is this a typo? all have i missed something?

[fatpathero]

just saw this on nme.com

Forthcoming new metal festival Sonisphere is abolishing booking fees for ticket buyers and issuing refunds to fans who have already paid out for them.

Organisers of the touring festival, which hits Knebworth on August 1-2 and will be headlined by Metallica and Linkin Park, have followed in the footsteps of Glastonbury in scrapping the £11.50 fee for those buying weekend and weekend camping tickets.

They are offering a refund of the levy to those who have already bought tickets.

is this just lazy nme getting their facts wrong or are we going to have a little present coming our way?

[BinThereDrummedThat]

I dont understand?

The booking fee for Glasto is charged by SEE. SEE buy the tickets from Glasto and sell them at face value. They charge a booking fee (as their markup) and a transaction fee as a markup and to cover admin costs.

Glasto dont charge a booking fee.

[Kyelo]

Is it not the ticket companies that add the fees? Festivals don't have much say in what ticket firms do, do they?

[sprocketrocket]

I think they are refering to the fee for camping not the booking fee.

[Paul ™]

Festivals don't have much say in what ticket firms do, do they?

[karlpowell]

you never paid a camping fee tho

[karlpowell]

NME are so full of shit

[Kyelo]

Booking fee for Glasto is £5 which is set by Glastonbury Festivals Ltd as far as am aware

[Paul ™]

SeeTickets get the £5, when considering the costs involved isn't too bad at all.

Some festivals are £10-12 per ticket which is a bit steep

[fatpathero]

its weird, i always thought that the booking fee was from the ticket companies (how else would they make a living). Now if you go to buy a Sonisphere ticket via seetickets it shows £0 booking fee - Do you think Sonisphere will just be compensating seetickets to boost their sales maybe??

[dacbo]

its weird, i always thought that the booking fee was from the ticket companies (how else would they make a living). Now if you go to buy a Sonisphere ticket via seetickets it shows £0 booking fee - Do you think Sonisphere will just be compensating seetickets to boost their sales maybe??

[18Alex18]

Is it not the ticket companies that add the fees? Festivals don't have much say in what ticket firms do, do they?

[eFestivals]

The booking fee for Glasto is charged by SEE. SEE buy the tickets from Glasto and sell them at face value. They charge a booking fee (as their markup) and a transaction fee as a markup and to cover admin costs.

That's not factually correct.

See act as the selling agent for Glastonbury tickets, via an agreement they have made with Glasto.

I'd be surprised if See are paying Glastonbury up front for the tickets. Normally with (the reputable) agents, the agent doesn't give the event any of the cash from the sales until after the event has happened, so that the agent can refund if the event doesn't go ahead - after all, the transaction is with the agent and not the event, so the agent is liable.

However, I know that See work this system with an amount of flexibility, because for large events the set-up costs can be very large and so the event needs some of the cash so that it can pay those set-up costs. See are able to be flexible with the better established events because the chances of cancellation are very slim.

The size of the booking fee for Glasto tickets is stipulated by Glasto within that agreement with See. Of course, See will have some input into that, because they're not going to be selling tickets for a huge loss, so there's no point Glasto trying to force them to.

See themselves have told me on more than one occasion that if they make any money on selling Glastonbury tickets it's pennies, if anything at all - they essentially continue to do it for the publicity and reputation it gives them and not because there's profit in it; because there's no profit in it, they dither each year as to whether they want to continue to do it.

I know that most people like to think that ticket agents are raking in huge profits, but that's not how it is. The costs of handling bookings are far FAR greater than most people imagine, because for (say) every 100 no-hassle transactions they make they have one that causes them lots of costs in one way or another.

[robith]

It's because Sonisphere is really not selling very well.

They've changed it to an "inside commission" - so the ticket vendors are still getting their booking fee, it just comes out of the price of the ticket.

[cejx]

Even with the massive line up, Sonisphere has proved v v expensive and not quite the sell out they were hoping for. They introduced a staggered payment system for the tix and I guess this is the next level. I'm going... but I only live down the road!! Problem is, Metallica etc are tied in for 3 years. oops.

[karlpowell]

Neil ... I know you say its penny's BUT if all that money is in see's bank from say April to July, that's must a nice bit ov interest returned on the money from the banks .

Edited May 12, 2009 by karlpowell

[eFestivals]

Neil ... I know you say its penny's BUT if all that money is in see's bank from say April to July, that's must a nice bit ov interest returned on the money from the banks .

maybe in the past, but not right now.

I have no idea if its the case, but there might well be an obligation on the agent to pass any interest monies on. In the case of Glasto, I'd be surprised if there isn't actually.