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Ticketmaster's Still Hiding Ticket Fees, Senator Says (theverge.com) 29

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, promised to scrap the hidden fees plaguing its ticketing service earlier this year. But one senator says the company's not doing nearly enough. From a report: In a letter to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino Wednesday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) called on the company to turn on an "all-in" pricing filter that it added this year by default. Klobuchar said it's "still too difficult" for users to turn on the filter that's "buried within a tab that gives no indication that it contains" the option in the first place.

"Millions of Americans rely on your company for the chance to see their favorite artist, band, or sports team," Klobuchar wrote. "In return for their business and trust, your customers expect a transparent and honest ticket buying process free from hidden fees." Back in June, Live Nation, along with AirBnB, SeatGeek, and DICE, pledged to disclose the full price of their tickets and services as part of an agreement with the White House to reduce "junk fees." At the time, Live Nation said that these new rules would start applying to events in September.
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Ticketmaster's Still Hiding Ticket Fees, Senator Says More

Ticketmaster's Still Hiding Ticket Fees, Senator Says

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  • as it should be (Score:4, Funny)

    by ole_timer ( 4293573 ) on Friday October 27, 2023 @10:10AM (#63958269)
    why would you need to know the price? it's taylor swift for crying out loud!

  • Let's add sales tax (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dbialac ( 320955 ) on Friday October 27, 2023 @10:14AM (#63958285)
    Since we're talking about hidden fees, lets start including sales tax in the price on the shelf. I saw a great model in Germany where you had the price you paid and, as I recall, the base price on the shelf price. It's not hidden in the same sense, but it makes shopping a lot easier on everyone.

    • Re:Let's add sales tax (Score:4, Insightful)

      by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Friday October 27, 2023 @10:36AM (#63958339) Homepage Journal

      > it makes shopping a lot easier on everyone.

      Indeed, the price on the shelf in New Hampshire is the price you pay at the register and when I go elsewhere it's always a bit disorienting.

      I'm not bad at addition so I'm used to gathering goods and having the correct bills ready at checkout, which led to momentary embarrassment in NY one time ("that's not enough").

      Still I wish the gas stations would post the prices with and without tax.

      Transparency is best of all.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by aitikin ( 909209 )

      Since we're talking about hidden fees, lets start including sales tax in the price on the shelf. I saw a great model in Germany where you had the price you paid and, as I recall, the base price on the shelf price. It's not hidden in the same sense, but it makes shopping a lot easier on everyone.

      Do you realize how incredibly difficult that would be? In my state, we have a flat sales tax across all counties, but in Texas (for example) there are over 1600 different sales tax jurisdictions.

      Sure, a single store might be able to do that, especially a small mom and pop shop. But online retailers probably never will be able to with the way that the various states handle sales tax, especially with the fact that, when shipping product to Texas (keeping with the previous example) the sales tax jurisdiction

      • Re:Let's add sales tax (Score:5, Insightful)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Friday October 27, 2023 @11:10AM (#63958427) Homepage Journal

        Do you realize how incredibly difficult that would be?

        No harder than calculating taxes at purchase time.

        Have users enter their location when they get to the site if they want to see prices with taxes included. Store pre-tax prices. Compute taxed prices at display time from a table built when the user enters their location data.

        These are literally calculations they are already making when they show you your final shopping cart!

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by aitikin ( 909209 )

          Do you realize how incredibly difficult that would be?

          No harder than calculating taxes at purchase time.

          Have users enter their location when they get to the site if they want to see prices with taxes included. Store pre-tax prices. Compute taxed prices at display time from a table built when the user enters their location data.

          These are literally calculations they are already making when they show you your final shopping cart!

          And then the user ships to a different address and they get pissed off that the sales tax in that address is [insert delta here] more. Then stupid people sue companies for false advertising. Furthermore, small businesses that don't do enough interstate commerce to collect sales tax on behalf of that state shouldn't post the tax, but the end user is still expected to pay it in a, "Use tax," on their income taxes.

          Suffice to say, sales tax laws are fucked and I hate them, but have to deal with them day in an

      • Maybe Texas should update their tax codes.

