wagx3 Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I got tickets to see Wilco in Wappingers Falls through the presale. With all the charges, it came out to $43. I went online this morning to get a ticket for Keyspan since I missed the presale, and with all the TM fees it came out to $60. I decided to save money for the summer and opted to only go to the Wappingers Falls one. It's only an hour drive on the nice highway on a Saturday night. I didn't think it'd be worth it to spend the extra cash and hustle to Brooklyn after working all day on a Monday. But still, are any other money-savers out there amazed by how much of a difference it is with Ticketmaster? One of the only things I hate about concerts these days. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dmait Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 TM added 22% to the cost of the ticket with its fees (a $10 "convenience" charge per $45 ticket, not including a $5.35 order processing fee). That's pretty aggressive. This was a problem 10 years ago when Pearl Jam tried to do something about it, and I'm sure it will be a problem 10 years from now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
absolutyyz Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 god bless pearl jam for attempting to fight the machine. with the merger between TM and live nation, it doens't look like things are gonna improve, just like dmait alluded to.sucks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jimthedrummer Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Yeah, those ticketmaster prices (plus the $45 face) brought my 4 ticket purchase to over $225.00! I took a personal day from work today to buy 'em, then go bike riding (70 degrees and cloudless day that it is)... but found my bicycle had been stolen out of my cellar (three family dwelling, btw). I might have thought better of the ticket purchase if I had gone downstairs a little earlier! Damn and other less socially palatable words! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MattZ Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Far be it from me to defend Ticketmaster, but I find it pretty convenient to be able to click on a website at 12:00:20, from my workplace, no less, and snag two tickets to see Wilco in Brooklyn. I used to have to skip school and wait in line for hours to get tickets to see concerts. In the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways, too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mfwahl Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 I go to a lot of concerts and sporting contests. Sadly, I'd be surprised at this point if I didn't get a markup on tickets. I always factor in about $15 extra per ticket. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
anthony Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 Far be it from me to defend Ticketmaster, but I find it pretty convenient to be able to click on a website at 12:00:20, from my workplace, no less, and snag two tickets to see Wilco in Brooklyn. I used to have to skip school and wait in line for hours to get tickets to see concerts. In the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways, too. Ha. You know I had a similar feeling. At the risk of sounding really uncool, I'll admit that the last time I bought a concert ticket (for a RnR show) was Pink Floyd's Divsion Bell Tour. I remember waiting in line early in the morning outside the local record store / ticket seller. Pretty much a hassle. I bought my Wilco tickets while sitting at my desk at work. Pretty convenient. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ih8music Posted April 24, 2009 Share Posted April 24, 2009 While I see the point you guys are making - and I agree that it certainly is more convenient to buy the tickets from my desk than have to wait for hrs at the ticket booth - couldn't the same argument be made for pretty much everything sold online? Following this logic, Amazon should be able to tack on an additional 20% or so for the convenience of being able to buy pretty much anything at any time... but that's not the case. Their prices are competitive with, and often cheaper than, what you'd pay at a local store, even factoring in shipping (which is usually free if you buy enough). I find it absurd that it costs $10-15 to have an envelope with a couple pieces of paper shipped to my house, when I can order a TV (or books or CDs, etc) and get it delivered for free. Let's not kid ourselves - TM does this because they can. And it's sad to see the other competing outlets follow suit. Unless I'm missing something fundamental about their business model, I don't see any justification for these stiff "convenience" fees. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zebra Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Yeah, I hate the TicketBastard machine too, but hate the online scalpers even more. I was looking at tickets to the Tucson show I'm going to. Stubhub wants $100+ for tickets similar to what I have and other more generic sites wants $400+ for two tickets in the 15th row. Jimmy Cricket! I was lucky enough to snag front row on the pre sale and with two tickets and all the extra fees, it was only like $80. Who would pay these ridiculous prices? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
