Fee Fighters campaign: Aussies charged extra for concert tickets to The Wiggles, Metallica, Hugh Jackman, AFL
It’s been dubbed as “unfair” and “confusing”. In a News Corp investigation we can reveal which Australians pay more to see The Wiggles, Metallica, Hugh Jackman and their favourite AFL team.
The charge to print your own concert ticket is the nation’s most outrageous fee.
The finding emerges as part of a News Corp Australia series that aims to help consumers fight back against blood-boiling, budget-bleeding add-ons.
Polling of more than 2000 people shows 30 per cent consider Ticketek and Ticketmaster’s extra charges to be the most contemptible cash-grabs.
“They are not illegal, but they are unfair and confusing,” said Choice communications director Erin Turner.
“Most people don’t know what the fees are actually for or why they are paying it.”
An in-depth investigation by News Corp Australia suggests the charges are money for nothing.
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Ticketmaster Australasia’s 2017 accounts, obtained from the corporate regulator, reveal its “ticketing costs” were just $184,000 compared to revenue of $141 million.
Those ticketing costs were down by a quarter while the top line was up 15 per cent and profit soared by two-thirds.
Ticketek’s financial statements cannot be obtained and it refused to disclose anything about them.
Further doubt has been cast on the legitimacy of handling charges by a major theatre’s costs schedule which exposes that Ticketmaster already reaps up to 12 per cent of a ticket’s face price through two hidden fees.
The schedule seen by News Corp Australia for concerts at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre says there is a flat $9.08 per ticket charge in the face price as well as a 1.95 per cent “infrastructure charge” — known as a payment-processing fee until the Reserve Bank raised concerns in 2015.
Palais concertgoers then pay Ticketmaster a handling fee of $5.95 per transaction on top of the ticket price. It is unclear what this covers.
The Palais schedule was removed from the theatre’s site after News Corp Australia asked questions that went unanswered.
The extra charge can also disappear without explanation when a performer changes venue.
Tickets to see The Wiggles at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre — at a cost of $29.50 via Ticketek — incur an unavoidable “service and handling” fee of $6.50. But their Penrith performances are fee-free. The Wiggles did not respond to questions.
Nor do the charges appear to have any link to actual costs.
Ticketek demands $9.50 for regular mail of a ticket to Hugh Jackman’s Brisbane, Sydney and Perth’s shows, yet only asks $7 in Melbourne and just $5 in Adelaide.
The ticketing agent gets the handling or service fee. It doesn’t go to performers or venues.
Australians also pay higher handling fees than New Zealanders do for global tours.
Ticketmaster’s handling fee on Metallica’s Melbourne show is $9.90. In Auckland it is $NZ5 ($4.79). Elton John’s Auckland concert also has a much lower fee that is half what it is in some Australian cities.
There is a handling charge on top of all AFL games in Victoria. For a parent taking their young child to a game at Marvel Stadium, the $3.15 fee can add 10 per cent to the total cost.
Between them, Ticketek and Ticketmaster holds about 80 per cent of the market, according to industry analysts Ibisworld.
No. 3 player Moshtix has just four per cent. The Moshtix booking fee on an upcoming Jessica Mauboy gig is $2.95.
News Corp Australia asked both Ticketek and Ticketmaster to consider lowering their handling charges. They refused.
Ticketek chief operating officer Cameron Hoy said its service and handling fees were “fair and reasonable”, reflecting the cost of its technology, infrastructure and other costs.
A Ticketmaster spokeswoman said “our fees reflect the high level of service and customer protection that we offer.” It confirmed it charged three fees per ticket.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it had no concerns with ticketing fees.
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