Are You Thinking About Ticket Fees?

I just want to kick off this topic by posting a Tweet thread from the always sharp Lisa Hirsch, better known to some as the author of The Iron Tongue Of Midnight. Lisa has routinely tracked how organizations assign and deal with fees so it comes as no surprise to see she’s approaching this subject from a post-pandemic ticket buyer perspective.

I'm suddenly reminded, after a year of not complaining about this sort oof thing, that a "fee" of $12 on top of a $99 ticket price is enough to chase a lot of people away from that concert they'd really like to see.

— Lisa Hyphen Hirsch (Moot, Meritless, & Dangerous) (@LisaIronTongue) June 25, 2021

I donated to this organization last year….AFTER the lockdown…and got a match from my employer. After signing in, I see that this didn't make me eligible for subscriber rates, if there is a subscriber rate (or even a small donor discount). Maybe there aren't discounts?

— Lisa Hyphen Hirsch (Moot, Meritless, & Dangerous) (@LisaIronTongue) June 25, 2021

So now I am annoyed and maybe I won't be buying that ticket after all.

— Lisa Hyphen Hirsch (Moot, Meritless, & Dangerous) (@LisaIronTongue) June 25, 2021

The fee for a subscription order from this org is $20, but a single ticket (or single order with multiple tickets??) is $12. Come ON, stop nickel and diming your fans with these annoying fees.

— Lisa Hyphen Hirsch (Moot, Meritless, & Dangerous) (@LisaIronTongue) June 25, 2021

Hirsch went on to write a bit about it at her blog.

“I’ve been to two live events in 2021, and as I started to get a ticket to a third, I was reminded of a….benefit (?)…of not having bought any tickets in the last year-plus: I spent just about no time in a state of annoyance at terrible organization web sites, ridiculous ticketing policies, and outrageous fees.”

[…]

“I would really like every organization to reconsider their fees and the potential impact of these fees on ticket sales and good will.”

I’m still letting this percolate because there are a lot of thoughts going into it. In the meantime, I’m curious to know how many groups took the time to examine their existing ticket fee policy before putting tickets back on sale.