Services fees under fire as experts call for review into costly fees when checking out online

Australians are being nabbed up to an extra $30 when booking tickets online and consumer experts are calling for a review into service fees.

Consumer experts are calling for an ACCC review into the service fees being pushed onto Australians by ticketing agencies at the check-out.

Online service fees can range between $3 and $30, with a ticket to the footy costing fans an extra $6.95 in additional servicing fees.

Consumer advocate Adam Glezer said the added costs were “simply a money-making exercise”.

“Whether you’re getting your ticket to your mobile phone or you’re printing it out, you’re still paying the exact same fee,” he told 9News.

Extra service fees added to ticket sales are under fire as consumer experts call for an ACCC review. Picture: NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar

“Handling fees, service fees, surcharge fees, they’re all the exact same, just with different names.”

One of Australia’s largest ticketing companies, Ticketmaster said “handling fees” covered the cost of providing ticketing services, including infrastructure costs and operating an internet site.

“Handling fees vary depending on the event and are agreed between the relevant event partner and Ticketmaster,” the agencies website said.

Economist Richard Holden is calling for an ACCC review into drip pricing, a technique where companies only advertise part of a product’s price and incrementally reveal additional fees later in the sale.

Mr Holden said ticketing “companies have figured out how to game the system and take advantage of consumers”.

“How prominently are they displaying that information … and when in the transaction process are they displaying that information?” he asked.

Australians are being charged up to an extra $30 in servicing fees when checking out online.

Not-for-profit ticketing organisation Humanitix directs 100 per cent of profits from booking fees to supporting health care, education, food stability programs across the world.

The organisation said it had donated more than $10m “back to humanity”.

“We’re transforming ticket booking fees from a necessary evil into a powerful force for good,” the organisation’s website said.

Humanitix co-founder Joshua Ross said the organisation capped their “fees at reasonable rates”.

Originally published as Services fees under fire as experts call for review into costly fees when checking out online