If there was ever a case to be made about why our team at WhenNow created an event ticketing platform with some of the lowest fees in the industry, this is it. In case you haven’t logged in to Twitter or Facebook lately, Ticketmaster just settled a huge, decades-old legal battle involving ticket fees. The class action lawsuit filed in 2003 was based on two fees charged by the company – a charge for UPS delivery and an Order Processing Fee. Plaintiffs argued that Ticketmaster’s fee description is deceptive and overstates costs related to both.
The final settlement – which is being rolled this week to customers – gives any person who purchased a ticket through Ticketmaster’s website between Oct. 21, 1999 and Feb. 27, 2013 online codes for discounts on ticket purchases, discounts on ticket shipping and vouchers for tickets.
It has been reported that an estimated 50 million Ticketmaster customers will receive discount codes, UPS codes and ticket codes as a result of the settlement, which legal experts say will cost the company $397 million.
Doesn’t all of this seem super complicated? Well, lucky for you it’s not complicated to switch to WhenNow to promote and sell tickets to your next event. Our ticketing platform is responsive, so you can create events quickly on your desktop, mobile phone or tablet. And guess what? We don’t slap you and your attendees with unnecessary fees when you sell tickets to your events.
When you use WhenNow to sell online tickets to your events, your attendees will pay ZERO buyer fees, and you as the host will pay the lowest percentage in the industry. This makes your attendees happy and gives you the opportunity to make more money on your events with WhenNow than any other event ticketing platform.
Unlike other ticketing companies, we think transparency is key! If we’re not the cheapest option for your upcoming event, we’ll show you exactly who is. Try our ticketing software price calculator and check it out for yourself.
Getting back to the whole Ticketmaster fiasco, what does it mean for customers who have made purchases through Ticketmaster? Or, more importantly, for event planners who use Ticketmaster moving forward? Here’s our list of important items related to the ruling.
If you purchased any tickets through the company, chances are high that you may have free tickets available. Follow these steps to check:
Mm, probably not. It’s unclear exactly how useful the free ticket vouchers will be. Even when they’re activated, the tickets will only be good for a limited selection of events, though the settlement requires that they cover 60% of events in Live Nation operated amphitheaters. And, The New York Times is reporting users are already experiencing difficulty cashing them in.
It’s pretty important to note that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have never admitted any wrongdoing in connection with the fees or the class action lawsuit. And, with the publicity of the settlement and the tricky tactics used to claim coupon codes – you can bet this lawsuit will leave a bad taste in the mouths of consumers for a long time.
It’s hard to say exactly how it will shake out in the future. But why choose a company that has been proven to charge false fees when you could put your event in the hands of WhenNow’s trusted ticketing software?