Web Options Tab

There are three sub-tabs on this window that hep you configure the patrons online shopping experience. These are:
  • General settings such as enabling login, how login works and any lockouts.
  • The Purchasing process that help decide flow of purchasing tickets, how passes can be used and suggested donations processes
  • Carts and Checkout settings for display options, and checkout settings.
  • Ticket Delivery Options settings for charging fees on various ticket delivery options

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Web Options - General

General Web Sales Options
Enable Web Sales Enables sales to occur on the web.
  • If turned ON, a directory must exist on the TM primary server for
    • This outlet (eg 1/WebPagesEN or 2/WebPagesEN for each of multiple outlets that are active) -AND-
    • for each language that is active for the outlet. eg WebPagesEN and WebPagesFR if both english and french are supported
    Listeners will not start if the Director requires full web pages and either of the outlet directory and/or the WebPagesXX directory is missing. If the Director requires only custom pages, the web services will start using the current template pages.
  • If turned OFF, patrons will receive a message that the site is down.
Allow Anonymous Login Enabling this feature allows patrons to shop and add items to a web sopping cart without identifying themselves first. When the patron is ready to check out and pay, they will need to either:
  • login to an existing account -or-
  • create a new account if they have never purchased before

Optionally, if you also wish to give patrons the option to checkout without creating an account you can enable the limited profile patron option. When the option is enabled and the patron checks out, they will be given 3 options:

  • sign in to an existing account -or-
  • create a new account if they have never purchased before -or-
  • provide a minimum amount of data (name and email) which is sufficient to send a confirmation of the purchase
Note: Limited profile patrons have some benefits and disadvantages. Please review them before deciding to turn on the option.
Show Count down Timer When enabled, a timer will appear on the web pages menu bar beside the cart - showing how much time is left before the web listener releases all items in the cart. The timer will appear once there is something in the cart and is reset every time the patron looks at a new web page
Login Attempts The maximum number of login attempts before the patron's account is locked out and they must request their password to continue.

Coupons and Preacess codes
Accept active coupons When selected, patrons will be able to enter a coupon code at checkout. For more about coupons, click here.
Enable presale access codes When selected, patrons will be able to enter a presale access code on the Events list online in order to see shows which are not online for sale to the general public. For more about presale access codes, click here.
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Web Options - Purchasing

Event List
Show Ticket Trove icons on play list Displays the Ticket Trove icon from the Marketing tab in the List of Events for the online sales.
Look Ahead Number of days in advance events should be displayed for. If this is:
  • zero - only the current month events are shown. on the last day of the month, that would mean only todays events.
  • non-zero - indicates the number of days (in advance of today) that events are to be displayed for. Atypical value is 45, meaning that when searching for the current month, then 45 days of events will be shown at a minimum, which will show events into the next month. This has no effect when searching for months that are entirely in the future.
Max Events (pagination) The maximum number of events to be displayed on any one page in the event list. If the patron requests more events than the maximum, the event page becomes paginated and the patron can go forward or backward in pages to see the rest of the events. Using 25 events for pagination is a good balance between performance and amount of data to display.

NOTE: the last page always shows a full list (by design). So, if you have 27 performances found by the current search, then:

  • page one will show the first 25 events (.ie. 1 to 25) -and-
  • page two will show the last 25 events (i.e. 3 to 27)
Note, Warning, Danger Alerts You can add a Note and/or Warning and/or Danger alert to your event list that will appear at the top of each page. This can be plain text, HTML or Markup. The diagram below shows some examples of using Markup to have all three of the messages appear on the event list.

Possible uses

  • Covid Re-opening Rules
  • Adding quick pick HTML for certain events

Example using markup

Example using HTML with links

Preferred Route to Ticket Selection
Use Default Route as decided by the system This describes the path taken from the event list to the seat selection for reserved seating events. There are two explicit options provided (described below).

Unless explicitly selected below, the web listeners will take the default path to the seat selection window as decided by Arts Man. Currently, the default path is to ask the patron where they want to sit and the number of tickets (first option), but that may change as a result of feedback from venues in accordance with dominant marketing thinking. If you prefer one option over the other, please select it.

Note: if not using pick your own seating in a venue, events sold in that venue will always use the ask for quantity/section approach.