caliber66 Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 While I see the point you guys are making - and I agree that it certainly is more convenient to buy the tickets from my desk than have to wait for hrs at the ticket booth - couldn't the same argument be made for pretty much everything sold online? Following this logic, Amazon should be able to tack on an additional 20% or so for the convenience of being able to buy pretty much anything at any time... but that's not the case. Their prices are competitive with, and often cheaper than, what you'd pay at a local store, even factoring in shipping (which is usually free if you buy enough). I find it absurd that it costs $10-15 to have an envelope with a couple pieces of paper shipped to my house, when I can order a TV (or books or CDs, etc) and get it delivered for free. Let's not kid ourselves - TM does this because they can. And it's sad to see the other competing outlets follow suit. Unless I'm missing something fundamental about their business model, I don't see any justification for these stiff "convenience" fees.When you buy something from Amazon, they get the same markup that a brick and mortar store would get on the same merchandise, and they have lower overhead, so they don't need to charge more to sell you the same things you can buy in a store. As far as I know, the venue/label/artist keeps the same amount from each ticket when you buy through Ticketmaster as when you buy from the venue, so TM doesn't get the same markup as an online retailer like Amazon does. Thus the additional charges. Also because they have a monopoly on the events they sell, so they can. If Amazon was the only place that you could get a [artist name here] album, you can be sure you would be paying a lot more for it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scribex6 Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I bought a ticket for the Wiltern show through Live Nation and one for the Berkeley show through the Frontgate pre-sale and they both came down to about $50 each with the fees and shipping charges so it doesn't seem like there was a big difference in price. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kidsmoke Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 [Angry Rant] Make no mistake about it, I'm very happy I bought tickets today, to see the band on the 23rd of June. But I don't even have the words to express my contempt for the outrageous, over-the-top profiteering going on at Live Nation. Wilco itself is deserving of every nickel and dime I can lob in their general direction. They've earned that with glorious music and a generous, giving attitude toward their fans as well as the larger society (benefits etc.) Live Nation is another story. They deserve to make a profit as a business concern, for the service they deliver, but wringing the hapless (and choiceless) consumer for every extra charge they can finagle borders on the ethically obscene! To quote a Ry Cooder tune running often in my head these days: "How can a poor man stand such times and live?" (What, by giving up every joy and inspiration?) Sad days. I'm looking for Live Nation to institute some fresh surcharges: maybe, the W.C.T.P.S.D.A.I.,R? surcharge of $15.57 per ticket ("What can the poor schmucks do about it, really?" surcharge) Or maybe the Bet You Won't Even Notice This Add-on Convenience Surcharge of $4.86 per ticket (on your receipt, notated succinctly as the BetCon fee) Or the pleasantly named, Just Because It Made Us Laugh! Very Convenient Facility Charge! (Found on your receipt as the chuckle-y "Laugh! Charge!" ) My two tickets today amounted to a total of $70. The surcharges amounted to $24.40. Anybody want to do the math? It's criminal. Who's running Live Nation, and are we paying their bonuses? Who do we burn in effigy? This makes me sick. I hate to see music lovers unable to see their bands. [/End of Angry Rant, for now anyway.} Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zebra Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Well said Kidsmoke. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
c.lo Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I find it absurd that it costs $10-15 to have an envelope with a couple pieces of paper shipped to my house, when I can order a TV (or books or CDs, etc) and get it delivered for free. Let's not kid ourselves - TM does this because they can. And it's sad to see the other competing outlets follow suit. Unless I'm missing something fundamental about their business model, I don't see any justification for these stiff "convenience" fees. The last time I ordered tickets through TM, I opted to print my ticket, rather than wait for it in the mail. There was a fee for it, around $3 a ticket I think, but still. Ridiculous. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Moss Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 [Angry Rant] Make no mistake about it, I'm very happy I bought tickets today, to see the band on the 23rd of June. But I don't even have the words to express my contempt for the outrageous, over-the-top profiteering going on at Live Nation. Wilco itself is deserving of every nickel and dime I can lob in their general direction. They've earned that with glorious music and a generous, giving attitude toward their fans as well as the larger society (benefits etc.) Live Nation is another story. They deserve to make a profit as a business concern, for the service they deliver, but wringing the hapless (and choiceless) consumer for every extra charge they can finagle borders on the ethically obscene! To quote a Ry Cooder tune running often in my head these days: "How can a poor man stand such times and live?" (What, by giving up every joy and inspiration?) Sad days. I'm looking for Live Nation to institute some fresh surcharges: maybe, the W.C.T.P.S.D.A.I.,R? surcharge of $15.57 per ticket ("What can the poor schmucks do about it, really?" surcharge) Or maybe the Bet You Won't Even Notice This Add-on Convenience Surcharge of $4.86 per ticket (on your receipt, notated succinctly as the BetCon fee) Or the pleasantly named, Just Because It Made Us Laugh! Very Convenient Facility Charge! (Found on your receipt as the chuckle-y "Laugh! Charge!" ) My two tickets today amounted to a total of $70. The surcharges amounted to $24.40. Anybody want to do the math? It's criminal. Who's running Live Nation, and are we paying their bonuses? Who do we burn in effigy? This makes me sick. I hate to see music lovers unable to see their bands. [/End of Angry Rant, for now anyway.