Avoiding extortionate booking fees

geordiescouse

Hope I'm in the right spot here, does anyone know any way around paying the extortionate booking fees charged when you buy tickets for shows, concerts etc? If I go to the venue box office is it cheaper?

Thanks in advance.....

rowansway

If you go to the theatres/box offices themselves you'll find that a lot don't charge anything, except maybe a £1 theatre restoration charge, which is usually voluntary. The plus side is that sometimes they will let you see exactly where you will be sitting too if you ask.

mooomin

I normally find that if it's tickets for a concert you are as well to pay the fees as tickets can sell so quickly.

I recently paid for two nights out at the theatre - booked one on Ticketmaster and paid £8 in fees if not more. As I was booking the second one on the same day and didn't want to pay too much in fees, I went to the venue and was amazed when they charged me nothing on top of the ticket price.

I will always go to the Box Office now, I just didn't think of it before!

Raspberry_Swirl

Unfortunately, more and more venues are using ticketmaster now so there's no escaping the huge booking fees for a lot of places. It's always worth checking out the venues own website first to see if you can book direct. Locally to me, the BIC at Bournemouth still books direct, but the Southampton and Portsmouth Guildhalls now use Ticketmaster.

I booked tickets the other day for a show in London via Ambassedor Tickets, which seems to own a lot of show venues and they charged £3 booking fee, including P&P and I had the tickets the next day in the post!!

Lexxx82

I know that Cardiff International Arena (CIA) charges nothing if you pay in person at the box office with cash as I've done this several times. There is still a charge if you book in person or on the phone with a debit or credit card.

HTH

jenniewb

well not sure if they still do it, but went to the Shephrds Bush Empire a while back, and was charged £3.50 booking fee, the same as if I were buying from the net- the ticket booking fee is not always taken off when you visit the venue, just sometimes.