Ticket Zone - A lifeline or a nightmare?

[shabbashaz]

As far as I'm aware last season, all Yeovil Town games, you had to purchase tickets in advance, there was no POTG.

As for staffing, this is just my guess, we would need 2 full time staff, plus 3 part time, full time would work out at approx 12k each per annum and the part time would be that on pro rata, so there 42 grand already.

Then the ticketing machine, which has to be of good quality, that can do the job, but I have no idea how much they cost. Add on the materials that go with printing tickets.

Yes before when we have bought tickets there has been no charge added on, this is because it is done in person, and as previously said, if you buy tickets in person then you wouldn't be charged. If, people buy over the internet or over the phone, then someone has to process this, which takes longer than if you buy in person. Therefore costs need to be covered.

At present we don't know how many teams in League 1 will be sending tickets for us to sell in advance, but this is part of the job that will also have to be dealt with, so it's not a case of 6 big games a year and in fact if it does get brought back in house, then people will be able to buy tickets in advance.

As much as everyone was excited when the fixture list came out, IMO it was possibly the worst thing for the club, as it meant 4 big games in less than 2 week, so gives them no time to sort out any teething problems.

TZ is not the easiest thing and there are certain things that need to be sorted out, but it is how it's being dealt with for now. If you're a ST holder then the only games you have to worry about are cup games, and if last years anything to go by, then that's 3 games.

I'm not sticking up for the club, but as someone who goes and helps out, and has dealt with tickets, it's the best option we have in the short term of things.

Alot of you have stood by City, when things weren't going to plan on the pitch, and now you are reaping the rewards for that, so can we please be patient with things off the pitch, as I'm sure they will improve, it just take time

 

[exeips]

I have just spoken to a lovely woman at Yeovil Town Football club and if you book over the phone, then they charge admin costs, if you want them posted it is extra, but you can collect from the club and pay admin charge. The interesting thing is, if you book online, it costs more as they have an agency that deals with all online bookings. Now, you also have to remember that Yeovil Town's average attendance wasn't as good last year, as previous years. But they have been using this system for sometime, and find it the most effective. Also, all their games you can only buy tickets in advance.

Shabbashaz, I've just been on the yeovil website. It does seem they charge admin cost (45p per transaction on the phone,£2 per transaction online) but the cost of a adult ticket is also discounted by £2 if you buy your tickets before match day. So the £2 online charge is wiped out by the discount. Obviously if you were buying more than 1 adult ticket it would work out cheaper to buy tickets online.

While it's true you have to buy tickets in advance you can buy them right up until kick off from the ticket office.

http://www.ytfc.net/page/HomeTickets/0,,10673~1075088,00.html

Other clubs charge admin charges on tickets, seeing as I have more time, on my hands, I'm half tempted to ring every club in league 1 and see how they deal with things. To prove that what we're doing isn't wrong or ripping off the fans

I think ripping off the fans isn't what the club are doing but the few websites that I have looked at for league one clubs most offer discounts for buying tickets early while our system penalises people for ordering early. I'm a season ticket holder so for most matches it won't effect my family but I think asking a family to have to pay £7 extra for a game in admin & postage is too much.

 

[Antony Moxey]

As for staffing, this is just my guess, we would need 2 full time staff, plus 3 part time,

Yes before when we have bought tickets there has been no charge added on, this is because it is done in person, and as previously said, if you buy tickets in person then you wouldn't be charged. If, people buy over the internet or over the phone, then someone has to process this, which takes longer than if you buy in person. Therefore costs need to be covered.

Five staff just for ticketing? What will they do for the rest of the time?

And why is it cheaper to buy tickets in person rather than over the phone or internet? The transaction still has to be processed and the ticket still has to be printed. So where does the additional cost come in (other than a stamp and envelope), and why does it take longer to process a transaction over either the phone or internet than it does in person?

 

[Strongbow]

Then the ticketing machine, which has to be of good quality, that can do the job, but I have no idea how much they cost. Add on the materials that go with printing tickets.

