Ticketmaster Now Shows Full Price of Tickets Up Front (theverge.com) 34
Ticketmaster will now show full ticket prices upfront -- fees included. "The company announced the 'All In Prices' initiative on Monday as part of its efforts to comply with the Federal Trade Commission's ban on junk fees, which goes into effect on May 12th," notes The Verge. From the report: Now, when you're shopping for tickets, Ticketmaster will display a ticket's full price, alongside a dropdown menu that you can select to see how much you're paying for the "Face Value" of a ticket and the service fee. You still won't see local taxes or delivery fees until checkout.
Ticketmaster says it has made some improvements to its queue as well, by offering real-time updates about ticket availability and when wait times are expected to last more than 30 minutes. It also allows customers to see exactly how many people are ahead of them in the queue.
Ticketmaster says it has made some improvements to its queue as well, by offering real-time updates about ticket availability and when wait times are expected to last more than 30 minutes. It also allows customers to see exactly how many people are ahead of them in the queue.
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Biden admin got this junk fee ban done.
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No ban at all. Just a warning.
Yeah, a ban on junk fees would make them actually go away. This is more like a junk fee disclosure rule.
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Taxes, sure, but "delivery fees?" (Score:3)
Yeah, I can see why they don't quote taxes up front. But delivery fees are just another artificial junk charge that they can set to any amount they want. Nice loophole, they should pay that lawyer a big bonus.
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Aren't delivery fees applied when you want physical delivery of tickets rather than receiving them electronically? In that case the charge depends on mode of delivery and destination. They don't know before checkout what they would be so they can't show them in advance. Like sales taxes, which vary.
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Aren't delivery fees applied when you want physical delivery of tickets rather than receiving them electronically? In that case the charge depends on mode of delivery and destination. They don't know before checkout what they would be so they can't show them in advance. Like sales taxes, which vary.
Last I checked I can still get two full sheets of paper mailed in an envelope for the cost of a single forever stamp.
Given the weight of the average pair of tickets and their balls to charge what they do per ticket, delivery fees should be no more than 99 fucking cents without calling Bullshit.
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Last time I bought tickets from them was over a decade ago, but at the time, they would send you paper tickets through the mail for no additional charge, but there was a $14 "convenience fee" for digital tickets via a printable QR code.
Yeah, go figure.
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I buy something in New Zealand for the ticket price of $11.50, that is all pay.
The receipt then says it includes 15% GST of $1.50
ALL products aimed at the consumer market MUST include taxes and can NOT have "hidden fees", eg the infamous Vegas "Resort fee".
It's simple, its transparent, its honest.
If you are a business or charity that is GST exempt, one a month you files a GST return where you pay the GST you collected from the customer, or claim GST back as the exempt entity . Com
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That only works if all rules agree. But what if you are selling to a customer in another region who will be attending the event while visiting?
For instance, I'm in Canada. I'm in a province with no provincial tax. If I buy tickets to a show in Vegas, they probably have to charge me Canadian GST. If I were in another provinces, provincial tax may be added to. But they can't tell what to charge until they know where I am.
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And if I buy physical goods and bring them back, I then (if they are worth more than NZ$600) pay NZs GST.
I did not pay GST for services etc that I use in other countries to the NZ government.
So when I buy from various online stores, the GST is calculated for me and added to the price and they pay it to NZ.
There is far less administrative overhead in this = lower margins are possible = cheaper prices.
Now I
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Either the website would have to guess by IP geolocation, which they would not do because then they'd be liable for being wrong, or they'd have to ask the user before the user even begins a search.
Or, with the user's consent, the user could enter a postcode for tax estimation.
Re: ok genius (Score:2)
When I buy games on steam it asks my location for tax purposes.
Concert prices have shot up (Score:3)
Since the 1970s, concert ticket prices have dramatically increased (even taking inflation into account).
As a means of getting a rough idea of this trend, I had a look at concerts at the Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand. The inflation adjusted prices trace a gentle curve upwards. Prices are increasing at an increasing rate.
