# Any advantage to buying theater tickets at box office vs. web? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761 "2007-12-12T17:46:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/1 "2007-12-12T17:46:34Z")
Trying to get tickets to see “Jersey Boys” and remember that it was supposedly better to buy them straight from the box office? If this is true, is it because of price, availability, or both? Is telecharge that much more expensive? Does the box office hold seats that telecharge doesn’t have access to? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/2 "2007-12-12T17:49:41Z")
[QUOTE=KidCharlemagne] Trying to get tickets to see “Jersey Boys” and remember that it was supposedly better to buy them straight from the box office? If this is true, is it because of price, availability, or both? Is telecharge that much more expensive? Does the box office hold seats that telecharge doesn’t have access to? Thanks. [/QUOTE] In my experience, buying on the web involves a surcharge of $1.50 per ticket. So buying at the box office will save you some money. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/3 "2007-12-12T17:57:22Z")
It’s more spontaneous to buy your tickets at the box office and decide at the last minute what to see. Chicks dig that crap. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/4 "2007-12-12T18:03:28Z")
Some theatres in Richmond VA have self-service ATM-like machines where you can buy tickets. No surcharge that I could see, I can’t figure out why people wait in a long line rather than do that. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/5 "2007-12-12T18:15:27Z")
[QUOTE=awldune] In my experience, buying on the web involves a surcharge of $1.50 per ticket. So buying at the box office will save you some money. [/QUOTE] Wow. So cheap. Around here, the “convenience fee” to order tickets for \*Jersey Boys \* is $32.10 **each** , plus $15 to have the tickets mailed. For the price of a four-block walk to the theater, I’d be able to save $75. (I don’t want to see _Jersey Boys_ - I just grabbed that show as an example of what’s playing near my office.) Or, if I really want to warm up the credit card, the service charge to get tickets to _Cirque du Soleil_ is $52.20 each, on top of $348 each for the tickets - a staggering total of $815.35. Even the little community theaters nail you $7.50 per seat, plus a much more reasonable $2.00 postage per order. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/6 "2007-12-12T18:16:17Z")
One thing that can be good about buying theater tickets at the box office is that you’re dealing with an actual person, who can look at the availability maps and let you pick the seats you want. Online purchases are generally going to offer you some computer determined idea of what constitues ‘best’. But realistically, maybe you’d trade being two rows back for being on an aisle. Or would rather be one row farther forward and three seats to the left, or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/7 "2007-12-12T18:16:53Z")
Oh, you guys are talking about stage shows, not movies. Doh! ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/8 "2007-12-12T19:08:54Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] Wow. So cheap. Around here, the “convenience fee” to order tickets for \*Jersey Boys \* is $32.10 **each** , plus $15 to have the tickets mailed. For the price of a four-block walk to the theater, I’d be able to save $75. (I don’t want to see _Jersey Boys_ - I just grabbed that show as an example of what’s playing near my office.) Or, if I really want to warm up the credit card, the service charge to get tickets to _Cirque du Soleil_ is $52.20 each, on top of $348 each for the tickets - a staggering total of $815.35. Even the little community theaters nail you $7.50 per seat, plus a much more reasonable $2.00 postage per order. [/QUOTE] Ouch. While I’ve never noticed this high of a fee, Admission has informed me in the past that they’d charge me the same “convenience” fee whether I picked up tickets at a box office or ordered them online. This was separate from any shipping fees, which varied depending on the delivery method. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/9 "2007-12-12T19:28:54Z")
I have found that it’s a little bit cheaper to buy tickets at the box office then on-line. What I’ve never understood though is that if I do happen to buy tickets at the box office and try to pay with a credit card they want to charge me an extra fee. This has been across the board at all box offices. I always thought that they were not allowed to do this. They even used to do this through Ticket Master when you could buy tickets at Hecht’s, a local department store. I used to always buy my tickets there so I could pay 5 bucks less or so. They don’t call it a credit card charge, but they do do it. It’s not like you can argue with the guy selling tickets either. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/10 "2007-12-12T19:30:16Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] Ouch. While I’ve never noticed this high of a fee, Admission has informed me in the past that they’d charge me the same “convenience” fee whether I picked up tickets at a box office or ordered them online. This was separate from any shipping fees, which varied depending on the delivery method. [/QUOTE] You should get a discount as they are the ones getting the convenience! ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/11 "2007-12-12T19:43:25Z")
Not quite the same, but here’s the breakdown for The Fillmore as of a month or two ago- Online: $8 service charge + $1.50 to print at home Box office day of show: I think it was like a $2 service charge. Box office Sunday morning/afternoon: NO CHARGES! So check the venue site, and check it carefully. They might have weird box office hours where you don’t have to pay anything but face value (which is downright rare these days). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/12 "2007-12-13T00:17:55Z")
[QUOTE=gotpasswords] Even the little community theaters nail you $7.50 per seat, plus a much more reasonable $2.00 postage per order. [/QUOTE] Hey! – It’s not the “little community theater” nailing you for that. It’s Ticketmaster or whatever ticket broker is selling them online who is doing that. The little community theater never sees a penny of it! I work with a non-profit organization that puts on a big event, but keeps the ticket price very low ($6 adults, $4 children & seniors). We looked into offering tickets online, but were told they weren’t interested because our price was **too low** – they couldn’t make enough money off them. Their added ‘service’ fee would be much more than the ticket itself, and people wouldn’t buy them at that much of an overcharge. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/13 "2007-12-13T00:26:03Z")
[QUOTE=Edward The Head] I have found that it’s a little bit cheaper to buy tickets at the box office then on-line. What I’ve never understood though is that if I do happen to buy tickets at the box office and try to pay with a credit card they want to charge me an extra fee. This has been across the board at all box offices. I always thought that they were not allowed to do this. They even used to do this through Ticket Master when you could buy tickets at Hecht’s, a local department store. I used to always buy my tickets there so I could pay 5 bucks less or so. They don’t call it a credit card charge, but they do do it. It’s not like you can argue with the guy selling tickets either. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I think the credit card companies would be very interested in this. How long ago was it? From what I have heard they get quite upset about this and it is a violation of every credit card agreement I have heard of. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2007, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-advantage-to-buying-theater-tickets-at-box-office-vs-web/429761/14 "2007-12-13T01:10:44Z")
[QUOTE=flight] Yeah, I think the credit card companies would be very interested in this. How long ago was it? From what I have heard they get quite upset about this and it is a violation of every credit card agreement I have heard of. [/QUOTE] They still do it, though I don’t buy from Hecht’s any more because they were bought out a couple of years ago. I do know that one or two other places do it.