[Update Some of this is out of date as of July 2009. Let me know if you notice any errors.]

How is it that I can pay $5 to get a $400 plane ticket, but I spend more than that on a $20 concert ticket? [1]

Ticketmaster and ticketweb can be oppressive in the fees they add onto tickets. In a limited number of cases, ticketweb’s prices are sometimes as low as $2/ ticket, but their pricing schemes are inconsistent, so without being able to say for sure when their ticket fees are reasonable, I’m not including them below. Cafe du Nord, the Independent and Bottom of the Hill all use ticketweb. Fillmore, Warfield and many other LiveNation venues use ticketmaster.

I’m making a list of ways to get tickets for less than $2.50 a ticket in fees. Of course, tickets are always available free of service charges the night of the show if it hasn’t sold out. Here are a few ways to stop paying $18.22 for that $12 ticket:

the Bottom of the Hill:

• online $2.01/ ticket very limited tickets are available online. I’ve only seen tickets for show coming up in the very near future.$2 most/ all tickets are available from stubmatic for a small fee

Cafe du Nord:

• phone/fax/ email $1/ticket You can call the box office from 2-6pm M-F or fax or email them as well.

Fillmore/ Warfield:

• in person FREE 10am-4pm Sundays at the Fillmore box office @ 1095 Geary St., SF
• in person $2/ ticket may apply show nights 30 minutes before the show until 10pm

the Grand:

• in person $1/ ticket tickets for Another Planet Entertainment shows at the Grand can be purchased during at the Independent’s box office (see the Independent, in person section for hours)

Great American:

• online $3/ticket all shows are available online
• fax $2/ticket download the fax form (pdf) and fax it to 415-885-5075.
• in person $1/ticket M-F 10:30am-6pm, show nights until 9pm; Sa and Su 1 hour before the show at Great American’s box office @ 859 O’Farrell St

the Independent:

• in person FREE M-F 11am-6pm (9pm on show nights) at the Independent box office @ 628 Divisadero

the Rickshaw stop:

• online $1.25/ ticket select shows are available for purchase online

Slim’s

• online $3/ticket all shows are available online
• fax $2/ticket download the fax form (pdf) and fax it to 415-255-0333.
• in person ?? (anyone?) M-F 10:30-6pm at Slim’s box office at 333 11th St.

12 Galaxies [closed]

• online $1.98/ ticket + $0.30/ order all shows are available online
  

Warfield

• Tickets are available at the Fillmore box office. See “Fillmore” listing [Warfield is run by Goldenvoice now while the Fillmore is still run by LiveNation]

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What other ways are there of getting tickets with little or no fees?

[1] Analogy borrowed from Wired

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am Posted by adrian in SF bay area, industry. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.