Of course, when you think that you’re paying more than 50% in service charges so that they will swiftly correct the mistake if they accidentally charge you 100% too much, it doesn’t sound like quite such a great trade-off. Still, it’s nice to see someone sticking up for them for a change. 
Hampshire: what, no udder straightening fee? What is this, some sort of charity?
Actually they don’t always do that. I’ve been looking for deals for business trips where company X will charge $39/day and company Y will charge $41/day, but when you look at the total charges company Y is cheaper. Keep an eye out for that.
I quite honestly don’t know. I simply can’t understand why venues sign exclusive deals with a company this transparently exploitative, but there it is.
I think the problem is exacerbated by the fact that live music events are often heavily over-subscribed, and that venues tend to charge a list price below that which would allow them to still sell out. So, as noted by others, Ticketmaster are simply profiting from the same phenomenon used by scalpers. Venues don’t have to worry about running their own ticketing operation, and as long as they sell out, don’t really care about what their customers had to go through, be it scalpers or ridiculous convenience fees.
Asked and answered.
Who said they don’t? No-one is arguing with this (and I can’t see where you got the idea they were). They are arguing, correctly, that the fees are entirely disproportionate to the service rendered, and that this is only possible because of Ticketmaster’s complete domination of entire venues and local markets.
By taking advantages of economies of (vast) scale, Ticketmaster should be able to provide ticketing services for far less than the venues themselves used to. Instead, ticket processing fees have gone up by an order of magnitude since everything became more “convenient”. This is quite clearly a symptom of something that is fucked up, and that’s what people are complaining about.
No, not really. t-bonham stated that venues sign exclusive contracts, but that still leaves the question open – WHY do they sign exclusive contracts?
Though I can see convenience as a possible answer.
Because it’s convenient to the venue. We, the customer, don’t get much of a say in the matter.
Regarding prices- In my town, the cheap seats to Billy Joel/Elton John are $110.
The expensive ones are $2685.
No one may be arguing in this thread, but it’s still a common complaint.
Ticketmaster can charge the fees they do because they’re a monopoly. No one else has stepped up to the plate, and Ticketron, who was the competing service, was purchased by Ticketmaster. StubHub acts as a matchmaking service, so they’re close, but not quite the same, but StubHub still charges a commission for the use of its service.
As I posted upthread, I think Ticketmaster should justify the fees it charges and subject themselves to regulation under the laws that regulate scalping.
Robin
I don’t know why I’ve never thought to Pit Ticketmaster before, because I have despised these bastards for years. For anyone defending them for their outrageous “fees”, just go back to what the OP pointed out - one of TM’s newest fees is a $2.50 charge for graciously allowing you the right to print your own tickets. In order to buy a ticket to a concert that TM is neither promoting nor exhibiting, the OP had to pay TM $27.80 in order to receive tickets that TM never printed, never shipped, never stored, and never received from the venue in the first place.
**In short. **
“Hi, I’d like to buy 2 tickets please.”
“Great! That’ll be $68.”
“Here you go. Um, so where’s the tickets?”
“Oh, well, just give that nice gentleman in the black ski mask behind you $27.80 and you’ll be allowed to print the tickets yourself at home.”
Well, okay. But for future reference, I probably wouldn’t come into a thread saying, “I disagree!” if you’re going to, well… agree. It’s very confusing.
Wanna know what’s really annoying? Being charged the Ticketmaster fee when you buy tickets at the House of Blues box office for a show at the fucking House of Blues.
I understand. But I posted between cups of coffee, so I’m not entirely responsible for how I make my points. 
Robin
Urm… It’s a $2.50 fee if you **choose **to do that. Agree with most of the stuff in this thread, but there a huge difference between a mandatory fee and a choice to purchase something extra.
Printing you own tickets makes your life easier. Charging you for that convenience seems like normal business. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
There is no way, through Ticketmaster, to obtain your actual tickets without being charged a fee for the method in which you take delivery. They charge you to mail them, FedEx them, UPS them, pick them up at the box office, pick them up at will call, or print them out yourself.
Once you buy the tickets there is absolutely no way to get them without paying one of these ridiculous fees. It can’t be done.
What choice are you talking about?
As catsix rightly notes, you get charged a convenience fee regardless of your ticket delivery method. In other words, there is no inconvenient way to get your tickets. It’s not a “convenience fee”, it’s a rip-off.
Precisely. It would be like a bank charging you a “teller fee” for going up to the counter because they did some work for you. But if you do the work yourself, the bank charges you a “convenience fee”, even thought it isn’t “convenient” it’s you doing their job for them.
It’s kind of like mowing your own lawn on a hot summer day, and then still paying your gardener for the “privilege” of doing it yourself.
The greatest post, music-related anyway, in the history of the Straight Dope Forum.
I urge everyone who is annoyed by this to file a complaint with the Consumer Complaints division of your state Attorney General’s office for false advertising.
If there is no way to get tickets by paying the price advertised for tickets, it’s false advertising, and should be handled as such.
Sorry, you will have to hire a local hooker to perform this service.
If you arranged it through Ticketmaster, they would no doubt add 25-50% on top of the going price that the hooker charges.