New Feature: Name Your Own Price Tickets

Posted by Emaleigh | Company News, Resources October 4, 2011

Where you can find this new feature!

Name Your Own Price is a concept that’s been used to great affect lately – most notably by the band Radiohead, with the web-first release of their 2007 album, In Rainbows. For a period of two months, they sold their album online for any price; some people paid nothing, or a penny; others paid a pre-established maximum of £99. The band used it as a cool and unique way to give back to their fans, and draw attention to their album with a different way of doing things. We wanted to give you the ability to do something different, too - with Name Your Own Price tickets.

Name Your Own Price tickets are recommended for people organizing non-profit events and charity events; they may be looking for a way to provide a “suggested donation” type of ticketing for their attendees. It’s a great way for attendees, should they be so inclined, to support a cause or an event beyond a designated ticket price.

These tickets are added to the event just like any other ticket; when adding a new ticket type in the Event Creation process, you’ll find a new option between “set your price” and “free” that reads, “allow buyers to set their own price”. The tickets don’t have to be free if you don’t want them to be, however: below that is a “minimum price” field. Any requests that are below this minimum price will not go through.

Name Your Own Price Tickets in the Wild!

We recommend that, regardless of whether your event is free or ticketed, to note a “suggested donation” amount in the ticket description. You want to let attendees know what the minimum is, and allow them to match or exceed it. There isn’t a maximum, though. You’re able to accept additional contributions of any size, which should be incredibly beneficial.

We hope you use this new feature to its fullest. Let us know how it works out for you!

Gelsomino

I think this needs revisited. I like the concept but displaying to customers the minimum price set seems counter-intuitive to what this new feature is about. What customer is going to see the minimum price set and then pay more? I can see displaying the regular price and allowing customers to pick their price. IMHO, customers are just going to enter the minimum price each time. This feature NEEDS MORE WORK!
- Brian Lynch
  
  Hi Gelsomino,
  
  I think you may have misunderstood the point of this feature, and your objections may be unfounded.
  
  The idea of Name Your Own Price Tickets is to offer an option for groups to solicit donations beyond the cost of a ticket price; say, offering one in addition to normally priced tickets, so an attendee can buy entrance AND donate (in which case, the minimum price should be set at the same price as the standard ticket price). If they pay the minimum price every time, they’re still paying for a full-price ticket. Anybody who pays higher is donating the extra, and if they know it’s going to a cause they support, they’ll give more.
  
  If you have any other suggestions, please, let us know!
  
  -Brian Lynch, Marketing Coordinator
A.J. St. John

Is there a way to set the number of tickets available for Pay What You Can?

As a theatre company, we sometimes set aside a number of tickets for Pay What You Can on select performances. It’s usually only available at the door, but if there’s a way to set a limit, we might start offering it online.
- Brian Lynch
  
  Hi A.J.,
  
  Yes, you can!
  
  When you’re creating a new ticket type, select “allow buyers to set their own price”, then under More Options, click the “Limit Inventory” checkbox.
  
  Put the number of Pay What You Can tickets you want to make available in the “Tickets Available” box that appears below. Click “Create Ticket”, and you’re set!
  
  Hope that helps!
  
  -Brian Lynch, Marketing Coordinator

Blog

New Feature: Name Your Own Price Tickets

or Call us at 1-877-849-5327