} Thank you for this, made me feel better just reading it and I could not have put it so well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shakespeare In The Alley Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Wolf Trap does their ticket sales through tickets.com, which is MUCH better than Ticketmaster. The ticket price was $38, and my final cost was $45, including all service/mailing costs. Not bad at all. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wilco Worshipper Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Yeah, those ticketmaster prices (plus the $45 face) brought my 4 ticket purchase to over $225.00! I took a personal day from work today to buy 'em, then go bike riding (70 degrees and cloudless day that it is)... but found my bicycle had been stolen out of my cellar (three family dwelling, btw). I might have thought better of the ticket purchase if I had gone downstairs a little earlier! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rusty Shackleford Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Wolf Trap does their ticket sales through tickets.com, which is MUCH better than Ticketmaster. The ticket price was $38, and my final cost was $45, including all service/mailing costs. Not bad at all. Ironically, that's even cheaper than I paid for the presale, because the presale made me pay $8.50 for standard shipping. My total was $51.50. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
!goose! Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 wilco ticketing presale costs added 17.50 to the cost of 2 tickets. this isnt any better than ticketslave. whats the deal? whos skimming off the top? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 LiveNation is even worse than Ticketmaster. I had to pay $15 in fees for a $32 Andrew Bird ticket recently It's disappointing to hear that there seem to be so many more fees through the new presale system. Isn't that part of the point of presales--to save fans from having to spend so much on processing fees and service charges? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ditty Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 2 $33 tickets to Cincy with the Aronoff internal ticket system and regular mail came to $86.20. Somehow I felt OK with this since they cut out Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Also didn't have to drive to Cincy to buy tickets! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
!goose! Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 i hate to say it but i think its really about psychology. since its not ticketmaster, its OK, just like if its not walmart its OK. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ditty Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 i hate to say it but i think its really about psychology. since its not ticketmaster, its OK, just like if its not walmart its OK. Exactly Quote Link to post Share on other sites
isadorah Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 it seems like we go through this every time tickets go on sale. i bet if they didn't call out the surcharge and essentially charged you $60 for the concert tickets (instead of say $45 + $15 service charge) there would be a lot less grumbling. don't get me wrong, i think ticketmaster is evil and does shady stuff with the ticket sales (like hijack a bunch of tickets that get filtered onto their sister scalping website), but really, you see the actual cost of the ticket plus the mark up. if you saw the actual cost of a product and then its markup anywhere else, you'd probably stop shopping all together. retailers markup at the very least 50% and more so 100% of items you buy in stores (and on Amazon). look at the iPhone, first generation $600, 3rd generation half-that, yet i'm pretty sure the price of manufacturing and R+T didn't magically go down. i don't think one ticket place is any better or any worse than another when it comes to fees. if they don't have hefty fees, the shipping usually gets ya and vis-a-vis. and at the end of the day, i think we should all be thrilled with the fact that wilco does a very good job at keeping their ticket prices very reasonable, so that even with all the fees and shipping we're averaging $60 at ticket. you can't say the same about U2, Madonna, Neil Young ($200 for a ticket to any of his shows) just to name a few. Bob Dylan just announced a baseball stadium tour, base ticket price $62.50 + fees and extras. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ditty Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 and at the end of the day, i think we should all be thrilled with the fact that wilco does a very good job at keeping their ticket prices very reasonable, so that even with all the fees and shipping we're averaging $60 at ticket. you can't say the same about U2, Madonna, Neil Young ($200 for a ticket to any of his shows) just to name a few. Bob Dylan just announced a baseball stadium tour, base ticket price $62.50 + fees and extras. One more reason I highly respect and love these guys so much! THANK YOU WILCO Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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