Selling a Ticket

This section presumes you:

Let's jump right in to selling a ticket.

While Theatre Manager does a great many things, Box Office sales is just one of the things that makes a good software great. Speed, efficiency and accuracy are the key components of the sales process. If it isn't easy, then both you and your customers will know it very quickly.

Using Theatre Manager to sell tickets is a quick and effective process. Tickets can be sold for Reserved seating events, Festival seating (General Admission) events, and Touring Events, as well as courses and classes and Auction items. The tutorial will take the user through the basic steps of selling tickets for Reserved and Festival Seating, and then go back and examine the individual parts of the sales process.


From here you can:

Reserved Seating Events

This section presumes you:

  1. Find a Patron - any Patron - from the Contact List.

    For this example, we have found Patron #18, Blaine Abel.

  2. Double click on Blaine's name in the Contact List

    Optionally, you can single click on Blaine's name, and click the button in the top tool bar. With this option, you can skip to Step 4.

  3. When the patron record opens, click the button in the lower left corner.

    The button is located at the very bottom of the patron window. It is the first button on the left hand side of a row of buttons, when the tab is selected.

    If the patron does not have existing tickets, then Theatre Manager will automatically advance to the BUY LIST of events currently onsale.

    If the patron does have existing tickets, you will be presented with a menu of options. Please select the 'Purchase new tickets for this patron' option to proceed with the Demo.

    Once either the button or the button has been clicked, the select play(s) window opens.

  4. Double click on the 1-SUN performance of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

    The play 1-SUN of Fiddler on the Roof should now be in the 'shopping cart' at the bottom of the window.

  5. Click on the tab at the top of the window.
  6. There are 7 primary areas of this window that assist you with the sale.

    # Item Description
    1 Sales Icons Single click access to sell tickets, Memberships, Donations, Fees, add Volunteers or Resources, and Accept Payment.
    2 Sales tabulation Keeps a running total of the sale in progress.
    3 Event & Performance listing A listing of the event and performance currently being sold. You can choose multiple events simultaneously to sell the same seats to all performances (if the events use the same map).
    4 Sales Promotion In Theatre Manager tickets can be sold for a variety of Sales Promotions: 2 for 1, Senior/ Student discounts, Child, Adult admissions, Subscribers, Early Bird, etc. These promotions can even include markups for Gala Events or third party payments ('Dinner and a Show', for example). The user can define what Sales Promotions will be offered by their venue. Sales Promotions can be enabled/disabled on a per performance basis.
    5 Price Code Indicates the Price Code (often used when scaling the house) as the 'base price' and discounted price after the Sales Promotion is applied.
    6 Graphic Map A graphic map of the venue where seat selection takes place. The map will show the current state of sales in real time. For Festival or General Admission sales, the map is replaced by a simple set of 3 steps to reserve a specific quantity of tickets.
    7 Shopping Cart When selected, the seats will appear in the shopping cart, along with information about their Sales Promotion and final price.
  7. Choose the seats you wish to purchase on the graphic map.

    This can be accomplished by either:

    •     Clicking on the seats individually
    •     Drawing a line through the seats (click and drag), or
    •     Drawing a box around the seats (click and drag)

    The seats you have selected will appear in the shopping cart at the bottom of the window.


    Note: The sales happen in "real-time" meaning that as soon as they are placed in your shopping cart, all sales locations - including web sales - are updated to indicate that these seats are no longer available for sale. Theatre Manager places a "hold" status on them until the sale is completed, protecting them from other purchasers.



  8. Click the button to accept a payment for this order.

    The button is located in the upper-left corner (see Item #1, above) of the display window.


  9. Theatre Manager processes the payment and returns you to the patron record.


    Note: This process assumes that the order is fully paid. A partial payment can be entered if needed.

    • During the Performance selection process (Step 4, above), double click on multiple performances. This allows you to sell seats to multiple events simultaneously.

    From here you can:

Diataxis: 

Festival Seating Events

This section presumes you:

The only difference between a Reserved Seating Event and a Festival (General Admission) event is that there are no seats to select for the Festival event. Instead, you need only select the quantity of tickets to sell.

