# Ticket Turtle-Ticketing System



## dcolson003 (Nov 25, 2009)

Has anyone or does anyone use Ticket Turtle for their ticketing software...


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## DanSh (Feb 25, 2010)

Hi, 

I frankly didn't use Ticket Turtle" but I would like to refer you a software I do know. The company is call TopTix, and they provide actually quite known ticketing solutions for various venues. Take a look...


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## SouthFloridaSFX (Feb 28, 2010)

We use ticket web. Its a Ticket Master company. Its easy to use.

Ticketweb.com


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## DuckJordan (Mar 11, 2010)

I have talked with a ticket turtle rep, and although there software is nice it sounds more like software for a sports arena venue rather than a arts or theater venue. its more based around returning members, and while its hopeful, we probably wouldn't get the "fans" that return time and time again to get tickets. its mid range as far as prices they charge for using the system but they do stay on top of their customers. i think i went a week without calling them and they would call every day to make sure i was still considering their product.

but since i have not worked with there software intimately i cannot say how well it responds to the user.


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## SHCP (Mar 11, 2013)

We started using Ticket Turtle about two years ago for our theater, and it has worked out extremely well. The customer service is very good, and they are using the feedback from their users to improve the system.

Our audience primarily buy the tickets online, and are able to use a variety of comp codes, or a pass to get discounts, and show up with a printed ticket to get in the door. If they did not remember their ticket, we have a separate box office table set up to reprint the tickets.

It's a good system, and is getting better all the time.


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## Techman411 (Mar 12, 2013)

I've tried Light Up ...found it to be good, but you have to almost be a pro at Microsoft Word....it was just under $300...frequent updates that required hours of time on the phone to tech support.

I got fed up with this and bought TicketMeister for $27. Easy to put your seating chart in, and easy to design tickets. I highly recommend this one if you just need something to print reserved or general admission tickets.


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## TheaterEd (Mar 12, 2013)

What is the per-ticket fee for ticket turtle?


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## SHCP (Mar 13, 2013)

TheaterEd said:


> What is the per-ticket fee for ticket turtle?


$.55 per ticket. There are other fees, cc processing and such, so you need to have them contact you to get the best info.
Tim


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## Joshualangman (Mar 22, 2013)

Tixato.com, anyone? I've had great results using it.

No contracts, no fees (just a percentage of credit card sales), beautiful online interface, set it up in minutes …


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## urban79 (Mar 22, 2013)

Does anyone have any information on schools using any online ticketing? When I approached my administration I was asked to provide examples of high schools using the system...

Thanks!

Chris


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## Les (Mar 22, 2013)

Usually the system in high schools is very analog and consists of about four major components:

1-2 parents at the box office with pre-printed tickets and 1-2 theatre students with baskets . 

Of course, I also came from an old high school with a large space, so we never really had to worry about reservations or over-selling shows. The blackbox was another story, but somehow we managed to side-step any issues using the same old system. YMMV


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## Call911 (Mar 23, 2013)

urban79 said:


> Does anyone have any information on schools using any online ticketing? When I approached my administration I was asked to provide examples of high schools using the system...
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Chris



The five theaters in my district changed to Vendini this year, and we've been very impressed. Out theaters range from 600 to 1300. Very easy to use interface, great customer support, and a solid experience. Offers lots of features: pick your seat, print at home, hand held scanners, subscriptions, donations, package sales, coupons, mailing lists, email marketing, order and patron management. It's fantastic, but came with an expensive cost. The ticket printer was the largest investment. The per ticket fees are close to other online ticket sales, just slightly higher. It's also based on how many you project to sell. When we switched, we added a one dollar service fee per ticket to cover the costs. Not all of it goes to fees, and whatever is left is just "extra" in budgeted money in our account. Works out nice. 

If you PM me I can tell you whatever you want about Vendini. It's definitely not the solution for everyone. 

Hope this helps.


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## derekleffew (Mar 23, 2013)

Having not used a computerized ticketing system since Ticketron, I have no dog in this fight.

urban79 said:


> Does anyone have any information on schools using any online ticketing? When I approached my administration I was asked to provide examples of high schools using the system...


One would think that any vendor/manufacturer would be happy, willing, and able to offer testimonials/success stories in any category a potential client desires.

Just as with hiring a home contractor, get references and CHECK THEM.
.


