Ticketing platform fees are the charges added to every paid ticket: usually a percentage of the price, a fixed amount per ticket, and a card-processing charge. Either you pay them out of your revenue, or your attendees pay them on top of the face value at checkout. The total varies widely between platforms, and the headline rate rarely tells the whole story. This guide shows how the pieces fit together, why checkout totals climb, and how to work out your net revenue before you publish a price.
TL;DR
- Most fees have three layers: a percentage service fee, a fixed per-ticket fee and payment processing. Compare all three, not just the headline rate.
- You choose who pays. Absorbing fees keeps the price clean. Passing them on protects your margin but raises the checkout total.
- High fees often trace back to exclusive venue deals and the money promised to venues, not only to software costs.
- In the US, rules now require the total price to be shown upfront for live-event tickets.
- Our own approach: no platform fees on ticket sales, no upfront cost until you go live, and you keep your data.
Table of Contents
- What fees a ticketing platform can charge
- How the fees are calculated
- Who pays: organizer, attendee or both
- Why ticket fees are so high
- What the rules say about showing fees
- What to check in a platform's fee terms
- How to estimate your net revenue before setting a price
- Perspective: why we built Actickety around fees
- Ways to keep fees from eating your margin
- Try a fee-light setup with Actickety
- FAQ
- Sources
What fees a ticketing platform can charge
Think of a ticket fee as a stack. Each layer has a different purpose, and each can be named differently depending on the platform.
Service or platform fee. This is the platform's own charge for providing the ticket page, delivery, check-in tools and support. It is commonly a percentage of the ticket price, a flat amount per ticket, or both combined.
Payment processing fee. Someone has to move the money from the buyer's card to your account. Card processors charge a percentage plus a small fixed amount per transaction. Some platforms bundle this into the service fee. Others list it separately.
Fixed per-ticket fee. A flat amount, often under or around a dollar or two, applied to every ticket. It hurts most on low-priced tickets, because a flat amount takes a bigger slice of a $10 ticket than a $100 one.
Add-on charges. Some platforms charge extra for things like payout speed, reserved seating, extra staff accounts, marketing tools, refunds or removing the platform's branding. These rarely appear in the headline rate, so read the full terms.
Fees for buyers. On many platforms the service fee is added at checkout, so the attendee sees a higher total than the ticket price you set.
Free events are usually free to run on most platforms. The fees apply when money changes hands.
How the fees are calculated
The arithmetic is simple once you know the three inputs. For each ticket:
- Service fee = (ticket price × percentage) + fixed fee
- Processing fee = (amount charged × processing percentage) + fixed processing amount
- Total fees = service fee + processing fee
Here is a worked example with made-up round numbers, not any real platform's rates. Say your ticket is $30. The platform charges 3% + $1 as a service fee, and the processor charges 2.9% + $0.30.
| Item | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket price | $30.00 | |
| Service fee | $30 × 3% + $1.00 | $1.90 |
| Processing fee | $30 × 2.9% + $0.30 | $1.17 |
| Total fees per ticket | $3.07 | |
| Net to organizer if you absorb | $30.00 − $3.07 | $26.93 |
On 500 tickets, that is about $1,535 in fees and $13,465 in net revenue. Change the fixed fee from $1 to $2 and the same event loses another $500. Small per-ticket amounts add up quickly.
Two details trip people up:
- Fees on fees. If the buyer pays the service fee, some platforms calculate processing on the larger amount, not on your ticket price alone.
- Different rules on different ticket types. Donation tickets, discounted tickets and add-ons such as merchandise may be charged differently from standard tickets.
Who pays: organizer, attendee or both
This is a setting, not a law of nature. Most platforms let you decide, though the default differs. One platform comparison shows that some default to the attendee paying, some to the organizer absorbing, and some to a split where the organizer covers processing and the attendee covers the ticket fee, and that you can usually change the setting on at least some of them (EventBookings).
Absorbing the fees
Absorbing means the attendee pays exactly the price on your poster. You receive the price minus the fees. It works well when:
- you want a clean price to advertise, such as "$25 at the door, $25 online";
- your audience is price-sensitive, such as students, families or community groups;
- you have room in your budget or you price the ticket with fees already built in.
