Eventbrite Put to the Test

Just a few days ago I was looking for a great online ticketing solution. I sent out a tweet asking for recommendations. Within minutes @acmongomery recommended Eventbrite. When my friend @mandiengram tweeted back that she'd also used and loved Eventbrite, it was settled. It had already come out on top on my list, and Mandi's recommendation was confirmation for me.

Last night I gave myself the challenge of setting up both upcoming Main Street Latin Festival events using Eventbrite (the Kick Off and After Parties). I timed myself, and it took me less than 2 1/2 hours from start-to-finish. That includes cross-promoting the events on the Festival homepage with graphics and sending an email with a summary to the client. Now that I have experience with Eventbrite, creating additional events will take even less time.

Top 10 Things I Love About Eventbrite...

1. The event ticketing page is customizable (background color, font colors, logo, etc). This means you can make your Eventbrite page mirror the color scheme of your website, which is wonderful for branding.

2. I was able to find my way around Eventbrite without calling tech support or reading through help pages. It's nice to know they are there if you need them, though.

3. I had a question about whether I could eliminate tickets being printable and got a fast and easy-to-understand response on twitter right away.

4. No bank information required (unless, of course, you prefer to set it up with your bank info).

5. Various tools available to help promote your event across social channels. It really couldn't be any easier!

6. Exportable widgets to place on your website for those that don't want to send their site visitors to an outside ticketing page.

7. Tickets are a breeze - the system has a few different ticketing options. You can set it up to have a confirmation email automatically delivered to the customer with their printable ticket.

8. Your event URL is customizable (I used http://mainstreetlatinfestivalkickoffparty.eventbrite.com/
and http://mainstreetlatinfestivalafterparty.eventbrite.com/).

9. Email invitations can be created and sent using their "Contacts" tool.

10. Email notifications are available whenever a ticket is sold, helping you stay on top of ticket sales.

To view the events I created, look at the top of the MSLF website. If you live in or around Columbia, SC, the festival should definitely be on your list of things to do this August!

Now I can use the time I saved to promote the Festival!

Online Ticketing On the Fly

I found myself in need of a turn-key solution to sell event tickets online, so I went to my favorite place to ask for help/recommendations: Twitter. It really is, hands-down, in my humble opinion, one of the best places to get just this sort of information on the fly. I knew of a few solutions (such as google checkout and paypal), but wanted something fast and slick.

Within just a couple of minutes, a friend (thx @acmongomery!) recommended EventBrite. I love that they don’t charge a set-up fee, and that they are super user-friendly. I found myself jotting down a quick run-down of EventBrite compared to other online solutions (seen below). For the sake of time and ease of use, I’m going with EventBrite. Should I have needed a longer term/higher volume ticketing solution, the other options could have made more sense.


1. EventBrite - Have an online ticketing page and store up by this weekend! They will charge 5% plus $.99 for each ticket sold. For example, to sell a $10 ticket, the profit is $8.51. There are no set-up fees and no hidden fees. This is the most turn-key solution I've come across so far. If you sold 100 tickets at $10, the profit after fees would be $851.


2. Volusion - More of an online store solution, but could technically work for ticketing, too. This can take a few weeks to set up, and is better for someone who wants to sell long-term. Their monthly fees are around $75 when you add everything up. They also charge 2.17% plus .34 cents per ticket. This scenario on a $10 ticket is $9.44 profit (and of course, the monthly fee). If you sold 100 tickets at $10, the profit after fees would be $865.


3. Google Checkout or Paypal charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (so for a $10 ticket, the profit would be $9.41). If you sold 100 tickets at $10/each, the profit after fees would be $941. Not always as slick, unless you have time to customize.