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Ticket Types Overview

Donation

  • Purpose: Collects funds without generating a ticket.
  • Key Points:
    • No SimpleTix fee is charged.
    • Attendees do not receive a ticket (purely a donation).
    • Donors can enter any amount they choose.
General Admission events can be donation-only. Add a Donation ticket; you don’t need any other ticket type.

Pay-as-you-wish

  • Purpose: Allows the customer to pay any amount above a minimum set price.
  • Key Points:
    • You set the Price field to establish the minimum amount.
    • Customers can choose to pay more than the minimum.
    • A ticket is generated upon purchase.
The listed amount for a Pay-as-you-wish ticket represents a minimum required payment, not just a suggested amount. Customers must pay at least this amount, but can choose to pay more if they wish. At checkout, customers will see a field where they can enter their chosen amount (which must be equal to or greater than the minimum).

Free

  • Purpose: Lets attendees register for a no-cost ticket.
  • Key Points:
    • No fee is charged to either you or the attendee for these tickets.
    • A ticket is generated upon purchase.
  • Purpose: Standard paid ticket type with a fixed price.
  • Key Points:
    • Attendees pay a set amount.
    • A ticket is generated upon purchase.

Ticket Settings for Pay-as-you-wish, Free, and Paid Tickets

While Donation tickets do not issue a ticket or require many settings, the other three ticket types share the same settings. To find them, open your event’s Times & Tickets and click an event time. Items 1–3 are in the ticket list. Items 4–10 are under Settings next to each ticket.
An event time's ticket list with Ticket Name marked 1, Qty marked 2, Price marked 3, the Settings link marked 4-10 and a drag handle outlined
  1. Ticket Name
    • Appears to customers during checkout (for example, “Adult,” “Child,” “VIP”).
  2. Quantity (Max Available)
    • The total number of that specific ticket type available for sale.
    • If you have an overall event capacity that’s lower than the sum of ticket-type quantities, that lower number will be the limiting factor.
  3. Price
    • For Paid tickets: Set the fixed cost of the ticket.
    • For Pay-as-you-wish: Specify the minimum price (customers can pay more).
    • For Free tickets: The price is zero.
  4. Ticket Description
    • Briefly explain any details (like “Open entry” vs. “Assigned time,” age requirements, or special offers).
    • For more advanced customization, enable Editor Mode.
  5. Who Can Purchase
    • Attendees & Staff: Available online and through the box office.
    • Staff Only: Available only to box office/admin staff.
    • Attendees Only: Restricts purchases to attendees online (useful if you don’t want staff selling this ticket type at the door).
  6. Minimum/Maximum Tickets per Order
    • For example, if you want a minimum of 2 tickets purchased per order, set the minimum accordingly.
    • Useful for group deals or restricting bulk purchases.
    A ticket's Settings panel with Ticket Description marked 4, Ticket can be purchased marked 5, Minimum and Maximum tickets per order marked 6 and the service fee question marked 7
  7. Service Fee Mode
    • Pass On: Pass the fee to the customer so they cover SimpleTix + credit card fees.
    • Absorb: You (the event organizer) cover the fees.
    • Custom: If you have a specific fee arrangement, set it here. (Consult SimpleTix Support if you’re unsure about custom options.)
  8. Sales Start
    • When does the ticket become available for purchase?
    • Default is “immediately,” but you can schedule a future date/time.
  9. Sales End
    • When does the ticket stop being available for purchase?
    • By default sales will end at the event start time, but you can set an earlier or later cutoff.
    A ticket's Settings panel with sales start marked 8, sales end marked 9 and Password protect this ticket marked 10
  10. Password Protect
  • Password-protected tickets become available when buyers enter the ticket password in the promo code field. Share the password with the intended buyers. If it does not unlock the ticket, confirm they are using the current password for that ticket and event time.
  • Ticket-level passwords are separate from event-wide access restrictions. If both are enabled, buyers must satisfy both.

Reordering Ticket Display Order

You can customize the order in which your ticket types appear to customers on the checkout page. This is useful for highlighting premium tickets or organizing tickets in a logical sequence.

Reordering Tickets for a Single Event Time

  1. Navigate to Events and select your event.
  2. Go to Times & Tickets on the left-hand rail.
  3. Select the specific event time you want to edit.
  4. On the ticket list, you’ll see drag handles next to each ticket type.
  5. Click and drag tickets to reorder them as desired.
  6. Click Save to apply your changes.

Bulk Reordering Across Multiple Event Times

For recurring events with multiple time slots, you can reorder tickets once and apply that same order to multiple event times:
  1. Navigate to Times & Tickets and select any event time.
  2. Reorder your tickets using the drag handles.
  3. Click Save.
  4. A modal titled “Select Event Times” will appear, asking where to apply this change.
  5. Choose one of the following options:
    • Apply to this event time only
    • Apply to this event time and a custom selection of other times
    • Apply to all future times
    • Apply based on specific weekdays or date ranges
  6. If you select the custom option, a list of all event times will appear with checkboxes.
  7. Check the boxes for each time slot where you want to apply the same ticket order.
  8. Click Save to apply the reordering across all selected times.
The bulk edit feature works for any ticket setting change, not just reordering. When you modify ticket prices, descriptions, availability, or any other setting, you’ll see the same “Select Event Times” modal that lets you apply changes across multiple time slots at once.

Disabling or Pausing Ticket Sales

  • Disable at a Specific Time Slot
    • Navigate to the Times & Tickets section for a particular date/time.
    • Switch off the toggle for Ticket Sales Enabled.
  • Disable for the Entire Event
    • From Event Details, switch off ticket sales globally to pause or stop all sales.
This feature is especially helpful if you want to temporarily halt sales without removing or editing each ticket type.

Saving & Verifying

After adjusting ticket settings:
  1. Click “Save” after each change in the Manager Portal.
  2. Preview Your Event: Open the public event page or box office view to confirm the correct ticket names, prices, or disabled statuses.

5. Additional Tips & Troubleshooting

  • Donation Tickets: Donation tickets don’t generate an entry ticket. They’re recorded only as donations in your reports. General Admission events can be donation-only; you don’t need to add another ticket type.
  • Clarifying Descriptions: If customers confuse “free form” donation fields or open entry times, emphasize details in the Ticket Description.
  • Ticket Holds: When customers add tickets to the cart, those tickets are held for them while they check out. The checkout countdown defaults to 45 minutes (adjust it under Settings > Order Form > Count Down Minutes). If a cart sits idle for about 30 minutes, its tickets go back on sale.
By focusing on these ticket settings, especially the differences among Donation, Pay-as-you-wish, Free, and Paid options, you can tailor your General Admission events to suit a variety of pricing structures and attendee needs.

Check Event-Time Order Limits

If an order-limit banner appears on Ticket Settings or Times & Tickets, the event has a maximum number of orders per time. This is separate from the number of tickets available. See Capacity Management before increasing ticket quantities to address an apparent sellout.