Selling event tickets online with Ecwid
You can sell tickets to different events in your Ecwid online store. It can be a concert, charity event, dinner at the restaurant, online course, and so on. With Ecwid, you can create a ticket for an event as a product in your catalog. You can specify the stock quantity to limit the number of guests, offer customers to choose different types of tickets (for example, they can book a table near the window or in the center of a dining hall), and validate tickets to be sure the ticket will not be used twice.
From this guide, you will learn:
How to add a ticket to your catalog
How to write a comprehensive description
How to create different types of tickets
How to avoid overselling
How to validate tickets
Add tickets to your catalog
There is no option for creating specifically a ticket in Ecwid, but you can create a product or a digital product, name it accordingly to your event and attach a downloadable PDF document to an order. That way, your customers will receive a link to download a PDF document, aka the ticket, once they pay for the order.
The PDF file will be the same for all customers who buy a ticket from you. In the PDF file, you can specify the event date, time, and place of the event or add any relevant information.
To create a ticket item in your store:
- From your Ecwid admin, go to Catalog → Products.
- Click Add new product.
- Set up your product by giving it a name, description, price, etc.
- Untick the Requires shipping or pickup option if you're not going to deliver tickets in person. This will remove the shipping-related fields and simplify the checkout process.
- (optional) If you have a PDF file that can be used as a ticket, you can add it to the product. Shoppers will receive the file as soon as they purchase the product. To do so, click the File tab, then + Upload files. Click Choose file to select a file, then click Upload Files.
- (optional) If you have a limited number of seats, you can set up the stock level to prevent overselling. To do so, click Manage in the Stock Control section on the right-hand side and set up the number of tickets available for sale.
- Click Save.
Inform guests about any important details
Since each event you hold may vary, or in case you want to let your guests be aware of certain rules, you may use the product description to provide customers with relevant information.
Here are some examples of what to add in the description:
- the name of the show, performance, or dinner theme
- the maximum number of guests or tables
- details about charity donations if you run a charity event
- safety rules during the COVID-19 pandemic
- additional admission info
- opening time and event duration
- nursery services available for families with kids
- refunds information
- request for printing the order for validation
An example of how to use the product description for tickets
Creating different ticket types
You can offer customers to choose what type of ticket to purchase. For example, tickets can vary by the entering time for nightclubs.
Different types of tickets can be created with the product options:
- In the Catalog → Products, open the ticket item.
- Select the Options tab and click Add Option.
- Enter option name. For example, Entrance time or Seat location.
- Select the option type. The best option here is a drop-down list or radio buttons.
- Click + Add Value to add options for customers.
- In the Option values field, enter the name for the option.
- (optional) You can increase or decrease the price for that particular option in the Price modifier section.
- Click Save.
Done. Now your customers can choose what type of ticket to purchase.
Source Tickets has several ticket options to choose from
You can also provide guests with free or paid additional services that can be added to the order. For example, you can offer a nursery service or parking spot. Each additional service can be added as an option. Create an option, name it Services, and select the Checkbox option type. Then add a new value for each service. For each service, you can decide whether to charge for it or provide it for free.
Court Street United Methodist Church provides guests with services
Decide how many tickets each customer can buy
You can set minimum and maximum quantity limits for tickets. Let’s say you sell two types of tickets — Standard and Premium. Customers can purchase one, two, or more Standard Tickets. But for Premium Tickets, you want shoppers to purchase at least 4 tickets. Or maybe you have only 20 seats and want to limit the maximum number of tickets for purchase by 2.
With order quantity limits, you can set minimum and maximum quantity limits for each product in your Ecwid store. If a buyer adds to the cart a number of tickets that is under or over your limits, they will see a notification about limits.
For better control over the tickets quantity, you can track the number of tickets in stock. Learn more about stock tracking of products in your Ecwid store →
Avoid overselling in case of a high-demand event
Setting up the stock quantity helps you manage your catalog and also can prevent you from overselling. But if you run a high-demand event, people might simultaneously hit pay and try to purchase a ticket that is about to run out. In that case, customers could purchase more tickets than you have in stock simply because of the time delay during the payment callbacks.
To avoid overselling in case of a high-demand event, you might follow these tips:
- Put up fewer tickets for sale than you actually have. For example, there are 10 tables in your dining hall, and you sell tickets for an evening with authentic Kashmiri Wazwan. In the Stock Control section of the ticket product, enter 7 or 8 items in stock. That way, even if you oversell, you still will have free tables to offer.
- Сollect pre-orders instead of regular sales.
- Capture payments manually. That way, you will take money only when you check the final number of orders after the sale. In Ecwid, you can use payment systems like Authorize.net to do so.
Validate tickets with barcode or QR codes
When it comes to events, you want to streamline the check-in process and make sure the ticket is not used twice. Here’s where a barcode or QR code come in handy. Both tools can be used to validate tickets and identify guests.
Using barcodes
For each order in your Ecwid store, a new invoice is created with its unique barcode. You can scan the barcode with the Ecwid mobile app for Android or iOS and thus, use the barcode as your guests ID.
Customers can find the invoice in their accounts that are created automatically after the purchase. To smooth your customers’ experience, you can attach the invoice to the order confirmation email so that the barcode is always at their fingertips.
To attach the invoice to the order confirmation email:
- Go to Settings → Notifications.
- Scroll down to the Attach invoices to Order confirmation email toggle and turn it on.
That’s it. Now your customers will receive an invoice with the order confirmation:
You can also edit the order confirmation email template and let your guests know that they should print the invoice or download it to their phones so you can scan the barcode. However, if you sell other products apart from tickets, note that changes will be applied to all confirmation emails. In that case, it’s best to specify the request for printing the order in the ticket description or in the PDF file.
Once you scan someone's barcode, you can change the status of the order to the one that you will choose for used tickets. And if someone tries to enter with the ticket they already used, you can scan the barcode and see the status of the order that tells you it was used.
Using QR codes
When a customer places an order in your store, they enter their email address at checkout. The customer's email is then saved into the My Sales → Customers section of Ecwid admin and also visible in the order invoices in My Sales → Orders. Thus, you can generate QR codes elsewhere using a third-party service and then email codes to customers after the ticket purchase.
You can find plenty of free QR code generators on the internet.
Over to you
Selling tickets to events is a great way to earn extra money and get engagement with your audiences. Now when you know how to sell tickets in your Ecwid store, you can give it a try.