Pay on the day and ticket exchange a must for next year

[seagull9]

As per title I feel it is very important we fill the ground and surely the best way to do this is allow a mechanism for people to advise the club if they can't attend a match and then the club re-sells that seat, maybe offer £5 credit onto the season ticket holders account as a goodwill gesture, the club will be better off and we have a full ground. Plus can people currently pay on the day ? I see most games say sold out but still empty seats, most other clubs do pay on the day so we should be able to.

 

[Wozza]

The planning permission doesn't allow pay on the day.

 

[Superphil]

Put it on 'ask the club' maybe they havent thought of this.

 

[Rugrat]

I've proposed tick exchange to the club 3 times (3 different recipients) .. giving all supporting logic. Could have had it developed and fully integrated 8 months ago. No cost to club, small "admin fee" on each exchange to the biz that developed it.

No reply

 

[Superphil]

I've proposed tick exchange to the club 3 times (3 different recipients) .. giving all supporting logic. Could have had it developed and fully integrated 8 months ago. No cost to club, small "admin fee" on each exchange to the biz that developed it.

No reply

The club told us last year that they were working on a ticket exchange, ok so it hasn't happened yet, but that's no reason to think it won't happen, most other things we expected this season have happened. I am sure they even explained the reasons for the difficulties, security, logistics etc. can't remember specifics, but I know one area of concern is tickets getting into the wrong hands. I'm not defending or complaining here, just trying to point out, once again, that this club has bent over backwards to give us the Amex, they are not deliberately trying to piss off the fans, be patient, we've gone from Withdean to Falmer in less than 12 months, it's not been a bad ride so far has it?

 

[Albion Dan]

Weve had this discussion plenty of times. Of course the club should have done it and to fail to put it in next season would be a very poor decision.

Perhaps they wanted to see how well the new seats sell first?

What actually concerns me the most is the amounts of written correspondence the club completely fail to respond to. That is unforgivable for a service industry business.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

As per title I feel it is very important we fill the ground and surely the best way to do this is allow a mechanism for people to advise the club if they can't attend a match and then the club re-sells that seat, maybe offer £5 credit onto the season ticket holders account as a goodwill gesture, the club will be better off and we have a full ground. Plus can people currently pay on the day ? I see most games say sold out but still empty seats, most other clubs do pay on the day so we should be able to.

Is Pay On The Day not currently supported online? I always thought it was. Or do you mean Pay On The Gate?

I think the Ticket Exchange will work a treat, if combined with a massive awareness drive by the club to let people know that tickets are available and can be booked right up to the day of the match, or at worst the day before.

 

[Rugrat]

The club told us last year that they were working on a ticket exchange, ok so it hasn't happened yet, but that's no reason to think it won't happen, most other things we expected this season have happened. I am sure they even explained the reasons for the difficulties, security, logistics etc. can't remember specifics, but I know one area of concern is tickets getting into the wrong hands. I'm not defending or complaining here, just trying to point out, once again, that this club has bent over backwards to give us the Amex, they are not deliberately trying to piss off the fans, be patient, we've gone from Withdean to Falmer in less than 12 months, it's not been a bad ride so far has it?

I'm not complaining, although I can't deny I think they should at least reply saying "thanks but no thanks", it was a pretty comprehensive and well thought through pitch and clearly a lot of thought had gone into it

OK so it was a speculative, but an enterprising approach. To my IT chums this isn't a big piece of work, about populating and setting a bunch of rules in a database, setting up feeds into the ticketing system, plastic issuance, managing the plastics (which are active/inactive for specific games) and a billing capability. They reckoned they could have it built/tested and running in 10/12 weeks from the time the spec was approved by the club.

I think the club have done brilliantly but they still have a ton to do what with expansion and simply getting the thing to run smoothly (transport, pies, maximising potential etc) and I doubt this is a high priority item for them, So outsourcing it to allow them to get on with the more important stuff would have been a no brainer in my book.

