444
submitted 6 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Documents obtained by Guardian show company increased different fees to ‘offset revenue loss’ from FTC rule change

Following a wave of regulations banning the surprise fees that appear at the end of a transaction, Ticketmaster stopped charging the extra few dollars it added to each order at checkout. Typically shared with the venue, the order processing fee was a boon to a global platform that sells hundreds of millions of tickets a year.

But documents obtained by the Guardian show that while Ticketmaster eliminated this fee to comply with the rules, the company simply raised the cost of different fees in a number of its venues to ensure it didn’t lose money.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

I can assure you that first-run sales and presales ticket costs are still outrageous. We’ve been to quite a few concerts over the last several years and even if you play the “sign up early and get the presale code and wait in the queue online as soon as you can” game the tickets for any popular band will not be below 3 digits for a seat from which you can see the band without binoculars, some venues won’t have any sub-$100 tickets at all. Best thing to do is see small-but-good bands at smaller venues if you can find it, those tickets are usually way more affordable. We’ve seen some older bands this way and it’s worth it.

The legalized double-dipping resale scalping provided by the likes of ticketmaster absolutely send prices sky high and out of reach for the majority of people.

[-] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 months ago

There's some variation. I just got tickets to Mumford and Sons during their presale last month. I'm in Seattle, and the closest they're coming to me on this tour is in Vancouver. The tickets were actually pretty reasonable. I got floor seats for just over $100 US. Part of that might be because it's on a Tuesday night, though, LOL.

I do agree that prices have gotten out of control, and I have limits for how much I'm willing to spend. It has very much become a cost/benefit analysis every time I go looking for tickets. But sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I’ve found International venues far, far more reasonable than US. We saw Duran Duran a few years back and it was ~$200 for OK seats in a major city. My other half works internationally, and picked up seats to see them on one of her work trips for only €53. Since then we’ve vicariously eyed shows overseas only to note we could fly there and back, get a hotel, and have seats for cheaper than decent seats at a US venue.

[-] IamSparticles@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 months ago

Good to know. This is actually the first time in... Jesus, 30+ years?... I've attended a concert outside the US. I might start looking at shows in Vancouver more often.

this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
444 points (98.7% liked)

News

39536 readers
1788 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS