Booking Fee FAQ

Why is an attendee booking fee being introduced? Doesn't the percentage-based organizer service fee already capture inflation costs?

First, we know that nobody likes prices going up, including us. We know you are facing significant increases for track rentals, ambulances, insurance rates, and more. We have been similarly impacted in our operating costs.
Many of you made the (correct) observation that our pricing does capture inflation because it is percentage-based. The caveat here is eventually. In general, we see organizers update their pricing every 2-4 years. When inflation rises quickly as it has since 2020, we experience a deficit while we wait for organizer pricing to “catch up” with the real cost of operating. Just like you, many of our expenses have increased faster than the rate of inflation which increased the gap further. In this multi-year period of more dynamic inflation, it simply wasn't an option to continue waiting. The booking fee allows us to account for that lag in a sustainable way.
We carefully considered options, including raising event organizer pricing, before ultimately deciding to add a modest $2 attendee booking fee to all registrations paid directly by the event attendee in order to minimize the impact on organizers. Our belief is that this model is consistent with other marketplaces such as AirBnb, Etsy, Eventbrite, and has the smallest impact on you as an organizer.
MSR has always been a passionate advocate for the amateur motorsport community. We strive to help get people behind the wheel, on a bike, volunteering, or spectating at their favorite venues. We work tirelessly behind the scenes to promote your events to the widest possible audience and increase participation while adding efficiencies to your operations. Across the platform, our analytics indicate these efforts contributed to an additional 15,000+ registrations annually. We see you as partners in that long-term mission. Nobody wants the hobby to be more expensive and yet we all must ensure we are operating sustainably if we’re going to keep having fun years into the future.

Why a flat fee rather than a percentage of the registration fee?

We explored percentage-based fees rather than a flat fee, along with 20+ other models. By assessing the $2 flat fee for every paid registration, we are distributing the financial impacts across the customer base with a modest fee that has been measured to not dissuade potential participants from registering.

Will this impact the number of people who register for our events?

Converting an interested party to a registered attendee for your events has always been, and will continue to be, the goal that aligns our activities with yours. Before rolling this fee out to all attendees, we conducted an A/B test and found no statistical difference in conversion rate between customers who were shown the fee and those who weren't. This indicates the $2 fee is not discouraging attendees from signing up for your events.

Will this charge be added to registration for free events?

No. The booking fee will only be assessed on registrations with a balance due.

Will this apply to volunteer or zero-cost positions in an event?

No. The booking fee will only be assessed on registrations with a balance due and are paid online. Volunteer or worker registrations with no cost associated with them will not be impacted.

How and when is the fee applied?

The $2 fee is applied at checkout once, and only once, per registration to each registration that has a balance due.
No amount of changes (e.g. registration edits or admin changes) will change the total fee - it is always one $2 charge per registration.
The fee is charged at the time of payment processing. For events that require immediate payment, it is charged at checkout. For events with deferred payments, it is charged at the time payments are processed by the event organizer.
Free registrations, such as those for volunteers, workers, instructors, crew, etc – are not charged the fee (nor do we charge you organizer fees for these)
Registrations paid entirely by credits on file are not charged the fee.
The booking fee is refunded if the registration is refunded in full (we also return platform fees when you perform refunds).

Can our organization cover this booking fee for our attendees?

There is no toggle to hide the fee, however, you can do accomplish the same effect by lowering the price of your primary entry fee by $2 or by placing a -$2 product on the registration form. The booking fee is only charged once per registration regardless of the amount or number of changes.

Is there any way for our attendees to avoid this fee?

The fee may be waived for Hagerty Drivers Club members. Attendees can join Hagerty Drivers Club FREE for 60 days here. Once becoming a member, they’ll need to enter their HDC number during checkout which will waive their booking fee for all events while their membership is active.

Will the fee be refunded if an attendee cancels their registration?

Yes. If you allow your attendees to cancel their registration and choose to provide a full refund rather than a credit, their $2 booking fee will be refunded. Note that the fee will not be refunded on a partial refund.

Will the fee be added to previous event registrations?

No, this is only being applied on new registrations.