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## TheaterEd (Mar 25, 2013)

urban79 said:


> Does anyone have any information on schools using any online ticketing? When I approached my administration I was asked to provide examples of high schools using the system...
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Chris



The last high school I was at used seatyourself.biz
I liked it so much that we now use it at the current high school I am at. This was their first year having online sales and assigned seats. I have only gotten positive feedback since the first production. Since I am new to the district, it has definitely made me look good.


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## soundguy99 (Jul 4, 2013)

*Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Hey guys,
This is a really long shot, as I am probably sure many of you here don`t know much about ticket Turtle or now the Arts People, but as a last resort I thought i'd post this anyways.
Other than talking to the ticket turtle guys directly, which I have been doing, and since there is no community type support forums that I can find I throw this out to you guys.
One of our box office people are trying to make reports the various reports on ticket turtle. Now viewing the reports on the computer is fine but if you need a hard copy not only is the report not in a word or standard format so it prints properly, but some of these reports are in a spread sheet format, which present its only set of challenges. Even though they give you the option of exporting to excel file, the columns for some of the information is too small in some areas and too large for others, wasting space on the paper even in landscape mode. Also, the text size is 11 so even though the font size is small theres so many columns that when you go to print it, 1 the font size is too small to read it, 2 the columns are too big in places and to small in others where you don`t see all the information, and theres so many columns that you can`t fit it into a single page. Although our box office person, is trying to do an overall report in work incorporating all the individual reports and tables from ticket turtle, we can`t even deal with that part of it, before we can get the reports to be printed correctly without having to adjust the excel columns every time I generate the report. It just seems silly to me that you can`t just hit print and it will automatically print to an 8 &1/2 by 11 sheet even in landscape or allow you to edit the template or customize the columns the way you want it, so when you hit the report it comes out properly and prints the way you want to, without having to readjust every time.

So again I apologize for posting this, I don`t expect anyone here to have any experience with ticket turtle much less help me with my question however I feel I can`t be the only person who is dealing with this. so as theirs no office community support forums to ticket turtle, if someone can point me to a community forum that deals with this type of software, and may have other users of ticket turtle that can help me out it would be greatly appreciated, as I can`t seem to find anything on this.
It seems like a simple thing, that I am sure other users have dealt with, which is why its so frustrating,
any help is greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
soundguy


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## cpf (Jul 4, 2013)

*re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

If the issue is just that the Excel sheet comes out with the wrong formatting, why not record a macro that makes the necessary changes? You do it once, then for all future reports it's 2-3 clicks and you're done.


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## Amiers (Jul 5, 2013)

*re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Its prolly an outdated method but in a pinch til you figure it out in excel, Screen Shot (Print Screen) and Paste into Paint print from there.


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## soundguy99 (Jul 6, 2013)

*re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Hey guys,
I really appreciate the suggestions,
We tried the screenshot option but of course as soon as you move it into word and try to re-size it to fit the paper, like all pictures when you re-size something, it distorts and the text becomes fuzy. Besides they would like to be able to edit some of the text inside it.
The macro idea is interesting but would that be a macro inside excel, or how does that work.
Really I would have rather ticket turtle use a template type setup for all of their reports.Where each business, would have their own, and on each report be able to go in and edit their own template, customized for their own information and how they want the information to be displayed. That way once the templates are setup including font size layout and column widths, once you hit generate report or export to excel, then it comes out perfectly setup for that business information, in which the box office staff only has to hit print or save, for a hard copy. No information to cut off, no adjusting every report. The other way is to have an export option, which lets you choose which format you want it to export to, such, work, excel, pdf, email version ect. and have the program format the information. 
Like no 2 business are a like, no 2 theaters are a like including the information with in that. They have separate setups for seating charts and barcodes on the tickets, and and promotional options, it seems silly that they don`t follow through with customizable templates for the reports as well. 
I again appreciate the suggestions, let me know on the macro idea, that might be interesting, and if there is anyway of doing a screen capture without distorting the text within in when you resize, that might be an option too. 
Again thanks guys for the replies, as I realize that this isn`t something that allot of people have experience with.
soundguy99


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## Amiers (Jul 6, 2013)

*re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Well it seems your in a pickle. As far as a Macro you can set it up in excel I would look to the help section for it, but it sounds like you would set the macro to adjust all font to 13pt > adjust all columns to fit > scale print area to box A:1 to ?:? > set orientation portrait or landscape > save > end macro. then edit what you would like and print. Also if you want you could post an exported version of an old report or what the report looks like in an xls file and im sure someone can make you a macro/template.


