Splitting concert and festival tickets with friends

Before the presale opens, agree who's in, how many tickets you need and the most you'll pay including fees. Have one person buy every ticket if the per-buyer limit allows it, and pay that person back the full amount, booking fees included, the same day. Once a ticket is bought for you, it's yours to pay for, even if you can't go in the end.

Before the presale: settle three things

Presales move fast, and there's no time for a group discussion while you're in a queue with a countdown timer. Agree these in the chat the day before:

1. Who's definitely in. A maybe means no ticket; a yes means you're paying for one.
2. The maximum per ticket with all fees, and which sections are acceptable (standing only, say, or seats up to a set price). For some events prices change while the sale is running, and a ceiling agreed in advance saves a frantic poll at the checkout.
3. Who buys. Most sales cap how many tickets one account or card can buy, and the limit varies by event, so check it first. If six of you are going and the limit is four, you need two buyers, and each should know exactly whose tickets they're getting.

If you need names for personalised tickets, collect everyone's full name exactly as it appears on their ID the day before, so the buyer isn't guessing at someone's middle name with a checkout timer running.

If several of you queue to improve your odds, agree that whoever gets through first buys for everyone and posts in the chat straight away. The others stay in the queue until that order is confirmed, in case the payment fails, then leave. Two people checking out at once is how a group of four ends up with eight tickets.

Fees, and paying the buyer back

Ticket sites usually add a service fee per ticket and sometimes an order fee per purchase. Everyone pays an equal share of everything on the receipt. The buyer shouldn't absorb the order fee just because they had the fastest wifi. Say Elin buys four standing tickets for herself and three friends:

The ticket says 890 kr, but each person owes 960 kr. Elin posts the total with a screenshot of the order as soon as it's through:

Got 4 standing for 14 March. 3,840 kr with fees, so 960 each. Swish me today please, order screenshot below.

Same day matters. Concert tickets are often bought months ahead, and an IOU that old is forgotten by everyone except the person who's owed it. If the same friend always ends up fronting the money, read what to do when one person always pays first.

Names on tickets and resale rules

Some tickets are personalised: the name has to match ID at the door, or the ticket lives in one account's app and can't simply be forwarded. Others transfer freely. Before buying, read the event's terms for three things: whether names are required and whether they can be changed later, whether tickets can be moved to another person's account, and whether resale is only allowed through the seller's own resale service and at what price. Many events forbid resale above the original price or outside their own platform, and a ticket bought from a stranger in breach of those terms can be cancelled.

When a friend drops out

The ticket belongs to the person who said yes, and so does the problem. They still owe the buyer 960 kr, and they pass the ticket on through whatever route the terms allow. The group helps by asking around, because a friend who takes it at the price paid is the cleanest outcome. If the only route is the official resale and it pays out less than 960 kr after its own fees, the difference is the dropout's to absorb, not the buyer's.

Can't make the 14th after all, sorry. I've listed my ticket on the official resale. Swishing you the 960 now so you're not waiting on it.

If the event is cancelled, the refund goes back to the buyer's card, and the buyer passes it on as soon as it lands. Booking fees may not be refunded, so check what came back and split that equally. If an event is postponed and someone can't make the new date, treat it as a dropout unless the organiser offers refunds. For deposits and no-shows in other settings, see how to handle last-minute cancellations.

Festivals: the ticket is the easy part

A weekend festival with camping adds kit, food and transport, and each wants a slightly different split.

Camping kit

Everyone brings their own tent and sleeping bag. Shared kit such as a gazebo, a stove or a cool box is either borrowed or bought for the trip. If it's borrowed and gets damaged, the group pays for it at what it was worth, not the price of a new one. If it's bought for the trip, whoever takes it home afterwards pays half its price and the group splits the other half; a gazebo that lives in your garage for five years isn't a group expense.

Food and a kitty

Do one big shop before you leave and split it equally. If someone only comes for one of three days, split by person-days instead: three people for three days plus one for a day is ten person-days. With a 1,600 kr shop that's 160 kr a day, so 480 kr each for the three and 160 kr for the day visitor.

For shared things bought on site (ice, gas canisters, water, bin bags), everyone sends the same amount to one person at the start. Food stalls and bar drinks don't come out of the kitty; everyone pays their own. Whatever is left at the end is shared back equally.

Transport

Fuel and parking are split among everyone in the car, driver included. On long drives the car's owner can fairly add an amount per kilometre for wear; see splitting fuel and car costs on a road trip.

Worked example: four friends, three days

Four friends drive to a three-day festival and camp. They buy a gazebo for 800 kr, which Max takes home afterwards. Everyone puts 300 kr into a kitty at the start; 1,080 kr is spent, and the 120 kr left comes back as 30 kr each. Each person bought their own festival ticket, so tickets aren't in the table.

The totals check out: three people at 1,145 kr plus Max at 1,545 kr is 4,980 kr. Each person's figure is what their weekend cost; compare it with what each actually paid at the pump, the car park and the supermarket, and settle the differences on the Monday. A shared note listing every receipt and who paid it is all the bookkeeping this needs. If the festival is abroad, agree before you leave which currency you'll settle in, so nobody is converting euros back to kronor at different rates.