Passing fees on
Passing on means the fee is added at checkout. You receive the full ticket price, and the attendee pays more. It works well when your margins are tight, for example at a charity event where every dollar of the ticket should reach the cause. The risk is the surprise at the last step of checkout, which can lead to abandoned carts.
Splitting or building fees into the price
A third option is to raise the ticket price slightly to cover fees and then absorb them. A $25 ticket becomes $27, and the attendee sees one honest number. Our guide on ticket pricing strategy covers how to choose that number without losing buyers.
Why ticket fees are so high
If you have ever watched a $30 ticket grow at checkout, you have met the other half of this topic. Several forces push fees up.
Exclusive venue contracts. According to reporting on the economics of ticketing, platforms bid for exclusive rights to sell tickets for a venue and promise the venue money from ticket fees. Meeting those promises may require higher fees (Money). A longtime ticketing executive quoted in the same piece describes the modern fee structure as rooted in this bidding system.
The money does not all stay with the platform. Research from Live Index notes that fee revenue can remain with the ticketing provider or flow to venues or promoters, and the split varies by event and contract (Live Index). The same analysis separates two questions: how visible a fee is at purchase, and who actually receives it and what service it funds.
Opaque agreements. Fee structures can differ from venue to venue because the agreements are not publicly disclosed (Live Index). That makes it hard for a buyer, or an organizer, to know what is fair.
Fixed fees on small tickets. A flat per-ticket charge looks small in isolation but is a large percentage of a low price.
What this means for a small organizer: you are not locked into that model. A community festival, a school concert or a charity gala does not need to fund a venue bidding war. You need a ticket page, payment collection and check-in.
What the rules say about showing fees
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect on May 12, 2025. It covers live-event tickets and requires a business that shows pricing to tell people the total price upfront, including the charges and fees it knows about (FTC). The FTC's guidance says the rule applies to businesses that offer, display or advertise live-event tickets, including third-party platforms and resellers, online or in person.
For you as an organizer, the practical lesson is to show the total price clearly wherever you advertise tickets. If you pass fees on, make sure your event page and promotion show the amount a buyer will actually pay. If you sell outside the US, check the rules in your own country, because they differ.
What to check in a platform's fee terms
Before you commit an event to any platform, read the fee terms with these questions in hand.
- What is the percentage, and what is the fixed amount? Write down both.
- Is processing included or extra? If it is extra, add it.
- Who pays by default, and can you change it per event?
- Are there different rates for different ticket types, donations or merchandise?
- When do you get paid? Some platforms hold funds until after the event, which affects your cash flow when you have deposits to pay.
- What happens to fees on refunds? Ask whether the service fee is returned when you refund a ticket.
- Are there monthly, setup or contract charges? Some platforms charge nothing until you sell, and others charge to publish.
- Who owns the attendee data? This is a cost too. If you cannot export your buyers' details, you cannot market your next event to them.
- Are there extra charges for features you need? Check scanning, branding, reporting and support.
A useful test is to price one real ticket from end to end. Enter your actual price, add one ticket to the cart and look at what the buyer would pay and what you would receive. Do it for two or three options and compare the net figure, not the advertised rate.
How to estimate your net revenue before setting a price
Work backward from what you need to earn.
- Set your revenue target. Add venue hire, performers, insurance, staffing, marketing and a contingency. Divide by realistic attendance, not capacity.
- Add the fees. Use the formula above on your chosen price.
- Decide who pays. If you absorb, subtract. If you pass on, add to the checkout total and consider whether buyers will accept it.
- Test at three attendance levels. Check 60%, 80% and 100% of your target sales. Fixed costs stay the same while fees scale with sales.
- Test price tiers. Fees shift when you offer early-bird, student or group tickets. Our piece on early bird pricing explains how to test tiers before cutting prices.