Arguably, punters are getting a different (more expensive) "product" these days. The enormous stage productions of a major concert today are very different from the bare stage setup of a Rolling Stones concert from the early 1970s. The only way a mid-tier act can break even these days is by going light on transport, crew, accommodation and management... and not having a large band. A mid-tier act might receive $20K for a festival performance (these figures vary wildly), but the associated expenses can be $10K-$20K.
The ticket agent fees (hidden or visible) and other related schemes (VIP packages, dynamic pricing, etc.) are a part of the overall transition from rock concerts as a counter-culture event to rock concerts as a sort of modern theatre, with wealthier clientele.
This financial environment shapes the type of music that becomes popular. I suspect that many acts that are now considered rock aristocracy would not have been successful had they started in the 2020s.
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Arguably, punters are getting a different (more expensive) "product" these days. The enormous stage productions of a major concert today are very different from the bare stage setup of a Rolling Stones concert from the early 1970s.
You know, I never really looked at the massive stage setups and thought “massive profit margin”, but thanks for the corrupt clarity. You’re right. They’re greedy as hell, but you’re right.
Unfortunately, part of that problem is also realizing that consumers don’t want musicians anymore. They want entertainers. Which is why the average mega-pop star concert has turned into a fucking Disney production. It’s also why actual musical talent, is now optional. It
AXS Does Too (Score:2)
The legally mandated competitor to Ticketmaster "AXS" also does this.
Now that we can see the fees, how about doing something about lowering them? Just selling tickets shouldn't earn them such a large cut of the ticket sale
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The legally mandated competitor to Ticketmaster "AXS" also does this.
Now that we can see the fees, how about doing something about lowering them? Just selling tickets shouldn't earn them such a large cut of the ticket sale
One would assume competition (even by force) would create competitive pricing, but Coke and Pepsi are priced the same.
When the industry is corrupted, they have to do a lot more than bring in another damn crony and pretend they’re fixing shit.
Hotels need to do this... (Score:3)
Accommodation providers (including Airbnb) should include the full price up front as one single number. No more BS "resort fees" or "cleaning fees" or whatever.
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Use Airbnb's Australian site to search; local laws require the up-front display of the full, all-inclusive price. Then you can use your normal Airbnb account to make the bookings.
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Use Airbnb's Australian site to search; local laws require the up-front display of the full, all-inclusive price. Then you can use your normal Airbnb account to make the bookings.
Same with the UK site.
Cleaning fees are still listed as a separate line item but included in the advertised price (I.E. if you search for rooms less that £50 a night, that £50 includes the cleaning fee).
Most countries have a law against advertising a lower price than you're required to pay.
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Accommodation providers (including Airbnb) should include the full price up front as one single number. No more BS "resort fees" or "cleaning fees" or whatever.
Uh, regarding that last part about cleaning fees. That has gotten tricky.
Todays generation is being raised to be “strong” and “focused”. Which has morphed into disrespectful and narcissistic. And it shows when they can fucking trash someone else’s HOME as if it were just one of 200+ rooms in a hotel that can be shut down for repair easily without impacting real lives.
Cleaning fees will be a lot easier to manage when everyone agrees on the definition of dirty. And reasonable
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Accommodation providers (including Airbnb) should include the full price up front as one single number. No more BS "resort fees" or "cleaning fees" or whatever.
This gets a bit of difficult because often resort fees are imposed by the accommodation provider and not the booking agent.
A better solution is to ban resort fees in totality, like the rest of the world does so that an advertised price is what you pay. Some hotels will go down the "budget airline" route of making some things optional extras such as the air conditioner and Wifi... Yes, this is a thing, Tune Hotels are a series of "limited service" hotels started by low cost carrier founder, Tony Fernandez
Such a compromise (Score:3)
'Merica problem (Score:4, Insightful)
All civilized countries have laws that say you must quote the actual price.