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## soundguy99 (Jul 9, 2013)

*Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Thanks Amiers,
I spent some time at it today, and at this point there is 3 formats that it uses depending on the type of report, index.php pdf, and excel. As I was looking at it some of the reports can export to pdf, which works out great, since I can convert to a doc and import it in. I downloaded the free trial of Adobe Pro XI just to cover me for this report. Allot of the these files and crazy as this sounds is an index.php file. So what were having to to, is to use print option on the Safari, but instead of printing we save it to PDF, and then open it up it Acrobat Pro XI to convert it to doc file, and then import that into word, which is just crazy.As for the excel files I didn`t get a chance to do allot with those type of files today, but I will be looking at those in the next little while. 
I really wish there was an easier way. The ticket turtle tech says to do a screen capture however as with any image, the instant you re-size a picture especially text it distorts the image.
Even if I could save it as an index.php file and have another program convert that into a word file, like doing the pdf's it would be a huge help. There is over 100 reports and a fair amount of data on each one that were trying to import into a document and then summarize these reports. We have tried copy and pasting the text but it loses it form, as the information is spread across multiple pages.
I am just surprised that all these file aren`t already in either word or PDF format, which is soo common these day, and usually and convert back and forth quite easily. It should be to a point where all you have to do is hit generate report and either hit print or save to hard drive, and it should display properly. Unless I am missing something.
If anyone here knows a way I can save the index.php to hard drive, without using the print option in safari on the mac, and then convert to a .doc file that might help allot especially on 100 reports.
Again A huge thank you for all the help so far.
Thanks,
soundguy99


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## jglodeklights (Jul 10, 2013)

*Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

As a bit of background, my experience other than theater is in retail sales. 5 years with what was once a MAJOR photo retailer and 3 years with a MAJOR office supply retailer. One had a horrible POS, the other an excellent POS once you learned it.

I learned OvationTix in about 12 minutes with little help from the box office staff. In 30 minutes I had:
1. Taken an individual ticket sale.
2. Taken a multiple ticket sale.
3. Taken a multiple ticket sale for multiple shows.
4. Sold a subscription.
5. Generated reports detailed the current day's sales to the time of generation.
6. Generated reports detailing the previous day's sales.

Very easy to learn and use. I believe it has some exportability with programs such as excel and Quickbooks, but much of the work can be done with their built-in reports generation system.

While their end-user customer service is great- they sent us wireless Android based Tix Scanners at no charge for a test run before we implemented them- their phone staff that deals with customers isn't always the best. Not due to bad interaction with the customers, just not necessarily the most competent. Number 8 on my list of things I did in the first 1/2 hour was correcting one of the phone orders they took and bungled slightly. They spelled the first name of the patron incorrectly (added an i for some reason), and got the e-mail address doubly wrong by using the incorrect spelling of their name in combination with boneheadedly entering the e-mail as [email protected]. COX is a rather large cable/ISP provider in the New England area. Obviously, the patron didn't receive a confirmation of their purchase becuase the e-mail went to the wrong place. I was quite easily able to correct the patron's information and to re-send the e-mail with the confirmation information.

This has led me to like OvationTix. Addtionally, end users have some ability to modify what Patrons see online, and the service fees are reasonable. Additionally, you can use them to take and track donations; important if you are a non-profit.


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## Amiers (Jul 10, 2013)

*Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*


soundguy99 said:


> Thanks Amiers,
> I spent some time at it today, and at this point there is 3 formats that it uses depending on the type of report, index.php pdf, and excel. As I was looking at it some of the reports can export to pdf, which works out great, since I can convert to a doc and import it in. I downloaded the free trial of Adobe Pro XI just to cover me for this report. Allot of the these files and crazy as this sounds is an index.php file. So what were having to to, is to use print option on the Safari, but instead of printing we save it to PDF, and then open it up it Acrobat Pro XI to convert it to doc file, and then import that into word, which is just crazy.As for the excel files I didn`t get a chance to do allot with those type of files today, but I will be looking at those in the next little while.
> I really wish there was an easier way. The ticket turtle tech says to do a screen capture however as with any image, the instant you re-size a picture especially text it distorts the image.
> Even if I could save it as an index.php file and have another program convert that into a word file, like doing the pdf's it would be a huge help. There is over 100 reports and a fair amount of data on each one that were trying to import into a document and then summarize these reports. We have tried copy and pasting the text but it loses it form, as the information is spread across multiple pages.
> ...




