Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
Originally posted by callat703:
Then you have to have somebody on staff to handle it, as well as a system that can process and manage incoming orders...much easier said than done.
I've seen lots of cafe's and non-traditional venues in Richmond handle this easily. As I said, a system like etix.com will do most of this cheaply and easily, you set it up to cut off sales 48 hours before the event, and it'll give you a print out of all the names. At a venue like Velvet Lounge that only holds 150 people, this isn't exactly a long list. Then, you simply have whoever is sitting at the door and collecting the cover charge also holding the at-worst 2 page list of names and crossing them off when the people show up. In theory, they have to check id's anyway since most venues of this size are 21+ or 18+. I don't think it's that hard. [/b]
Trust me, as somebody that's worked at a small venue with an in house ticketing system, it can be a big hassle - you've got to train people on the system, you've got to be able to troubleshoot it late at night when something goes wrong, you have to have people that can take a ticket order by phone if the web system is down, etc etc.... I'm not saying it isn't worth doing, but I definitely understand why most venues of that size (IOTA/Velvet) don't want to deal with it.
Additionally - those services come with fees, which people complain about. For venues that are already operating on really slim margins, it doesn't make sense to add an additional cost so the few shows that might sell out in advance can benefit...
