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Avoiding Ticketmaster fees

jams100

Hi,
I'm new to boards.ie so I hope this is posted in the correct place.

Is there anyway to avoid Ticketmaster fees for concerts etc? I'm planning on going to see walking on cars with a couple of friends in trinity college in July, however the service charge per ticket is €6.25, which in my opinion is ridiculous when lets say your buying 4 tickets it comes to €25 despite the fact I could print out the tickets so Ticketmaster wouldn't even be paying for postage etc.

I have rang up sound cellar on Nassau street but they have no tickets left, apparently their service charge is only €1 per ticket.
I recently bought tickets at the Ticketmaster box office in Stephens green to see Liam Gallagher up in Belfast but a similar service charge of €6.25 was applied for this transaction too.

Unlike with the Olympia and Gaiety theater there is no box office at trinity college for these events, do I just have to suck it up and pay the service charge or are there any other outlets that would apply a more reasonable service charge that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance for any help.
James

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bodhrandude

The only thing I can add is buy your ticket from a kiosk or a ticketmaster agent in a shop, you then don't get charged the online transaction fee but maybe just an additional 2 Euro if you buy from the kiosk.

Zwillinge

Only thing I can think of is buying a gift card for Ticketmaster and using that?

maximoose

Zwillinge wrote: »

Only thing I can think of is buying a gift card for Ticketmaster and using that?

You'll still be charged service fees buying from TM website

fafy

jams100 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm new to boards.ie so I hope this is posted in the correct place.

Is there anyway to avoid Ticketmaster fees for concerts etc? I'm planning on going to see walking on cars with a couple of friends in trinity college in July, however the service charge per ticket is €6.25, which in my opinion is ridiculous when lets say your buying 4 tickets it comes to €25 despite the fact I could print out the tickets so Ticketmaster wouldn't even be paying for postage etc.

I have rang up sound cellar on Nassau street but they have no tickets left, apparently their service charge is only €1 per ticket.
I recently bought tickets at the Ticketmaster box office in Stephens green to see Liam Gallagher up in Belfast but a similar service charge of €6.25 was applied for this transaction too.

Unlike with the Olympia and Gaiety theater there is no box office at trinity college for these events, do I just have to suck it up and pay the service charge or are there any other outlets that would apply a more reasonable service charge that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance for any help.
James

This is a very old chestnut of a topic, the simple answer is, there is no way to completely avoid these fees, if purchasing via TM, however, the fees are usually a little lower, if you buy in person, at a Ticketmaster agent.

Its an arguement thats being going on, for many years, but TM are going to take their cut no matter what. It becomes a lower %, the higher, the ticket price, as it is capped at a maximum of €7.75.

In reality this means, you pay 12.50% of the ticket price in TM Fees, up to a ticket price ceiling, of €62.00, so if the ticket price exceeds €62, then the fees are capped and do not increase beyond €7.75. Its not ideal, but at least a cap is there, which is i suppose only relevant, where the ticket price exceeds €62, which it does,for the majority of big name acts in 3Arena, Aviva, RDS, Croke Park etc.

The cap, also becomes useful, when puchasing for more expensive festival tickets such as EP etc, which are €250 + but cap in place to restrict the fees to €7.75.

jams100

Hi Fafy, as I pointed out I did buy those Liam Gallagher tickets at the Ticketmaster booth in Stephens Green but the fees were the exact same at this ticket booth as it was online which to me makes no sense.

I probably should've asking at the desk at that time why the fee was the same as online but didn't really think until I got home.

There seems to be no clarity on what transaction fee is charged at those Ticketmaster booths as when I emailed Ticketmaster to ask how fees are calculated at their ticket booths they came back with this response "Each outlet is a franchise of Ticketmaster and as such determines their own pricing for service charge. We do not have a record here of what each outlet charges and it may vary."

They only suggestion I've come across to date is to try purchase tickets from sound cellar on Nassau Street hopefully someone else has another few suggestions like this

rubadub

There was something about paying in cash or debit cards at the kiosk before.

