Thursday, 28th June 2007

Cui bono

8:25am

Why do we have to pay between £3.50 and £5.40 to book tickets for the theatre on the internet? Most people are unable to turn up in person to book seats — the only way to avoid the extra cost. If a theatre has, say, 600 seats, and over half are filled by people booking over the internet, then more than £1,000 per show is generated. Where and to whom does this money go?

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Corban Rushworth

June 28th, 2007 11:16am Report this comment

When we shop online for goods we expect to pay less than we would in store. This is because the overheads are lower, and the company often needs to pass the savings onto us to gain our custom. When we shop for event tickets however, the difference in cost between the two online and 'real world' is marginal. There is also no need to provide a price incentive, as time and convenience provide enough of an incentive to buy our tickets online. It may well be the case that we are being penalised for requiring the convenience, and that the money is actually being used to keep the ticket 'face value' price down. More likely it is being used to subsidise the low ticket prices offered to more and more last minute reduced price outlets, as fewer consumers are prepared to pay the full price for theatre tickets anymore.

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