Easy On-Line Event Ticketing?

Ronster writes "Dear /.ers (slash-daughters?) I am looking for an elegant online solution to a real-world annoyance. I lead regular tours of my local cemetery, which I enjoy immensely. However, I hate the administration - can you recommend an on-line service, or some software (ideally open source) that I could host on my website, that would allow people to register for these tours, perhaps issue them with a ticket, and even let them cancel their reservation, all without allowing the total number of reservations for each event becoming more than, say, 25? Thanks."

Comments

some thoughts...

[ubiquitin]

Cancelling the registrations is the hard part, as it means that an individual would have to be able to log back in. This means that the ticket-holder needs to have some password or other unique method for doing so. Perhaps consider handling this with a special cancellation link with a per-user hash that gets emailed to each ticket holder along with their confirmation. This requires email integration, not impossible obviously, but something that you'll want to give architectural consideration. If you come up with a detailed specification for your project submit it with your contact information to contact.phpconsulting.com, and I'll quote you on it.

Re:Not sure of any open source software but...

[venomkid]

Define "couple hours"... because from what this person's asking, it could get pretty complex. Any time a calendar's involved, things can get pretty hairy pretty quickly with business rules, open days, etc. Not to mention setting up a system so they can return to the site and cancel (registration? some kind of random # on the ticket?) And if registering involves paying a fee of any kind...

The way I see it, you might be able to design this in a "couple hours". Coding, testing...

Mars and Left Handed Sugar

[jayrtfm]

wait, wait, please don't mod this off topic.
The search for life on mars and developing left-handed or reduced calorie sugar are related to ticket reservations.

Dr. Gilbert V. Levin's company Spherics does all three.

Re:Not sure of any open source software but...

[Anonymous Coward]

This was rated insightful? Holy ... Just settling on the business rules for this might take you a couple of hours so don't go around saying it can be done in a couple of hours. I try to stay away from people like you.

Cancelling w/o passwords & no email need

[Randym]

that would allow people to register for these tours, perhaps issue them with a ticket, and even let them cancel their reservation,

You could cancel reservations by having people enter a [randomly generated] number which is printed on their ticket -- in essence, outsourcing the sessionID to the physical ticket.

It would make more sense, too, to just have them print out a ticket from the website [with the date, time and cancellation #]; that way, they wouldn't even *need* an email address to be able to take the tour.

why not use an ecommerce app?

[darkgumby]

You could use oscommerce or phpshop.

Just create a product for each day/time you give the tour and set the inventory to the number of tickets that you want to distribute for each tour.

When someone 'buys' a ticket then the inventory is depleted by one.

If someone cancels their order then the ticket should become available again and the inventory should increase.

I'd use Mambo CMS as a frontend. It has a nice event calendar component. Add events to the calendar with links to the product in the ecommerce package and you should be all set.

Phpshop has been integrated into Mambo. There is an effort to integate oscommerce.

Brown Paper Tickets

[km790816]

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/producers.html

The story: hippy response to TicketBastard.

Free to set up events. No min or max. Many options for different prices, etc. They even handle mailing the tickets. They take a small % off the top of each ticket to cover their costs.

In their own words:

The only fair-trade ticketing service!

Ticket buyers and event organizers have been held hostage by ticketing companies long enough. Our mission is to keep as much money in everyone's pockets as possible. That way, producers can put on more shows, performers can earn a better living, and ticket buyers can see more shows! That's what building a community is about.

* Our service fees are the lowest in the industry (99 and 2.5%) - no kick back fees or mystery charges. Ever.
* Charter Not-Just-For-Profit company, 5-star rating
* At least 5% of our profits are donated back where they were earned to create more community

You almost feel good about buying tickets from them. Crazy...

Small problems highlight larger ones

[tod_miller]

It is apparent to me that this small problem highlights a fundemantal issue in development today.

Such an application should almost be done with wizards today.

This level of application should become one-click development for every day people...

Rather than empower people with merely writing documents, this guy should be able to take a web-u-like OS package and make some powerful results - perhaps based on JavaServer Faces or .NET or abstract the technology with a webml like (although less utterly devastatingly complex) interface.

On a brighter note I wrote a simple application for my local theatre, simple enough that I could really experiment with interface and FEEL of the program. I coded a javascript home-roll date picker (simpler and nicer than the ones you can d/l) and they can add events, and book tickets.

of course this is designed to be run with the theatre in single user mode - with no logins.

For max 25 people - I would consider using email / phone interfaces from a website.

www.hotscripts.com

[stickystyle]

just a quick search of 'tickets' on the second page i already found something that sounds like what you are looking for.