Here is a second worked example using the same illustrative rates, for a charity quiz night with a $20 ticket and 150 attendees:
| Absorb fees | Pass fees on | |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket price | $20.00 | $20.00 |
| Fees per ticket (3% + $1 service, 2.9% + $0.30 processing) | $2.48 | $2.48 |
| Attendee pays | $20.00 | $22.48 |
| Organizer receives per ticket | $17.52 | $20.00 |
| Total for 150 tickets | $2,628 | $3,000 |
That $372 difference is real money for a small charity. It is also an extra $2.48 for each guest. Neither choice is wrong. The right one depends on your audience and your goal.
Perspective: why we built Actickety around fees
We started from a simple observation: organizers do the hard work of building a crowd, and then a layer of middlemen takes a share of every ticket. That is not a software cost. It is a business model.
So we built Actickety the other way round. You set up your event microsite in ten straightforward steps, with no upfront cost until you are ready to go live. We do not charge platform fees on ticket sales. You keep 100% ownership of your event data, so your audience stays your audience.
For a charity, a school, a community club or an independent artist, that changes the arithmetic on every ticket. The money you raise goes toward the event, not toward a fee stack you did not choose. Your crowd. Your business.
Tim
Ways to keep fees from eating your margin
You cannot remove every cost, but you can control most of them.
- Choose a platform by net revenue, not by the headline rate. Run the end-to-end test described above.
- Own your sales channel. A dedicated event page that you control lets people buy directly from you. Our guide to creating an event website that sells tickets shows what to put on it.
- Sell more to the same people. Repeat buyers cost less to reach than strangers. That is why keeping your attendee data matters. Read more in our piece on white label ticketing and data ownership.
- Use your own promotion. Social posts that point to one ticket page avoid extra marketplace costs. See Instagram event promotion for the formats that work.
- Price transparently. Show the total. Buyers forgive a fair price more readily than a surprise.
- Look at other revenue lines. Merchandise, donations and add-ons can lift income per guest without raising ticket prices. If your event includes audience awards or fan voting, a tool for paid voting for events can add a separate revenue stream, with its own fee terms to check.
- Plan for different event types. Virtual events have their own fee questions. We cover them in virtual event ticketing. Local events have different needs again, covered in community event ticketing.
Try a fee-light setup with Actickety
If you run a charity night, a gig, a workshop, a school open day or a club competition, you can build your event microsite with us at no upfront cost until you launch. Add ticketing and merchandise, generate a poster with AI, and keep your data. We charge no platform fees on ticket sales. For the specifics of what applies to your event, read our terms and conditions.
Ready to see how it works? Get in touch with us or start at Actickety. Once your page is live, our guide on how to increase ticket sales and our walkthrough of QR codes for tickets will help you fill the room and scan guests in smoothly.
FAQ
Who normally pays ticketing fees, the organizer or the attendee?
It depends on the platform and your settings. Some default to the attendee paying a fee at checkout, some to the organizer absorbing it, and some split the cost. Most let you change the setting, so check it for every event before you publish.
Why do ticket fees add so much at checkout?
Several charges stack: a service fee, a fixed per-ticket amount and payment processing. In large-venue ticketing, exclusive contracts and promises of fee revenue to venues can push totals higher (Money). Small events can avoid much of this by choosing a platform built for organizers.
Do I have to show the full price including fees?
In the US, the FTC's fee rule for live-event tickets, in effect since May 12, 2025, requires the total price to be disclosed upfront when pricing is shown (FTC). It is good practice everywhere. Outside the US, check your local consumer rules.
How do I work out what I will actually earn per ticket?
Add the percentage fee, the fixed fee and the processing charge for your ticket price. Subtract the total from the price if you absorb fees. Then multiply by realistic attendance, not capacity, and compare the result across platforms.
Does Actickety charge fees on ticket sales?
We do not charge platform fees on ticket sales, and there is no upfront cost until you go live. You also keep ownership of your event data. Read our terms for what applies to your event.
Sources
- The Economics of the Ticket Fee, Live Index
- The Ticket Fee Stack, Line by Line, Live Index
- Why Are Ticket Service Fees so High?, Money
- The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: FAQ, FTC
- Who Pays Ticketing Fees, Organiser or Attendee?, EventBookings