I just bought some crappy seats for The Eagles at the MGM Grand yesterday. What was strange and interesting was that the seats were only $55 each, I bought two, and when I went to check out, I was charged $110. No tax, no service fees, no convenience fee. Just $55 X 2.

I've bought hundreds of tickets over the years and never has Ticketmaster not charged fees. I don't know if that was some sort of a computer glitch or whether that really was their new policy. I also noticed that they've made Ticket Fast their free ticket distribution means and are now charging for mailed tickets. This seemed like the logical thing to do years ago and that's not surprising that they've finally gone that route.


Anyone else buy tickets recently with no additional charges?

All those charges depend on the venue. Not like ticketmaster keeps that money.

This is the main concert venue in Vegas. I've seen many, many shows there. And Ticketmaster does keep the service charge. That's how they stay in business. I was wondering if this is somehow included in the ticket charge since the merger with Live Nation?

I just bought tickets from them a week ago and they didn't charge me for having them mailed. I would be VERY upset if they started charging to have them mailed. I like keeping all my ticket stubs. I have one ticket that I foolishly just printed myself and it looks like dick with the rest of them.

I'm guessing they folded the fees into the asking price, so you're still paying for them, they're just not showing up as separate charges.

Kinda like how they roll parking into every ticket at the sheds now.

I used to always call those the "F-U" fees from Ticketmaster, but that is great news if they have done away with them...but I won't honestly believe it until I see it with my own eyes.

Fold the charges in to the ticket prices, and then slowly reintroduce them as separate charges. Fiendishly brilliant!!!

I thought Ticketmaster had a day they didn't charge fees, Wednesday. Maybe only on select concerts.

I got charged a $13 convenience fee per ticket which is over 25% of the $48 ticket for Thom Yorke Atoms for Peace show at Roseland.
They don't even print out tickets for this show since it is paperless only.

I'm in the same boat as you, TripWire. I hate the paperless shit and the convenience charges killed me. You going to the Monday show?

I bought 4 tickets today myself. Here's the breakdown:

Tickets: $26.50 (x4)
Facility Charge: $2 (x4)
Convenience Charge: $9.85 (x4)

Processing fee: $5.65

$53 in fees on $106 worth of tickets. Works out to $13.26 in fees per $26 ticket. Fucking insane.

I still love that they want to charge you an additional $3 'convenience' fee to print your own tickets. No thanks, that $53 in extra charges buys me an envelope, a $.44 cent stamp and professionally printed tickets. Fuck you TM!

Speaking of bullshit charges, how is it that every online retailer can manage without charging some arbitrary $6 'processing' fee but TM can't?

I ended up getting tickets for both days because my g/f got tickets also.
I will probably end up going to tuesday's show because I have some other friends goin.

My issue now is I need to sell off Monday's tickets, but I guess the only way I can get the tickets is I have to wait in line so they can scan the credit card.
I mean I know I will have no problem selling the tickets, the issue is it is just a pain in the ass to get the tickets

Ticketmaster gets away with these fees because they can. There is no legitimate reason for charging a 25-30% processing fee for an online payment system.

So bottom line is my fee-free tickets were either a glitch or a one-time thing? Because of all the bands I don't see wanting to give their fans a break in the pocketbook, I'd put The Eagles near the top of that list.

I was surprised your tickets were only $55, even if they are the crappy seats because you are right about The Eagles not giving two shits about it costing people a shitload to see them.

they just roll it into the price of the product. with TM it's different since you have to pay the band, TM, the venue and whoever else. would you be happier if they just charge you $40 per ticket?

When MJ died and i saw the rehearsal videos and read the schedule i didn't know that it takes almost a year of rehearsing just to go on tour. that's a lot of money you have to pay people and venues before you sell a single ticket

i know i certainly would. it's a lot better knowing the actual cost of something going into it than "$26 plus whatever they decide to charge you at checkout".

Yes. Give me a set price and I'm golden. That way they can have whatever arbitrary bullshit charge they want, and I don't see it, instead of getting hit with a 50% markup at checkout.

To be fair, I don't think most bands rehearse for a year before they go on tour.

From the Ticketmaster FAQ...
"The convenience charge varies by event and is determined by negotiations with arena operators, promoters and others, based on costs for each event."

The Thom Yorke Atoms For Peace Show base ticket price is already pretty high for Roseland at $48. Usually ticket prices are $25-$35. The production cost to run a show at a small venue like Roseland is negligible, at least not enough for them to charge that much for a convenience fee.

Just doing a bit of pricing research, 30 Seconds to Mars has a show at Roseland for a $32.50 base ticket price with a $12 convenience fee, that is crazy at 37% and even a more higher percentage fee than Thom Yorke.

Even more insane..I checked out the Los Campesinos! show at Irving Plaza which routes through the livenation portal. A $9 convenience fee for a $20 ticket, that is 45% of the ticket. It seems the lower the price of the ticket the higher percentage the convenience fee is usually. So it doesn't look like the artist is the one commanding the high convenience charges. And if it's the venue, then why the hell are we paying a facility charge on top of that.

I thought the Livenation/Ticketmaster merger was "supposedly" going to bring down the fee bullshit.

Buying concert tickets shouldn't be like buying a car.

Moving to Book Talk!

Good Lord, not only did they NOT change their pricing policy -- they've made it worse. Here's my purchase of a single GA ticket for Them Crooked Vultures (I'm a big Foo Fighters fan). Check out these charges:

TypeFull Price TicketTicket PriceUS
$45.50 x 1 Price Details
Facility Charge US $4.00 x 1
Convenience Charge US $10.40 x 1
SUBTOTAL US $59.90

Tickets/ItemsUS $59.90
Order Processing Fee US $5.65
Standard Mail No Charge
TOTAL CHARGES US $65.55

They tacked $20 in service fees onto a $45 ticket. That last $5.65 was totally covert and you don't even see that charge until you authorize purchase. I'm SO pissed at them right now. I called and complained and they said that processing fee was for ticket printing cost. I asked would I still have to pay it if I had elected to print my tickets at home and they said "yes". They're evil.