Every day, new technology and applications are released to automate some process that previously had some level of person-to-person interaction, and importantly, some kind of quality control. Much of the time, those applications make our lives easier – but its important to consider what you’re sacrificing for the sake of convenience.
This notion can be applied to ticketing. Unless you’ve been hiding backstage (sorry, bad joke!), you know that EventBrite has become quite a self-service event ticketing giant, mostly because of the massive amounts of funding they have raised through IPOs (the most recent round got them a cool $50 million!).
EventBrite’s model is this: the user signs up for a free account and can then create “events” that they allow people to buy tickets to attend. In the case that the event is free, no transaction is made, but if it costs money, EventBrite takes a base fee plus a percentage, along with a credit card processing fee. The customer who bought the ticket gets put on a list and gets a ticket confirmation e-mailed to them, and the event host gets their money….before the event takes place.
Essentially, self-service ticketing, such as EventBrite, allow for anyone to collect funds for an event that has not happened yet. More importantly, EventBrite does not guarantee anything, nor do they stand by the event for any refunds or problems. Anyone, anywhere can sell tickets and collect money, and no one is holding them accountable for delivering a “good”.
With tickets, the “good” that the customer purchases is a successful event. This is why ticket agencies typically hold funds until the event has happened. Otherwise, there is too much risk of collecting funds, spending the money on advertising, etc. and then cancelling the event without the funds to refund the buyer.
TicketForce offers a solution called EasyTix, where clients (event hosts) have the conveniences of self-service ticketing, but customers (ticket buyers) have the assurance of knowing that the event and seller has been verified, and their purchase is guaranteed. If the event does not take place, TicketForce makes sure the customer is refunded their money.
When you sell tickets with TicketForce or EasyTix, you have to complete basic business information about yourself, and whenever we have any doubts, we take the time to check out the organization. We don’t take lightly posting events on our site, as we do stand behind their validity.
What do you think about self-service ticketing?
