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I'm from (and live in) Norway. Ticketmaster is used for a lot of shows here too, especially the larger venues. While I wouldn't call them the best thing since

I'm from (and live in) Norway. Ticketmaster is used for a lot of shows here too, especially the larger venues. While I wouldn't call them the best thing since sliced bread, overall my experience over the years is that they take my money and give me my tickets. Today I bought some tickets. I vent to the venue, saw there was a show, clicked on Buy tickets, took me to Ticketmaster, logged on, found ticket, paid via local payment provider[1] (verified on phone, super simple), and I got my tickets on email. All was just a few clicks and over in a couple of minutes. This is my typical experience. Is US Ticketmaster particularly worse, or am I living in an alternate reality? Or are there some other aspects that I'm missing? [1]: https://www.vipps.no/ https://www.vipps.no/

buffington 3y ago
Can you describe the fees of those tickets? Stupid invented fees are what flipped the "never again" switch for me. Every step of the buying process, there'd be a new fee tacked on. You'd get things like "order processing fee, $20, facility fee, $10, service fee, $23, digital copies fee, $10, fee to see what all the fees add up to, $20". You'd end up spending $120 on a pair of tickets, and $500 on invented fees that any sane person would have a very difficult time justifying.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  I just bought a couple of tickets to a small venue, tickets were $26 each (NOK is weak these days) including a fee of $2.25 each, so grand total $52 of which $4.50 total in fees. Checking my card, this is indeed what my card was charged, so no additional hidden fees. I bought some tickets earlier this year for a mid-sized venue, $44 per ticket including $3.50 in fees each. I did not select the optional "services" like physical ticket (just eTicket which is e-mail with PDF) or the ticket insurance. Checking my ticket history (~10 concerts through Ticketmaster last couple of years) it's always been around this 10% in fees. It's comparable to the other ticket vendors other venues use that I've bought from like TicketCo and Tikkio. edit: I checked Bryan Adams, he's coming to a larger venue next year which also uses Ticketmaster. Only tickets left were the least expensive ones (standing) at $75 per ticket, including a $5 fee. edit2: Besides Ticketmaster not owning venues as mentioned by sibling reply, I guess a big factor is that, AFAIK, any non-optional fees must be included in the "sticker price" here in Norway. So they can't tack those on later.
  - buffington 3y ago
    I think it's likely that Ticketmaster operates differently in Norway. What you describe sounds reasonable, but what Ticketmaster does in the United States is simply ridiculous.
mdhen 3y ago
Ticketmaster is a vertical monopoly in the US. They control all major venues in the country, all ticketing, and resale of that ticjeting. They are awful. I assume they have yet to achieve total market dominance in norway.
- magicalhippo 3y ago
  Ah yes, they don't own any of the venues I frequent, or any at all that I know of. I can certainly see them being able to get away with more shenanigans in that case.

buffington 3y ago

Can you describe the fees of those tickets? Stupid invented fees are what flipped the "never again" switch for me. Every step of the buying process, there'd be a new fee tacked on. You'd get things like "order processing fee, $20, facility fee, $10, service fee, $23, digital copies fee, $10, fee to see what all the fees add up to, $20". You'd end up spending $120 on a pair of tickets, and $500 on invented fees that any sane person would have a very difficult time justifying.

magicalhippo 3y ago
I just bought a couple of tickets to a small venue, tickets were $26 each (NOK is weak these days) including a fee of $2.25 each, so grand total $52 of which $4.50 total in fees. Checking my card, this is indeed what my card was charged, so no additional hidden fees. I bought some tickets earlier this year for a mid-sized venue, $44 per ticket including $3.50 in fees each. I did not select the optional "services" like physical ticket (just eTicket which is e-mail with PDF) or the ticket insurance. Checking my ticket history (~10 concerts through Ticketmaster last couple of years) it's always been around this 10% in fees. It's comparable to the other ticket vendors other venues use that I've bought from like TicketCo and Tikkio. edit: I checked Bryan Adams, he's coming to a larger venue next year which also uses Ticketmaster. Only tickets left were the least expensive ones (standing) at $75 per ticket, including a $5 fee. edit2: Besides Ticketmaster not owning venues as mentioned by sibling reply, I guess a big factor is that, AFAIK, any non-optional fees must be included in the "sticker price" here in Norway. So they can't tack those on later.
- buffington 3y ago
  I think it's likely that Ticketmaster operates differently in Norway. What you describe sounds reasonable, but what Ticketmaster does in the United States is simply ridiculous.

mdhen 3y ago

Ticketmaster is a vertical monopoly in the US. They control all major venues in the country, all ticketing, and resale of that ticjeting. They are awful. I assume they have yet to achieve total market dominance in norway.

magicalhippo 3y ago
Ah yes, they don't own any of the venues I frequent, or any at all that I know of. I can certainly see them being able to get away with more shenanigans in that case.