How to create and manage ticket allocations

In this article we are going to look at ticket allocations, what they are how you can use them. We’ll show you how to:

• Create unassigned and assigned seat ticket allocations.
• How to use ticket allocations for assigning seats and banded pricing.
• How to use allocations for reserving seats, selling a portion of tickets through third parties and early bird discounts.

Take a look at our guide on how to create a show for more information on shows, events, pricing and ticket allocations. 

What are ticket allocations

Ticket allocations are used to divide up the total number of tickets available for an event into different groups or categories. These allocations can be used for a variety of purposes, such as different pricing tiers, presale access, agent ticket sales, or reserved seating. By setting up different ticket allocations, you can manage the availability and pricing of tickets in a more targeted and strategic way, which can help to optimise sales and improve the overall customer experience.

Ticket allocations can be used on any event or venue whether allocated or unreserved, seated or standing.

Master allocations

Your Venue setup in Ticketsolve determines the Master allocations. Within Ticketsolve, in Venues (Manage > Venues) you will see your venue(s) listed and within each venue you will find your Venue layout(s) which will already have been created during your account setup. Within each of the Venue layouts are Ticket zones. Depending on your setup you may have one or more ticket zones. It is within these ticket zones that we will create ticket allocations.

To start creating or managing your allocations:

Go to Manage > Shows

1. Search for the show you need in the Filter shows search box.

2. Click the Run you need.

3. Click the Event you need.

You are now in the Event Details page. On the left side of the screen you will see a column named 'Master allocations', and listed underneath are the Ticket zones as setup in your Venue layout.

If your venue only has one ticket zone, you will see only one listing. If your venue has multiple ticket zones, such as circle, stalls, balcony etc., there will be multiple zones listed. Unallocated seating will also be listed here. 

Example of one ticket zone:

Example of multiple ticket zones:

4. In the left column, click into a ticket zone you want to set up with ticket allocations. 

You are now in the Master allocations details page. You should not typically need to change anything on this page, as the information such as the Default size (capacity) and Average price is pulled from your Venue layout.

If your venue is using unallocated/unreserved seating, you can adjust the size of the ticket zone, up or down if needed. 

If your venue is using allocated/reserved seating, you should not adjust the size of the ticket zone. 

5. Click Update Master Allocation to save any changes. 

Ticket Allocations

On the Master allocation details page, in the left column of your screen you will see all of the Ticket allocations for this event. If this is a newly created event, the ticket allocation will be called Default. This is created by the system automatically using the pricing scheme selected earlier and the Master allocation / Ticket zone size.

To edit and set up your ticket allocation:

1. Click on

• Default in the column on the left or,
• The name of the allocation you want to edit or, 
• Add New + to add a new ticket allocation.

Now you will see the Ticket allocation details page, which has a number of areas you need to complete. 

2. Name of the ticket allocation. 

Note: If you have one ticket allocation, the name will not be displayed to the customer during the purchase process, so you can leave this as Default if you wish. However, if you have more than one allocation, the names will be displayed during the purchase process.  

3. Size of the ticket allocation. This can be lower than your Master Allocation size, but not higher. So if you have multiple ticket allocations, you might sell some tickets from one allocation and some from another, but you're never going to sell over this total.

4. Minimum size allows you to 'ring-fence' a set number of tickets so that they can be sold through this allocation only. E.g., if you had a Comp ticket allocation with a size of 20, but want to hold 10 tickets for Comps so they could not be sold through any other ticket allocation, you would set a minimum size of 10. That means, that those 10 tickets could not be sold elsewhere except through the Comps ticket allocation. You are not required to set a number in here, and it is often set at zero.

5. Allocation level can be set to Public, Box Office, Reserved or Agent and can be changed in existing allocations:

• Public level allocations can be sold online and so can be purchased by the general public, as well as sold at the Box Office. 
• Box Office level allocations can only be sold via the Ticketsolve Box Office, and cannot be purchased online. Comp tickets can be set at Box Office level, giving any user with access to the box office can sell from these allocations. 
• Reserved level allocations can only be sold via the Box Office and cannot be purchased online. Reserved ticket allocations can also only be sold by users with a minimum role of Box Office Manager. This allocation can be used to indicate a number of tickets or seats are held in reserve for the company, a group booking, or comps etc. and to restrict sales of these tickets to only Box Office Managers or higher. 
• Agent level allocations can only be sold via the Box Office and can be used to indicate when a number of tickets or seats have been given to a third-party to sell. 

6. Allocation colour allows you to set the seat colour.

7. Pricing scheme is where you select the pricing scheme that holds the ticket prices you want available in this allocation. Each ticket allocation can only have one pricing scheme. You can have multiple ticket prices in one pricing scheme, but you can only have one pricing scheme per allocation.

