£2 online booking fee. Views?

[beorhthelm]

Credit card fees apply online or offline. So pointless to use that as a reason other than to pad out an answer.

i thought this upon seeing the answer, doesnt quite sound right does it. however....

I think Mr B has a fair point, credit card companies charge no more than 25p for a transaction, and for debit cards it is far less than that.

while debit cards are a fixed fee (50p i believe), credit cards charge 2-4% per transaction*. or 60p-£1.20 on a £30 ticket. so they are probably swallowing the card fees at the shop ticket office in the first place, and further fees for the software on the website side are even more. i wonder also if the CC fees are more for online than over the phone?

(* and Amex even more, hence why so many dont accept them)

 

[Lord Bracknell]

One of those things innit, everyone does it! I just paid ticketmaster £2.55 and I even had to print my own ticket...

Southern Rail offer discounts to ticket purchasers who buy online.

 

[Woodchip]

Southern Rail offer discounts to ticket purchasers who buy online.

Completely OT but Southern to some darn good deals online.

As for the ticket charge, I don't see it being to unreasonable. If the software vendor charges 25p per ticket, the card transaction is 50p and the envelope and stamp is 60p then that's £1.35. I'm not gonna short change the club 65p per ticket. If you buy 2 tickets then they're only making 40p, etc...

Hardly profiteering (unlike some airlines and ticket providers for gigs).

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

and the envelope and stamp is 60p

No envelopes and stamps anymore (for most people anyway)

 

[Woodchip]

No envelopes and stamps anymore (for most people anyway)

There is for the non STH.

 

[Wilko]

Completely OT but Southern to some darn good deals online.

As for the ticket charge, I don't see it being to unreasonable. If the software vendor charges 25p per ticket, the card transaction is 50p and the envelope and stamp is 60p then that's £1.35. I'm not gonna short change the club 65p per ticket. If you buy 2 tickets then they're only making 40p, etc...

Hardly profiteering (unlike some airlines and ticket providers for gigs).

What envelope and stamp would that be then? Loaded on to your smartcard innit!

 

[Woodchip]

What envelope and stamp would that be then? Loaded on to your smartcard innit!

Don't get a smartcard if you're not a STH. Well I haven't yet anyway.

Maybe the smartcard operators charge a nominal fee of 30p or something as well. A lot of software vendors are on a usage based fee for support.

 

[Gazwag]

£2 for the bus into town to visit the shop or more to phone the 0845 number and be on hold for ages. Makes no difference.

Cost me a dam site more for a 60 mile round trip

 

[Mr Burns]

i thought this upon seeing the answer, doesnt quite sound right does it. however....



while debit cards are a fixed fee (50p i believe), credit cards charge 2-4% per transaction*. or 60p-£1.20 on a £30 ticket. so they are probably swallowing the card fees at the shop ticket office in the first place, and further fees for the software on the website side are even more. i wonder also if the CC fees are more for online than over the phone?

(* and Amex even more, hence why so many dont accept them)

There is no fixed fee. Whilst businessnes usually pay a per transaction charge for debit cards, and percentage for credit cards, each business negocates their own fees. Based on my experiences, if the Albion are paying more than 20p a debit transaction, or anything other than 1.??% credit card fees, then someones not doing their job right. Christ I don't even think PayPals 4% for business with a healthly turnover these days. CC fees sometime may differ slightly, but online is almost always cheaper than offline transactions.

From the tone of the reply, and contents of it, I fail to see why the club are charging this fees, especially considering how Martin Perry was so excited about these futuristic smart cards. Bottom line is they are taking the piss. I cannot think of one example where an automated online system, was cost more than an staffed offline system. I could understand it if it was the other way round, and they charged you for using the ticket shop, when online ticketing is availalbe, but they know more people will use online so have kept the fee.

If they stick two quid on a ticket and be honest about it I wouldn't care, but to sneak £2 without being able to justify it, is a bit of bad form really.

 

[pauli cee]

to be honest, an extra couple f quid for the football on offer.........priceless

 

[otk]

We went to Gillingham for two years, we got pissed on at Withdean for twelve years, we went on marches, we signed petitions, we sent Valentines cards to JP, and we bought ST's by the bucket load at Falmer, and still the club decide to stiff us this way. I thought BHA was a bit different to all the others, but cite 'everybody does it' as a reason to continue to strong us...

 

[Mr Burns]

Just asked another question, in a nice way, because frankly that reply was bullshit.

So a royalty payment is made to the software company? Does this not happen in the ticket shop, or are the systems online and offline not linked and designed by different companies? Was the instore system free then?

Sorry for sounding cynical, but the tone and main reasons of your answer doesn't sit right. CC charges don't come into it, as they are the same online and offline. Why does the club feel the need to charge an extra fee for online transactions, when everybody knows (and I am in the sector so can say this with some knowledge) that online transactions, are far cheaper to process than offline?

As a business, you are trying to move everyone to online booking, (why? because its easier and cheaper for the business, as it is for any other business) and then charging them for the pleasure. Martin Perry said in the presention, that tickets for cup games will be automated online, so there will no longer be a need for the booking fee. Obviously he's been overriden by someone.

It would make far more sense if you charged the booking fee in the ticket shop, and left it free online to encourge people to use the online service, but are you seriously suggesting that it costs more to process online sales than offline sales? END QUESTION

Maybe every major business in the world is making a mistake pushing everyone to online systems and reducing staff in call centers.

Either the ticket office manager has seen a major flaw in the market and soon all business will wake up and try and encourge customers back into branches and go face to face with staff and to abandond online systems, (although I think the ticket office set up in the stadium is flawed if they want to get 20000 people in there for cup games ) or he's taking the piss.

 

[Tight shorts]

Booking fee = part of ticket price. By splitting price into ticket and booking fee, VAT is avoided on the "booking fee" element which is why everyone does it. If they didn't separate out a booking fee the ticket would actually cost more because it would include VAT on the whole of the price.

 

[TottonSeagull]

Just asked another question, in a nice way, because frankly that reply was bullshit.

So a royalty payment is made to the software company? Does this not happen in the ticket shop, or are the systems online and offline not linked and designed by different companies? Was the instore system free then?

Sorry for sounding cynical, but the tone and main reasons of your answer doesn't sit right. CC charges don't come into it, as they are the same online and offline. Why does the club feel the need to charge an extra fee for online transactions, when everybody knows (and I am in the sector so can say this with some knowledge) that online transactions, are far cheaper to process than offline?

As a business, you are trying to move everyone to online booking, (why? because its easier and cheaper for the business, as it is for any other business) and then charging them for the pleasure. Martin Perry said in the presention, that tickets for cup games will be automated online, so there will no longer be a need for the booking fee. Obviously he's been overriden by someone.

It would make far more sense if you charged the booking fee in the ticket shop, and left it free online to encourge people to use the online service, but are you seriously suggesting that it costs more to process online sales than offline sales? END QUESTION

Maybe every major business in the world is making a mistake pushing everyone to online systems and reducing staff in call centers.

Either the ticket office manager has seen a major flaw in the market and soon all business will wake up and try and encourge customers back into branches and go face to face with staff and to abandond online systems, (although I think the ticket office set up in the stadium is flawed if they want to get 20000 people in there for cup games ) or he's taking the piss.

Stop moaning about £2, what a boring whinger you are!

 

[Mr Burns]

Booking fee = part of ticket price. By splitting price into ticket and booking fee, VAT is avoided on the "booking fee" element which is why everyone does it. If they didn't separate out a booking fee the ticket would actually cost more because it would include VAT on the whole of the price.

That might explain it, in which case the booking fee is purely for the credit card transaction, otherwise I think VAT is charable on booking fees. If its to pay for a third party service, than its VATable I think. Not totally sure though. I accountant looks after my VAT!

 

[Mr Burns]

Stop moaning about £2, what a boring whinger you are!

Go f*** yourself

 

[8ace]

Seems reasonable enough is that is the deal that's been done with the company who handle the online sales. If they didn't make it an add-on charge they'd have to make the tickets more expensive.

 

[El Presidente]

That might explain it, in which case the booking fee is purely for the credit card transaction, otherwise I think VAT is charable on booking fees. If its to pay for a third party service, than its VATable I think. Not totally sure though. I accountant looks after my VAT!

Payment card handling services are financial services, and as such are exempt from VAT.

 

[Mr Burns]

Payment card handling services are financial services, and as such are exempt from VAT.

I know they are for the card handling fees, but is a booking fee tax exempt. I think it may be for booking fees charged purely for card payments (in which case they should not be charged for debit card transactions ayway) but not if they are charged to cover other fees, ie system charges, so in the clubs case, I would think the £2 fee is vatable. (I hope I'm not opening a can of worms here!!)

 

[El Presidente]

I know they are for the card handling fees, but is a booking fee tax exempt. I think it may be for booking fees charged purely for card payments (in which case they should not be charged for debit card transactions ayway) but not if they are charged to cover other fees, ie system charges, so in the clubs case, I would think the £2 fee is vatable. (I hope I'm not opening a can of worms here!!)

I suspect the club's accountants would argue that all internet purchases are card based and therefore financial in nature. I agree with you that Insider's reply appears to contradict that though!