Thursday, March 17, 2011

The high cost of 'convenient' tickets

Walk up to the Sangamon Auditorium ticket office and a main floor ticket for Celtic Woman’s April 18 performance will cost $64. If you buy online, you’ll pay an additional $3.50 convenience fee, a $1 administrative fee and a $4 processing fee — $8.50 in all.

Bob Vaughn, the director of Sangamon Auditorium, said he was able to negotiate the convenience fees down when Tickets.com’s contract was recently up for renewal.

He also defended the $4 processing fee, saying Sangamon Auditorium lost money on its ticket office. He said each ticket sold cost the venue an average of $2.38 — including labor, printing, postage and credit card fees the venue has to pay.

Vaughn's comments were featured in a March 17, 2011, article in The State Journal-Register.

Read the full article online