The three fees you'll see
- Service fee (a.k.a. platform fee): what the ticketing company earns. Flat, percentage, or both.
- Payment processing: what the card networks and Stripe/PayPal charge. Usually ~2.9% + $0.30, sometimes marked up.
- Facility / order fee: common on large platforms; a second service fee under another name.
Who actually pays
'Buyer-paid' means the fee is added on top of your price and the fan sees it at checkout. 'Absorbed' means it comes out of your payout. Most small venues choose buyer-paid — but note that a buyer-paid 25% fee still costs you sales, because the fan sees $64 for your $50 ticket and blames you.
Why percentages punish the middle
A 6.5% + $1.79 fee is nearly 25% on a $10 ticket, 12% on a $25 ticket, and 8% on a $50 ticket. A flat $2 fee is 20%, 8%, and 4% on the same tickets. Under about $20 they're comparable; above that, flat wins and keeps winning. If you sell $25–$75 tickets, you're in the zone where percentage platforms quietly take the most.
How to compare honestly
Pick your actual ticket price. Run it through both platforms' published rates including processing. Compare the buyer's total and your payout. Then ask the question the fee table doesn't: who owns the buyer's email afterward? That's the number that compounds.
TixKarma's numbers, for the record: flat $2 plus 3.5% + $0.40 processing, buyer-paid; you receive 100% of face. Free events are free.
Common questions
Usually it means fees are absorbed into your payout or the platform monetizes the buyer data instead. Read the payout terms.
Underlying card costs are ~2.9% + $0.30; platforms either pass that through, gross it up to cover the fee-on-fee, or mark it up as margin. TixKarma's 3.5% + $0.40 covers card costs with a small margin.
Pass them on and keep your face price clean — unless you're in a market where competitors show all-in pricing. Either way, state it upfront on the event page.