        • You know what's funny? California only has 31 different tax rates in use, and "only" 1,786 different places which could have their own tax code.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        i love the new breed of american exceptionalism

        "this would be good for everyone and people would like it"

        "yeah but it's a bit complex and would require some work"

        "oh well, better to just not do it ever!"

        classic "we put a man on the moon but can't figure out how to label products in a store with the taxes included even though we know exactly how much each item is taxed"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Do you realize how incredibly difficult that would be? In my state, we have a flat sales tax across all counties, but in Texas (for example) there are over 1600 different sales tax jurisdictions.

        Sure, a single store might be able to do that, especially a small mom and pop shop. But online retailers probably never will be able to with the way that the various states handle sales tax, especially with the fact that, when shipping product to Texas (keeping with the previous example) the sales tax jurisdiction i

    • Since we're talking about hidden fees, lets start including sales tax in the price on the shelf.

      It is a good idea, and I like it... but it is not practical they way our taxes work here.

      Sales tax rates vary by location, and can change several times a year at the whim of local and state regulators.

      My store, as an example, has around 30,000 individually priced items on the shelves. Having to re-sticker them all multiple times a year would be an overwhelming, time consuming, and expensive task. I could not do it.

      The practical effect would be for me to set prices high enough to cover anticipated sales ta

    • In Australia the GST (our tax on almost everything you buy) is baked in to the price.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by torkus ( 1133985 )

      Now do tips next!

      Retailers insist that misleading people about how much something costs makes them more likely to buy it. I have to wonder if that really holds true anymore though. Granted that $39.95 meal at the restaurant would now be $52.13 but at least I'd know upfront.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Since we're talking about hidden fees, lets start including sales tax in the price on the shelf. I saw a great model in Germany where you had the price you paid and, as I recall, the base price on the shelf price. It's not hidden in the same sense, but it makes shopping a lot easier on everyone.

      That's not unique to Germany, everywhere I've been in the world bar the United States has the same system. The price you see on the shelf is the price you pay at the check out, inclusive of all taxes, fees and charges. Same with an advertised price, if you advertise a price the product must be purchasable for that price.

      The US is a fuster-cluck with pricing, taxes added on and mandatory but "not" mandatory gratuity is just stupid. I can do the maths, but I really do have better things to do. I find it od

  • All this law does is make the fees they're making off the top a single line item, it doesn't actually reduce costs to consumers. It's no different than forcing gas companies or airlines to lump all their government-imposed taxes and security fees into a single price. Sure, it's convenient, but it's not transparent, and not actually less expensive. I'll all for addressing the issue of hidden fees, and enabling consumers to shop based on a complete understanding of total cost, but the only reason Ticketmast
    • reminds me of when uber et al moved into nyc and bypassed all the medallion nonsense

    • You are right that the real answer to The Ticketmaster/Live Nation issue is to break up their monopoly but that's going to be a much bigger problem to solve as it's going to involve an antitrust court case as well as some degree of legislation.

      Specifically in my belief TM/LN should not be allowed to vertically integrate the way they do; they both sell tickets, have exclusive agreements with venues to be the sole seller of tickets and on top of that also own and operate their own venues as well, so they the

  • https://www.dictionary.com/bro... [dictionary.com]

    Get with the concept or I am not doing business with you.

    • The one and only reason they would bury this in a place that no-one would think to look is: malice.

      Microsoft is another company that LOVES doing this to make it hard-as-hell to disable advertising and spying in the settings menus. They take one simple setting (advertising? yes or no?) and break it out into a bunch of separate settings scattered-about and hidden within various settings menus, word it in such a way as to avoid the word "advertising" and make it sound like they are doing something else, and

  • Give 'em the Ma Bell.

  • Can't enforce a pinky swear. Points scoring by Senator. Maybe introduce legislation.
  • I know I'm in the minority, but I have a no Ticketmasters policy. I don't care who the artist is. The tickets are overpriced and predatory. Support local music and theater, its cheaper, they appreciate it more, and Ticketmaster loses. Win-Win!

  • Sen. Amy Klobuchar ...

    As long as you allow corporations to avoid itemized receipts, allow corporations to charge 'taxes' and keep the money, allow the hiding of federal taxes, allow three tiers of government to charge the same tax, this dishonesty and difficulty will remain in US commerce and retail.

    It's called truth in advertising: As long as the US government continues its low standards, nothing will improve.

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