Always ask for quantity/section before offering seats For this path from the event list to the seat selection window, the user is given an intermediate step that asks for the number of tickets they want and the section they may want to sit in. This adds one page to the selection process and has the advantage that a user will always be guaranteed seats before they start the pick your own process.
Proceed Directly to Pick your own This path indicates that the user will be taken directly from the event list to pick your own, with no tickets selected for them. It is one web page click shorter, but seats must be manually selected.

In the case of large onsales, arriving at pick your own with no saved seats may cause frustration for users if they try to pick some and find their selection being taken by others. you can:

  • Manually modify the web page link for the event window to automatically suggest a couple of tickets and have a hybrid option.
  • Globally disable the pick your own option temporarily during a large on-sales by picking the ask for quantity approach on this window. You can re-enable later.
  • Disable the pick your own setting temporarily for the map you are using for the on-sale. If pick your own it not enabled then the events in that venue will use the ask for quantity approach (above) and other events using different pricing maps will use the pick your own approach
When you send a patron directly to pick-your-own, there is a button for a quick suggestion of seats. The quantity suggested is the same as the suggested ticket purchase quantity in the performance detail window. You can customize this per performance.

Ticket Selection
Show sales promotion on offered ticket When selected, the sales promotion's external description will be visible to patrons online during seat selection. This appears on the seat selection window where tickets are offered to the patron AFTER Theatre Manager has found them. it confirms the external sales promotion name to the patron.
Show price code on offered ticket When selected, the Price Code description will be visible to patrons online during seat selection. This appears on the seat selection window where tickets are offered to the patron AFTER Theatre Manager has found them. It confirms the price code that will be on the ticket.
Map Display This setting indicates how you would like the map to display for web sales. You can show only the seats available to the patron, all others are blank, or you can choose to show all the seats, those that are taken have their codes masked or not, or a generic map of the venue. These setting can be overridden for individual performances, click here for more information. Options are:
  • Selected seats only (sold are blank)
  • Selected and sold (mask seat codes)
  • Selected and sold (actual seat codes)
  • Use 'tmGifs/Map[x].jpg' for generic map
  • Do not display any map

Passes and Gift Gertificates
Enable Pass/G.C. Redemption Allows Pass/G.C.'s to be used as payment online. Only those Pass/G.C.'s that have been set for redemption online in the Pass/GC setup can be used online.
Enable Pass/G.C. Renewal Allows the renewal of Pass/G.C.'s that have been configured to be renewed online in the Pass/GC setup

Donation Options
Suggest adding general donation in cart When selected, patrons will see a reminder at the top of a shopping cart to include a donation with their order at checkout. If clicked, the partron is taken to the donation screen to give to any campaign allowed online. Once a donation is given, the message disappears from the cart window.
Suggest adding round-up donation to cart If round up donation is enabled and a campaign is specified, then a message will appear in the shopping cart window and/or checkout window encouraging the patron to round up their payment to the nearest even dollar (or 5 or 10 - the amount can be easily customized in rowcartdonationroundup). Once the payment amount for the cart is an even dollar, then the message will not appear.

The campaign must be enabled online (and you might not want to make it visible) - and we'd suggest making a separate one that might be named like Round Up My Bill Donations or using your existing annual individual giving campaign.

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Web Options - Carts and Checkout

Carts
Show price/fee/tax breakout if enabled, shows a breakout of ticket prices, fees, taxes etc on the checkout page as per the image to the right.
Show 'Face Value' price and final price in carts If enabled, this will show the face value of a ticket (as determined in the Web Options tab) on all online web pages and any e-ticket emailed to a patron.
Cart Timeout The number of minutes a patron can do nothing after accessing a page before the cart becomes inactive and the items released. Whenever the patron requests another page to resume shopping, the timer is reset.
Moneris Hosted Payments requires that your cart timeout is 60 minutes - it cannot be less. This is because Moneris payment acceptance is 60 minutes and we cannot close carts until their payment page has timed out.
Session Timeout The number of minutes a patron can be idle on the web site before they are logged out. This must be the same or larger than the cart timeout.

The difference between session and cart time out:

  • The cart time out only releases items in the cart to others after the timeout is reached. If somebody is logged in, they stay logged in.
  • The session timeout is when the patron is logged out (which also closes the cart if it is not closed). After that, the patron must log in again if they attempt to complete a cart.


