How ticket fees work.

Two kinds of fee

Per ticket. The service fee is charged on each paid ticket and has a percentage part and a flat part. Eventbrite's pricing page lists 3.7% plus $1.79. Selling ten tickets means ten flat fees, so the flat part hurts cheap tickets most.

Per order. Payment processing is charged on each order, listed at 2.9%. A buyer who buys four tickets in one order generates one processing charge on the whole order value. With a purely percentage processing fee, the number of orders does not change the total; it matters when a platform adds a flat amount to each order.

Who pays

Eventbrite says buyers pay the ticket fees by default and that organizers can instead absorb them. If buyers pay, the fees are added on top of your price and Eventbrite deducts them from the sale; if you absorb them, they are included in your price and deducted from it. Fees on at-the-door ticket types cannot be passed on. Absorbing keeps the checkout price low but cuts what you keep.

Free and donation tickets

Eventbrite lists no fees for free events and applies its service fee to paid tickets only. How a platform treats a pay-what-you-want or donation ticket depends on its own terms; check them before assuming it is free.

Payouts and refunds

Eventbrite's help center says it sends the payout 3 business days after the event ends, or on a custom schedule you select, and that banks may need extra days to post funds. For scheduled payouts it holds 20% of net sales in reserve against refunds, chargebacks and cancellations. Refunds and chargebacks can also change the amount sent. These affect when and how much arrives, so plan cash flow for venue deposits that fall due before the payout.

Worked example

180 tickets at $20.00 in two-ticket orders, buyers pay: service fees $455.40, processing $117.61, you receive $3,600.00 and buyers see $23.18 per ticket. Absorbing the same fees you receive $3,040.20.

Methodology

The mini calculator uses the same model as the Eventbrite fee calculator with default rates from the pricing page: service = tickets x (3.7% x price + $1.79); processing = 2.9% of the order total (price plus service fee when buyers pay; price only when you absorb); average two tickets per order. Open the full calculator to change rates, refund share and the processing base. Statements about payouts, reserve and fee passing come from Eventbrite's help center and pricing page, cited below.

What this page does not cover

• Terms of any ticketing platform other than Eventbrite, or Eventbrite plans and regions that use different rates.
• Whether processing fees are returned on refunds. The platform's refund terms decide, so the calculator makes it a checkbox rather than a claim.
• Sales tax or VAT added to tickets, local amusement or entertainment taxes, and any tax on your own profit. For US self-employment tax see IRS Topic 554; this is general information, not tax advice.
• Prices in other currencies, currency conversion, and any platform fee schedule that is not typed into the rate boxes. Rates change, so check the platform before you publish tickets.
• Chargebacks, no-shows, door sales, bar or merchandise income, and unsold comps. Add them to costs or sponsorship yourself if you want them in the answer.

Sources

• Eventbrite organizer pricing page: 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per paid ticket, 2.9% payment processing per order, no fees for free events, fees paid by buyers by default, retrieved 19 October 2026.
• Eventbrite Help Center, Understanding your event payout amount: passing on vs absorbing fees, payout timing, 20% reserve on scheduled payouts, refunds and chargebacks, retrieved 19 October 2026.
• Eventbrite Help Center, Eventbrite's Ticketing Fees (not readable by our automated fetch on the build date, so the processing base is a switch you can change), retrieved 19 October 2026.

Break-even and reverse-price arithmetic is standard cost-volume-profit maths worked from first principles, not copied from any single write-up.