Sorry if this is repeating something already discussed (but I can't find any mention of it anywhere in the forums), I've received an email today from Jane re the online booking via littleboxoffice.com which I think is a great idea and an exciting move forward.

My question is this, how do you go on if you need to allocate specific seats to your audience? eg Joe Bloggs buys two tickets but wants to sit in row a, seats 3 & 4. Does anyone know where you can find javascript that would do this for you? or have any ideas around this? The other problem I can see is that our booking agent can't even turn on a computer let alone deal with internet bookings.

The littleboxoffice.com idea is great (if not a little expensive - try paypal.com) but I assume it is meant for pure tickets sales and not seating allocation too?

Don't get me wrong, I am not dis'sing the idea I really do think it is excellent but it would help if it could go just that little bit further...

Oh dear, I hope I'e not upset anyone by this...

Thanks

Dave

"The Force is strong with this one!" - D Vader, Star Wars 1977

I do know that Jane has looked into all of this, and the moderators have discussed it at length. But Jane prefers not to use Javascript.

Most people who book online aren't going to particularly opt for certain tickets. Could they request the ones they want via email, and Jane pass that request on to the group box office manager?

Just ideas. I'm sure Jane will come up with something.

Hi

This is something you need to take up direct with LittleBoxOffice.com. I did spend quite a while looking into running a system for taking credit card bookings via the Internet and was then approached by LittleBoxOffice.com. They are offering more or less the same as me, but are set up for it, whereas I would have to set the whole system up. As far as amdram.co.uk's involvement with this goes, we will quite happily add a link for those people using the system to their listing in the production database. Any queries about the fee structure or the actual mechanics of how it will work, should be discussed with LittleBoxOffice.

I have emailed a link to this thread to Patrick and hopefully he will get involved with the discussion.

Jane

Hi all,

For those traditional box offices that dont have internet or email facilities (or staff not willing to go near computers!), we can fax details of the booking to you. This wont be quite as rapid as the auto email option but it's a good alternative.

Regarding the seating allocation - this is not something that LittleBoxOffice.com can easily get involved in. I can however give the customer a choice between Stalls/Circle/Upper Circle etc (particularly if their is a pricing difference of course). I could also go as far as adding a box requesting 'seating preference' but I could not actually sell seats D5 and D6 (for example) to a customer in case I sell something that the telephone box office has already sold or vice versa. Seating must therefore remain unreserved (ie no seat number) at the point of sale. Seat allocation will come at the point when you issue the tickets.

regards

Patrick
LittleBoxOffice.com

I have investigated different payment options etc for myself and I have determined that my preference would be something such as PAYPAL.

Unfortunately I am of the opinion that the solution offered by LittleBoxOffice is too expensive.

I think it's a good idea and all credit to Patrick for the effort he has put in but I think the solution is unsuitable for the audience of Amdram.

Amdram is all about cost-effective non-profit making exercises which I am sure was not the intention behind LittleBoxOffice.

Hi Simon,

many thanks for the feedback.

What sort of pricing would be acceptable?

Becomming a credit card merchant is expensive. Becomming an Internet credit card merchant is more expensive still.

It is not the sort of thing that an Amdram company would normally be able to afford to go into single-handedly. That is the benefit of LittleBoxOffice.com - the overheads are removed from the Amdram company.

Rest assurred that the system has cost a lot of money to put together and it is not making any money. It will continue to lose a lot of money until such a time that many many theatre companies start to use the system. I am in Amateur theatre myself and this business was born out of a wish primarily to provide a service to amateur theatre.

As an aside: On the subject of Amdram companies not being able to afford such a cost, I have in my research found that many Amdram companies happily pay third parties (such as the local tourist office or city council) anything between 10% and 15% of their ticket sales to sell tickets on their behalf. It has always been my aim to undercut such options.

Paypal, by the way, does not offer a true credit card payment system. It's not big in the UK and requires buyers to be members of it.

best regards

Patrick
LittleBoxOffice.com