Somebody really needs to write this, and I figure it might as well be me. I’m a music fan and I’m also a cheapskate and it’s a real bummer to get charged out the wazoo for Ticketmaster fees.

Ticketmaster is the leading ticket seller in the United States, with a market share of more than 50%. It isn’t hard to understand why many consumers are a bit fed up with them; in 2006, the company added an average of $8 in fees to the cost of each ticket. Ticketmaster claims that the services it offers, such as the ability to pay by credit card over the internet, justify these fees, but myself and many others question whether the value of these services is truly aligned with the cost.

Many times, we consumers seem to have little choice in the matter. Ticketmaster has successfully created the impression that it’s Ticketmaster or nothing. In fact, you can’t always avoid Ticketmaster fees, but in most cases, you can at least lessen them. Here, I’m going to tell you how to keep as much of your money as possible out of Ticketmaster’s paws. If you frequent live events and are fed up with these nutty fees, I think you’ll find these five strategies very useful.

1. Buy Direct from the Venue

Many mid-sized venues sell tickets directly. You’ll generally have to actually go the venue to make your purchase, and they may or may not accept credit cards, and they may or may not add some sort of charge on to the face value of the ticket, but even if they do it’ll almost certainly be less than the charge levied by Ticketmaster. Box office hours are generally restricted and they generally will not ship tickets, so you’ve gotta be local.

I’ve been able to avoid Ticketmaster fees on almost all the events I’ve attended in the past couple years simply by buying from the venue. It’s annoying to take a trip across town to buy tickets - but you know what, it’s more annoying to shell out the cash to Ticketmaster. Venues may even release tickets at the last minute before doors open, so before you pay those nasty Ticketmaster fees, always call the venue to get the 411.

By the way, let me take a moment to chastise venues which have begun to tack on their own exorbitant service fees. There is really no reason for them to do this, and if you encounter such a venue, I recommend complaining to the management.

2. Buy from a Reseller

Resellers generally buy up tickets with the intent of severely jacking up prices (i.e. scalping) - but sometimes this strategy doesn’t work and reseller sites like StubHub will actually offer cheaper prices than Ticketmaster. This is particularly true at the last minute when people who couldn’t go to the show are forced to unload tickets. Other places to check include eBay and Craig’s List.

3. Buy Through a Fan Club/Band Website/Presale

Some musical artists sell tickets direct online. The String Cheese Incident, for instance, charges a $4 per ticket service charge, which is hefty but is in almost all cases probably much less than the Ticketmaster fee. Other artists, like U2 and Madonna, charge an annual fee for the privilege of joining a fan club, but levy no service charges for sales of individual tickets to members (the annual fees can be hefty but it can still be worth it to enroll if you’ve got a whole bunch of friends who want to go). Such tickets are often released in the form of a presale, so if you know far in advance that you’d like to attend a particular show, keep your eyes on the artist’s website!

4. Buy from a Ticketmaster Retail Location

If none of the above options worked for you, you’re going to have to deal with Ticketmaster, but you can at least avoid some of the fees by visiting a Ticketmaster retail location. This is cheaper than purchasing your tickets by phone or on the internet. (One might question the logic of this, seeing as there’s no labor cost involved when you purchase your tickets online, but Ticketmaster doesn’t work by logic.) You can find a list of retail locations on Ticketmaster’s website.

5. Do Not Use TicketFast

If you don’t have a retail location near you, sorry! The only advice I can give you is to stay away from TicketFast. This is a service which allows you to print out your tickets at home using your own ink and your own paper, and Ticketmaster charges $2.50 for this privilege. My goodness! Instead of using TicketFast, have your tickets mailed to you - not via the $25 express delivery, but by regular first class mail. This is still free. Note that during the online ticket sales process, TicketFast is selected automatically as the delivery method. You’ll have to specifically de-select this option and instead select “Standard Mail.”

* * *

I hope you find these five strategies useful. With Ticketmaster being the standard ticket purchase option for many live events, it’s tough to be both a cheapskate and a music fan (or a sports fan, or a theater fan). Hopefully, this will change as increasingly powerful competitors like Live Nation force Ticketmaster to lower its fees. But until that happens, watch your back by implementing the strategies above!

If you enjoyed this post, consider subscribing to my RSS feed or subscribing by email!