What is a Package?
Packages contain everything your guest receives when they are registered for your event. Packages contain the number of seats / places / registrations you are offering each guest. For paid tickets, they also contain the price of the ticket and a description of what the buyer receives. For 3rd Party sponsors / partners, they might contain a table or a number of seats at your event, a description of all the benefits your sponsor receives and instructions for their guest coordinator.
The most simple Packages are the default Invite and Register Packages. The default Invite contains one ‘seat’ at your event. When a guest clicks ‘Accept’ on an invite containing this Package, they are registered with that one seat. The default Register packages contains one ‘seat’ at your event. When someone registers at your registration page using that Package, they are registered with that one seat.
What are the different Package types?
There are three basic Package types:
Invites: Invite Packages are created to be added to emailed invites, sent from the Emails page. The default Invite Package contains one seat at the event. You can create Invite Packages containing more than one seat - which means if a recipient accepts one of these Invites, they will be registered and also be able to register additional guests - up to the total amount of seats in the Package. Invite emails sent with these Packages contain ‘Accept / Decline’ buttons for the recipient to choose from. Clicking ‘Accept’ automatically registers the recipient at your event. Therefore, Invites are always ‘free’ (do not have to be paid for). You can add a money ‘value’ to an Invite Package for event tracking purposes, but it cannot be paid for by the recipient.
Tickets: Ticket Packages are created to appear on your registration page and contain a number of seats / registrations per package and a price. The default Ticket Package contains one seat / registration for your event and is set to $0, ready for you to set the price. You can create any number of Ticket Packages, each containing any number of seats / registrations for any price. Once toggled ‘on’, they appear on your registration page. The default Register Package is also a kind of Ticket, but by default it is set to be free of charge. This Register Package is automatically toggled on to appear on your registration page if you select ‘allow free registrations’ during event setup.
3rd Party: These Packages are a subset of either Invites or Tickets. 3rd Party Packages are unique in that the initial user (either the Invite recipient or the Ticket purchaser) is not necessarily the individual attending the event. Rather, they are the coordinator of the guests who will use the seats in the 3rd Party Package. 3rd Party Packages are used for sponsors or event partners who may have multiple seats at your event and who want to manage those registrations themselves. 3rd Party Packages can be created as Invites and added to emails, or created as registration page packages and toggled on to appear for purchase on your registration page.
Can I create my own Packages?
Yes. For all paid events you will need to edit the default Ticket Package (to at least give it a price) and for many events you will create your own Packages to serve as different types of Tickets or Sponsor Packages etc.
To create a new Package, click the New Package button to display the Package creation panel. Below is an example of the panel, filled in for a new Package:
Give your Package a name. If used on your event’s Register Page, this name will be visible to your ticket purchasers.
Define how many seats are included. This refers to how many seats / registrations each ticket holder will receive. e.g. if this number is set to '2', buying one ticket will give the purchaser two seats at the event.
Select whether the Package is to be displayed on the Register Page, or used internally to add to Invites you send.
Add Package Text. This is a description of what the registrant / purchaser receives for their registration / Ticket. If used on your event’s Register Page, this description will be visible to your ticket purchasers.
Set a Price. For Register Page Tickets this will be the price per Ticket that purchases will have to pay. For Invites, this acts only as an internal guide price for you as all Invites are free.
Select the Max Available. This is the maximum number of these Tickets that can be used. Once this number is reached, no more will be available. On the Register Page the Ticket Package will be marked ‘Sold Out’. For the Free Registration Package, the Package will display ‘Waitlist’ and give registrants the option of waitlisting for the event. For Invites, once this number has accepted an invite with this Package, subsequent invitees will be offered the option to go onto the event’s Waitlist.
Choose to show / hide the Ticket Fee. For paid tickets Seatrobot applies a processing fee. You can decide to have your purchasers pay this fee in addition to the face value of the Ticket, or opt to have Seatrobot deduct it from your Ticket price without affecting the purchaser.
Click Save.
(3rd Party options are discussed here)
The images below show how the above Ticket Package displays on the event’s Register Page
Clicking the ‘Info’ button displays the Package Text:
Why do I have to add a Package to an Invite?
The most basic form of Invite RSVP is to ask someone to attend your event and for them to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. For many events, Invites have to be no more involved than that. In this example, your recipient is saying ‘Yes’ to receiving one seat / place at your event.
But what if you want to give everyone who RSVP’s two seats (like a ‘plus one’)? Perhaps you want to Invite each guest to have a table of six seats? Seatrobot allows you ultimate flexibility over what you give to people who RSVP for your events, just as if you were creating special Ticket Packages for them.
To enable this control and flexibility Seatrobot requires you to add a Package to all your Invites, defining what your recipients are saying ‘yes’ to receiving. The most simple example is to add the Default Invite Package to your Invites. This gives recipients the option of RSVP’ing either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to one seat at your event. Simple. But you can create any number of different Packages and add them to your Invites for more complex events in the same simple way.
What's the different between a Ticket Package and a 3rd Party Package?
I created a new Ticket Package but it's not showing up on my event Registration Page
How does Waitlisting work with Packages?
How do I control my event guest numbers?