Setting up Your Making Music Platform to Sell Tickets to Events

For all the set-up instructions below, ensure that you are logged into your Making Music Platform with a "Webmaster" level of access.

1.  Enable the Ticketing module and set up payment options

Before tickets to events can be sold from your website, the Ticketing module must be enabled.  You must also select at least one payment method.  If you are already using the Membership Invoicing module or the Merchandise module in your Making Music Platform, then you will most likely have already set up payment methods, and should not need to change them.

The payment methods available are:

• Credit card via a secure payment gateway. When a visitor uses this option to pay for their order, they remain on your website for the entire process (unlike PayPal, below). Making Music Platform currently has integrated support for two payment gateways:  Stripe and eWay.  Please refer to our Payment Gateways page for more information.
• Credit card via PayPal.  Note that your group must have a PayPal account in order to enable this payment method.  These are free to set up, but note that PayPal takes fees on every transaction.
• Internet Bank Transfer. Your bank account details are displayed to visitors when they check out. They make a manual transfer via their own Internet banking system, and when your merchandise manager sees the payment in your group's bank account, they then manually mark the order as paid, and the goods can be shipped.
• Cheque/Money Order.  Your postal address is displayed to members when they received their invoice. They post a cheque, and when your merchandise manager receives it, they then manually mark the order as paid, and the goods can be shipped.

To enable the order module and set up payment options...

1. Click the "cog" icon in the top-right corner of the site
2. On the Website Setup and Configuration page, click the cog icon next to "Making Music Platform"
3. Click the Configuration tab
4. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Online Invoices/Orders/Tickets/Donations
5. Tick the box at the top of the tab called Event Tickets
6. Click the Payments tab
7. If you haven't already done so, enter the details of at least one payment method.  For example, the bank account instructions may look something like this...

   Please pay funds into the following account:

   Bank: First Bank of Making Music
   BSB: 123456
   Account name: My Excellent Group Inc.
   Account number: 12345678

   ...while the cheque/money order instructions may look like this...

   Please make cheques payable to My Excellent Group Inc.
   and post to:

   My Excellent Group Inc.
   PO BOX 9876
   Mytown SA 1234

8. If you wish to allow visitors to pay for merchandise securely using a credit card, please refer to our Payment Gateways page for more information.  If you wish to use the "Stripe" payment gateway (recommended), then there is a page in your Making Music Platform to set this up quickly and easily.  Visit your main Members page, then look for the link called Connect to Stripe Payment Gateway, and follow the instructions there.

2.  Assign administration privileges

There are new Making Music Platform database areas that are involved in selling tickets.  Whichever of your members will be responsible for setting up and selling tickets need to have administration privileges over these areas.  As usual, all administration privileges are maintained in the Logins database.

For each member that will be responsible for setting up tickets for events, please do the following...

1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard

2. Scroll down to the Members heading, and click on Logins in the far-right Database tables column

3. Locate the login for the member in question, and click the update icon
4. Ensure that the Access Level for the log in is set to Data Administration Access
5. The following database areas should be ticked:
   • Event ticket pricing
   • Event ticket types
   • Events
   • Lists
   • Order/invoice/booking items
   • Orders/Invoices/Bookings
6. Click Save at the bottom

3.  Set up ticket types and pricing levels

Pricing Levels

You will most likely wish to sell your event tickets with a variety of pricing levels. Your Making Music Platform should already have the following pricing levels set up:

• Full price
• Concession
• Senior
• Complimentary

Naturally, not all of them will be used for all events.  When it comes time to set up an event for selling tickets, you can select which of these will be used for that event.

Note that these pricing levels do not include the actual price!  The prices vary from event to event and are defined when you set up the event itself.

You are welcome to create new pricing levels at any time.  Any pricing level you create will be available to be used all future events.  You can create (or modify or delete) pricing levels now, or you can wait until you are setting up ticketing for an event.  It's actually easier to wait until you are setting up an event, but if you want to do it now, the steps are:

1. Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
2. Scroll down to the Website Config/Info heading, and click on Lists in the far-right Database tables column
3. From the All Lists categories box, click on Ticket price levels
4. On the Lists Administration Page, you can either:
   
   1. Create a new pricing level. Simply click the Add new list item button in the top-right corner, and fill in the blanks
   2. Edit or delete existing pricing levels.  In the large list of options, locate each of the price levels above, and click either the "update" or "delete" icons

 

Ticket Types

At any given event, you may have a variety of different seating options or seating areas. Your Making Music Platform comes with the following predefined types:

• Main auditorium
• Premium seating

Naturally, you are welcome to change these ones, or delete them, or create new ones.  There must always be at least one.  As with pricing levels, not all of the ticket types will be used for all events.  When it comes time to set up an event for selling tickets, you can select which ticket types will be available for that event.

As with pricing levels (above), you are welcome to create new ticket types at any time.  Any ticket type you create will be available to be used all future events.  You can create (or modify or delete) ticket types now, or you can wait until you are setting up ticketing for an event.  It's actually easier to wait until you are setting up an event, but if you want to do it now, the steps are:

1.  Click on the Admin link in the top-right corner to display the Administration Dashboard
2. Scroll down to the Events heading, and click on the Event ticket types link in the far-right Database tables column
3. Edit or delete the existing ticket types in the usual way, or add new ones
4. You can also reorder these (which affects the way they are presented to potential purchasers), by clicking the Reorder ticket types button

4.  Set up an event so that tickets can be sold

Note: If your Making Music Platform uses "productions" (see our guide to setting up productions), and you wish to sell tickets to each of the performances in your production, then each event must be set up to sell tickets individually.

 

4.1  Adjust the Event

To enable tickets to be sold for an event, you must nominate which member will be responsible for handling online ticket sales.  This member will receive notification emails whenever an event is sold.  It's a simple process to set this...

Note:  If the event is part of a production, then perform these steps on the production, not the event.

1. Open the page where you view the details of the event (production)
2. Click the Update link at the top of the page
3. Click the Public tab
4. In the field called Send ticket purchase notifications to, select the relevant member
5. While you're here, ensure that the field just above that called Bookings webpage is empty - otherwise, this (external) webpage will be used to sell tickets to this event, instead of the built-in Making Music Platform ticketing system that we're currently configuring
6. Click Save at the bottom

 

4.2  Set up Ticket Pricing

The event is now ready to have ticket pricing set up.  To do so...

1. Click the Manage Tickets link at the top of the event's page
   

    

2. You are taken to the event's Manage Event Tickets page.  You need to create at least one ticket price.  Choose a ticket type/pricing level combination (e.g. Full price/Main auditorium), and click the Create pricing link that corresponds to that combination (i.e. one of the following links):

   
     

3. Enter a price (or leave as $0.00 for complimentary tickets)
4. Click the Save button at the bottom
5. Repeat steps 2 - 5 for each ticket type/pricing level combination you wish to sell tickets for. Note that it is NOT necessary to create pricing for every combination - only those combinations that you plan to sell (or give away) tickets for.

Once you have created the first of these ticket pricings, your event is ready for selling tickets!  You may now return to the event's page, where you'll see a big red Book Now button.  You can click that button to see what your site visitors will see when they wish to purchase tickets to your event.