Ticket ripoff!

[BoomBoom]

So the bottom line is you're just apathetic; you don't mind being ripped off. I do. And I know a lot of other people who are really put off by this and have just not been going to shows any more or being very selective about the ones they do go to. And, yes, since D.C. is a sprawling metro area, some people (myself not included, fortunately) can't go down to the club during its very limited box office hours and buy tickets.

[kosmo vinyl]

Originally posted by Xavier Bush, Power Forward:
  Is that why they charge me a 50% markup on my groceries at Giant when I go through the line with a cashier rather than the self checkout line?
 
   

Originally posted by [username edited by p.c. moderator]:
  [/b]

Do you like having that box office staffed and open during business hours? They have to pay those employees somehow.
 
  [/QB]

[/QB][/QUOTE]
 
 not even a good analogy...

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  How can you defend this? What is your rationale? Please explain how you find their fees reasonable.

I defend it in this way: the tickets.com fee on a ticket is what $7? What is it going to cost me in gas to go to the venue to avoid the fee? How much time is it going to take out of my life?
 
 If I have to ride the metro for 45 minutes each way to buy the ticket, I'm out probably $2 for the metro plus 1.5 hours of my life. 1.5 multiplied by what I make in an hour comes out far more then $7. Certainly if I was going to the 9:30 Club in the near future for another reason, I'd buy my tickets then if it wasn't going to sell out. But to make a special trip to avoid $7? Foolish. (Particularly for those of us - gasp! - who don't live in DC and it would be 2 hours each way plus gas! Think how much less our costs are compared to a tank of gas and 4 hours of our life times whatever quantifiable value you wish to attribute to our time).
 
 Or, alternately, what if the show was a "sure sell out," the type that sells out in minutes? I would have to log my way to DC, get to the venue at 10am, if not sooner, and miss work, take a vacation day, possibly even camp overnight in DC in some cases to make sure I get a ticket. Or, I can pay $7. How can I justify not?
 
 The tickets.com (or ticketmaster) convenience fee is not supposed to match up to what it costs tickets.com to sell you the ticket; it's supposed to match up to the massive inconvenience you'd face sans online ticket companies.

[brennser]

And, yes, since D.C. is a sprawling metro area, some people (myself not included, fortunately) can't go down to the club during its very limited box office hours

the box office is open from noon till 11pm almost every day - doesn't strike me as limited at all

[BoomBoom]

Man, I would have thought their would have been fewer rah-rah capitalists in a rock club forum. What is the world coming to? Must be because it's D.C. -- conformist, conservative and comfortably smug. I'm sure that Tickets.com is lavishing huge salaries on its employees and paying them Cadillac benefits. C'mon -- these fees are lining the pockets of the execs and the club owners. Bottom line: they are not reasonable fees. They are a ripoff.

[kosmo vinyl]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  So the bottom line is you're just apathetic; you don't mind being ripped off. I do. And I know a lot of other people who are really put off by this and have just not been going to shows any more or being very selective about the ones they do go to. And, yes, since D.C. is a sprawling metro area, some people (myself not included, fortunately) can't go down to the club during its very limited box office hours and buy tickets.

limited hours?
 
 The 9:30 Club Box Office Hours (815 V St. N.W.)
 12-7pm M-F
 12-11pm M-F during show nights only
 6-11pm SAT. during show nights only
 6-10:30pm SUN. during show nights only
 
 I wont say people are apathetic... Who would you rather pay the convience fee to?  The ticketing service or a ticket broker for a sold out show.

[BoomBoom]

Ticket broker. It's a supply-demand issue with them. Here it's just a ripoff. No matter how many tickets are left, you have to pay $3.25 for postage/will-call on top of the other $4 fee.

[kosmo vinyl]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  Man, I would have thought their would have been fewer rah-rah capitalists in a rock club forum. What is the world coming to? Must be because it's D.C. -- conformist, conservative and comfortably smug. I'm sure that Tickets.com is lavishing huge salaries on its employees and paying them Cadillac benefits. C'mon -- these fees are lining the pockets of the execs and the club owners. Bottom line: they are not reasonable fees. They are a ripoff.

We were being nice about this... Those ticket fees also line the pockets of artists, keep clubs open, etc.

[brennser]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  So the bottom line is you're just apathetic; you don't mind being ripped off. I do. And, yes, since D.C. is a sprawling metro area, some people (myself not included, fortunately) can't go down to the club during its very limited box office hours and buy tickets.

sounds like you're the apathetic one - you state its not a problem for you to get to the box office yet you choose not to?
 
 Do you expect these companies to act as charities - its called the free market for a reason - if you don't like the charges don't go or buy em at the box office

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  Man, I would have thought their would have been fewer rah-rah capitalists in a rock club forum.

It's not about capitalism, it's about my (the consumer's best interest). There is absolutely no way someone like myself who travels up and down the coast seeing shows can do so without ticketmaster/tickets.com. If I had to be at every venue when tickets went on sale to buy tickets, I'd be out innumerable thousands of dollars in travel costs and time off work as compared to the relatively minute sum of $7/show.

[Julian, Alleged Computer F**kface]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  Ticket broker. It's a supply-demand issue with them. Here it's just a ripoff.

You're not even responding to points people are making, nor are you being logical. People didn't "demand" someway to buy tickets without massive interruption to their life?

[kosmo vinyl]

Originally posted by [username edited by p.c. moderator]:
   

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  Ticket broker. It's a supply-demand issue with them. Here it's just a ripoff.

You're not even responding to points people are making, nor are you being logical. People didn't "demand" someway to buy tickets without massive interruption to their life? [/b]

they did actually respond to my query...
 
 it has also been pointed out by the club management that even if they brought the online ticketing in house, that people would still complain about the service charges.
 
 if it's such a big issue then start your own competing firm and good luck with it...

[eros]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
 How much do you think it costs them to set up and maintain an automated Web site? Not much.

Think so?  Want to throw out a dollar figure there?

[BoomBoom]

No, I don't expect them to act as charities and I don't expect them to go out of business, forcing you to go to the club every time you need a ticket. But I do expect them to charge reasonable fees, and they would if there were competition in this field, which is what true capitalism is. Otherwise, it's a monopoly. Again, I go back to my first point: a stamp costs 37 cents, a lot less for bulk mailers. Tickets.com is charging $3.25 for mailing or will call. That is not reasonable by any stretch of the imagination. It is a ripoff. They wouldn't do that if they competed against TicketMaster or someone else for venues/shows. It's a distorted market.

[distance]

Originally posted by BoomBoom:
  So the bottom line is you're just apathetic; you don't mind being ripped off. I do. And I know a lot of other people who are really put off by this and have just not been going to shows any more or being very selective about the ones they do go to. And, yes, since D.C. is a sprawling metro area, some people (myself not included, fortunately) can't go down to the club during its very limited box office hours and buy tickets.

did you just start buying concert ticktes or something?
 they've been charging ridiculous fees for a long time.  and the fees only go up as the cost of the tickets go up as well.
 
 the convenience charge isn't really a factor in my buying or not buying tickets.  what pisses me off is having to shell out 2x the $$ for the same artists that i saw in similar sized venues (or the same venues) in previous years.