Best available, will call

October 18, 2012 1:10 PM

Suggest examples of websites that do a great job of selling event tickets?

I work with a company that may soon be taking over a website with a ticketing microsite, selling tickets to a variety of events at a festival. I'm looking for inspiration in re-designing this part of the user experience, and would like to browse websites that make online ticket purchasing very simple, efficient, and visual.
Suggest me some links?

Priorities:
Clean, efficient user experience
Visually logical scheduling for multiple concurrent events
Great visuals provoke crossover interest around different events
Intuitive navigation doesn't require too much reading
Great design (preferred aesthetic is graphic, sophisticated, metro)

What sites have made you enjoy buying tickets lately?
Thanks!

posted by pseudostrabismus to media & arts (8 answers total)

Eventbrite seemed pretty easy to use when I booked something on it.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:18 PM on October 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

And one value added thing to Eventbrite's ticketing is that someone with an iPhone can add those tickets to their passbook in iOS.
posted by inturnaround at 1:21 PM on October 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

ArcLight Cinemas ticketing site is a breeze. Specific things I like:

- breakdown of options on the left, thing you are choosing on the right.
- clear, up-to-date, seat selection
- nice, long 15-minute session window to fiddle around and find my credit card.
posted by carsonb at 1:25 PM on October 18, 2012

We use Tixato at work and all of our venue staff love it and can't quit raving about how easy it is to use.
posted by advicepig at 1:26 PM on October 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've yet to use it, but Brown Paper Tickets looks great.
posted by Nameless at 1:26 PM on October 18, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've had a pretty good time with Brown Paper Tickets, which our choir uses (as do many of our local venues).

Choice Ticketing (not sure if that's the actual name), which is the system that our campus uses for its arts events, is TERRIBLE. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad. It's ugly; it just sends you to a list of every single thing you could possibly get tickets for. Because of that, I always worry if I'm accidentally buying the wrong tickets (wall of text is easy to misclick). You also can't separate out events or venues or performing groups. But my least favorite part is that you can't actually see how much the tickets cost, which is an enormous, enormous pain.
posted by Madamina at 1:27 PM on October 18, 2012 [2 favorites]

I hate every website that sells tickets SO MUCH except for Wegottickets. It's simple and basic but that's why it's so good. The cleaner and simpler the interface the better.

Essential qualities for any ticketing site:

a) See exorbitance of fees (+ compulsory overpriced shipping if relevant) at earliest opportunity NOT after you've typed your address five times
b) See availability on first page (preferable quantified)
c) Fees no greater than 10% of face value
d) As short a purchase funnel as possible
e) E-tickets
f) Ability to pay with PayPal or save CC details and just provide a CVV2.
g) If for seated events, a simple and accessible way to choose seating as well as a clear description of various options.
h) Has the infrastructure to cover the rush for popular events.

I haven't had to use the horror that is Ticketmaster/Seetickets/ticketweb/etc. for some time now so thankfully the list isn't any longer...
posted by turkeyphant at 12:48 PM on December 3, 2012

Thanks for the advice, all- very helpful for my research!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 6:23 PM on December 5, 2012