Booking fees and drip pricing in cinema ticketing

Online booking fees began as a way of recovering payment and ticketing costs on remote sales. For a long time they were shown only at the end of checkout. That practice — showing a lower price and adding mandatory charges later — is what regulators call drip pricing, and it is now restricted in several of the markets cinemas sell into.

The commercial argument has also shifted. A fee that appears at the last step of checkout is one of the most reliable causes of abandoned baskets, which makes it a conversion problem before it is a legal one.

Most are converging on one of three models. All-in pricing: the fee is folded into the ticket price and disappears as a separate line. Fee shown from the first price: the listing shows the total including the fee, with the breakdown available. Channel pricing: tickets bought through the cinema's own website or app carry no fee, while third-party marketplaces charge their own — which also gives the audience a reason to book direct.

Whatever the model, the ticketing system has to be able to express it: fees included in displayed prices, consistent between website, app and kiosk, and reported separately for accounting. See cinema ticketing software.