With people busy with going to the theatres or watching the cricket world cup at the stadium, booking tickets online to these events collect a convenience fee or internet handling charges. Most booking platforms such as BookMyShow, PVR, IRCTC or others charge as high as 20% booking fee.
LocalCircles conducted a survey in which it asked consumers about their experience with convenience charge in the last 12 months. Around 41% said they have “been charged convenience fee for all services purchased online”, 38% shared they were “charged convenience fee for majority of the services purchased online”. However, 16% claimed they had “never been charged convenience fee for services purchased online and 5% of respondents gave no clear reply.
On an aggregate basis, 79% consumers surveyed claim they are being charged convenience fees for services they have booked online.
When tickets are procured digitally, the supplier or seller is able to lower cost of manpower and facilities and instead spend more on backend servers. However, despite the net cost savings, most platforms whether selling movie or sports tickets, railway or airline seats are levying this convenience or service fee, which is beyond comprehension for most consumers.
The next questions the respondents were asked how do they proceed with the purchase or booking when they see convenience or service charges being levied on purchase of tickets/services. Out of 10,960 respondents, only 10% indicated that they “happily pay, at least I don’t have to stand in a queue”; 5% prefer to stand in a queue and buy the ticket / service; but 83% “pay disapprovingly”.
According to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notification on April 21, 2022, “Convenience Fee is a fixed or pro-rata charge on use of credit/debit cards as one of the alternative forms of payment which is not ordinarily accepted vis-à-vis other forms of payment.”
So, should the government remove the convenience fee for online bookings? A resounding 84% respondents said “yes”, while 10% said “no” and 6% were neutral.
Most consumers believe that the government should interfere and set example by taking off convenience, service or transaction fee on digital transactions. Some consumers also cited the example of UPI payments where no charges are being levied.
The survey received over 32,000 responses from consumers located in 319 districts of India. Around 64% respondents were men while 36% were women. Nearly 46% respondents were from tier 1, 32% from tier 2 and 22% from tier 3, 4 and rural districts.
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