MoviePass rival Sinemia recently came under fire for charging a $1.80 “processing fee” when its customers purchased movie tickets in advance (it already charged another fee for advance sales). Today it’s offering a new option to “avoid all fees” with the reintroduction of physical debit cards. With the new cards, you can purchase movies at the box office on the day of showtime or online on a theater’s website.




If you’re someone who has been aggravated by the fees associated with buying tickets through the service, then a physical card sounds like a great idea. Except that there are a few (pretty big) caveats to consider here:




The Card Isn’t Free

Yes, with the Sinemia debit card you’ll be able to avoid fees when you book tickets. That said, you won’t exactly be avoiding fees altogether. The card itself has a pretty substantial fee associated with it: $14.99. For someone that is giving their Sinemia account a bit of a workout, that $14.99 fee might be a savings, but for people on a one movie a month plan or similar, that savings is significantly less.

It Doesn’t Wai ve Fees For Early Tickets

While you can use the physical debit card to purchase tickets at the box office and in advance, the only way you actually skirt the fees is if you use it to purchase a ticket at the box office day of at the time of showing for a showing that you’re planning to attend.


One of the biggest advantages Sinemia has over its competition is that you can purchase advance tickets. Again, the debit card makes sense if you’re always buying your tickets at the box office right before you step into the theater, but for everyone else this isn’t a deal at all. You’ll be paying the exact same fees with the physical card that you did with the digital one, except now you’ve also shelled out $14.99 for this debit card.



All this to say that while the physical card might be a good deal for some users, there’s a better chance that the card is a bad deal for you. Like all things, make sure you understand all the fine print before you sign up. If you do want to sign up, you can request a physical card starting today from your profile page on Sinemia’s website.

