is passed on to the consumer (when you buy something from Target for example, Target is paying the bank fee).

So a service charge can be composed of many parts:

1) fee for processing the ticket purchase

plus

2) kickback to promoter/producer

plus

3) kickback to the artist

plus

4) credit card processing fee

The Bigger the Promoter, the Bigger the Ticketmaster Kickback…

I think my service fees on Hello Dolly and M.Buttefly are around $20 each

The one that made me laugh was Torch Song $7 including a $5 "convenience fee". Some convenience been charged.