Oh well I tried

 

[drew]

I think the op means pay on the gate and I think most people accept this will never happen, especially with gates over 20k on a regular basis. You can buy online on the day and I suspect there are very few who don't have access to the internet or know someone that does so it's not really an excuse.

Also why is it 'very important' to fill the ground? Not sure the missing 2000 odd fans would make any significant difference to the atmosphere anyway!

 

[Rugrat]

Also why is it 'very important' to fill the ground? Not sure the missing 2000 odd fans would make any significant difference to the atmosphere anyway!

Revenue ... both in terms of the direct cost of the ticket (less anything back to the ticket holder not attending) plus any other revenue from merchandise, catering etc.

I also think it's a bit of a travesty that fans who want to go to a game can't when there are empty seats ... kind of daft really

 

[Curious Orange]

So, you can pay on the day... and a ticket exchange is in the pipeline. So the point of this thread is?

 

[teaboy]

I also think it's a bit of a travesty that fans who want to go to a game can't when there are empty seats ... kind of daft really

These seats aren't 'empty' though - they've been sold. The club has no power to resell them without the 'owner's' permission. Even with a full ticket-exchange there's no compulsion for tickets to be exchanged.

Also, what makes you think the club isn't working on this already?

 

[Rugrat]

... and a ticket exchange is in the pipeline.

Is it?

 

[Jim D]

........... maybe offer £5 credit onto the season ticket holders account as a goodwill gesture, ......

So, are you suggesting that people who can't make the game should tell the club and get £5 in return? It won't be worth their while to spend the time on the phone/internet - and some of the 1901 seats would sell for £50. Perhaps a £5 transaction fee would be OK, with the balance going back on the card.

 

[Rugrat]

These seats aren't 'empty' though - they've been sold. The club has no power to resell them without the 'owner's' permission. Even with a full ticket-exchange there's no compulsion for tickets to be exchanged.

Also, what makes you think the club isn't working on this already?

Agree 100% ... but if such a facility were available via the club website, it was promoted, it was simple to use and the non attending STH were able to get a cash credit then I assume many would use such a facility, at least they would have the opportunity to do so.

It may well be something that's being worked on for all I know. As I said they didn't reply to my three emails and I've seen nothing announced to say they are but no disputing the fact that they might be. I'd be bloody surprised if they weren't tbh

 

[Sheebo]

As per title I feel it is very important we fill the ground and surely the best way to do this is allow a mechanism for people to advise the club if they can't attend a match and then the club re-sells that seat, maybe offer £5 credit onto the season ticket holders account as a goodwill gesture, the club will be better off and we have a full ground. Plus can people currently pay on the day ? I see most games say sold out but still empty seats, most other clubs do pay on the day so we should be able to.

So, are you suggesting that people who can't make the game should tell the club and get £5 in return? It won't be worth their while to spend the time on the phone/internet - and some of the 1901 seats would sell for £50. Perhaps a £5 transaction fee would be OK, with the balance going back on the card.

I'm glad you thought this too Jim. £5 for a £20 or so seat - what a silly idea! If there is a ticket excange, the club need to be VERY careful. I heard Arsenal's one is a joke. You only get a certain percentage of the seat you're selling ie not the full price and you don't get the cash - it just comes off your 'renewal' for the next season (again they're presuming everyone renews.)

OK a 10% admin fee (£2 - £4) would be OK to re-sell the seat. Or the club re-sell at face value and keep the difference (I.E a North Stand season ticket works out at £17 a game but the face value is £23) - that would be fine. But hope the club don't take the piss.

Also might just help people to be a bit more vocal with friends etc. I've prob got rid of 10 / 15 tickets this season both from myself and mates - all for the right price. It's not hard. I think some are just lazy. The one slight problem is these kids season tickets. Because they're (rightly) so cheap, parents don't ever pass them on to other kids / upgrade them for someone else to use etc cos they can't be bothered. IT's not hard to put some effort in and get spare seats filled surely?

