"Free" Ticketing Services

If you're searching for a box office ticketing system, then I'm sure you you've come across companies who advertise that their system is "free".

Unfortunately, there is very little in this world that is actually free, unless it comes with strings attached. Everyone needs to make a little money to support and develop the services or products they offer, even ticketing companies.

Generally speaking, what "free" means is that indeed there may be no charge per ticket, no monthly charges or any other setup fees, but instead the ticketing company will charge the ticket purchaser a service charge/convenience charge which could be anywhere from around $1.00 per ticket upwards. Although in principle, service charges/convenience fees are very common in the ticketing industry, the main problem with this particular model is that the venue operator does not have any option to vary (or eliminate) the fee that is charged. In many cases, the venue operator may in fact prefer not to add any service charge or to absorb this in the ticket price, to avoid any negative backlash from their patrons- but unfortunately this option is not available with this particular model of "free" ticketing.

Alternatively, a company offering "free" ticketing services may charge a credit card transaction fee somewhat higher than what the venue operator could obtain by shopping around with providers of payment gateway/merchant accounts. It's also common for the ticketing company to retain all the ticket income until after each event has taken place or will pay the accumulated ticket revenue on a monthly basis only.

HandyTix however only charges a nominal usage fee per ticket based on the value of all tickets sold through the system.

• there are no setup fees, no monthly charges, no service contracts
• you can set whatever per ticket or transaction fee you wish to charge your online customers, or in fact apply at no charge at all.
• you can choose your own payment gateway and merchant account (see current list of supported payment gateways here) to reduce credit card charges to whatever level you are able to negotiate with providers.
• You receive all ticket income directly into your account the minute a ticket is sold

So take some time to compare what a "free" ticketing service really means and whether this model really suits your particular requirements.