Birchmere question

Can you get tickets to Birchmere shows without paying ticketmaster charges?

We're in for Mould, and I usually am not the ticket buyer for the Birch shows….

If you get them from their box office, there's a $2 service fee per ticket (I thought it was $1 but someone else on here said $2, and I think they're right). Don't know what the Ticketmaster charge is. I don't think I've ever ordered anything through ticketmaster.

Originally posted by Bagster:
Can you get tickets to Birchmere shows without paying ticketmaster charges?

We're in for Mould, and I usually am not the ticket buyer for the Birch shows….

Ticketmaster is $5.50/ticket.

Thanks, Rhett.

The $2 box office charge doesn't appear to go to Ticketmaster, their faqs say "At the Birchmere Box Office, we have a $2 service charge per ticket. This charge is for our Box Office Staff, Parking, & Security. We want you here, happy & safe!"
How lame to arbitrarily cite certain expenses of their business and tack on an extra charge for them. Consequently, when they advertise a show for $35, there's no actual way to see the show for that price

Yes, but if you've got $35 to spend on a single ticket, you probably are well off enough not to worry about a $2 ticket fee.

Originally posted by edbert:
The $2 box office charge doesn't appear to go to Ticketmaster, their faqs say "At the Birchmere Box Office, we have a $2 service charge per ticket. This charge is for our Box Office Staff, Parking, & Security. We want you here, happy & safe!"
How lame to arbitrarily cite certain expenses of their business and tack on an extra charge for them. Consequently, when they advertise a show for $35, there's no actual way to see the show for that price

I agree. I don't understand why these costs are not part of the ticket price. Make the ticket price $20 instead of $15; I get ticked off knowing you simply CANNOT get a ticket at the stated, publicized price.

[Don't give me the "day of" rigmarole; for many shows, you cannot wait until the day of the show, though I guess that gets them through on a legal basis.]

Originally posted by edbert:
How lame to arbitrarily cite certain expenses of their business and tack on an extra charge for them. Consequently, when they advertise a show for $35, there's no actual way to see the show for that price

Originally posted by Bagster:
I agree. I don't understand why these costs are not part of the ticket price. Make the ticket price $20 instead of $15; I get ticked off knowing you simply CANNOT get a ticket at the stated, publicized price.

[Don't give me the "day of" rigmarole; for many shows, you cannot wait until the day of the show, though I guess that gets them through on a legal basis.]

Originally posted by edbert:
How lame to arbitrarily cite certain expenses of their business and tack on an extra charge for them. Consequently, when they advertise a show for $35, there's no actual way to see the show for that price

But if you use ticketmaster they tack on to that charge so you would have the $35 +$2 (hidden) + Tickbastard, this way you can choose the $2 or the $tickbastard option. Sort of like buying tires, you can not get them for the price after all the b.s.

Originally posted by Bagster:
I don't understand why these costs are not part of the ticket price

perhaps I can explain

the band gets a significant portion of the ticket so, if you just raise a ticket by $2, most of that would just go to the band. in order to effectively charge what you need to to cover your costs, you have to do it this way

as I've always said, folks should just consider the total cost and not how it got split up - if that's too much, then don't go, but fretting over how it was presented isn't going to change anything

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:

Originally posted by Bagster:
I don't understand why these costs are not part of the ticket price

perhaps I can explain

the band gets a significant portion of the ticket so, if you just raise a ticket by $2, most of that would just go to the band. in order to effectively charge what you need to to cover your costs, you have to do it this way

as I've always said, folks should just consider the total cost and not how it got split up - if that's too much, then don't go, but fretting over how it was presented isn't going to change anything

So the band gets X% of y ticket price..if the $2 was part of the ticket then the band would get x% of the 2$ also…right? Makes sense then. I have no problem paying a little extra to pay the box office staff or the poor souls who sit out in the freezing rain watching our cars for us.

You and your club owning friends should still get together and do something about ticketbastard and tickets.scam though, $5.50 to print a bloody ticket then charge $14 or whatever it is for a $3 UPS shipping fee is out of control, and taking money out of your coffers because we just don't go to as many shows anymore, and the ones we do we spend less on beer, food etc in your club…well I do anyway and I can't be the only one who thinks this way.

Seth, I'm not one to worry about concert prices. I always bristled at the premise that there's no way to pay face value of a ticket, though. But, I'm damn lucky that I'm in easy distance to buy most of my tickets at the venues.

That explanation makes much sense, though. Thanks.

Originally posted by mankie:

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:

Originally posted by Bagster:
I don't understand why these costs are not part of the ticket price

perhaps I can explain

the band gets a significant portion of the ticket so, if you just raise a ticket by $2, most of that would just go to the band. in order to effectively charge what you need to to cover your costs, you have to do it this way

as I've always said, folks should just consider the total cost and not how it got split up - if that's too much, then don't go, but fretting over how it was presented isn't going to change anything

So the band gets X% of y ticket price..if the $2 was part of the ticket then the band would get x% of the 2$ also…right? Makes sense then. I have no problem paying a little extra to pay the box office staff or the poor souls who sit out in the freezing rain watching our cars for us.

You and your club owning friends should still get together and do something about ticketbastard and tickets.scam though, $5.50 to print a bloody ticket then charge $14 or whatever it is for a $3 UPS shipping fee is out of control, and taking money out of your coffers because we just don't go to as many shows anymore, and the ones we do we spend less on beer, food etc in your club…well I do anyway and I can't be the only one who thinks this way.

You would realize how underpaid they are when you hear the conversations with idiots for will call. How many "I don't know the name they are under, but I think it might be…" or "I don't have I.D. or anything to prove who I am, so why won't you give me the tickets?" and more. Better now that they don't need a confirmation number, but still some people, I am suprised they don't kill themselves getting out of bed.

I can't tell you how many times I've been behind some dufous at will call with the story, "my friend who ordered the tickets can't make it so said I can have the tickets" I know they probably aren't lying because it happens, but who in their right mind expects to get the tickets with that story?