So for example if you wanted to add comp tickets an event, you would likely need to:

• Create another ticket allocation
• Set Allocation level to 'Box office'
• Set the Pricing scheme to 'comp' 

You would want to set the allocation up this way, because you most likely don't want the comp tickets to be publicly available online.

Tip: Clicking the blue box and arrow icon (at the right of 'Pricing scheme') will bring you directly to the pricing schemes. Go to Manage > Shows to get back to the Ticket allocations screen. 

8. Priority can be used to determine the order in which allocations are listed online (especially useful if you have multiple allocations), with 99 being the highest (showing at the top) and 1 being the lowest (showing at the bottom). It is not required to put a number in here. 

9. Effective from and Effective to dates can be used to set when a ticket allocation will be available for sale at the Box Office and online. You can use these dates if you wish to set effective dates for different allocations. This can be a simple way of doing early bird offers.

Note: The date set is effective from just after midnight. So if you have an Effective from date of 1 July and an Effective To date of 31 July, the ticket allocation will go on sale at 00:01 on 1 July and come off sale at 00:01 on 31 July (so if you wanted the allocation to be available throughout 31 July, the Effective To date would need to be 1 August).

10. Allocation tags are useful if for example you wanted to set up a specific discount or benefit. For example you may want to give exclusive access to a certain ticket allocations or discounted tickets for members, tags will help with this.

11. Continue to Assign seats or set seats to Exclusive if you need to or to save changes, click the Update Ticket Allocations button (bottom right corner). 

12. To create more allocations, click on the Add New + button at the top of the page and fill in the details accordingly. 

Below are examples of how ticket allocations will appear in the box office and online for customers. 

One allocation . . .

Multiple allocations . . .

Assigned and Exclusive seating

If you are using a venue with allocated / reserved seating there will be two extra options you need to manage in the Ticket allocation details - Assigned Allocation and Exclusive?. 

• Assigned Allocation allows you to select specific seats to apply to a ticket allocation.
• Exclusive enables those seats selected to be exclusive to that allocation only, e.g., the seats can be sold under that allocation only. If Exclusive is not selected, the assigned seats within the allocation can be sold under a different allocation as well. For example you may want to keep tickets within an accessible seating allocation exclusive, rather than open to any other allocation. In this case, you would not want those seats available in other allocations. 

To use Assigned Allocation and Exclusive? on a ticket allocation:

1. When you first create a new ticket allocation, these toggles will be available to turn on or off. Before creating the allocation, you will need to decide if it will be Assigned or Exclusive. Note: Once a ticket allocation is created you will not be able to change the Assigned toggle; you will need to create a new allocation. You can turn on the toggle of an existing Assigned allocation to make it Exclusive. 

2. In your new allocation, toggle Assigned Allocation to on (blue).

3. If the seats will only be sold through this allocation, toggle Exclusive? to on (blue). Note: You will be able to turn on and off the Exclusive toggle in any Assigned allocations, but you won't be able to change the assigned toggle.

You will then see that the size and minimum size boxes become greyed out. This is because the system knows you are going to be assigning seats, so the size will be automatically populated by the number of seats you select. 

4. Complete the remaining sections for the ticket allocation and click Add Ticket Allocation.

5. Once you have added your assigned ticket allocation you will see that it saves with an 'ASSIGNED' (and 'EXCLUSIVE' if selected) label on it.

Note: If you set an allocation as Exclusive, seats within that allocation can only be sold within that allocation and no other. During a box office sale, if seats with 'Exclusive' are chosen with the wrong ticket allocation, an error will appear and the tickets will not be able to be added to the cart. Once the correct allocation is selected, the tickets can be added to the cart as normal. 

Seat editor

A new tab will appear at the top of the screen called Seat editor. You can now use this to select the seats that should be assigned to your ticket allocation. 

1. To assign seats, click into your ticket allocation.

2. Click into the Seat editor tab. 

3. Click the seats you want to assign to the allocation. To select a block of seats at once, click + drag the lasso tool across the seats you need. Note: You can assign seats to multiple ticket allocations unless they are in an Exclusive ticket allocation. 

4. In the right column, will see a list of all your assigned ticket allocations. Click on the allocation you want to assign the seats to. 

5. When the seats are assigned, you will see:

• A 'tick mark' in the allocation box you selected and the seats colour will change to the colour of your assigned allocation.
• A small pop-up in the left corner of your screen will also confirm, "Seats successfully updated".
• The allocation number will update automatically and the allocation will appear in the box office.

6. To remove seats from a ticket allocation, select the seats again and click De-allocate seats. 

Blocking and Unblocking seats

If you are using a venue with allocated/reserved seating, you can use the Seat editor tab to block/un-block seats. 