Nope your not missing anything the print to pdf and conversion is pretty much the easiest way to do what your trying to accomplish. the PHP page is coded differently then a doc, docx, xls, and etc. So it looks like you could spend the money on Adobe or go the free route with online conversions but being that it is financial reports I think the powers that be would prefer not to have they numbers open to the web. The only thing you could do is hound Ticket Turtle enough maybe they will step it up and add in some export tools but from what I have read on the web I doubt they will comply.


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## soundguy99 (Jul 13, 2013)

*Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Hi thanks for that,
Its great that the system is online, but in the accounting world of theater management, when reports to promoters and higher levels of management is critical for making decisions and accounting purposes it is frustrating that they can`t setup not only export options to the most common formats such as word excel and pdf for all reports but, customizable templates for each venue to customize how they want to display their specific data, either for them selves or to the promoters of the shows they deal with.
You would think it would be common tools, maybe not,
Thanks again,
soundguy


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## SHCP (Jul 13, 2013)

*Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*


Amiers said:


> Nope your not missing anything the print to pdf and conversion is pretty much the easiest way to do what your trying to accomplish. the PHP page is coded differently then a doc, docx, xls, and etc. So it looks like you could spend the money on Adobe or go the free route with online conversions but being that it is financial reports I think the powers that be would prefer not to have they numbers open to the web. The only thing you could do is hound Ticket Turtle enough maybe they will step it up and add in some export tools but from what I have read on the web I doubt they will comply.



Actually they are working on exactly this. I just finished a user survey which addressed how I like to organize my data for reports and money distribution. They are planning on making customizable reports and reconciliation tools based on the user feedback.

I have use Ticket Turtle (now Arts People) for about three years now, and while the software can be a bit clunky, they are very responsive to users and I think are really trying to make a tool that serves the industry well.

My biggest problem was that they send one check, with one overall report, and then leave it up to you to divide up the funds per event. They have LOTS of reporting tools in order to do this. Some create pdf files, and some spreadsheet data. I use Line Item Reconciliation, which dumps the data from a set period (based on the check) into a .csv file. I then import this into Google Spreadsheet (who uses excel anymore?) and organize it into my own custom columns, which do the math and extrapolate how I disburse the funds. It took me a while to understand which fees applied to which kids of event, (shows, classes, retail items), but now I have a usable system that works for me.

I have expressed to Arts People that I want the CHECK to have done this already. This way I can just send it to accounting already split up. They are working on this issue, and have assured my that I will be able to create custom reports to my own liking that will make this easier.

I have not use a lot of box office softwares, so I can only give my experience with Art people. I like them so far.

Tim


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## soundguy99 (Jul 13, 2013)

*Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*

Thanks tim for that,
Its nice to hear from a fellow user of the software. I am glad to see that they are looking at it, and allowing you to customize those reports In fact we were just talking about it the other day, talking about how each venue is setup differently and needing not only the ability to customize those reports per venue but other options as well to reflect those differences. Although its great that the software is setup online, giving users access from anywhere, they still need to do a better job at allowing more customization per venue, allowing each venue to better setup the software to suit their specific situation. 
Also on a side note, as much as they are good at giving specific one on one, support it would would be nice to have a public community forum, so other users such as yourself, promoters, ect or any one else that deals with the software can come on and talk to other users, about issues with the software, or features they would like to see added. In this type of industry the venues can be such different from each other, I think it would be a great asset to them to have a community forum that they can monitor and gain valuable feedback from. 
Again I appreciate hearing from someone else who uses the software,
Thanks,
soundguy


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## jkowtko (Sep 17, 2013)

soundguy99 said:


> *Re: Ticket Turtle / Ticketing system question.*
> 
> Thanks tim for that,
> Its nice to hear from a fellow user of the software. I am glad to see that they are looking at it, and allowing you to customize those reports In fact we were just talking about it the other day, talking about how each venue is setup differently and needing not only the ability to customize those reports per venue but other options as well to reflect those differences. Although its great that the software is setup online, giving users access from anywhere, they still need to do a better job at allowing more customization per venue, allowing each venue to better setup the software to suit their specific situation.
> ...


Don't hold me to this, but you might be able to use MSWord mail merge facility to create reports and lay out each data record in multi-line format.


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