Every paid ticket carries a fee. The question is who pays it: your fans, you, or both. It looks like a small setting, but it changes how your price reads on a poster, what you take home from each ticket and how fans feel at checkout. Here is how to choose.
What the booking fee covers
A booking fee pays for selling and delivering the ticket: the ticketing platform, the card payment and the bank costs behind it. With Eventworks it is one fee, 8% of each paid ticket, with every credit card charge, bank fee and VAT already included. There is no setup fee, no monthly fee and no contract, and free tickets are free.
So the fee itself is fixed. What you decide is where it sits. You have three options.
Option 1: pass it on to fans
The fan pays your ticket price plus the fee. On a €30 ticket, the fan pays €32.40 and you receive the full €30.
When it works: when your ticket price is the number you budget around. Every €30 ticket brings in exactly €30, so your forecasts stay simple, and a sell-out means exactly the income you planned.
What to watch: show the fee early. A fan who sees €30 on your poster and €32.40 at checkout feels caught out, even when the fee is fair. Publish the price as “€30 + €2.40 booking fee”, or show the full €32.40 everywhere you mention it.
Option 2: absorb it
The fan pays exactly the price they see, and the fee comes out of your side. On a €30 ticket, the fan pays €30 and you receive €27.60.
When it works: when the price on the poster has to be the price at checkout. That suits family and community events, events for students, and premium or hospitality packages where a clean, all-in price is part of what you are selling.
What to watch: build the fee into your budget from the start. Work backwards from what you need per ticket: if you need to take home €30, divide by 0.92 and price the ticket at about €32.60, or round it to €32.50 or €33.
Option 3: split it
You and your fans share the fee equally. On a €30 ticket, the fan pays €31.20 and you receive €28.80.
When it works: as a middle ground. The extra at checkout is smaller than when you pass the whole fee on, and you give up less per ticket than when you absorb it. It is also a gentle step if your fans are used to all-in prices and you want to move towards showing the fee.
The three options side by side
For a €30 ticket:
| Who pays the fee |
Fan pays |
You receive |
| Fans (pass it on) |
€32.40 |
€30.00 |
| You (absorb it) |
€30.00 |
€27.60 |
| Split |
€31.20 |
€28.80 |
Because card charges, bank fees and VAT are inside the 8%, these numbers are the whole story. Nothing else comes off later.
How to choose
Five questions settle it for most events:
- What do your fans expect? Look at how tickets for similar events near you are priced. If a fee at checkout is normal for your audience, passing it on will not surprise anyone. If the price on the poster is always the price paid, absorbing it avoids friction.
- Does the price need to be a round number? “€20” is easier to remember and to put on a poster. Pass the fee on and the checkout total becomes €21.60. If a round total matters to you, absorb the fee or set the price so the total lands where you want it.
- What do you need per ticket? Start from your costs and the income you need, then pick the option that gets you there at a price your fans will accept.
- Is it a package? VIP tables, hospitality and bundles usually read better as one all-in price.
- Are some tickets free? Free tickets carry no fee at all, whichever option you choose.
Whatever you choose, be upfront
Fans rarely mind a fair fee. What they mind is a surprise at the last step of checkout. Show the full price, or the price and the fee, on your posters, your social posts and your event page, so the total at checkout is the total they expected.
Getting paid
However the fee is split, the ticket money is yours. Organisers who pass standard KYC checks get it instantly, straight into their own account. If you prefer, we pay you after each event or every week.
Try it with your own numbers
The calculator on our pricing page shows what fans pay and what you receive for any ticket price and number of tickets, with a switch for fans, you or split.
Want to see it on your own event? Book a demo, or get a demo account and try it yourself.
