Alternatives to Eventbrite for Non-Profit Coach Ticket Sales

Tunstallstoven

Hi all

Hope I chose the right forum for this…

We (at Stand Up to Racism) are looking to book a coach and was originally going to use Eventbrite to deal with the ticket sales. Having seen their fees though, we were hoping there might be some cheaper alternatives.

Preferably the alternative would allow us to register our bank account to receive the payments, but if it has to be linked to things like PayPal. then maybe we could make that work if the saving was good enough…

Many thanks

Savvy_Sue

The other two I have seen - although this is in business situations - are Booksy and Bookeo. Might be worth seeing if they have a 'non-profit' option.

I believe Eventbrite allows you to add an admin fee.

And I believe you can also have a 'business' PayPal account - that would definitely be preferable to running money through any individual's account.

I'm also wondering how hard it would be to manage one coach (and perhaps you're hoping to have more than one) simply by people emailing to book, then paying. I ask because we recently ran a workshop and managed bookings that way:

people emailed to say they wanted to come

I replied and said that'll be £10 please, here's our bank details, use your surname as a reference

I added everyone to a spreadsheet - when they booked, how many tickets, when they paid

Then I did the same with the waiting list!

I replied and said sorry we're full, do you want to go on a waiting list

I added everyone to that spreadsheet

When someone dropped out, I emailed whoever was top of the waiting list and sent bank details (obviously people didn't pay until I'd said "yes we've got a space now")

I'd be happy to do that again for up to 50 spaces. I was only checking email and the bank account once a day, in the evening.

And just to say, I don't know what Eventbrite charge (or any of the others), but my time comes free. Not everyone's time does come free, and if you're expecting a 3rd party to handle payments then their systems have got to be robust / compliant / easy to use. Expecting 'cheap' as well might not be reasonable.

Tunstallstoven

Hi there

Many thanks for the help, that's great.

In the meantime, I've found Ticket Tailor which seems a great alternative. Fees are 60p+VAT per ticket sold. 50% discount for charities and non-profits.

The only issue is having to use Paypal or Stripe or Square. I'm looking at Stripe now but the website is overwhelming and I'm struggling to see what the fees are and if there is a subscription fee. The research continues!

I'll also look at Booksy and Bookeo.- thanks :)

I do actually like the idea of doing it manually, accepting bank transfers only and administering via email. And I do love a spreadsheet :) My only concern would be whether that might put off potential buyers who might find it a little "unsafe"…

Thanks again

Savvy_Sue

What I'd find 'unsafe' is paying an individual - through PayPal, bank transfer or whatever. If you have a 'business' bank account then I'd trust that - my bank will check that whatever name I give your account matches, so you can't say "Pay SUTR" but actually have the money going elsewhere.

DH uses Stripe, the local community Cafe uses Square, no idea which is best and yes, first time can be a black art. I've tried linking to PayPal and failed miserably.

The BIG disadvantage of doing it my way is that it all fails if someone's not regularly checking the emails and responding, then checking people actually pay. You need to make sure that if you fall under a bus that someone else takes over seamlessly.

Tunstallstoven

That makes total sense re bank payments. I would have been happy with the option, and am quite good at logging/checking/spreadsheeting, but others in the group were hesitant so we went with Ticket Tailor.

A happy compromise is that we found you can use TT Offline without PayPal etc, but it's restricted to cash cheque and bank transfer so has it's limits, plus you still pay the 30/60+vat fee.

The bigger sticking point ended up being the withdrawal delays. Eventbrite is awful for that! Would have been impossible to pay for the coach, who require payment two weeks before the event.

So I've learnt lots! And want to say thanks for your great help along the way :)