  1. Find a Patron - any Patron - from the Contact List.

    For this example, we have found Patron #18, Blaine Abel.

  2. Double click on Blaine's name in the Contact List

    Optionally, you can single click on Blaine's name, and click the button in the top toolbar. With this option, you can skip to Step 4.

  3. When the patron record opens, click the button in the lower left corner.

    The button is located at the very bottom of the patron window. It is the first button on the left hand side of a row of buttons, when the tab is selected.

    If the patron does not have existing tickets, then Theatre Manager will automatically advance to the BUY LIST of events currently onsale.

    If the patron does have existing tickets, you will be presented with a menu of options. Please select the 'Purchase new tickets for this patron' option to proceed with the Demo.

    Once either the button or the button has been clicked, the select play(s) window opens.

  4. Double click on the 1-SUN performance of RAINMAKER

    The play 1-SUN of Rainmaker should now be in the 'shopping cart' at the bottom of the window.

  5. Click on the tab at the top of the window.
  6. There are 7 primary areas of this window that assist you with the sale.

    # Item Description
    1 Sales Icons Single click access to sell tickets, Memberships, Donations, Fees, add Volunteers or Resources, and Accept Payment.
    2 Sales tabulation Keeps a running total of the sale in progress.
    3 Event & Performance listing A listing of the event and performance currently being sold. You can choose multiple events simultaneously to sell the same seats to all performances (if the events use the same map).
    4 Sales Promotion In Theatre Manager tickets can be sold for a variety of Sales Promotions: 2 for 1, Senior/ Student discounts, Child, Adult admissions, Subscribers, Early Bird, etc. These promotions can even include markups for Gala Events or third party payments ('Dinner and a Show', for example). The user can define what Sales Promotions will be offered by their venue. Sales Promotions can be enabled/disabled on a per performance basis.
    5 Price Code Indicates the Price Code (often used when scaling the house) as the 'base price' and discounted price after the Sales Promotion is applied.
    6 Quantity Selection A simple set of 3 steps to reserve a specific quantity of tickets. For a reserved admission performance, this section is replaced by a graphic map.
    7 Shopping Cart When selected, the seats will appear in the shopping cart, along with information about their Sales Promotion and final price.

  7. Select the Quantity to Sell.
  8. You may either manually enter the number, or use the green arrows to select more or fewer tickets.


  9. Select the option as 'Single' or 'Group' tickets.
  10. If you select 'Single' tickets, you will get one ticket for each admission (i.e. 25 individual tickets).

    If you select 'Group' tickets, you will get one ticket for the total of the admissions (i.e. one ticket, good for 25 admissions).


  11. Click the button to add the desired tickets to the shopping cart.

  12. Note: The sales happen in "real-time" meaning that as soon as they are placed in your shopping cart, all sales locations - including web sales - are updated to indicate that these seats are no longer available for sale. Theatre Manager places a "hold" status on them until the sale is completed, protecting them from other purchasers.


  13. Click the button to accept a payment for this order.

    The button is located in the upper-left corner (see Item #1, above) of the display window.


  14. Theatre Manager processes the payment and returns you to the patron record.

    Note: This process assumes that the order is fully paid. A partial payment can be entered if needed.

    From here you can:

Accepting a Payment

This section presumes you:

The final part of a sale is to accept the payment. As an integrated software package, the payment process for tickets is the same as for donations, gift certificates, or any other items within an order. This is because 'Payments' pay for 'Orders' and 'Orders' contain 'Items.' This is an important distinction in that 'Payments,' then, do not pay for 'Items.' In accrual accounting, a payment goes toward the overall balance on an order. This allows you to do 'split' payments, and to track deposits separately from sales. It also allows you to do refunds from one payment method to another.

Payments can be:

  • Accepted in full at the time of sale, or
  • Set up as Contractual Payments, for example, a school show with a deposit on a specific date, followed by a final payment at a later date (and potentially by a different patron), or
  • Set up as Post-Dated payments, where a regularly occurring payment schedule can be manually or automatically billed to the patron (as in pledge payments over time), or
  • Placed On Account for later payment.

