How to sell tickets online

Define the total number of tickets that can be sold. For an indoor concert this needs to be a strict limit. Identify the categories for which you want to sell concert tickets online and their price. If the venue can accommodate a large number of people then you may allow a larger number of tickets to be sold at the checkout, for example allow 10 tickets to be sold at a time. For a family friendly concert consider whether small children should be permitted free entry.

Fundraisers often feature group purchases, donations and extra products. When defining the ticket categories allow for a customer to buy a whole table for his friends to sit at or make a group purchase of tickets. The same customer may also want to buy luxury drinks or food for his group in advance, these should be defined as additional products rather than tickets as they don't contribute to the seating. If food is going to be served, then customize the online order form to ask about dietary requirements and any food allergies.

Festivals come in many different shapes and sizes ranging from outdoor music festivals with almost unlimited space to indoor film festival awards evenings with a strict dress code and a fixed seating limit. When defining festival tickets event online, ensure the ticketing will be limited to the maximum number of people permitted. For a popular festival you may want to restrict the total number of tickets each person can buy at the checkout; this can help reduce the risk of 3rd parties buying your tickets to re-sell to their customers. Think about the categories of tickets to be sold. For friendly outdoor festival you may want to offer reduced price tickets for physically challenged people to attend with their carers by selling a combined ticket. Alternatively, you can make it clear that the event is strictly adults by offering only adult ticket categories, then setting the price and ticket category name to match.

Many events are keenly awaited each year. The event theme may change a little and improvements from the previous year are included but the structure of the event is the same. Given that the event definition is almost identical, except for the dates, no-one wants to re-enter their event details again each year before they can sell their tickets online. Look for event ticketing platforms that support repeating events where typically all you need to do is add a new date for the event to repeat. You would also want to be able to compare event sales and guest attendance from one year to the next. This information could then help you revise ticket prices and when to run an early bird discount promotion for your repeating event.

Pitches (or vendor slots) are sold at indoor and outdoor events as a way of sub-contracting event services to third party suppliers. Examples include vendor pitches for selling food or memorabilia at an event. Selling pitches online is similar to selling public tickets except that a lot more information needs to be collected. This could include uploading documents, such as the vendors insurance certificates, that are needed by the event organizer to ensure that the vendor is operating legally and within the safety guidelines. Very few vendor pitches would be sold for an event compared to public tickets and the cost of a vendor ticket would be much higher. Vendor pitches may be sold by size, category of service or the pitch's location at the event (higher cost for a prime location). The event organizer needs to choose if pitch purchases can be completed and paid for online or if an application must be reviewed first then only after acceptance the vendor is invited to pay. Ror popular pitches an alternative is to hold an online auction in which vendors bid for pitches.

The goal of a community event is to get community participation and therefore when selling event tickets online the event organizer may wish to sell low price or zero price tickets. If the event is indoors then a strict seating limit may need to be imposed through setting a strict ticket sales limit. If the event is only for a particular community or is subsidized then the online event order form can be used to collect information about the ticket buyer to help validate that they are part of the target community. An alternative is to offer tickets at full price but share discount coupons with the community members. For a family friendly community event, consider selling family tickets online too, this makes it more attractive for whole families to attend. Physical disabilities in the community can also receive special treatment by selling tickets online that combine an adult and carer event entry in one ticket.

Outdoor shows, such as a fireworks display, may take place in large open areas but they could still have strict safety limits on the number of people that can attend. Ensure the event ticket limit reflects the limit of the venue. At an outdoor show people are likely to arrive by car. Your online order form could be customized to ask the question of how many cars a group will use to arrive at the event, this can help in estimating parking needs. Also you could sell additional products online in addition to the entry tickets to speed up sales at the event as well as making the sales more predictable. This could include event branded merchandise or food vouchers.

An indoor presentation is likely to have a strict limit on the number of people that can attend, so when you want to sell indoor presentation tickets online make sure you set a maximum ticket sales limit that is within this amount. If the presentation is likely to involve networking or pre-sales activities then you can customize the online ticket order form to collect information about the attendee that would help you. This might include their current job and whether they are interested in further services. If the presentation is to share information or to introduce people to a paid service then you might want to offer your online tickets for free (zero cost).

If your event day is structured into smaller mini-events for which you want to sell tickets then these can be defined in the ticketing platform as "time-slots". An example would be an ice rink or a yoga class that is sold in hourly slots for which you then sell time slot tickets online. The event would be defined online with a ticket limit equal to the maximum number of tickets that can be sold for one time slot. Then each e-ticket that is issued will be specific to a particular time slot; e.g. 10-11am. Ticket categories, such as family tickets, can be sold online for each time slot as well as traditional adult or child tickets. If your time slot activity involves physical activity in any way then include a warning about this in your online terms and conditions as well as asking fitness questions on your online order form. With strict time slots you may also want to warn customers to be punctual in the event description that is printed on each e-ticket.

An event that is free to enter can be better organized if free tickets are issued in advance for the event. Anyone wishing to attend will register online, fill in any questions you define on the order form and then receive their free e-tickets. Using this method the event organizer will know how many people to expect at the event and can plan accordingly. Also, using the online order form valuable information about each participant can be collected to both improve the event experience and to assist in marketing other events. Assuming entry is only allowed for ticket holders then by limiting the number of tickets that can be sold online the number of people attending the event is controlled. Use a mobile ticket entry scanner app to check the validity of each e-ticket at the entrance to the event.

Start by creating your event on your event ticketing platform, then define your tickets and sales landing page within the platform as usual. Next, from the event ticketing platform generate an "embed" link for the event. Copy the created html link and paste it onto your Facebook page and publish. Set the event sales status to "On" sale. Now, whenever anyone clicks on the link you have on your Facebook page they will be taken to your sales landing page and they can purchase tickets to your event. This method offers a much more professional and flexible experience for your ticket buyers than using the basic event registration functionality that is built into Facebook.

Start by creating your event on your event ticketing platform, then define your tickets and sales landing page within the platform as usual. Install the WordPress ticket sales plugin. Next, from the event ticketing platform generate the WordPress shortcode for the event. Copy the shortcode and paste it onto your WordPress page and publish. Set the event sales status to "On" sale. Now, whenever anyone visits your page they can see your sales landing page and they can purchase tickets to your event without leaving your WordPress website.