ticketmaster service charge

maps and atlas

Some more links to articles about the service fees, profits and relationships with other companies.

Sunday Tribue article from 2003 - on Ticketmaster profits 2002
http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2003/nov/23/taxman-eyes-ticketmaster-profits/

RTE's Primetime from 2003 - Ticketmaster defending excessive service charges
http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0807/primetime.html

Sunday Tribue article from 2004 - There's no business like showbusiness, and a few key players share much of the Irish business between them - which includes some financial information on Ticketmaster
http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2004/jan/18/leading-a-merry-dance/

Sunday Tribue article 2004 - about service charges and also mentions some of the history of Ticketmaster in Ireland
http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2004/aug/29/ticketmaster-boss-handles-charges-well/

Sunday Tribue article 2004 - mainly about Riverdance but includes some mention of Ticketmaster
http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2004/jan/18/nice-footwork-if-you-can-get-it/

Sunday Business Post article from 2005 - on Ticketmaster profits 2003
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/06/12/story5529.asp

Irish Independent article from 2005 - about excessive fees
http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/a-ticket-to-paradiseplus-usual-125-handling-charges-272599.html

Irish Independent article from 2007 - some background to history of Ticketmaster
http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/treasured-memories-of-my-great-rival-and-friend-jim-aiken-47895.html

I think that the main Ticketmaster Corporation bought out the original Ticketmaster Ireland investors around 2006 / 2007. And of course Ticketmaster itself was bought out by Live Nation earlier this year.

See also Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticketmaster

rubadub

twowheelsonly wrote: »

I would imagine that it's easier for them to have a per ticket charge rather than a percentage price

It makes them more profit, ridiculous amounts. If I go to a bank to exchange money they will usually have a fixed lower limit service charge, so if I go to buy just £5 sterling they might charge me €3 in fees to cover their time & effort, from then on in its a fair % of the amount to be exchanged or it might just have a single charge overall. What ticketmaster are doing is the equivalent of splitting up this lower limit and charging €3 for every single £5 increment, so to exchange £500 would cost €300 in fees.

The additional cost to process 10 tickets rather than 1 is really only the cost of the paper, which would be pittance, the original ticket price should include the cost of paper anyway.

twowheelsonly wrote: »

AT least I know what it's going to cost me from the outset. (Believe it or not a very large amount of people can't figure out percentages!!)

Yes, some people might have difficulty with %, but the charge is already based on a % (cheaper tickets do not have the full ~€6.50 charge). I very much doubt people would prefer to pay €65 to process 10 tickets, rather than a lower figure! The total appears at the end when you go to checkout, people can make up their minds then. You do not easily know the charge from the outset online unless the ticket is already at the upper limit.

twowheelsonly wrote: »

If tickets.ie are so good, (and from a consumer point of view they are) then why aren't they much bigger and why don't all the major Promoters use them.

I imagine they are a small operation, as ticketmaster have the foothold/monopoly -my main point in mentioning them is 1. to inform people that they exist, and if you are going to small venues check them first, and 2. It really shows what an unreasonable profit ticketmaster are making if a small outfit can charge so much less and yet provide the same service for the exact same gig.

In fact tickets.ie provide a service where you can get messages printed on your tickets, like "happy birthday John" -not important by any means but its a nice feature if you collect your stubs like I do. They also print nasty messages, much to the disgust of my mate

thegeezer

Have read all this with interest and I am still of the opinion that this cowboy style outfit should be referred to the Monopolies and Mergers commission by dint of the FACT that, well they have the monopoly in Ireland.

As for anyone who uses the pathetic excuse that they are the best at what they do, well quite apart from the fact that they are the ONLY at what they do, try telling that to the millions who have waited patiently by the phone or on the website for tickets for the bigger gigs, only to find that the gig is either sold out already, that they wait all day on the phone (or more usually are summarily disconnected) to be told the same, or the hopelessly inadequate infrastructure of the provided website creaks and then crashes at the first sign of any real amounts of traffic.
The best at what they do - don't make me laugh. They are a jumped up little Ryanair style outfit who have greased the right palms and taken advantage of the bertie-style corrupt politics that even in this day and age of recessions, still provides these "entrepreneurs" with the kind of corrupt monopolistic environment which allows them to thrive by ripping off the Irish people.

dudara

Zombie thread - closed

dudara