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Comment by mtillman | Hacker News Reader

I paid $300 in fees on Sunday for two $365 tickets. Excited to see how this goes.

i would love to see a picutre of you receipt because i frankly dont believe you

I would like to see a picture too, but it wouldn't surprise me. The highest I've actually paid is $44.58 per ticket in fees. But I've seen $50 fees and not purchased.

Here's a screenshot of my receipt from that one: https://i.imgur.com/7mesmdj.png

Gotta love the "Delivery fee" on tickets that will be emailed to you.

It's a pretty standard experience?

Actual prices for golden knights Playoff game 1 (check stubhub right now if you want a proof point): $407.09/ticket x2 because going alone isn’t as fun, and $290.91 in fees. So my numbers above are a bit low from what I actually paid.

Edit: cardinals tix were $135.91ea x2 and $100.09 in fees.

You paid nearly $1k for 2 tickets to a show? To me, you are part of the problem as acting as an enabler for these prices to be seen as acceptable.

Seems harsh to blame somebody for simply paying to do something they enjoy when the alternative is just not doing it. Blame the monopoly, not the consumer.

It takes two to tango. You're conflating this with victim blaming. This is a willing party willing to continue the cycle of the problem. For those making the decisions on "is it too expensive", then by definition it is not has stadiums continue to be filled by people participating in the fleecing.

Someone with money can spend their money however they want. They can gamble it, they can snort it up their nose, they can invest it, they can do WTF they want. If what they do with the money contributes to the problem, then they are still part of the problem.

What is the actual problem here? If someone is willing to pay more for a ticket than you are, by what principle should the venue or performer be obligated to instead sell it to you at a lower price?

I think we have a duty as consumers not to reinforce anti-consumer behavior, when at all possible.

High prices and high profit margin are not in and of themselves anti-consumer, otherwise every luxury brand would be considered anti-consumer. If people will buy the tickets at the prices marked, why should they lower them? If they push prices high enough that the demand curve starts to dip, they will rationally correct for that.

The only anti-consumer force at play is the monopoly power Live Nation is granted to dictate the price of tickets. There's very little that can be done via boycott when it comes to monopolies.

Unofficially, sure. But officially, the FTC is in charge of protecting consumers from abuse. I'd love to see them step in and regulate this space.

It’s not like there’s another option, which is why the DOJ probably has a case. If you want to attend certain games it’s a) be a season ticket holder or b) pony up to a monopoly.

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