# Ticketing Software



## achstechdirector (Jun 30, 2009)

Im looking for a free ticketing software that can reserve seats and handle sales. It doesn't need to print tickets
It just needs a seating chart (for my theatre) and the ability to reserve seats and sell seats 
i need it to keep track of our seating for a night
A excel sheet would work but I don't know how to program it

Maybe this is a wild dream and im completely crazy but any help is greatly appreciated


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## gafftaper (Jun 30, 2009)

Well it's not free but it's reasonably priced...

Brown Paper Tickets provides a ton of services for a VERY reasonable price. We used them for a couple of shows before someone decided we needed to waste a lot of money on an expensive in house ticketing system. I would be much happier just staying with Brown Paper Tickets. Their fee is 99 cents plus 2.5% of the ticket price. So a $10 ticket runs $11.24. You hide the fees in your cost structure and your customer never knows they are paying a fee. They handle assigned seating and your customers can even order online 24 hrs a day. They talk a lot about about being a "fair trade ticketing company"... not exactly sure what that means but I'll tell you they are a lot nicer to deal with than Ticketmonster.

Check them out it's a great way for a high school, college, or community theater to easily establish an online ticket system.


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## lieperjp (Jun 30, 2009)

Run a search for "ticketing software" and see what comes up. There was a very informative thread a while ago.

Something we're looking into is this one: Seat Yourself - Online Ticketing - Online Ticket Sales Software System. You don't have to pay for it, a $0.50 fee is added on to each ticket. I believe, though, that you do have to pay credit card fees if a customer pays via credit card.


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## achstechdirector (Jun 30, 2009)

I cannot find any threads. It seems that I have read one a long time ago but cannot find it. Any help is great appreciated


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## Footer (Jul 1, 2009)

Don't know the fees, but I have worked a few places that use. Box Office Software. Ticket Software. Ticket Printing.


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## derekleffew (Jul 1, 2009)

Here's two past threads: http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/theatre-management-development/1806-box-office-ticketing.html, and http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/theatre-management-development/3841-ticketmaker.html.


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## gafftaper (Jul 7, 2009)

Footer said:


> Don't know the fees, but I have worked a few places that use. Box Office Software. Ticket Software. Ticket Printing.



From what I've seen Vendini is the big dog in the market and they offer the Cadillac in services. I think they cost quite a bit more than some of the other options but you get everything for that price.


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## tyler.martin (Jul 19, 2009)

Ive looked at a few pieces of software, none that do all the things that i want them to do, and at a reasonable price.

These are the things i want to be able to do:

General Seating
Membership
Flex Passes/Seasons Tickets
Online Ticekting
Mailing Lists and Patron Tracking.


The Services I have looked at:

Vendini
Showclix

The Software:
Box Office Xpress Jr
Tick it 2K


I like Tickit 2K the most... havent got a price yet though... I liked showclix for its ease of use, and really low cost... Vendini has all the things I want, but at a much higher cost, and they require a credit card to charge their fees to...

Box Office Xpress Jr is expensive software, and expensive online ticketing... the good thing about them is they are based in Canada, as am I so communicating and money is way easier to deal with...

Not sure what is going to happen, I need to pick asap...

any ideas or suggestions?


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## achstechdirector (Jul 29, 2009)

*ARGGG Help ticketing software*

[This post has been moved here from another location.]

Ok so I decided as President of the theatre that we needed to computerize our ticket reservation process...then i saw prices on ticket softwares...so I decided I would try my hand at writing one. I used Visual Basic 2008 and Gosh that stuff is so messed up I have a headache just from trying...so obviously to no avail I am stuck...I could always just scrap the idea..but would like to see any options I have left.. ANY IDEAS?

Details of what I would like (It may be useless but it makes me feel better)

A graphic representation of our theatre with clickable seats that can store a name and phone number and whether it is paid for in it. have multiple performances or be able to run multiple copies of the program at once


THANKS FOR ANY HELP!!!