 

[Notters]

I'm glad you thought this too Jim. £5 for a £20 or so seat - what a silly idea! If there is a ticket excange, the club need to be VERY careful. I heard Arsenal's one is a joke. You only get a certain percentage of the seat you're selling ie not the full price and you don't get the cash - it just comes off your 'renewal' for the next season (again they're presuming everyone renews.)

OK a 10% admin fee (£2 - £4) would be OK to re-sell the seat. Or the club re-sell at face value and keep the difference (I.E a North Stand season ticket works out at £17 a game but the face value is £23) - that would be fine. But hope the club don't take the piss.

Also might just help people to be a bit more vocal with friends etc. I've prob got rid of 10 / 15 tickets this season both from myself and mates - all for the right price. It's not hard. I think some are just lazy. The one slight problem is these kids season tickets. Because they're (rightly) so cheap, parents don't ever pass them on to other kids / upgrade them for someone else to use etc cos they can't be bothered. IT's not hard to put some effort in and get spare seats filled surely?

Surely £5 is a lot better than nothing?!

 

[Rugrat]

I'm glad you thought this too Jim. £5 for a £20 or so seat - what a silly idea! If there is a ticket excange, the club need to be VERY careful. I heard Arsenal's one is a joke. You only get a certain percentage of the seat you're selling ie not the full price and you don't get the cash - it just comes off your 'renewal' for the next season (again they're presuming everyone renews.)

OK a 10% admin fee (£2 - £4) would be OK to re-sell the seat. Or the club re-sell at face value and keep the difference (I.E a North Stand season ticket works out at £17 a game but the face value is £23) - that would be fine. But hope the club don't take the piss.

Also might just help people to be a bit more vocal with friends etc. I've prob got rid of 10 / 15 tickets this season both from myself and mates - all for the right price. It's not hard. I think some are just lazy. The one slight problem is these kids season tickets. Because they're (rightly) so cheap, parents don't ever pass them on to other kids / upgrade them for someone else to use etc cos they can't be bothered. IT's not hard to put some effort in and get spare seats filled surely?

I agree a token rebate is not the answer but (and assuming the ticket is "resold") then most of the cost (less a fee) could be refunded and back to the loyalty card thus ensuring that the revenue comes into the club.

Yes many will be able to pass on tix, but there are lots I assume that can't and then have to rely on post and/or the trust of people they may not know. A simple "tick box" facility at the club website "I'm not attending game against xxxxxxx" is all that would be needed - job done.

 

[Sheebo]

Surely £5 is a lot better than nothing?!

True, but surely the club wouldn't take the piss like this...

I agree a token rebate is not the answer but (and assuming the ticket is "resold") then most of the cost (less a fee) could be refunded and back to the loyalty card thus ensuring that the revenue comes into the club.

Yes many will be able to pass on tix, but there are lots I assume that can't and then have to rely on post and/or the trust of people they may not know. A simple "tick box" facility at the club website "I'm not attending game against xxxxxxx" is all that would be needed - job done.

Great idea about revenue back on card - that would be fair enough IMO as long as you get all / most of the money back.

The club don't even have to do this 'through them' if not. Just an NSC style 'official' ticket exchange would be fine - leave people to sort meeting etc themselves... Although re-issuing paper tickets for a small admin fee would be the best and simplest way. De-activate the card for that one game and everyone's a winner...

 

[Dirk Gently]

One club I know of a similar size tried a ticket exchange scheme a few years ago when they were selling out every match. They found that the administration it took them was a massive overhead - ticket office staff were so busy trying to administer the changes and refunds, and field all the calls asking for exchanges, that the service to everyone else really plummeted. Unless they want to invest a large sum (£25,000+) on software to do it all automatically it's a very labour-intensive process - equivalent to 1.5 extra ticket office staff, it was estimated.

As to "pay-on-the-day" - what sort of sensible business would not sell all of their product in advance, but instead would keep some back in the hope that they will sell it at the last moment? That would also require extra staff and cash handling on matchdays, and also give the prospect of people turning up and queueing and not getting tickets - making for unhappy customers.