Selling Tickets on Your Own Website or on a Platform: What Changes
You sell tickets for your concerts, your theatre performances, your academy’s workshops or your club’s excursions on a ticketing platform. It’s convenient to get started, but the platform takes a cut of every sale, and your buyers’ data stays with it. You keep track of capacity in a separate spreadsheet, worried about overselling; at the door you tick names off a printed list; and every ticket is the same, even though your event isn’t.
In short: selling tickets on your own website removes the middleman that takes a cut of every sale, although the payment gateway charges its fee, as with any online sale. Your buyers’ data, collected with their consent, stays on your website or on the server we agree on. Capacity is controlled automatically, tickets are scanned with a phone and you usually don’t need a new website.
What changes when you sell tickets on your website?
Who sits in the middle. On a platform, buyers go to the platform’s website, pay there and get a ticket from the platform. On your website, they buy on a page with your design, pay through your payment gateway and the ticket comes from you.
| On a ticketing platform | On your own website | |
|---|---|---|
| Who takes the payment | The platform, which takes a cut of every sale | You, through the payment gateway |
| Buyers’ data | Stays on the platform | With their consent, on your website or on the server we agree on |
| Page design | The platform’s | Your website’s |
| Ticket types and capacity | Whatever the platform allows | Whatever your event needs |
| Getting started | Quick: you sign up and start selling | It has to be built, with a price and a date before we start |
The platform has its advantage: you sign up and start selling without worrying about the technical side. If you only sell a few tickets now and then, it may be worth it. When you sell often or your audience already knows you, the cut the platform takes on every sale and the data you don’t see start to matter more.
Are there any fees?
Not from us. The only per-sale fee is the payment gateway’s, just as in any online shop; what you save is the middleman taking a slice of every ticket. That fee depends on the gateway you choose and the terms you have with it, so we look at it with you before we start.
Who keeps the buyers’ data?
On a platform, your buyers’ data stays on the platform, and you see whatever it lets you see. On your website, your buyers’ data, collected with their consent, stays on your website or on the server we agree on. That way you can tell people who have already come about your next event, as long as they’ve agreed to hear from you.
Holding that data is also a responsibility: your privacy policy has to be up to date and explain what you use it for. If you have any doubts, check it with your adviser before you open sales.
How is capacity controlled?
Each session has its capacity, and sales close automatically when it’s reached, so you don’t oversell or keep count in a separate spreadsheet. If you have several ticket types (standard, concession, group or with extras), they all come out of the same capacity. It works just the same for theatre performances, workshop places or seats on an excursion.
How are tickets checked at the door?
Each ticket has its own code. At the door, all you need is a phone with a camera: it reads the code and the system says whether the ticket is valid; if it has already been used, it flags it. No more printed lists and names crossed off by hand.
Do I need a new website?
Hardly ever: we integrate ticket sales into your current website, as long as your website allows it. If it doesn’t fit, you’ll know before any work begins and we’ll find another way to do it with you.
How much does it cost?
It depends on the ticket types, the sessions and your website. That’s why each system is quoted individually, and you’ll know the price before any work begins. Small tweaks are paid for with an hourly package and projects at a fixed price. The same quote includes the delivery date, and before opening sales to the public we run test purchases and test scans.
After delivery, if you want ticket sales kept up to date along with your website, we look after them as part of a maintenance plan; if you’d rather handle it yourself, that’s fine too.
Your tickets, on your website
If today you sell on a platform and want to stop sharing every ticket with it, on the ticket sales page you’ll find how we work and how to ask for a quote.
Sell tickets on your site, not someone else's
A custom ticketing system for your events, with your ticket types, your capacity and check-in at the door.