Fringe Ticketing 101

This resource explains all the Fringe Ticketing basics;

Per-Ticket Fee:

In addition to the Event Listing Amount, your Participation Fee will have a variable Per-Ticket Amount calculated at the end of your season. This is based on the price of each ticket sold:

Cost of Sold Ticket	Per-Ticket amount
Less than $10.00	$1.50
$10.00 - $24.50	$2.15
$25.00 - $34.50	$2.50
$35.00 – $44.50	$3.25
$45.00 - $59.50	$4.00
$60.00 - $79.50	$4.95
$80.00 - $99.50	$5.45
$100.00 or over	$5.85

The per-ticket amount applies to all tickets sold, regardless of whether they were sold through the Fringe ticket system, on the door, or directly by your venue – it is not a ticketing fee, but a contribution to the costs of running the Festival, calculated in-line with your ability to contribute.

So, if you require $26 from your ticket for your budgeted sales income, your advertised ticket price should be $28.50 ($26 to you and $2.50 per ticket fee to Melbourne Fringe). The prices you nominate during registrations, and advertise to the general public, must include the inside charge.

Booking Fees

Each transaction is also subject to a $5.50 Booking fee.

This Booking Fee applies per transaction rather than per ticket, regardless of the number of tickets or events purchased. So the customer pays $5.50 if they book a single ticket or 15 tickets to a single event or 20 tickets to multiple different events. It’s basically a transaction fee. This fee contributes towards the administration of the festival, website, marketing and other associated costs.

Setting Your Ticketing Prices

Your box office income will probably be your primary source of income, so setting your ticket price is an important decision.

Some key things to consider when setting your ticket price are:

Your budget and costs – how much do you need to make to break even and pay everyone?
What will the market accept – how much will someone be happy to pay to see your show or a similar show?
Fees and charges – what do you pay and what will the customer need to pay? What needs to be included in the ticket price (e.g. per ticket fees and GST) and what will be charged on top of the ticket price?

We suggest using an average of 30% capacity houses over your season as a guide to begin to work out what box office takings you will need in order to break even.

In 2024 the average full ticket price was $27.50 and average concession price was $24. But prices vary widely from free to almost $100.

Just remember: you set your own ticket prices, so have a think about what your audiences will happily pay.