Selling Tix For Events thru sellers legally

antioola

Okay, so how do I go about legally selling tickets for a charity event and paying the sellers commission?

I don't want to pay the minimum wage I want to subcontract them as self employed people and give them £1 per ticket sold.

So far I have

- getting the money off them and blocking their tickets from being used if they do not give the money to us
- commission per ticket
- asking for references to verify them from a recent employer and/or professional person that verifies their temperament.

Anyone have any advice?

jexygirl

Why do you need to employ people to sell tickets for a charity event?
What sort of event? Is it one off? is there not a box office? can you not advertise well and effectively in the right places (many local free papers are free as well as free local websites with a twitter and facebook page as well as a webiste / email / phone number for booking) and people come direct or book online?
How many tickets do yuo need to sell to make money? less than 500 advertising locally should do it. More than 500, there definitely is or should be a box office, and confidence in product - i wouldnt pay out 500 quid plus to people selling tickets as commission, when its surely better to pay for adverts in the right places that cost less... least then you get the peopel that want to come, not those out shopping who want to just get done what they need and not get stopped by someone selling something they dont want...
Could be totally wrong but with little info its hard to help!
jex

paddyrg

If they are expected to shift a few to friends and family, expect a freebie, otherwise use an online ticketing company like http://www.iristickets.co.uk/expresshome.php which is free, and centre your campaigns around that?

Horace

I am with Jexygirl on this - you don't need to employ people to sell tickets for charity events. Get some free publicity behind you - say that you are organising a charity event for x charity on such and such a date state that tickets cost x pounds and where they are available from. A few strategically placed press releases should do this just fine - especially as local papers are screaming out for great copy especially if the event is supporting a local charity.

I haven't had to resort to using resellers for any of the charity events I have organised in the past figuring that people would rather the money go direct to the charity than in someone's pocket in the form of commission.

antioola

jexygirl wrote: »

Why do you need to employ people to sell tickets for a charity event?
What sort of event? Is it one off? is there not a box office? can you not advertise well and effectively in the right places (many local free papers are free as well as free local websites with a twitter and facebook page as well as a webiste / email / phone number for booking) and people come direct or book online?
How many tickets do yuo need to sell to make money? less than 500 advertising locally should do it. More than 500, there definitely is or should be a box office, and confidence in product - i wouldnt pay out 500 quid plus to people selling tickets as commission, when its surely better to pay for adverts in the right places that cost less... least then you get the peopel that want to come, not those out shopping who want to just get done what they need and not get stopped by someone selling something they dont want...
Could be totally wrong but with little info its hard to help!
jex

You are not being as helpful as you could so I will give out more info.

As someone with experience in selling charity music events, i can say people can only be guaranteed to attend if you sell tickets, and can only be guaranteed to buy tickets if you put the event in their face and get them to buy them.

Putting up a website they can buy online from is something we have already done, and an advertising campaign in newspapers and locally alone with a sales website will unfortunately not work. As evidenced by multiple low attended events for many local charities that I am aware of which I have witnessed.

People will not care one iota. The only way to get attendance with a marketing campaign and online site and nothing else is to be assertive and go out and sell tickets, sometimes on doors. Without big names you will not get attendance, not in competition with hundreds of clubs and pubs.

I came here for advice on enhancing the situation i described, not anything else.

If you would like to organise a charity music event, i suggest you go ahead. but this is how we get attendance at ours .

jexygirl

LOL!!!
I have organised several large scale charity events in a previous life, however, events organising is actually Horaces buisness.... and she seems to agree, so clearly we are both wrong!

If you ask a question on a forum, looking for advice or help, then I suggest, rather than being downright rude to someone who has taken the time to reply with their thoughts on the subject, you accept that it's a forum and people have differing opinions.

Good luck with getting more suitable replies ...
Jex

ETA - Original reply from OP has been editted in order to remove the rude and abusive comments I was referring to

antioola

Very condescending.

Yes hopefuilly someone else will give better replies.

liam8282

As far as I can make out, you are organising a small scale charity music event, I think?

Instead of paying people to sell the tickets, why not ask people who support the charity if they will sell some tickets for you?

Ask local shops, pubs, clubs etc. if they could sell a few tickets for you.

It is for charity, so try and spread the word and try and get support for the event from local business etc.

There is quite a lot that you could be doing, rather than paying people to sell tickets. IMO that is exactly the sort of reason I wouldn't support a particular charity.

paddyrg

Wow, it's charity event top trumps! Who else has done Wembley Stadium?

antioola

liam8282 wrote: »

As far as I can make out, you are organising a small scale charity music event, I think?

Instead of paying people to sell the tickets, why not ask people who support the charity if they will sell some tickets for you?

Ask local shops, pubs, clubs etc. if they could sell a few tickets for you.

It is for charity, so try and spread the word and try and get support for the event from local business etc.

There is quite a lot that you could be doing, rather than paying people to sell tickets. IMO that is exactly the sort of reason I wouldn't support a particular charity.

That's not a bad idea, but it doesn't really shove the event in people's faces. just bc they have the tickets to sell doesn't mean they'll sell any.

I need somewhere that will actively thrust the tickets out there.

Also all the main charities pay people, please get over it and stop bringing it up in this thread. thanks.

Annisele

So, you want people to "actively thrust the tickets out there" and you want to pay them less than minimum wage. Whilst you're at it, you'd like to insult other posters to this board.

I agree with the people saying that they're less likely to buy if commission is paid. And if I had your event "shoved" into my face, I'd probably shove it right back...

On a more serious note: if you're going to employ people, you have to pay them minimum wage. If you're going to treat them as self employed, they have to genuinely *be* self employed.

Do you already have an army of people signing up for your £1 a ticket deal? If not, where are you going to get them from - your plan might fall over on that point before you even get to the other issues.