When will Seatfrog remove booking fees and allow railcards?

[Tester]

I would be happy to see this change (although, like styles, I'm not really convinced it is *necessary*) but I would be concerned this would encourage them to not show the fee breakdown at all. It really irks me is when all fees are included in the price and I can't see where my money is going. I am often paying for something because I want to support the business offering it and I would really like to see just how much of my money is going to them and how much to the platform / payment processor / government.

But a processing charge doesn't mean that all the rest is going to your favoured cause - it's one component among many.

Would you prefer retail prices to be VAT exclusive, USA style?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I would be happy to see this change (although, like styles, I'm not really convinced it is *necessary*) but I would be concerned this would encourage them to not show the fee breakdown at all. It really irks me is when all fees are included in the price and I can't see where my money is going. I am often paying for something because I want to support the business offering it and I would really like to see just how much of my money is going to them and how much to the platform / payment processor / government.

Does it bother you when a sandwich is £3 in the shop and the supermarket doesn't tell you its margin on the label?

Quite. All I care about is what the product or service is going to cost me when I purchase it. I don't care what the business's internal overheads, profit margin are etc as that in no way affects me. I just care about what I'm paying.

 

[blimmo]

Does it bother you when a sandwich is £3 in the shop and the supermarket doesn't tell you its margin on the label?

I appreciate that sometimes this isn't practical, I would just like it when it is (especially digital goods)

Would you prefer retail prices to be VAT exclusive, USA style?

No, VAT is (usually?) broken down on the receipt and that is all I want. I agree that not having the final price upfront is annoying, I'd just like to see some of the details of the pricing of my train tickets when they're relatively simple.

 

[35B]

I don't think that test is sufficient.

I would prefer a test like "will a customer who is in a hurry be guaranteed to see all the price information when they are first shown a price?" A greyed out line of text at the top does not achieve that. Having it on the same line in the same size font as per your ATG example does. In essence the fee is a form of "small print", and I don't agree with the use of "small print" where it includes terms which are material to the price or the contract - it has a role but solely to show finiticky, legally necessary T&Cs that aren't particularly material and are the sort of thing that would be expected to apply.

A way to show it separately complying with that would be that each green button shows e.g. "Place a bid: £15 + £3 fee" if they really have to show it separately. There is clearly room for that.

When I've used Seatfrog, it's been structured as an auction. In my dealings with auctioneers, they are very clear about the charges they levy on buyers (typically a percentage per lot, which varies by purchasing method). As the percentages are higher (typically 30%+) and on larger amounts, what Seatfrog are doing is entirely consistent.

I agree that it is not as good as it might be.

 

[OscarH]

I probably don't want to go too off-topic with this, but why is it nonsense?

I think them as a service is nonsense because their auctions are for them only, and aren't open to other retailers. I'm not a fan of this kind of behaviour when we're supposed to have an open and fair fare market. Similar to how non-temporary special offers have to be available to everyone (although the TOCs like to weasel out of that however they can)

I think the booking fee is nonsense because as far as I've heard on the grapevine their commission is rather substantial, way higher than what you get if you sold a normal first class ticket.

 

[35B]

I think them as a service is nonsense because their auctions are for them only, and aren't open to other retailers. I'm not a fan of this kind of behaviour when we're supposed to have an open and fair fare market. Similar to how non-temporary special offers have to be available to everyone (although the TOCs like to weasel out of that however they can)

I think the booking fee is nonsense because as far as I've heard on the grapevine their commission is rather substantial, way higher than what you get if you sold a normal first class ticket.

And their costs to provide that?

 

[styles]

I think them as a service is nonsense because their auctions are for them only, and aren't open to other retailers. I'm not a fan of this kind of behaviour when we're supposed to have an open and fair fare market. Similar to how non-temporary special offers have to be available to everyone (although the TOCs like to weasel out of that however they can)

I think the booking fee is nonsense because as far as I've heard on the grapevine their commission is rather substantial, way higher than what you get if you sold a normal first class ticket.

But then these are seats which would otherwise be empty, so it's merely an additional service. If passengers want a fixed price they can still get that when buying their original tickets, or even on SeatFrog in many cases as not all are auctions.

At least, I'm not sure there's evidence of the non-SeatFrog 1st class prices having been bumped up because of SeatFrog.

 

[Highlander1]

You'll never see rail cards accepted as what you are buying is a supplement and not a new ticket or an excess.
As for the booking fee I think it's pretty clear you're being charged this. I personally dislike these fees but they are what they are.
Also with seat frog be cautious that you don't overbid. I've often seen auctions going higher than the on train supplement would have been to upgrade. (LNER in particular).

 

[Adam Williams]

And their costs to provide that?

No more significant than the costs any other retailer incurs and has to pay for out of the 4.5%. Contrary to popular belief this really isn't some advanced technology that required years of research to come up with.

 

[35B]

No more significant than the costs any other retailer incurs and has to pay for out of the 4.5%. Contrary to popular belief this really isn't some advanced technology that required years of research to come up with.

I don’t doubt it. My point was more that many people assume that a price exists without associated costs, especially where online services are involved.