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## HandyT (Sep 21, 2009)

What you are seeking should be possible with many of the main event ticketing programs. Did you try HandyTix online event ticketing system software which has interactive seat selection, where you can click on the seat to see who bought it, how much they paid etc.? Their charges are max. 2.5% of the ticket price with no other upfront charges.


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## Chris Chapman (Sep 21, 2009)

martinty said:


> I like Tickit 2K the most... havent got a price yet though... I liked showclix for its ease of use, and really low cost... Vendini has all the things I want, but at a much higher cost, and they require a credit card to charge their fees to...



We use Tickit and it is a very robust program. If you buy it, make sure you get the package with the Ticket Editor. Tickit works best with a thermal ticket printer for fast customer turn around. In fact I would say that in general of all Ticket software. If you are stuck in dot matrix land, or even laser or ink jet, you will run into some issues printing, cutting, etc.


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## thorin81 (Sep 25, 2009)

I have been using SeatYourself for a long time and I can say that they truly are the best option for school/low budget online ticketing available! You can have your first show up in a matter of minutes. They also offer the ability to do general admission OR reserved seating for whatever show you want. You provide a seating chart (or even a portion of one) and they can have the reserved seating up in no time! 
If anyone wants to talk to me about myexperience with them and what you can expect feel free to PM me at any time!! I know that this sounds like a shameless plug, but I really can vouch for the quality of the service that I got from them!


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## gafftaper (Feb 15, 2010)

Just wanted to add that after a year or so of a VERY expensive complete disaster we have decided to get rid of Arts Management Systems' "Theater Manager" ticketing software. We will be switching to Brown Paper Tickets (at least we can still use all the hardware). 

The software may work just fine if you are on your own independent computer network. But my theater is part of a very large college campus network so we have very little control over security protocols. Nearly every time there has been an update to either campus network software or the ticketing system's software, the ticketing system goes down. Our biggest problem was the online ticket sales always going down. Although we had other problems with the in person system as well. The software developers say it was all the fault of our campus security protocols. The campus I.T. guys say the software is bad and wouldn't work on any system. There's been lot's of arguing and blame going back and forth between the software creators and the campus I.T. guys (using words we don't understand in the theater). All I know is that we have been left stuck unable to sell tickets far too many times and we are moving on. 

SO, end result. If you are considering ticketing software system. Look carefully. Ask the manufacturer for a list of places for you to contact. Be sure to talk to places with the same sort of internet connection as you have. Call those facilities to see how the software is working. Finally, don't forget to consider the ongoing costs of things like maintenance agreements and SSL upgrades.


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## Gretsch (Feb 20, 2010)

I am really liking the look of Showclix, if you guys haven't checked it out here is a demo video.


Has anyone tried it out yet?


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## themuzicman (May 26, 2011)

Tixato - it's in public beta...check it out


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## Scarrgo (May 26, 2011)

We use inticketing.com as our ticket service. The district wanted to be able to document how much money was brought in for a show. Accountability is the big thing being a public school. I have heard stories from the past on how the booster club would charge for shows and the director would end up with a nice new tv in their house...

I dont know the fees, as I am the TD, and only sell/upkeep the system on our end, they are helpful when needed.

http://inticketing.com/

Sean...


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## Van (May 26, 2011)

I might as well chime in. It's not cheap, it cost more than $3 million for the Met to produce, it has a great support network and you don't actually 'Buy' it you buy into a non-profit entity that manages and distributes the software. It called Tessitura and it doesn't just do ticketing it does all you accounting, donation tracking, subscription database, blah, blah, blah, blah.... The Tessitura Network


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## urban79 (Jan 24, 2012)

I'm trying to get our District to agree to let me use one of the online ticket selling companies - specifically Tixato (price point is phenomenal). Does anyone here have any experience using this software in a Public School district (K-12)? They're looking for references from other schools who specifically use this product...

Thanks!


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