For the August 2016 issue of Consumer Reports, the magazine’s staff drew attention to what they called the “ticket fee frenzy” by dissecting the price of a floor-level seat at a Guns N’ Roses concert taking place that summer in Kansas City, Missouri.
The ticket, which supposedly cost $250, would actually be $300.75 after fees — in other words, 20 percent of the ticket’s face value was tacked on in the form of itemized fees with confusing names.
There was a $19.50 delivery fee to cover expenses of mailing a ticket; a $4 facility charge set by the venue; a $4.25 order processing fee shared between the ticket seller, Ticketmaster, and the client, Live Nation, which happens to be Ticketmaster’s parent company; and a service fee, which was the largest, at $23. That money would go entirely to Ticketmaster.
The average ticket fee is now 27 percent of the ticket’s face value
While these particular numbers may be new to you if you do not live in the Midwest and attend canonical classic rock concerts, the gist is likely familiar. According to a study published by the Government Accountability Office in April 2018, the average ticket fee is now 27 percent of the ticket’s face value, with some fees as high as 37 percent. And Ticketmaster is regularly referred to as one of the most-hated companies in America — it’s the largest online ticket seller by far and has been under monopoly scrutiny since its 2010 merger with Live Nation, the country’s largest promotion and venue company.