We are a small non-profit theater group in Florida trying to improve our ticketing process. We are looking at commercial software, but are overwhelmed by the number and complexity of choices. Does anyone have experience in selecting a program for a small theater? We do about 25 dates per year, but plan to increase some in the future. One program is done in a small theater seating only 200 or so and the other is in a larger one that will accomodate 600. The small theater is open seating , but the larger one is reserved seating. Currently we do tickets on our home computer. Anyone familiar with BOW from Canada?

We use Vendini, they are real time, so you can still sell over the phone or thru your website.

Any idea of the price range for the Vendini software?  The website makes you call them.  I'd just like to have any idea if it's $100's or $1000's.  We use Wintix currently, it's okay, but I'm still interested in something with more to offer.

Yeah, I'm not sure why they don't just publish the pricing.  I can tell you that Vendini is inexpensive to get started, it was just a few hundred dollars when we signed up a couple of years ago.  It can be a little more if you want thermal printers and barcode scanners like we needed - but we own the equipment (no leasing!).  It's a pay as you go model, so it's pretty easy to work with them.  If we sell a ticket, there is a small fee (for website sales, the fee is passed onto the patron in our case).  Also, they didn't lock us into any "length of time" contracts (a big plus!).

At first, we found the system to be so easy to use and simple that we thought it had to be missing something (strange feeling).  But everything is there and then some. It seems like they took their time to think the software through, rather than rushing things.  I used Wintix a number of years ago and this system is just refreshing in comparison.  I can actually say it has helped me enjoy my job again.

We really like the fact that our patrons stay on our website and aren't bombarded with "Vendini" (or another ticketing company's name) - which helps us build OUR brand!

Hope that helps.

We have used Fusion Ticket for the last two productions. There were some bugs, but in general it was very effective. Payment is through Pay Pal, and the tickets are sent by e-mail.

It is currently in beta development, and is offered for free. You can make a donation and get some more features and so forth. I found the developers very supportive when we had bugs. Someday they will release this as a commercial package, and it will do very well.

Here's the link, http://www.fusionticket.org . Or just google them, Fusion Ticket.