Concert booking fees

[Harpymorgan]

As this is an open forum, can anyone justify the horrible booking fees we are now faced with. We've just had to pay 11% on James Taylor tickets for next year.

Guess I'm behind on this one, someone else must have complained before.

 

[fronobulax]

What are you calling a booking fee and do you know who receives it? I've seen cases where the ticket was $X if purchased directly from the venue and $X plus a whole bunch of fees if purchased elsewhere but those fees go to the company brokering the ticket and are "justified" (their opinion, not mine) because you are able to order tickets on line or over then phone and receive them electronically. But I wouldn't call that a booking fee. Thanks.

 

[kevin the bass man]

whenever I've gotten tickets, I've bought them directly from the venue and didnt pay any "booking fees"

 

[fronobulax]

I actually asked the question because local governments are looking for sources of tax revenue that do not require raising property or sales taxes. The biggest one I know of is some kind of room tax the gets collected from folks who stay at lodgings in the area. It doesn't seem too far of a stretch from that to a tax imposed on performance venues that book acts from outside of the area (and then pass on that tax directly to ticket buyers) so I was wondering if this had actually started to happen.

 

[Harpymorgan]

It probably looks different in the uk. We are usually quoted a gross price inclusive of tax, and because there is no differential in taxes either on VAT or local taxes, we expect to pay the quoted price. The booking fees are a recent addition, and no, we cant get around it by visiting the venue in most cases.
A moderate charge for a credit card transaction for example would be acceptable, however it is the large companies like ticketmaster who quite often, for very little risk end up making more than the artist.

I have just paid £25 ($38) booking fee for 4 tickets at our local venue.

 

[mr.d.bluster]

Some info on UK booking fees ("service fees" in the U.S.) HERE.

 

[fronobulax]

Some info on UK booking fees ("service fees" in the U.S.) HERE.

Thanks.

The service fee (also called booking fee) is what's added to the ticket price by the agent to "cover their costs".

I was not thinking of the differences between UK English and American English although I should have been...