Unlike a lot of ticketing companies, we don’t pass fees on to fans and patrons.
Instead, we strive to keep fees low for everyone — comparable to credit card processing fees you may already see when taking other forms of digital payment. We want fees to be so low they don’t need to be passed on, because we believe that will help you sell more tickets. And at the end of the day, that’s why we’re here: To help you connect with people willing to pay a fair price to see you do your thing.
Our research showed that 89% of patrons had chosen not to attend an event because of ticket fees.
It was the number-one issue ticket buyers cared about, and it’s become such a big deal that consumers are lobbying Congress to intervene. Among several things the Fix the Tix act has put in front of lawmakers, fees are one of the top concerns the bill has attempted to address. We expect the momentum will keep building, and at some point in the near future, surprising your customers with add-on fees will likely become illegal.
In the meantime, why not squeeze some extra dollars out of your customers like other ticketing platforms do? According to our research — and our values — it’s simply bad business. Customers can recognize when they’re being taken advantage of. They’re accustomed to taking ticket fees into account when deciding whether to attend an event. To them, a $27 ticket and a $25 ticket with a $2 fee are essentially the same thing. When that gap between a ticket price and a final checkout total is too far out of whack, they’ll walk away. Our business (and yours) is putting butts in seats — or on floors, benches, blankets, whatever the case may be. And part of turning patrons into fans is a good ticketing experience.
We’ve talked to loads of ticket buyers, and what they crave most is transparency. Obscuring ticket fees in advertisements — or, even worse, keeping fees hidden until a checkout screen — can be not only deceptive but also an egregious waste of patrons’ time. How many times have you had to navigate a long, tedious process of browsing calendars, seats, pricing tiers, and other details before seeing the true price of the tickets you’re after? We’ve heard multiple stories of patrons getting so fatigued that they ultimately change their minds and skip an event they could probably afford based on pure principle. We believe audiences, performers, and presenters should consistently show their mutual respect for each other’s time and resources. And the platforms they use to buy and sell tickets should be built with that goal in mind.
Our goal is to make it easy for event makers to sell out every show and be rewarded for their hard work. That’s why we’re passionate about creating an experience that makes audiences want to come back for more. When you offer a better experience for fans, you’ll have more and more of those fans to please as time goes on. That means bigger payouts for artists and more revenue for venues.
If you’re like us, you were fed up with needless ticket fees and deceptive practices long before Fix the Tix brought these issues to the forefront. Regardless of how fast or how sweeping the imminent reforms might be, we’ll be here continuing to build tools that provide a fairer, more accessible option for independent artists, venues, and the audiences they deserve. Together, we can all stay focused on filling seats instead of corporate pockets.
Cheers,
The Gobo Team 🎶 🎉