Ticketmaster Service Fees

[bouche]

There is a fair bit of technology behind that delivery system I'd imagine. But I don't know for sure.

Yeah, sending bytes over wire would have been pretty expensive in the early eighties.

[AD]

So the software, barcoding or whatever security measure they use, hardware, support people etc magically appears? I gotta see that business plan.

[Basher]

What about R&D? That's free right? I mean, it HAS to be commensurate to the cost of my paper and ink, right?

Oh, and I am SURE there are no license holders, because I have no clue what that is!

[TheAlphaNerd]

R&D to make an automated service to print PDF's with a bar code?

How much did that cost?

$50 to pay russian programmer + $20 in red bull?

[SaggyBalls]

The service fees are not to cover expenses they're to take in profits - growing and annually expanding profits.

Though the expenses of a large company are likely heavy, they're not 33% of a ticket heavy, especially when said company is tied into much more than just ticket sales.

(do you all remember their ticket brokering racket?)

Again - even if you're joking, Basher it's nice of you to be on the side of the underdog in the issue - but they don't need your help when they make huge profits for no extra services.

Those vibes could really be used for better ends.

[Basher]

Why do I have to be on "a side", can't I just make an argument?

[secondtube]

basher, are you still of the opinion that TM does "not" hold tix back in order to deliver more tix to their scalping service?

[bouche]

So the software, barcoding or whatever security measure they use, hardware, support people etc magically appears? I gotta see that business plan.

I'm sure the whatever security has a cost, but 128-bit SSL doesn't cost any more than any other whatever. If they were using Secure Channel, then I could see inflated per-transaction costs. But they aren't doing anything fancy for someone to download and print a ticket. Barcodes are the same, whether it appears on the ticketmaster ticket or the home printed ticket.

Also, they're leveraging your own hardware and ink to print the damn ticket so I just don't see any reason for this to cost any more.

We really need to get in on this racket.

[tigger]

Racket it is.

[Patchoulia]

I'll admit, I don't know dick about what "actual" costs go in to each TM transaction (i.e. what a "legit" per sale $$ cost might be).

And I'm not any happier than the next guy about paying ridiculous fees.

However, isn't the purpose of a BUSINESS to make money?

Should I infer from the arguments put forth herein that any business that doesn't exist solely to provide goods or services at no profit to themselves are run by godless assholes?

If so, I guess that secures my already reserved position in hell because, I gotta tell ya, if I ran a business, I would be charging just as much as the market would bear for my product or service.

[c-towns]

did basher log in as patchoulia again?

[Patchoulia]

Bash this.

[Kanada Kev]

I would be charging just as much as the market would bear for my product or service.

Yup, and that's what they do.

So, in order to get them to even consider lowering any of their charges, people have to stop buying tickets from them. This won't happen on a big enough scale because people keep going.

That, and/or allowing for some competition in the industry. That'd spur on some competitive pricing for sure

[ollie]

Should I infer from the arguments put forth herein that any business that doesn't exist solely to provide goods or services at no profit to themselves are run by godless assholes?

I wouldn't infer that at all. Who is saying Ticketmaster shouldn't make a profit? I think the issue is just how much they should profit off the backs of their customers.

Just make the fees more reasonable.

[Burnt]

I would be charging just as much as the market would bear for my product or service.

Yup' date=' and that's what they do.

So, in order to get them to even consider lowering any of their charges, people have to stop buying tickets from them. This won't happen on a big enough scale because people keep going.

That, and/or allowing for some competition in the industry. That'd spur on some competitive pricing for sure [/quote']

You can't expect people to stop buying tickets. If that was the case then not only ticketbastard would suffer but the bands themselves would also suffer, along with everyone else that makes money on concert sales.

You might actually put some bands right out of the business by doing that. Not talking Stones, U2 or the like but smaller bands that are barely scraping by or I would think even some medium sized bands that make a decent living but would be hurt if they went through the trouble of arranging a tour going out and nobody showed up.

The only way to solve this would be to level the playing field. In other words take away Ticketbastards monopoly and create competition like others have said. Take away their exclusive rights to sell tickets in most major venues in North America which is probably why no one else can compete as no one can get their foot in the door.

Myself I rarely buy from ticketbastard, in fact the last thing I remember buying from them was Cheech and Chong and that was because by that point Massey Hall didn't have anything available.

[bouche]

However, isn't the purpose of a BUSINESS to make money?

I would be charging just as much as the market would bear for my product or service.

ughhh...you're talking about a free market right? the kind where there are CHOICES and alternate means of buying a product or service?

With ticketmaster, there is no alternate means. They pretty much hold a monopoly in concert ticketing.

So please stop spewing the "Whatever the market will bear" crap.

[Velvet]

Monopolies offend people.

Let's say Bell was the only cell phone provider in Canada; if you lived in Canada and wanted a cell phone, you could only do so through Bell. Then they start to increase their fees, with a service fee to every call. The fee is sometimes a dollar, sometimes it's five dollars. There is no rhyme or reason, just the option on whether or not to pay for the service on a call-by-call basis. And then you hear that they are having secret meetings with other companies in an effort to divert your calls and make them only available by paying $50 service fees.

Wouldn't you think something was wrong with that?

That's how I view ticketbastard.

[bouche]

great analogy V. You can also apply the same analogy with the current cable company flap where they are charging their CRTC imposed tax back to

the customer. The companies are working together to fack over all of their customers.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/09/09/10798531-sun.html

[bouche]

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090917/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_ticketmaster_scalpers

This is strange as this new system is being promoted as a benefit for only making THIS MUCH PROFIT on resales.

Penn State capped the number of games students could resell at six. It also limited the resale price per game to $60, or about twice the face value and fees on the original tickets. That capped a reseller's potential profit at $120, counting fees paid to Ticketmaster, as opposed to nearly $1,200 in the past.