Hot take: the "processing fee" line on my $18 concert ticket was bigger than the actual ticket

Miles Carter · 2026-10-21T19:25:05.660453+00:00

I got curious last month and pulled up my receipts from three shows in Cleveland over the past year. On the cheapest one, an $18 ticket turned into $31.40 at checkout because of a "venue facility fee" and a "convenience fee" listed as separate line items. Then I read the fine print on the back of the ticket and the facility fee is technically optional if you buy at the box office window, which nobody mentions at checkout. A friend who works part time at a venue in Dayton confirmed it, saying the online system just adds it by default and almost no one asks to remove it. So the whole thing is basically a fee you can opt out of by walking up to a window. Has anyone actually gotten one of these dropped, or do they just say no when you try?

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Hot take: the "processing fee" line on my $18 concert ticket was bigger than the actual ticket | Barely Legal Loopholes - Vivisector