Q. How do I sell tickets through Positickets?

A. You have two options:

1. Positickets Direct
2. Simply use Positickets to manage your box office more efficiently and easily, transferring current paper-based systems into one central online management tool
3. A seating plan is set up and seats can be allocated by anyone taking an order (by phone / in person)
4. We will help market your show through our Positickets Alert service.

1. Positickets Credit/debit Card
2. Upgrade to a full online credit/debit card facility, enabling ticket buyers to book for themselves and substantially reducing your administration needs
3. You then get a notification when a ticket is sold so you can supply the tickets, by post or on the door
4. Alternatively, you can dispense with printed tickets altogether, and simply have Positickets send a confirmation email ‘ticket’ which can be reference-checked at the door.

Q. We currently sell our tickets by phone through a team of volunteers. The system works - why should we change?

A. However well your current system works, if it relies on paper-based records:

1. It is open to potential errors – messages being mislaid / misunderstood, resulting in lost bookings, double bookings or other problems that need sorting
2. It makes running an effective seating plan difficult
3. It requires much admin time to analyse during the booking period, and to reconcile at the end of the show

Switching to Positickets solves all these issues – there’s one centralised box-office system and seating plan that all people selling tickets can use – avoiding potential for any confusion. Reports can be generated during booking and after the show – making budget / marketing management fast and easy.

Q. But this is computerised. There are members of the box-office team who are uncomfortable using computers and the internet.

A. Yes, Positickets is a web-based service, because the web allows us to create the dynamic processes needed to be able to deliver a valuable box-office service to meet the needs of different societies and schools. But at heart it is a process – one which is accessed by keypad and mouse rather than by pen and paper. And like any new process it may seem a bit daunting at first, but it is designed to be easy to use and once people have had a go, it will soon become as easy and as familiar as their current process.

Q. So do we need a computer with internet access?

A. Yes, you will need to ensure that whoever takes bookings by phone or in person has access to Positickets while taking the booking so they can see which seats are available and can allocate those seats to the person making the booking. Essentially this means having broadband access to the internet, which is now available for only a few pounds a month.

Q. And do our ticket-buyers need a computer with internet access?

A. Only if you have upgraded to Positickets Credit/debit Card and are accepting credit/debit card bookings online. Otherwise they contact you by phone or in person, just as they do now.

Q. Do I have to register to sell tickets through Positickets?

A. Once you have an account with Positickets, you can set up a Society (an amateur drama group, school, event producer) and start using Positickets as your box office.

Q. What will Positickets do with my information?

A. Your information will be kept securely under our privacy policy.

Q. How many members of the society can use the system?

A. As many as you want – you can set up users who have the ability to take bookings, and you can give that access to anyone who takes bookings. They then create an account and log in to use it when it is their turn to take bookings, or when they are available to do so. So you can have local shops selling tickets as easily as people over the phone.

Q. We want to start selling tickets by credit/debit card online. What do we do?

A. Firstly you need to secure a Merchant Account from a processing bank (currently we require this to be ePDQ from Barclaycard). Then you upgrade to Positickets Credit/debit Card, and enter the details of the account into Positickets when you upgrade. We then set up all the payment processing functions, to ensure that when someone pays by credit card online, the money goes to you in full.

Q. Can I charge a credit/debit card booking fee?

A. Yes, a fee is added to each ticket sold online by credit card because your merchant account provider will typically charge you a fee in the region of 3% per transaction. It is up to you to decide how much to add to each ticket to ensure your transaction and any associated costs are fully covered. Adding a booking fee to tickets booked online is perfectly normal (the professional event sites like Ticketmaster do it) and is reasonable to charge for the convenience of booking online.

Q. We already have a merchant account and take credit/debit card bookings over the phone. Why do we need to upgrade – can’t we just carry on as we are?

A. Yes, if you want. However, it seems a complicated system to have people phone up, tell you their credit/debit card details (with all the attendant security implications), then you allocate a ticket for them – when with a simple upgrade you can let them have the convenience of booking fully online themselves, leaving you free to do other things.

Q.  We have Positickets Credit/debit Card, so we can either have the postal or e-ticket option. Why should we consider e-ticketing?

A. e-ticketing means you don’t have to print or send out tickets – we do it all electronically for you. The ticket buyer gets a confirmation email with a unique number for their booking and you can download a list of all bookings made up to a set point before the show. So when the buyer turns up, you simply check their number off on your list and show them to their seat. Plus they can pre-buy their programme, so all you do is check off what they have bought and hand it over. For further information, please call 0845 33 00 22 1.


Q.  But what if they don’t have a printer or an email account?

A. No problem – they simply write down the booking reference number on a piece of paper, together with the key details such as date, venue, show / event and seat number/s, and bring it with them to be verified. So long as the name and reference number tally with your print out – you should let them in.