Consumer group slams ticketing agencies' 'excessive charges'

Consumer magazine CHOICE has called on Australia's major ticketing companies Ticketek and Ticketmaster to justify excessive and often hidden fees and charges.

Commenting on a report published this week, CHOICE spokeswoman, Ingrid Just explained that many ticket costs were "not up front and centre" when a consumer made an online booking, adding "in some cases, Ticketek charges $7 for emailing the ticket as an attachment, which the customer prints themselves.

"Additionally, tickets sent by registered post can cost $11.25 for the service, compared to $3.65 for the same service at the post office," she said.

Just added that ticketing companies should make these charges clear before someone started the booking.

The report states: "while the Australian ticketing industry is made up of a number of companies, the two major players selling sports, concert and theatre tickets are Ticketek and Ticketmaster.

"According to Ticketek, it processes 18 million tickets to more than 13,000 events every year, and services 225 venues and clients. These include Sydney's ANZ Stadium and Allphones Arena, the SCG and MCG, Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Canberra Stadium and the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

"Ticketmaster claims to ticket more than 10,000 events every year. Venues it has the exclusive rights to process ticketing to include Melbourne's Etihad Stadium, the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Cricket Ground and WA's Patersons Stadium.

"When Choice looked into ticketing back in 2009, we found these exclusivity agreements with venues were constricting competition.

"At that time, we wrote: 'to get exclusive ticketing rights, these companies have to pay the venue owners 'key money', which they recoup through high ticket profit margins. The result is a duopoly that does little for competitive pricing. Event owners and producers may have a choice of venue, but they have no choice of ticket seller when the exclusive ticketing rights of the venue have been signed over to a particular ticketing agency. '

"Alarm bells over ticketing have continued to sound ever since."

In a report also states "consumers should not be continually frustrated by out-dated booking systems, especially when paying top dollar to use them. Choice believes all components of a ticket price should be revealed to consumers up-front."

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Ticketek Australia Managing Director Cameron Hoy explaining that, said while the company advised consumers that "certain fees would apply as they completed a transaction", the final cost of the transaction fee could not be determined until a ticket was selected.

Hoy told the Sydney Morning Herald that said consumers often did not understand the real costs that underpinned the company's charges, adding "our fees include labour, dispatch, handling and the cost of technology that supports the scanning of these tickets."

Hoy added that Ticketek received "very few complaints" about these charges and the take-up rate of its mobile and online platforms had been greater than envisaged. Like everything, the company could always improve on ways of communicating its fee structure to consumers and that is "something we're looking at", Hoy concluded.

CHOICE says the profits of ticket agencies such as Ticketek and Ticketmaster come from charges that are not transparent. 'Outside' charges, which are the booking or transaction fees, and 'inside' charges, which include the cut paid by the event's promoter to the ticketing agency, often make up as much as 10% of the ticket cost, according to Choice.

In 2010, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took action against Ticketek, having investigated its treatment of discount-ticketing retailer Lasttix.

In December last year, the Federal Court imposed a penalty totalling $2.5m on Ticketek, finding that on four separate occasions Ticketek engaged in conduct with the anti-competitive purpose of deterring or preventing Lasttix from supplying its services.

At that time ACCC Chairman Rod Sims stated "Ticketek's market strength allowed it to do things it may not have done in a more competitive environment.

"Their behaviour towards Lasttix was opportunistic, anti-competitive and found by the court to be unacceptable."

Read the full report at www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/money/shopping-and-legal/shopping/ticket-pricing.aspx

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