Pricing Rule Question

Hey Kevin,

That's not good to hear. I've talked to a few people with Tessitura and have been told I would be able to accomplish this using pricing rules (most recently at this year's conference). As such I've been telling clients this is a feature we would be able to implement once we upgraded to 12.5.

Is there not a way to cut off a price type once it sells a specified number of tickets? Using allocations does not work as the system is too restrictive. Using them online requires that each price has it's own MOS, which a single price is only active through an individualized link. This restricts customers from buying a ticket/registration for more than one price per order. Some of the events we use this system for sell out in 10-15 minutes so it's impossible for those clients to get through two orders in the time it takes an event to sell out.

If there was a way to set  up a Allocations only working with specific Price Types the way you can connect them to MOS that would likely resolve the issue, but as it stands Allocations don't work. If there is another alternative to what I'm attempting, I'm all ears. Does anyone have any ideas how this could be accomplished?

Thanks,
Maurice

 

Hi Maurice,

It would seem to me that the easiest way to accomplish this would be to use zones. I would then make each of the price types specific to each zone. You could add a few extra seats to each zone and put a hold on them that only you can break should you need extra capacity in each zone.

If you are looking to limit the number of seats a person can purchase in each zone, this could be done with offers. You can put a maximum number of tickets allowed on the offer. However, if a patron figures it out and logs back in, that control will not stop them from getting extra tickets. I'm sure there is custom logic you could add via SQL to limit the number of tickets sold via your website. I know that Nicole Keating from Adrienne Arsht Center presented on their U-Tix site and Sarah Steven-Morling from Yale University School of Drama on their Comp Ticket Reservation Site. The session was a Panel discussion called Patrons and Technology: Beam Me Up, Scotty! They may be good resources to talk through your idea and such.

I wish I could be more helpful Maurice.

Chris

Hey Chris and Nicole,

Thanks for the idea. It was one I had initially tried for the event the first time, but ultimately it doesn't work. The events are almost always GA, and with TNEW, you end up with pages that look like this that don't allow you to select multiple sections and prices unfortunately:
http://sto.stanfordtickets.org/_QA_/auxiliary/Reserve.aspx?p=6685

We've used allocations in the past, but as I mentioned, that system does not allow for a patron to select more than one price type as a result. I could submit a Enhancement request to have Allocations/Price Types be synced, and that would in effect resolve the issue, but that wouldn't be beneficial until that feature got implemented who knows how many versions later.

Kevin, I suspect you are correct. I think the first time I was told Pricing Rules would work was not too long after they had been announced, and the most recent time could easily have been misunderstood as me asking if you could limit the number of times an offer could be used instead of me asking if you could use it to full on cap a price type with a rule.

More information about the event is that they will almost always be GA, various discounts are typically ID required discounts for Stanford affiliates. We have a customization which authenticates their status with Stanford's database, and ID's are checked at the door. If you need more information about the type of event, just let me know. Chris's idea about pricing zones results in some funky results since it's a GA event unfortunately. And if it wasn't I don't think the clients would want us deciding who sits where based on the price type used.

I appreciate all the responses I'm getting.

Thanks,
Maurice

Hey there, We are running into similar issues and I was curious if any improvements/enhancements have been made enabling the ability to cap price types. We're currently trying to build an access area via price type, but the access area has a capacity piece to it. Unfortunately, the events I'm working with are reserved seating and one order can contain a mixture of standard tickets and those allowed into the access area... any new update to what has already been discussed? Thank you!

Hi Kevin, the help system doesn't seem to address this limitation of maximum seats (unless I'm missing something). Your explanation clears up something we are seeing in testing, but I have an additional question. You mention that enforcement is by the date the limit is reached. Is that literally the date only? So other orders made later that same day would also go through on the rule?  Or is it date/time combo?

 

Thanks,

Heather