I have a question about dynamic pricing and exchanges -- a cursory search of this forum hasn't come up with anything on the subject, but it seems like someone must have run across our issue.
We have a performance where we have "dynamically" adjusted the prices downward, and we also have a seat-for-seat exchange policy in effect for some customers. When these customers request a seat exchange (let's say from the first evening of the production to the second), we're going to wind up with A) money left over and B) new tickets that print with the lower price.
We don't want to use an "On Account - Lose It" type maneuver to dispense with the leftover money because that would mess up our accounting, and we don't particularly want to advertise to our customers the price difference if they were buying today.
Does anyone else have this issue, and if so, how do you address it? I've been looking into editable prices, but that seems a little dramatic.
Thanks,
Gawain
If you want to continue to use a new order, you could also use a fee to sweep the left over money away. From the documentation on fees: “Balance Due (After other fees) and (before other fees) are fees that are automatically added to orders when there is a negative balance due in order to recapture that balance. This type of fee is used when higher priced tickets are exchanged for lower priced tickets and business rules dictate that the difference is not returned or credited to the constituent.
A balance due fee can be calculated after other fees, meaning the amount of the fee is set to be equal to the negative balance after any other fees on the order have been applied, or before other fees, meaning the amount of the fee is set to the negative balance due before other fees have been applied.
For example, if a ticket valued at $50 is changed to a ticket valued at $45, and there is a handling fee of $2 for the transaction, a balance due (after other fees) fee would be calculated to $3, leading to a total balance due for the order of $0. If the fee was set to balance due (before other fees) for the same transaction, it would be calculated to $5, leading to a total balance due for the order of $2, the amount of the handling fee.”
We use this kind of fee with great success and just apply it to every show that is may be exchanged. That way if money is left over the fee is applied automatically and the money goes away. And if you use the ticket element that includes fees with your prices then the new ticket will print the same price as the old ticket.
Elizabeth Carlock
Director, Ticketing Services
The Granada
From: Tessitura Ticketing Forum [mailto:forums-ticketing@tessituranetwork.com] On Behalf Of Gawain Lavers Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2011 3:52 PM To: Elizabeth Carlock Subject: RE: [Tessitura Ticketing Forum] Dynamic Pricing and Exchanges
And that makes sense to her as well! I guess we typically do exchanges in a new order just to simplify bookkeeping, but here at least we'll make an exception. Thanks a bunch!
--Gawain
From: Gawain Lavers <bounce-gawainlavers9512@tessituranetwork.com> Sent: 2/10/2011 5:40:56 PM
Hmmm. That does make sense, let me run that by our Box Office manager...
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