People at a concert.

Concert Tickets On a Budget

Have you ever been really excited about a concert, seen the additional fees, and instantly got discouraged? Well, let’s discuss two ways to decrease the amount you pay for live events. 


Box Office 

Purchasing tickets from the Box Office is a traditional and cost-efficient option. You can snag really good seats without the additional fees. I was looking at floor seats that were $99 each for a Snoop Dogg concert on Ticketmaster. The website wanted to charge $36.42 per ticket and a $5.00 processing fee. I decided to purchase them at the Box Office and only had to pay a $3.00 processing fee. Therefore, I saved $74.84 (almost the price of another ticket) by going to the box office. I will be utilizing this option more in the future. 


Presale 

Presale is an opportunity for real fans to look at tickets before the general public sale. Usually, fans get notified by the artist, comedian, or act. Additionally, Ticketmaster, the venue, or even credit card companies will also provide presale notifications. The fans then have to sign up for the presale and TicketMaster will send them a confirmation message to verify that they signed up. Next, selected registered fans are sent a code to access the sale. The fan would then enter the code and be given access to the sale. 

Example of Ticketmaster presale code sent via text message.

In my experience with purchasing tickets for the Renaissance World Tour in Detroit, it was better to purchase presale tickets than to buy tickets during the public sale. I got two-floor seat tickets for $475 each (including fees). And for an A-list performer that is pretty good. Generally speaking, presale tickets are cheaper than those on re-sell sites like Stub Hub or Vivid Seats. 

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