Validiam
No-commission ticketing for venues: your options and how to choose
There are three ways to pay for ticketing. Which one costs you least depends on how many tickets you sell a month. Here’s the math with public fees.
Yes, you can sell tickets without paying a percentage on every one. The alternative is a flat monthly fee or your own ticketing system, where people buy on your website and the money lands in your account. If you sell only a few tickets a month, a platform that charges per ticket can work out fine. If you run events every week, a flat fee usually wins by a wide margin. Below is the math with public fees, so you can redo it with your own numbers.
Three ways to pay for ticketing
| Model | How it charges | Who usually pays | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-ticket fees | A percentage of the price plus a fixed amount per ticket | The buyer, as service fees | Occasional events, or if the platform’s marketplace brings you buyers |
| Fixed fee per ticket, no subscription | A fixed amount per ticket sold | The venue, or the buyer if you pass it on | Short seasons and one-off events |
| Flat monthly fee | A monthly subscription, no percentage on sales | The venue | Venues, clubs and promoters with weekly events |
All three have one more cost: card processing. Some platforms bundle it into their fees; if you sell on your own site, your payment processor charges it.
A worked example with public fees
Take a venue that sells 800 tickets a month at $20, one ticket per order. That’s the most expensive case for card processing: orders with several tickets cost less.
Per-ticket fees. In the US, Eventbrite charges a 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per ticket sold, plus a 2.9% payment processing fee on the total order, and by default buyers pay them (Eventbrite’s ticketing fees). On a $20 ticket, the service fee is $0.74 + $1.79 = $2.53, and processing adds about $0.65 on the $22.53 order. That’s roughly $3.18 per ticket, or about $2,550 a month paid by your buyers.
Flat monthly fee. Say your system costs $150 a month (an illustrative figure) and you take payments through your own Stripe account, which charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment in the US (Stripe pricing). On a $20 ticket, that’s $0.58 + $0.30 = $0.88 per order. Per month: $150 + 800 × $0.88 = about $854.
| Per-ticket fees | Flat monthly fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per month (800 tickets at $20) | About $2,550 | About $854 |
| Who pays | The buyer, by default | The venue |
| Where your audience buys | On the platform’s website | On your website, under your brand |
| When you get the money | On the platform’s payout schedule | In your Stripe account, with each sale |
The gap, about $1,700 a month, can go two ways: a lower total price for your audience, or your own service fee that you keep. For instance, a $1.25 fee per ticket covers the flat fee and processing, and your buyer still pays about $1.93 less per ticket than with the platform’s fees.
Two caveats keep the math honest. International cards cost more on Stripe (an extra 1.5%, plus 1% if currency conversion is needed). And a big marketplace can bring you buyers through its search: if that’s a real share of your sales, count it before you decide.
In the UK, Eventbrite’s standard fee is 6.95% + £0.59 per ticket, so the same logic applies, and the fixed part weighs even more on cheap tickets.
When paying per ticket makes sense
A flat fee is spread across the tickets you sell. At $150 a month and 50 tickets, that’s $3 per ticket before processing, almost as much as the platform’s fees. With the numbers above, the break-even point is around 65 tickets a month.
Per-ticket pricing makes sense when:
- You sell only a few tickets a month, or run one-off events.
- A real share of your sales comes from the platform’s marketplace, not from your own channels.
- You’d rather not run your own payment processing.
What to ask before you switch
- How does it charge (percentage, fixed per ticket or monthly), and who pays by default?
- Where does the money land, and when?
- Whose brand does your audience buy under, and who owns the buyer data?
- Does your current contract have a minimum term or exclusivity? Check before you move anything.
- Does it include an app and QR check-in at the door? Here’s how to run QR ticket scanning without queues.
- How are fees shown to buyers? In the US and the UK, the total price has to come first: see ticket booking fees and all-in pricing.
- Can you test it with a single event without leaving your current platform?
Mistakes that cost money
- Comparing percentages only. On cheap tickets, the fixed part dominates: on a $10 ticket, $1.79 is almost 18% on its own.
- Forgetting card processing, international cards and currency conversion.
- Advertising a price and adding fees at checkout. That’s exactly what the FTC’s fee rule targets in live-event ticketing.
- Switching everything in peak season. Run one event in parallel first.
How we do it at Validiam
Validiam is the ticketing system built by Qode Studios. Each venue gets its own ticketing website on its own domain, under its own brand, with a dashboard to publish every event; a mobile app and QR check-in at the door; and SMS reminders. Every sale goes straight into the venue’s Stripe account, and the buyers belong to the venue, not to a marketplace.
There’s no percentage on ticket sales: a flat monthly fee based on how many tickets you sell, or a small fixed fee per ticket with no subscription. In Spain, the Sala plan is €149 a month for up to 1,500 tickets; outside the eurozone, we quote in your currency.
We’re not starting from zero: before Validiam, we ran the automations for a ticketing platform that works with large venues. And you don’t have to bet the house: start with a single event alongside your current platform and compare. Book a 30-minute demo.
FAQ
Can I charge a service fee if I sell on my own website?
Yes. You decide whether to charge one and how much, and you keep it. Just show the total price, fees included, from the start.
Will I lose the buyers the platform brings me?
Check where your sales come from. If most arrive from your social channels, your website or your mailing list, that audience is already yours. If you depend on the marketplace, start with one event in parallel and compare.
How long does setup take?
It depends on your domain, your payment account and your ticket types. We’ll give you a timeline in the demo, using your next event as the example.