Ticketmaster Is Now In The Ticket Scalping Business

The Federal Government needs to break up the Ticketmaster monopoly. If you must buy your tickets from Ticketmaster use the charge by phone service or visit one of their outlets. If you try to buy tickets online you will be ripped off. Ticketmaster now operates TicketsNow.com; they call it a sister company. They say this a secondary ticket market seller that allows them to sell ticket at market value; sometimes prices are 10 times more than the face value plus all their usual add on fees. When you log on to the Ticketmaster website they redirect you to TicketsNow.com. Sounds like ticket scalping to me; maybe the laws have changed, but I thought ticket scalping was still illegal in NY state.

The following information was taken from the Wikipedia website:
Ticketmaster is a ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. Typically, Ticketmaster's clients (arenas, stadiums, and theatres) control their events, and Ticketmaster simply acts as an agent, selling the tickets that the clients make available to them.

Ticketmaster sells a large percentage of its tickets online, some via phone, and a percentage through its many ticket outlets.

Ticketmaster collects no part of advertised ticket prices, in lieu it adds services fees to recoup its costs. Consumers often find these markups unreasonably excessive, especially because there are many instances where no alternative purchase method is offered (allowing the purchase of tickets without incurring fees). This business practice, along with a dearth of competitors, has led many to view Ticketmaster as monopolistic. Alternative ticketing companies have emerged but due to Ticketmaster's exclusive agreements with a large percentage of venues the competition has not lowered service fees. Not all events generate the same consternation. Many ticket buyers have the option of purchasing tickets directly from venue box offices, thereby avoiding service fees from any ticketing agent though many box offices will also charge a service fee, particularly if the venue is owned by a ticket agency. The typical fees in addition to a ticket's face value include:
Ticketmaster Service Charge
This is Ticketmaster's charge for the general service they provide and maintain. You will pay this charge no matter which way you buy the tickets through Ticketmaster (Phone, online or in person at a ticket center), although the amount of the charge may be different for different channels and different payment methods.
Building Facility Charge
This is determined by the venue, and not Ticketmaster.
Processing Charge
This is Ticketmaster's charge for processing your order and making the tickets available to you (mail, etc.) This is usually not a per ticket charge, but rather a per order charge.
Shipping, E-Ticket Convenience, or Will Call Charge
Ticketmaster charges a fee for ticket delivery, even if the ticket is in the form of an automatically generated virtual "e-ticket", which buyers must then print out themselves, at their own expense (at a lower cost to Ticketmaster than any other medium). Buyers may also be charged an extra fee to collect the ticket(s) from the venue. E-ticket convenience charges have been known to be issued even when purchasing a ticket directly from Ticketmaster box offices.

While 35% is typical, it can be considerably more. Take for example, a $25.00 ticket to see Symphony X at the Pearl Room, just outside Chicago, has a $7.25 service charge, no option for will call or printable ticket, and $14.50 as the least expensive method of delivery. With the final processing charge of $2.40, this makes the total $49.15. With not even a "building facility charge" at the Pearl Room, this is a 97% increase in the cost of the ticket.
These price increases are predictable, considering that Ticketmaster is often the sole vendor of tickets (many venues do not even offer ticket sales for their own events).

Another charging practice is Parking Fees and excessive shipping. Although Ticketmaster reports this as being charged by the vendor, this is rarely the case. One example of this being a $25.00 ticket to a 2007 Dream Theater concert at the Fillmore in Detroit, MI including an $8.60 service charge, a $9.65 shipping fee (the ticket coming in an envelope with a 23.5 cent bulk stamp), and a $5 parking fee at a venue that doesn't have parking.

For more information click on the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticketmaster