Booking Fees Explained

Now a standard practice across event ticketing platforms, charging booking fees is accepted as the norm. But there’s still a lot of ambiguity about how these fees are used and, in some cases, how much is actually charged. Allow us to explain.

Booking fees play a crucial role in supporting ticketing companies like Skiddle and, ultimately, event organisers like you. Unlike many of our competitors, our service is entirely FREE to use. You can list events, sell tickets, and access all the features of the Skiddle Promotion Centre at no cost. Without said booking fees, we simply wouldn’t be able to offer this level of service.

They also fund the development of new tools and features, continually helping you to improve the success rate of your events, whilst allowing us to build dedicated teams to assist your customers, whether via phone, email or through on-site support.

There are many other ways we put Booking Fees to good use, all focused on making your experience with Skiddle the most seamless and profitable it can be. It’s this commitment that makes us the UK’s leading independent event ticketing platform, empowering organisers to deliver world-class events.

Continue reading for more details about Booking Fees on Skiddle, to learn of other benefits to you and your events, and to see how Booking Fees are regulated by law.

What are Booking Fees?

Booking Fees are additional charges added to the face value of a ticket.

The cost of these additional charges is usually covered by the customer, although event organisers can choose to cover the costs themselves when creating their listings on Skiddle. In this case, the booking fee is calculated as a commission and is deducted from the ticket’s face value. The commission rates are calculated in the same way as Booking Fees are.

Fees can also vary depending on the size of the event. A festival, for example, will have a significantly larger booking fee than a club night.

Why does Skiddle charge Booking Fees?

As previously mentioned, the Skiddle Promotion Centre is packed with market-leading features like Discount Codes, Payment Plans, RapidScan and Reps, as well as powerful analysis tools built to assist you in making your events the best they can be.

These features are FREE to use, and Booking Fees allow us to deliver them at zero cost to you. They also help to cover the cost of providing a secure ticketing service to your customers, including debit and credit card processing and VAT, and ensure our platform is performing to its full potential, increasing the visibility of your listings.

On their own, our features, website, app, support teams and marketing services are strong. But together, they combine to create a powerful ticketing platform that’s equipped to create, promote and analyse gigs, club nights, festivals, food and drink events, comedy shows, theatre productions, and just about any other event type you can think of.

And that’s reflected by our user base, too. Over 6.5 million visitors browse and buy tickets on our website, while more than 340,000 people use our app to find the perfect event. Plus, our account retention rate is a testament to how we’ve successfully reinvested booking fees, with 97% of event organisers renewing their contracts with us.

How much does Skiddle charge for Booking Fees?

Down to the nitty gritty. Our standard booking fee is set at 10% of the ticket’s face value, plus an additional 25p, with a minimum fee of £1.

This means, for instance, a ticket priced at £20 will incur a booking fee of £2.25. This is calculated as 10% of £20, which is £2, plus the fixed 25p fee.

For tickets priced under £10, we apply a minimum booking fee of £1 to ensure consistent service and support.

Are there any hidden fees besides the booking fee?

Some platforms may add extra fees like credit card processing charges. At Skiddle, our fees are straightforward and transparent, so you won’t encounter any unexpected costs.

Optional fees may apply for services such as refund protection, SMS alerts and physical tickets, among others.

Are Booking Fees regulated?

Ticketing companies have to abide by laws and regulations when it comes to Booking Fees.

Take the Advertising Standards Agency’s advice, for example. Their website states: “If a booking fee or other additional charge is not optional, ticket prices must include any fee unless the fee cannot be calculated in advance.”

The Advertising Standards Agency website goes on to state: “Under Rule 3.19, if such fees cannot be calculated in advance, the ad must make clear it is excluded from the advertised price and state how it is calculated…If each ticket is subject to an extra charge, that charge should be included in the advertised price of tickets.”

Simply put, if any charges aren’t optional, then they should be included in the price of the ticket.

In the past, ticketing websites have been investigated for not including extra fees in the price of their tickets. On the Skiddle website, you’ll see the ticket price with the booking fee included. You can click the ‘+bf’ button to find out a full breakdown of the ticket price.

Key Takeaways

So there you have it. A brief explanation of Booking Fees and how we utilise them to better our service and your experience. We hope that’s cleared any uncertainty.

Before you go, here’s a quick recap of the aforementioned with some key takeaways:

• Booking Fees are additional charges added to the face value of a ticket, usually paid by the customer.
• Our Booking Fees are calculated as 10% of the ticket’s face value plus 25p, with a minimum fee of £1.
• Booking Fees help us create a powerful ticketing platform equipped to create, promote and analyse gigs, club nights, festivals, food and drink events, comedy shows, theatre productions, and just about any other event type you can think of.
• Booking Fees are regulated and non-optional fees must be included in the advertised ticket price.

Eager to know more about Booking Fees? Follow the link below