Ticketmaster Concert Ticket Surcharges: Where's the Outrage?

Remember in 1994 when Pearl Jam spoke out against Ticketmaster's outrageous service charges and Congress even got involved? It seemed then that someone might do something about Ticketmaster's near-monopoly on concert ticket sales. But nothing substantial came of the controversy. Fifteen years later, consumers are paying higher service charges than ever through Ticketmaster, yet the outrage seems to have disappeared.

Ticketmaster concert ticket surcharges: A breakdown of the fees

It's almost impossible to keep up with all of Ticketmaster's fees these days, but let's try. I recently attempted to purchase one ticket for an Imogen Heap concert in Chicago. The base price was $21.50 - not bad! Then I was hit with a $1 "facility charge," an $8.35 "convenience charge," and $0.42 in "additional taxes," bringing the total to $31.27. But wait, the surcharges don't end there.

After choosing the free shipping option, I proceeded to checkout and found an additional $5.60 "order processing charge," making the final cost for my ticket $36.87. That's a 58% markup! What other industry can get away with 58% surcharges? If the airlines tried that, there would be a nationwide revolt.

Oddly, Ticketmaster does not charge for shipping if you choose to receive your tickets via standard U.S. mail. But if you want to print your tickets from home, on your own printer, you're slapped with a $2.50 surcharge, which is the most egregious example of Ticketmaster's greed. You're printing your own tickets, on your own paper, and they still charge you for that?

Verified by Visa: Just another Ticketmaster scam?

Additionally, Ticketmaster has begun forcing some debit card customers to enroll in the "Verified by Visa" program in order to complete online purchases. Verified by Visa is a software system that is designed to protect customers' security by requiring additional bank account information. But Verified by Visa, which has been in action in Europe for a few years now, has been rife with security issues and has been condemned by some security experts for being extremely unsafe.

Consumers can avoid joining Verified by Visa by making ticket purchases over the phone. But this isn't always possible. I held off enrolling in this system for as long as I could, but I finally had to give when I wanted to buy a ticket from an online-only presale. One general admission Weezer concert ticket, base price $45, ended up costing $60.80 after service charges. And that was even after choosing the free shipping option.

About the only way for customers to avoid Ticketmaster's surcharges is to buy concert tickets at the venue itself. But many venues don't have a box office. Some sell tickets only on the night of the show, which means the concert may very well be sold out before you get there.

Ticketmaster concert ticket surcharges: Modest outrage at best from consumers

Earlier this year, Bruce Springsteen got into a major war of words with Ticketmaster after the site "accidentally" redirected buyers who wanted to purchase Springsteen concert tickets to ticketsnow.com, a resale site (coincidentally owned by Ticketmaster) which resells tickets for far more than the original face value price. Ticketmaster apologized but experienced no repercussions from the incident.

The outrage hasn't gone away entirely. A few protest websites have sprung up, such as ticketmastersucks.org, which provides links to Ticketmaster-related articles and offers suggestions on boycotting the ticketing giant.

Ticketmaster claims it does not have a monopoly on the concert ticket selling business, which is technically correct because a handful of small competitors do exist. But every major event is sold through Ticketmaster. Unless consumers begin speaking up and contacting their lawmakers, the insane ticket surcharges are going to continue.

No one would oppose reasonable concert ticket service charges, but Ticketmaster goes way beyond that. If Ticketmaster cannot make a profit without charging more than $15 per ticket, they should give up and get out of the business entirely.

Sources:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/springsteen-ticketmaster-war-escalates-1003986457.story#/bbcom/news/springsteen-ticketmaster-war-escalates-1003986457.story

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/28/verified-by-visa-bri.html

http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/articles/testimon.shtml