Also the other outlets should be cheaper than online, not bespoke kiosks but the likes of a centra that sells them, these are harder to find now. I think the max is something like €3.30

I believe soundcellar get tickets in advance and these other places like centra are buying via machines so if a gig was in high demand and the owner turned up late there would be none available, while if soundcellar open late they should have them (this might have changed over the years).

Several sites say the max is 7.75 but I was never charged that, its always 7.15 max, so I think 7.75 is a typo. 7.15 made sense as it went up from 6.85 due to a VAT increase.

The of course there is the newer "facility fee" crap, which is €1 now but will no doubt be jacked up at some stage.

fafy

I have very rarely bought tickets in person at a TM agent, however they certainly were a little cheaper ,on those occasions, perhaps this has changed.

The name of this thread is how to avoid TM fees, answer : you cannot avoid them !

fafy

rubadub wrote: »

There was something about paying in cash or debit cards at the kiosk before.

Also the other outlets should be cheaper than online, not bespoke kiosks but the likes of a centra that sells them, these are harder to find now. I think the max is something like €3.30

I believe soundcellar get tickets in advance and these other places like centra are buying via machines so if a gig was in high demand and the owner turned up late there would be none available, while if soundcellar open late they should have them (this might have changed over the years).

Several sites say the max is 7.75 but I was never charged that, its always 7.15 max, so I think 7.75 is a typo. 7.15 made sense as it went up from 6.85 due to a VAT increase.

The of course there is the newer "facility fee" crap, which is €1 now but will no doubt be jacked up at some stage.

Actually, you are spot on, looks like a typo on the TM FAQ page alright, i have not seen more than €7.15 charges on my more recent purchases, some of which were over €70 before fees.

Esel

Tommy in Soundcellar on Nassau St sells tickets for almost every gig. AFAIK he only charges €1 on top of the ticket price. Usually has good seats available too.

Always has a great list of upcoming gigs on a poster outside!

[Deleted User]

jams100 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm new to boards.ie so I hope this is posted in the correct place.

Is there anyway to avoid Ticketmaster fees for concerts etc? I'm planning on going to see walking on cars with a couple of friends in trinity college in July, however the service charge per ticket is €6.25, which in my opinion is ridiculous when lets say your buying 4 tickets it comes to €25 despite the fact I could print out the tickets so Ticketmaster wouldn't even be paying for postage etc.

I have rang up sound cellar on Nassau street but they have no tickets left, apparently their service charge is only €1 per ticket.
I recently bought tickets at the Ticketmaster box office in Stephens green to see Liam Gallagher up in Belfast but a similar service charge of €6.25 was applied for this transaction too.

Unlike with the Olympia and Gaiety theater there is no box office at trinity college for these events, do I just have to suck it up and pay the service charge or are there any other outlets that would apply a more reasonable service charge that I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance for any help.
James

I would hazard a good guess at there being a number of tickets available for this on Toutless.com in the week leading up to the concert. Not only will you miss out on TM fees, but will get the ticket for cost price or cheaper.

As for avoiding TM fees while buying from TM, it's not possible to avoid this treachery.

machiavellianme

Buying at the box office can avoid fees for some venues like the Bord Gais

rubadub

Deleted User wrote: »

Not only will you miss out on TM fees, but will get the ticket for cost price or cheaper.

If buying on toutless for cost price then you will be paying the TM fees -presuming the seller paid them.

For smaller gigs check to see if tickets are on sale elsewhere. e.g. for small venues like whelans or sugar club etc they will be on their own sites or sites like tickets.ie while also sometimes on sale on ticketmaster. But they are invariably cheaper to buy on the other sites.

Birneybau

Esel wrote: »

Tommy in Soundcellar on Nassau St sells tickets for almost every gig. AFAIK he only charges €1 on top of the ticket price. Usually has good seats available too.

Always has a great list of upcoming gigs on a poster outside!

Guess you didn't read the op

Esel

Birneybau wrote: »

Guess you didn't read the op

Oops.

You must be bored, BTW.

[Deleted User]

rubadub wrote: »

If buying on toutless for cost price then you will be paying the TM fees -presuming the seller paid them.