As I've previously said, we have managed to get tickets printed in the past for all ticket games, such as Man Utd at home, for the Middlesborough game that was never required, for games against Argyle, and so on. Did the club used to have a machine, or did they pay a firm of printers to print them? If, as I suspect, it was the latter, what is wrong with doing that this year? Why the need for capital expenditure, which I assume hasn't been budgeted for, when there are alternatives.

 

[Pete Martin (CTID)]

.....Then the ticketing machine, which has to be of good quality, that can do the job, but I have no idea how much they cost. Add on the materials that go with printing tickets.

This kind of price

 

[Egg]

As I've previously said, we have managed to get tickets printed in the past for all ticket games, such as Man Utd at home, for the Middlesborough game that was never required, for games against Argyle, and so on. Did the club used to have a machine, or did they pay a firm of printers to print them? If, as I suspect, it was the latter, what is wrong with doing that this year? Why the need for capital expenditure, which I assume hasn't been budgeted for, when there are alternatives.

As you suggest, I don't suppose it's a major problem to get, say, 9,000-odd tickets printed for the game against Norwich.

If, however, you don't have some bespoke ticketing software that's only half the problem - in actual fact, it's probably only a very, very small part of it.

Firstly, you have to check whether people are members of priority groups which, I imagine, isn't always as straight-forward as it may seem. Then if, for instance, I want to purchase three tickets for the Flybe you'll need to ensure they're adjacent to one another... but hang on, someone else in the club shop is looking through the pile of tickets right now to see if Maurice Wright can have the seat he wants behild the home dugout... oh, and hang on a minute, you can have those two seats there but not the one next to it as Ant Moxey has a season ticket to sit there.

And what about the people who are geographically remote and want to order online? Either we deny them this option or we'll need someone else to reconcile the online ticket sales with the ones being bought by Maurice Wright and co in the club shop, Ant Moxey and co's season ticket and the ones being bought by Exiles on line.

What's more, you've also got to consider that someone turning up at St James's Park in, say, early August might well want to purchase multiple tickets for the games against Leeds, Norwich, QPR and Yeovil at the same time. If the only option is piles of tickets that have to be manually sorted through then it seems clear to me it's becoming an all-but impossible job.

If we had a bespoke ticketing system which allowed us to print out tickets for allocated seats on demand while, at the same time, reconciling all the tickets sold then that, clearly, would be an altogether different matter. However, it seems to me it's a gross over-simplification to suggest it's as simple as going out and getting 9,000-odd tickets printed and it being job done.

 

[Jason H]

This kind of price

I'd be pretty wary of going after that - ticket printers lie slightly outside my previous area of "expertise" but without looking deeper into the Tech Specs of the machine, one cannot be certain that the tickets generated by the machine are secure, and with the vendor not being a "name", there are inherent risks involved in using their kit as opposed to a more trusted name.

Sure it could well do the job, though!

 

[Antony Moxey]

What's more, you've also got to consider that someone turning up at St James's Park in, say, early August might well want to purchase multiple tickets for the games against Leeds, Norwich, QPR and Yeovil at the same time. If the only option is piles of tickets that have to be manually sorted through then it seems clear to me it's becoming an all-but impossible job.

Why have you 'got to' consider these people? At best I imagine they would number no more than one or two a week so what's the big deal? Or do we have to cover every possible contingency now?

 

[Jason H]

Why have you 'got to' consider these people? At best I imagine they would number no more than one or two a week so what's the big deal? Or do we have to cover every possible contingency now?

I think it's called an "Equality Impact Assessment"!

Egg is right in that it is not inconceivable that people will want to bulk-buy their tickets in one hit - we've already seen examples of this on either this or another tickets thread. Notwithstanding away matches too.

 

[Antony Moxey]

Egg is right in that it is not inconceivable that people will want to bulk-buy their tickets in one hit - we've already seen examples of this on either this or another tickets thread. Notwithstanding away matches too.

My point is, so what? It's unlikely there's going to be thousands all wanting to do this as soon as the club's office opens, so why do we have to consider it, as Egg suggests.