1. Click into a ticket allocation (it doesn't matter which one). 

2. Go to the Seat editor tab.

3. Select the seats you want to block / un-block.

4. In the right column, click the button that will either say Block seats or Unblock seats.

5. You will then see your seats update on the seating plan to their new blocked / un-blocked status. 

De-allocating and Re-allocating seats

If you need to, you can de-allocate seats from one allocation and apply them to another. To do this:

1. Click into an allocation. 

2. Click the Seat editor tab. 

3. Select the seats you wish to de-allocate.

4. Click De-allocate.

5. Click YES to confirm.

The selected seats are now de-allocated and you will see the seats change colour in the Seat editor.

6. You can now select those seats again, click the allocation you require from the list of allocations in the right column to re-allocate those seats. 

Banded pricing 

Banded pricing allows you to offer tickets at different price points based on various factors such as seating location, view of the stage, etc. Banded pricing gives your customers a range of options to choose from, catering to different budgets and preferences. While banded pricing is most often used for seating location, view of stage / specific seats, etc. it can be used in any way that makes sense for your organisation or event. 

Banded pricing for assigned seat allocations

You can set-up ticket allocations with banded pricing with assigned or unassigned seating. However, if the band is related to seat location, view of stage, or specific seats - the allocation will need to be assigned. 

To create an allocation with banded pricing for assigned seats:

1. Find the show you need and create a new banded allocation. You can create as many bands as you need.

When creating your banded allocation keep in mind:

• The names of your banded pricing allocations will be displayed to customers, if the Allocation levels are set to 'Public', e.g., available for public sale online.
  
  
• Setting the Priority for each band (not required) ensures each price band is listed correctly online for customers and in the box office. 99 is the highest priority (showing at the top) and 1 is the lowest (showing at the bottom). 
  
  
• You won't need to set Size in the allocation, because this will automatically update when you select the seats in Seat editor for the band. 
  
  
• It is a good idea to use a different Allocation colour for each of your different prices bands. 

2. Seats need to be assigned to this banded allocation, so you must toggle Assigned Seats? to on (blue) and/or toggle Exclusive? to on (blue) (if required). You will not be able to change these settings afterwards.

3. You need to select the seats in the Seat editor that will be included in this banded allocation. If you have multiple allocation bands, they will be listed in the right column of the Seat editor tab. Follow the steps above to select seats to be included in the allocation band. 

4. You can de-allocate and re-allocate seats for any band as needed. 

Note: Banded pricing allocation for seats is usually set to be available both at the box office and online. If you have any unassigned allocations, for example Comps, (which are typically only available at the box office and not to the general public online), those seats can be taken from any of the ticket allocations for that event (assigned or unassigned). Practically that means, Comps could be taken from any band. If you wish to exclude Comps from being used in certain price bands you will need to set the toggle Exclusive? to on (blue) in that allocation. Comps will then be available in other price bands, but not in the band set to exclusive. 

Agent and Reserved Allocations

On the Ticket allocations details screen, you will see the option to select Agent in the Allocation level. Choosing the allocation level, allows you to 'ring-fence' a certain number of tickets for third-party agents or reserve tickets such as comps. To set up agent allocations or reserved allocations:

1. Find the show you need and create a new allocation named 'Agent' or 'Reserved'. Fill in the information as required. 

2. Select Agent (or Reserved) from the dropdown in Allocation level. Setting these allocation levels as Agent or Reserved means these allocations will not be available online to customers. 

3. Select the Allocation colour.

4. Select the agent name from the Agent dropdown if creating an agent allocation. 

5. Set the toggle Exclusive? to on (blue) in the allocation if you wish to ring fence tickets for agents or reserve only within that allocation. Setting the allocation to 'Exclusive' will mean that this allocation will not be available in the box office unless the correct order type is selected. 

Note: The Allocation level you set in each allocation determines who can sell/access tickets in that allocation. In the Box Office, Select order type (upper right corner of the cart) can have three options: Agent, Phone, Box Office. For example, if Agent is selected, only tickets from ticket allocations with the allocation level of 'Agent' will be able to be added to the cart etc. See the section above for more details. Some Ticketsolve accounts will not have the option to change Select order type and may only show Box Office and/or Phone. If you do not have Agent order type, but need it, contact support. 

6 Select the seats for this allocation. Note: These seats will be greyed out and unavailable to customers online. 

You can use a combination of strategies including discounts, banded pricing etc., with allocations to create any number of offerings for your customers including early bird offers to encourage early booking. 

Watch our All You Need To Know About Ticket Allocations Academy Session for more info on all things allocations!