Ticketmaster wants you to know its all in on up-front pricing. In a blog post published on Monday, the company triumphantly declared that its putting fans first and including fees in the first price you see for a ticket. Not mentioned in Ticketmasters announcement: An FTC rule requiring that exact change just so happened to take effect today.
The FTCs bipartisan junk fees rule was finalized in December. It requires live event ticket vendors, hotels and rentals to tell consumers the whole truth up front about prices and fees. Starting on Monday, they must display the full price (minus taxes) more prominently than other pricing information. Astonishing how Ticketmasters consumer-friendly policy arrived on the very day Live Nation was required by law to do so. (The Lord works in mysterious ways.)
The company added another handy feature on Monday that wasnt mandated by law. The new Ticketmaster queue should, at least in theory, make buying in-demand tickets less frustrating. When an event goes on sale, youll be placed in a queue and told your exact place in line. The idea is to prevent bots from snatching everything up before you can even get the dang page to load.
Once youre in line, theres no need to mash F5 or Cmd-R. The page will automatically refresh as you move up in line. For the biggest shows, availability and pricing will update in real time as you wait.
When its your turn, youll get a notification. If youre on a mobile device, it will be an app alert. If youre using a browser, youll hear a chime. So, crank that volume up if you have to step away.
Waiting rooms typically open 15 minutes before tickets go on sale, so check in early. For the smoothest process, the company recommends saving your payment info ahead of time with a current email, phone number and billing info.