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Ticketing Alternatives for Non Profit Organizations
http://www.handytix.com
These days, even the smallest organisation who may only hold one event per year with just a few performances spread over a week or longer , can utilize a ticketing softwaresystem to sell tickets online rather than recording bookings via a tedious pen and paper method. And of course any sophisticated ticketing system can improve accuracy, record customer names for easy access in a database, and provide details of sales and transactions at a glance.
Setting up such systems is relatively simple . Even though it is feasible to purchase a complete box office software system outright, for most organizations, and in particular those holding a limited number of events or performances, it would be hard to substantiate the significant cost of such software.
The best choice for smaller organisations is generally to choose a system that is fully hosted by the provider of the ticketing system, so all that is usually necessary is to install a few files on the PC which will allow access to the main program, including all the administration and ticket sales operations . Most organisations would almost certainly find a web-based system to be more useful than a system where the main software is set up on the organisation's computer.
With a web-based system, any person who has access to a PC and an Internet connection can be given login rights to the ticket system admin and ticket sales sections of the software . For neighborhood and non-profit organisations in particular, this can be a significant benefit , since such organisations are generally run by just a few hard working volunteers. Having the capability for any nominated person to access the system, can broaden this task amongsy many more people and even offer the ticket seller the ability to operate the system even when they are overseas or on holidays . And it also means that any person with login rights can quickly see the state of ticket sales and revenue at any time .
Most ticketing software systems will give the option of selling tickets off a website as well. Of course you may wish to start by selling tickets through your box office only, and progress later to having a fully internet based presence .
Offering tickets for sale online does however entail one particular consideration , which is that you need to set up a means of accepting payments from customers. Some ticketing software suppliers will handle the transaction side on your behalf and will subsequently forward the ticket revenue when the event has taken place or on a monthly basis, minus credit card charges and less any fees or other fees that the ticketing provider levies. Other ticketing systems prefer you to set up your own payment gateway and merchant account, so that all ticket income is credited immediately to your account after a sale is completed over the internet. But if you don't possess a merchant account and payment gateway, or don't want to set up such accounts , it's generally possible to use other integrated payment organisations e.g. PayPal to receive payments.
Box office software programs will print tickets with the name of the event, date , row, seat number , section number etc immediately a ticket is sold or optionally at some later specific time . Many ticketing programs offer the ability to print tickets on a laser or inkjet printer, where typically you would purchase pre-perforated paper, so that 4 or 5 tickets are printed on a single sheet Letter or A4 sized paper. Normally, tickets are either completely or somewhat customisable in terms of supplementary text, logos, pictures etc .
Of course it always takes time to understand any new software program, however the bulk of smaller community and non-profit organizations are likely to discover that this inconvenience is a small price to pay for a ticketing software system which may very much bring down the time and effort in recording bookings, processing payments and issuing tickets to events.
When choosing ticket sales software be sure you also explore the features you ought to expect in advanced box office software systems
Article submitted Sunday, August 15, 2010 & read 82 times.
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