Online Ticketing... headache or big break?

[legendsofthefog]

We are considering going with online ticket sales. It sounds like several of these companies will be at trans world. Has anyone worked with these companies in the past, and is it worth the headache to sell tickets online. I read a post in the past where some people have had up to 15% online sales. Let me know what you think.

[SteveR]

Worth it

We've used it in years past with good results. We skipped it last year due to us not having our act together in time. A lot of people complained about not having online sales, but they still showed up and it didn't -seem- to hurt attendance.

The advantage to online is that they can skip the tix booth line and go straight into the queue. We had lots of people who saw the long ticket line, and used their blackberry/iphone/whatever to buy right there while they were waiting in the entry queue line. Some also drove back to a nearby friend's house to buy & print tix, quicker still than the ticket line. I think that speaks for the perceived value of online sales.

We used tix.com but we're looking for a fully integrated POS/online solution this year. We'll know more after TW I hope!

[Haunts of Richmond]

The advantage to online is that they can skip the tix booth line and go straight into the queue. We had lots of people who saw the long ticket line, and used their blackberry/iphone/whatever to buy right there while they were waiting in the entry queue line.

Do you have a person at the front of the queue checking something for proof of purchase? We give our guests wristbands once they pay at the box office... and we were thinking about doing online sales this year, but we'd still have them prove their purchase with a receipt and credit card at the box office... and then give them their wristband. So, it won't really speed up their entry... but gives our guests more of a convenience... maybe?

I guess our online sales still need work. Any suggestions?

[N2SPOOKINU]

We use click n print. our online sales do not go thru the ticket booth. they go to the vip line where we have scanners to scan their tickets they printed on their printer.Once the ticket has been scanned it will not scan again. This is easy and we were suprized by the amount of online ticket sales we actually got. I think it is a great idea to offer online sales and also i think you need to offer credit/debit sales at your ticket booth and also your concession booth. Having this available has increased our sales considerably.
Greg
Fearfest

[Brandon_K]

We've used TicketWeb / ScreamPass for the last few years. I can't say that it's helped us or hurt us, a very small percentage of our tickets come through the online sales. We do it mainly to offer customers a way to pay with credit card as we're not setup to do CC payments at the event.

I'm not sure how it works for others, but I know two years ago we used the scanner and has a severe issue. Everytime you would re-sync the scanner to update the database for new tickets sold, it would clear the old tickets. What I mean is, lets say you sell a ticket on Wednesday, the patron comes on Thursday, you scan the ticke and all is good. Here comes the issue; when you update the scanner Friday, the ticket that was just used the day before can be used again.

Do I think we were ever taken advantage of? Probably not, but it's certainly an issue. We chose to not use the scanner last year so I'm not sure if it's something that was ever ironed out.

I find the online ticketing to be sort of a PITA and it doesn't really offer customers anything more than being able to pay with a CC. The way we're setup, they still have to wait in the ticket line and exchange their printout ticket for an admission ticket. We could probably rework our line and booth to change that, but as of now we haven't.

[Jim Warfield]

How Many Wanted ..

their money back? Because plans changed or someone was too scared?
Did they complain enough to the card company and you had to refund them?
How much money did you get that nobody showed up to use the ticket?
I ask they send me a check a week in advance. I think this might make coming to see my house less of an impulse buy item and then they really want to be here.
It is a long drive for some and many things can happen on a long drive to screw up the projected time they get here.
For me, here I have always felt the goodwill felt by the customer is much more important than wrangling with them over refunds .
I also feel that goodwill is threatened when people see preferential treatment being given to those who have more money to spend for a speed pass.
No, it is not a perfect world but I think long term rewards will always find the person who treated everyone as well as possible in their dealings with them.

[Haunted Farm]

This year for us

This year we will be doing some online ticketing for both General Admission and doing timed ticketing for our VIP passes. I am a systems analyst by trade and am in the process of writing a new POS for our haunted attraction which will also print our wristbands for our customers which will also be touchscreen to allow for less mistakes at the registers. After talking with some of the companies, they have the capability to add an interface into the applications to render the interaction seamless. I am going to be talking with them soon on this process and will let you know what I come up with. But after talking to several that do do online ticketing we are going to give it a try.