You may have arrived at the Payment Window by:

  • Clicking the button to the left of the Buy List (for tickets), or
  • Clicking the button at the top of the Donation or Membership window, or the button at the bottom of the window, or
  • Clicking the button on the bottom of the tab in the Patron record, or
  • Clicking a payment icon in other convenient places within Theatre Manager

but in the end, all roads lead to the same Payment Window. The idea is that this only requires the user to learn one format for payments. This same format is shared between the Box Office, the Development Office, and the Group Sales Office - and anyone else who may be entering payments into the software.


To accept a payment:

  1. Click on the appropriate payment button to access the Payment Window.

  2. Select "Newspaper-National" as the Why did Patron buy?

    Use the "Why did Patron buy?" drop down box to select a reason for why the patron decided to purchase the tickets. This field is for marketing purposes. You can decide if you want to make it mandatory for this information to be collected when a payment is being made. You can also define the list of reasons, by adding ones that may be more applicable to your organization.

    Click on the drop down list to open it. Select Newspaper by clicking on it.

  3. Select "Cash" as the Payment Method

    The Payment Method is also selected using a drop down box. Open the box by clicking the down arrow. There are several different payment types including: Cash, Check, Card, Gift In Kind, Other, Pass, Promissory Note or On Account.

    Select "Cash" by clicking on it.

  4. Click the button.

    This completes the selling process. The patron window reappears and the patron's new tickets and donations - along with any old ones - are listed under the tab or the tab of the patron window.

Note: This process assumes that the order is fully paid. A partial payment can be entered if needed.

From here you can:

Refunding Tickets

This section presumes you:

If a ticket is sold incorrectly or a patron desires to return their tickets, Theatre Manager's refund process will make the transaction very simple. Using Employee setup preferences, a Master User can decide which users have the authority to perform refunds.

  1. Find Patron #33, Darcey Albeck

    Darcey's patron window will open. Look to the Patron Ticket Information portion of the patron window.

    Note:The user must have sold tickets to Darcey Albeck in order to continue. If not, please refer to and complete the section, Selling a Ticket.

  2. Single Click on any Ticket

    Highlight at least one ticket and make note of its order number.

  3. Note: A user can refund more than one ticket at the same time by simply highlighting multiple tickets. This is provided that the tickets are a part of the same order.

At this point, you have three options, all of which will be discussed in the following pages:

  • A 'direct' return of the tickets, causing a monetary refund to the patron, or
  • A refund to a donation, where the refunded tickets are applied to a donation instead of a monetary refund to the patron, or
  • A refund to a ticket voucher, where the refunded tickets are applied to a voucher which is good for another performance.

From here you can:

Diataxis: 

Direct ("Cash") Refund

This section presumes you:

Creating a Direct Refund


  1. After highlighting the ticket(s) in the patron record, click the button at the bottom of the tab.

    The Ticket Review tab of the sales process opens. Note--the tickets will have a icon next to them in the list.

  2. Highlight all the tickets the patron wants to refund.

  3. Click the button on the top tool bar.

    The tickets disappear. There is now a balance due for the patron, in the lower-left corner, for the value of the tickets.

    Note: Theatre Manager will automatically refund the value of the tickets only. Any fees you collected for the sale, are generally non-refundable. However, if you want to refund these fees as well, you may. Simply click on the Fees button in the upper-left corner and delete the appropriate fee.

  4. Click the button in the upper-left corner of the window.

    The Payment Window opens.

  5. Determine the method(s) of payment used for the original transaction.
  6. Click on the tab to see what payments have been previously applied to this order.

    Note: Normally the refund method should be the same as the method used to originally purchase the tickets. For example, if the patron originally used their VISA card to purchase their tickets, the refund should go on their Visa (and preferably the same VISA card).

  7. Choose the payment method to use for the refund.

  8. Click the button.

    Theatre Manager will journalize the transaction, and return you to the Patron Record.


From here you can:

Diataxis: 

Refunding to a Donation

This section presumes you:

 

To refund tickets to a donation:

  1. Find the patron wanting to refund tickets.

    Click here to learn how to find patrons.

  2. Single Click on the desired Tickets

    Highlight at least one ticket and make note of its order number.

    Note: A user can refund more than one ticket at the same time by simply highlighting multiple tickets. This is provided that the tickets are a part of the same order.

