Ultimately, one of the biggest questions when using any Online Ticketing provider is understanding costs and choosing how you want to handle the fees. Regardless of what you’re producing – a school play, a community orchestra concert, or a dance recital- you want your customers to have a smooth ticket buying experience, and a big part of that is being clear about what a customer is playing for.
When using BookTix, you’re in control of how you want to handle fees, and how they’re displayed. You can choose to show the fee to the customer, letting them cover it and making the system free to use for you and your organization, or you can choose to cover the fee within the ticket price, offering an all-inclusive, flat-fee price to your ticket buyers. Both have their benefits, and are easy for you to manage within your BookTix account.
What are transparent fees?
Transparent fees are exactly what they sound like; they’re fees that are clearly listed for the customer to see while they make their purchase. This will separate the base ticket price from the processing fee so the customers can see the itemized breakdown of what they’re paying for. If you’re charging any tax on the ticket, which is completely optional, this would also be labeled separately. Transparent fees like this provide clarity, as many customers appreciate seeing where their money is going
ACTION STEP: Use the transparent fee option in your next ticket set up and see how your customer base responds to the fee breakdown.
What are hidden fees?
Hidden fees are a way to absorb the fee into the cost of your tickets, making it one all-inclusive cost. This shows a flat rate for the customer, so what they see is exactly what they pay, and meaning that it appears like a zero fee ticketing option for the customer. Depending on expectations and demographics or your customer base, this might suit them better, as this method can make purchasing feel simpler and more clear to your customers. Additionally, you can now advertise a single, easy to remember price – meaning that what you see is what you get.
ACTION STEP: Alternatively, try absorbing the fee into your ticket price, and notice if your customer base responds differently to this type of set up.
Can I charge no fees?
The processing fee on the ticket can be handled any way that your organization would like – which includes not charging the fee to the customer at all, and having your organization cover the cost. So instead of showing the fee to the customer for them to cover it, or absorbing it into the ticket price, you can set your ticket price without the fee at all. This means your organization would cover the processing fee on the customer’s purchase, and your customers would still be able to purchase a flate-rate ticket with an easy to remember price.
The BookTix Approach to fees
We understand that every organization has a different customer base, and there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to ticketing fees. For some organizations, transparency in breaking out the fees is what the attendees are looking for. For others, streamlining prices with a hidden fee keeps cost straightforward.
In BookTix, you have full flexibility to choose the fee structure that fits you best. You can set fees to be visible or hidden, or even show only part of the fee and hide the rest – whatever combination that feels right to you.
This flexibility ensures that your ticketing process aligns with your values, whether you’re a theatre, school, non-profit, or sports organization. By giving you control, BookTix helps you maintain transparency and simplicity, all which contribute to a better experience for your audience.
Using Flex Fees
In the BookTix system, we offer the option to add a Flex Fee on to your ticket price. When you’re creating your new ticket plan and add on a ticket type, you can either use the Auto Fee option or select your own Flex Fee amount. Using the Auto Fee, your Flex Fee will match the BookTix processing fee exactly, so you can pass that cost onto your customer and use the system for free. Alternatively, you can make yourFlex Fee any amount you would like if you need to cover any additional costs or want to split fees.
ACTION STEP: Explore the BookTix fee structures, and then go into your ticket plans and adjust your fee to be hidden, visible, or split somewhere in the middle.
It’s important to us here at BookTix that we keep costs low, and that we keep costs clear. The only fees at BookTix come down to those on the tickets, meaning there’s no hidden fees or contracts, no usage fees, no “asking for help” fees (it sounds crazy, we know – but we’ve heard it done before!). Any tickets to use the system come down to the transaction fees, and that transaction fee can be passed on to the customer, making the system entirely free for your organization.
Regardless of how you choose to handle the processing fee – either by making it transparent and visible to the audience, absorbing and hiding it within the total price, or choosing to to cover it within your organization – you can do what fits your customer base best, and it can all come down to those easy, low costs.
