Splitting concert and festival tickets with friends

Sales open at 10 a.m. and the passes are gone within minutes. To make sure the group gets in, one friend buys all four tickets on one card. That friend is now fronting hundreds of dollars, often months before the event. Settle three questions at checkout so the advance does not linger: what each ticket really cost, when everyone pays it back, and what happens if someone cannot come.

A ticket’s price includes its fees

The amount to share is what was charged, service and processing fees included, not the price on the poster. If the order has a fee per ticket, each ticket carries it. If it has a fee per order, divide that fee across the tickets in the order. An add-on chosen by one person, such as ticket insurance or parking, stays with that person.

In the United States, an FTC rule in effect since May 12, 2025 requires sellers of live-event tickets to show the total price, mandatory fees included, before purchase. Government charges and shipping can be left out. Keep the payment confirmation rather than a screenshot of the advertised price: it shows what the card was actually charged.

Pay back at purchase, not the night before

The further away the event, the longer one account carries everyone’s tickets. Agree on a short deadline, for example a week after the purchase, and record each repayment when it arrives. By the day of the show, nobody remembers who paid for their ticket back in March.

If tickets have different prices, each person pays for their own. An $89 seat and a $59 general admission ticket do not become two $74 shares unless the group explicitly agrees to it.

When someone can no longer come

A ticket is not necessarily refundable. Many ticketing platforms offer an official resale or a name transfer, each with its own fees and deadlines. A named ticket may need a name change before entry. Read your platform’s terms before promising the ticket to someone else.

Rules on resale vary by country and sometimes by state. In France, for example, article 313-6-2 of the criminal code imposes a fine of up to €15,000 for reselling tickets on a regular basis without the organizer’s authorization, a provision the Constitutional Council upheld in 2018. Organizers can also restrict resale in their terms. The official resale channel is usually the safest route. This is a description of the rules, not legal advice.

Until the ticket sells, its cost stays with the person who dropped out. Record the amount actually received after the sale, commission deducted, not the asking price. The same logic, applied to a canceled booking, is covered in our guide to refunds after a cancellation.

A festival, from passes to campsite

This example is fictional. Maya buys four festival passes at $162 each, fees included, for $648 in total, for herself, Jordan, Casey and Alex. Jordan books three campsite spots at $40 for Maya, Casey and Jordan, $120 in total. Casey pays $90 for gas and tolls for the three of them. Alex, held up at work, cannot come. Maya lists Alex’s pass on the official resale and receives $135 once it sells.

• Alex: $162 pass minus $135 recovered, so $27.
• Maya, Jordan and Casey: $162 pass, $40 campsite and $30 for the drive, so $232 each.

Maya paid $648 and received $135, so she carries $513 against a $232 share. She is owed $281. Jordan paid $120 and owes $112. Casey paid $90 and owes $142. Alex owes $27. Jordan, Casey and Alex send those amounts to Maya: $112 + $142 + $27 = $281. In total, $723 was actually spent, the same as the sum of the shares.

Here the group agreed that the resale loss belongs to Alex. Another group might share it, for example if the festival moved its dates. Both choices hold up; pick one before buying. Because the campsite and the drive do not involve Alex, they are split among the three who go, as explained in our guide to activities not everyone joins.

One line per purchase

Record the passes, the campsite and the drive as three separate expenses, each with its payer and participants. Record the resale separately, with the date the money actually arrived. In Spliz, a group adds these expenses, chooses who shares each one and sees everyone’s balance, for free. Friends join as guests by installing the app, without creating an account. Spliz does not move money: repayments happen by bank transfer, in cash or with another app, then get recorded in the group.

Spliz

Sources

• eCFR, 16 CFR Part 464, FTC rule on total-price disclosure for live-event tickets.
• French Constitutional Council, decision 2018-754 QPC of December 14, 2018, text of article 313-6-2 of the French criminal code on ticket resale (in French).
• Spliz, available features, what the app does today.