  3. Click the button in the lower left corner.

    The button is located at the very bottom of the patron window. It is the first button on the left hand side of a row of buttons, when the tab is selected.

    You will be presented with a menu of options. Please select the 'Return the selected tickets to the Box Office for resale' option to proceed with the Demo.

    You are taken directly to the tab

  4. Click the button on the icon bar at the top of the screen.

    Theatre Manager removes the tickets from this order.

    The Balance Due in the lower left corner of the screen now reflects a negative amount, indicating that a refund is due to the patron.

  5. Click the button in the upper left corner.
  6. Click the in the top icon bar to insert a new donation.
  7. Theatre Manager will ask if this is a "normal" donation or - since you just did a ticket refund - is it a special 'Tix Refund' donation, and you would like to enter a donation to balance the order to zero.

    Most times, you want Ticket Refund because it will use todays date for the donation receipt. Normal means you are adding a donation and Theatre Manager will use the date of first payment as the donation receipt date.

  8. Click the button.

    The Donation Detail window opens.

    By default, many of the following fields will be entered automatically by Theatre Manager. You can make adjustments to them as your needs require.

  9. Click the button at the top of this window.
  10. You can now close out of this donation and this order.

    Theatre manager will have:

  • Returned the tickets to the Box Office so they can be resold,
  • Created a donation in the amount of the tickets, and
  • Returned you to the patron window so you are ready to assist the next patron.

From here you can:

Diataxis: 

Issuing a Ticket Voucher or Gift Certificate

This section presumes you:

If a patron wishes to return their tickets, and you want to provide a ticket voucher - good for a future admission - rather than giving them their money back, or turning the returned tickets into a donation, you may do so easily in Theatre Manager.

The process is very similar to refunding the tickets to a donation. At Arts Management Systems, we believe strongly that if a process works, it should be used in all aspects of Theatre Manager. Therefore, rather than having to learn one way to return tickets for donations and a completely different way to do so for a ticket voucher, we make the two processes utilize the same (or similar) windows.


To refund tickets to a Ticket Voucher:

  1. Find Patron #33, Darcey Albeck

    Darcey's patron window will open. Look to the Patron Ticket Information portion of the patron window.

    Note:The user must have sold tickets to Darcey Albeck in order to continue. If not, please refer to and complete the section, Selling a Ticket. If you have previously returned Darcey's tickets for a donation, find another patron who has tickets, or sell new tickets to Darcey Albeck.

  2. Single Click on any Ticket

    Highlight at least one ticket and make note of its order number.


    Note: A user can refund more than one ticket at the same time by simply highlighting multiple tickets. This is provided that the tickets are a part of the same order.

  3. Click the button in the lower left corner.

    The button is located at the very bottom of the patron window. It is the first button on the left hand side of a row of buttons, when the tab is selected.

    You will be presented with a menu of options. Please select the 'Return the selected tickets to the Box Office for resale' option to proceed with the Demo.

    You are taken directly to the tab

  4. Highlight all the tickets in the Ticket Review window.

    You can do this by:

    • Single-clicking on the top ticket,
    • Holding down the 'shift' key on your keyboard, then
    • Single-clicking on the bottom ticket.
    1. Click the button on the icon bar at the top of the screen.
    2. Theatre Manager removes the tickets from the order.

      The Balance Due in the lower left corner of the screen now reflects a negative amount, indicating that a refund is due to the patron.

    3. Click the button in the upper left corner.
    4. Click the in the top icon bar to insert a new membership.

      Theatre Manager will ask if this is a "normal" membership or - since you just did a ticket refund - is it a special 'Tix Refund' membership, and you would like to create a membership to balance the order to zero.

    5. Click the button.

      The Membership Detail window opens.

      By default, many of the following fields will be entered automatically by Theatre Manager. You can make adjustments to them as your needs require.

    6. Click the button at the top of this window.

      You can now close out of this membership and this order.

    7. Theatre manager will have:

  • Returned the tickets to the Box Office so they can be resold,
  • Created a membership in the amount of the tickets, and
  • Returned you to the patron window so you are ready to assist the next patron.

From here you can:

Diataxis: