So yesterday evening SJSU held a reading and book signing for the incomparably awesome Neil Gaiman. I went to the SJSU website, and discovered the tickets were being sold through Ticketmaster.
Uh-oh.
$15.00 to buy the ticket and hold it at will-call. $5.00 for the Ticketmaster service charge. Then, after you’ve entered your name and email address, another $4.80 “processing fee”. Screw that.[1],[2]
If SJSU can’t figure out how to sell $15.00 tickets without charging another 66% in fees, I guess it’s not really my concern. But perhaps they should take note: this could help explain why there were still tickets available on Thursday afternoon. Or maybe Neil Gaiman just isn’t very popular with the kids these days?
1. The contrast between the fees of Ticketmaster and the fees of other online companies that actually ship physical products are especially striking. Monopolies are awesome.
2. Although I do like the time-pressure aspect. They’re holding the ticket for 2:00 minutes! The clock is ticking… can our hero create a new user account in time? Cut the red wire — no, the blue!
It’s too bad that he didn’t do a signing or author appearance at someplace like Kepler’s Books in San Mateo. Looks like he had the day planned at SJSU and while I’m glad the university was able to swing a hosting gig for Gaiman. It’s too bad Ticketmaster author blocked you.