For smaller gigs check to see if tickets are on sale elsewhere. e.g. for small venues like whelans or sugar club etc they will be on their own sites or sites like tickets.ie while also sometimes on sale on ticketmaster. But they are invariably cheaper to buy on the other sites.

True that, but if you wait until the week or so before the gig they will generally be cheaper as people are eager to sell rather than get nothing for the ticket. 'Cost me €76.50, will let it go for €70' is not an uncommon sight on Toutless. For the larger outdoor gigs, like Slane or Avia/Croker gigs, tickets can go for quite cheap in the days leading up to a gig. This is my experience anyway from years of buying on Toutless when other avenues let me down.

The only time Toutless has failed me over the years, where I didn't get a ticket at any price at all, was for Jackson Browne's 4 night run at Vicar Street a few years ago. I went the first night (with my TM bought tickets) and it was so good I wanted to go another night. Not TM, Toutless nor street touts could provide a last minute ticket, they were like gold dust for those gigs.

TenPicnics

For years now I usually buy from the Tmastr kiosk in Jervis Centre. When I've paid in cash the service charge is roughly €2.25 per ticket & in my experience it's the cheapest way, avoids the €6.25 or there abouts which you pay online per ticket. Makes quite a difference sometimes, for example if you're buying festival tickets for a few people. Paying with a credit card at the kiosk is a couple of quid per ticket more expensive than cash, paying with a debit card adds slightly less than the credit card fee.

L1011

The idea that buying via an agent, who has to get a cut; is cheaper for TM than buying online for electronic delivery is nuts but we do appear to be stuck with it

TenPicnics

Esel wrote: »

Tommy in Soundcellar on Nassau St sells tickets for almost every gig. AFAIK he only charges €1 on top of the ticket price. Usually has good seats available too.

Always has a great list of upcoming gigs on a poster outside!

Agree 100% about Tommy and Soundcellar, and that always-interesting handwritten gigs poster outside 😎It's definitely worth trying there for tickets for smaller gigs, and asking him in advance if he's going to get tickets for particular gigs. I appreciate you might not be near Dublin City centre, but just in case.

Birneybau

Esel wrote: »

Oops.

You must be bored, BTW.

No, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

jams100

TenPicnics wrote: »

For years now I usually buy from the Tmastr kiosk in Jervis Centre. When I've paid in cash the service charge is roughly €2.25 per ticket & in my experience it's the cheapest way, avoids the €6.25 or there abouts which you pay online per ticket. Makes quite a difference sometimes, for example if you're buying festival tickets for a few people. Paying with a credit card at the kiosk is a couple of quid per ticket more expensive than cash, paying with a debit card adds slightly less than the credit card fee.

Will try there, thanks

jams100

UPDATE: Service charge was €3.70 in Jervis outlet, better than the €6.25 online, still not sure why service charges are allowed at all, should be included in price of ticket in my opinion as you can't avoid them anyway it is what it is I suppose

bluefinger

probably bad form to bump this but just come back from the olympia box office. booked tix for a show in july and another next March, saving €30 on TM Fees. That'll pay for a few drinks at the first show anyway.

creativedrinker

Will the Olympia box office sell other Ticketmaster tickets or only shows for the Olympia? It’s a pain with all the kiosks shut now….

does sound cellar still sell tickets?

rubadub

Can you buy tickets for other gigs at the kiosks/vans that are often outside gigs?

slystallone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/112596702#Comment_112596702

Is there a list of Ticketmaster agents and kiosks online anywhere? It's very hard to find details on this

Dreamweapon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121814258#Comment_121814258

None left afaik. Covid gave TM the perfect excuse to get rid of them all.

TenPicnics

It's impossible now to avoid their unjustifiable fees, bar the rare instance when tickets can be bought in person at the venue (one relatively recent example being massive savings when buying 4 tickets for a performance in the Grand Canal Theatre). But obviously nowhere near as convenient as those Tmaster kiosks, where cash got you even more value. Good times.

rockterrain

Do soundcellar still sell physical tickets? If so is this the only outlet that does?