A way to avoid Ticketmaster fees (in Seattle)

Many of us have been outraged at the high “convenience” fees charged by Ticketmaster, but then paid them anyway to get tickets to a show we really wanted to see. When $9.10 and was added to each of the $25 Sigur Ros tickets I bought in 2005, I decided there had to be a better way. At first I was just going to boycott all shows whose tickets were being sold by Ticketmaster. But then I discovered ways to get tickets without paying the Ticketmaster fees.

For shows at The Paramount or Moore Theatres, if you buy tickets at the box offices, you don’t pay any of the Ticketmaster fees. Each venue does add a facilities charge to each ticket ($2.50 per ticket for all shows at the Paramount, $1.50 for shows at the Moore), but this fee is also added to tickets bought through Ticketmaster.

So if you bought two tickets to one of the Shins shows at the Paramount last month through the box office, you paid $55 ($25 plus a $2.50 facilities charge per ticket). If you bought the tickets through a Ticketmaster outlet, an $8.35 convenience fee was added to each ticket, bringing the total to $71.70. And if you bought those same tickets through the Ticketmaster website, another $3.52 processing fee plus $0.84 in tax was added to the order, for a total of $76.06.

Also, tickets to shows at the Paramount can be bought at the Moore’s box office, and vice versa.

The Showbox has recently switched from Ticketswest to Ticketmaster for all tickets to shows held there. They also sell tickets at the venue. The Showbox will add $2.00 to all tickets bought there. This is still cheaper than Ticketmaster’s fees. A $13 dollar ticket to next months Blood Brothers show comes to $15. The Ticketmaster fee is $3.85 per ticket, and if bought over the Internet, there is a $3.68 processing fee plus $0.20 in tax per order (a total of $20.73).

So the convenience you are paying for is not having to go down to the venue and get the tickets. But when buying multiple tickets, a trip downtown is going to cost less.

Unfortunately, the box offices at the venues mentioned above are not open on Saturdays. Tickets often go on sale on Saturday mornings. So for shows that sell out fast, or if you must have the best seats in the balcony of the Paramount, the information above doesn’t help.

I believe the Key Arena box office also operates this way, but I’ve never tried it so I can’t be certain.

For shows at the Crocodile, Chop Suey, the Tractor and the Sunset, tickets are usually sold through Ticketweb. Their fees are somewhat lower than Ticketmaster’s, but these too can sometimes be avoided. For many, but not all, of the shows at these venues, tickets can be bought at any Sonic Boom Records location. $1 is added to each ticket bought at Sonic Boom.

I hope people can use this information to save some money on tickets.