Fees are often charged when tickets are purchased online. According to Seco, these are against the law. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs now wants to intervene. Starticket and TICKETINO, for example, are setting a good example: they do not charge an additional fee for print-at-home tickets.
"If I print out my ticket at home, I have to pay CHF 3.50 for it at Ticketcorner, for example," says Jannik Brunschwiler angrily in the SRF programme "Kassensturz". Other ticket providers also charge an additional fee for online purchases.
According to Ticketcorner, the fees are necessary for "print-at-home" tickets. The money is needed for the electronic access control of e-tickets: "This is necessary because electronic tickets can be printed or copied multiple times and cannot be checked visually at the entrance."
Total price must be known
Kassensturz" does not accept this argument: After all, tickets should always have been checked. Ticketcorner also avoids the question of why customers are still made to pay for the costs that are passed on to them (by printing at home with their own paper and ink).
The print-at-home principle is against the law, says Guido Sutter from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs Seco in the programme. The so-called Price Disclosure Ordinance applies. This states that the customer must be informed of the price that they will ultimately have to pay. "This is the so-called total price, which must include all ancillary costs, surcharges and fees," explains Sutter.
However, Ticketcorner does not see any violation of the law. The prices are transparent: "If the customer uses advance ticket sales, they are offered different shipping and delivery options that are not the same for every event."
Seco takes ticket sellers to task
Seco takes a different view: according to Sutter, the customer must by law have at least one option to purchase the ticket at the printed price without additional fees. This is currently not the case with many offers from various providers: Many tickets are no longer available without additional fees. This is why Seco will intervene: "We will oblige ticket providers to sell tickets at the price printed on the ticket," says Sutter in "Kassensturz".
Starticket and TICKETINO, for example, are setting a good example: they do not charge an additional fee for print-at-home tickets.
(20Minuten.ch) 07 May 2014 11:03; Act: 07.05.2014 11:03 Print