    • Streaming Performances We highly recommend increasing your web sales session timeout to be at least 1 week, and even up to a year. By extending the session timeout, patrons will not have to login as often which will smooth out the web experience and remove obstacles to purchase. This is especially true when patrons are logged in on mobile devices.

Checkout
Min Cart Payment You can specify a value that the cart must be before a credit card checkout would be attempted. This can be used to prevent 'bad guys' using your web site to try verify if stolen credit cards could be accepted.

Set it zero to ignore the check completely. Carts containing only comp tickets or ticket completely paid for by passes are ignored by this test.

Pay Order Balances Online When selected, patrons will be able to pay for any outstanding order balances online if the order is marked as such when putting on account. If this is disabled, then the feature of paying prior order balances is disabled completely.

NOTE: If a patron pays for a prior order balance online, three (or more) payments are created:
  1. Credit Card Payment: The credit card payment amount is determined based on the total value in the cart. This INCLUDES the balance on the prior orders.
  2. Cash payment 1: A CREDIT CASH payment is made to reduce the overall payment amount on the cart to the purchased value of new items EXCLUDING totals for prior orders
  3. Cash Payment 2 - N: A DEBIT CASH payment is then made for EACH of the other order(s) that were added to the cart to be paid off. This allocates a CASH payment to each of the orders added to the cart to reduce its balance to zero.
 The net effect is similar to a payment applied to multiple orders
Must Acknowledge Terms and Conditions When selected, patrons will be required to read/accept the terms and conditions at checkout. You may be able to place certain restrictions in the terms and conditions to cover exchange and refund policies, patron behaviour, age limits, scalping,etc.

Refer to tmtermsandconditions.html for more information.

Add Calendar to Confirmation Emails If selected, then a calendar will be attached to the outgoing confirmation email as an ICS file. This can be double clicked by the user to add their purchase dates to their calendar on their own devices.
Terms and Conditions You can add your extra terms and conditions here that will show when they are requested on the checkout window.

Covid 19 You can enter your Covid 19 policy in plain text, HTML or markup language and it will appear in the web site automatically.

Adding words to covid 19 tab also causes the 'accept terms and conditions' checkbox on the web site to say that there are Covid 19 conditions. We recommend using this in conjunction with event list notes so that people will see instructions both before and after ordering.

Notification You can set up a notification which specifies a list of email addresses that will receive a copy of all completed shopping cart emails. This can be used for audit or backup purposes.

If implemented, you will have to clean out the emails from the specified email account yourself and use of this feature is not recommended if you have rate limiters at your ISP (such as google mail)

Browser Payment API Support

Some web browsers support card payment options natively that allows the patron to manage their own card data within the browser and use it to pay in a web cart interface.

If selected, Theatre Manager will attempt to use alternate payment screens on checkout to try to simplify the payment interface.

If all are unchecked, then Theatre Manager does not try to take advantage of the API's in a browser and uses the existing web page payment screen that is designed to be the same on all browsers.

Note: these options currently cannot be used with Acknowledge terms and conditions option (above)

Built in Bootstrap View If enabled, Theatre Manager will show a summary of the purchase and credit card input on one modal dialog using bootstrap. This causes other checkout options like delivery options to default. It is meant to use as a quick pay option
Basic Card If enabled and the browser supports it, the browser will use the built in payment screen from the browser. Google chrome is currently the only browser that implements this (since they invented it). If this option is not supported by your browser, then the Built in Bootstrap view will be used (if enabled here)

reCAPTCHA Support

Google has a tool called reCAPTCHA. They state, on their web site:

reCAPTCHA uses an advanced risk analysis engine and adaptive challenges to keep malicious software from engaging in abusive activities on your website. Meanwhile, legitimate users will be able to login, make purchases, view pages, or create accounts and fake users will be blocked.

Client Key If enabled, enter the client key that you obtained from the google web site when you signed up for the feature.
Server Key If enabled, enter the server key that you obtained from the google web site when you signed up for the feature.
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Web Options - Ticket Delivery

You can charge different online fees for the ticket delivery method the customer chooses such as :
  • Mailing Tickets - which is generally standard since it costs money to mail tickets
  • Hold at Will Call - which seems to be an emerging trend in some locations if the customer is given the choice of print at home and picking up tickets -- a fee such as this might bias the customer to chose to print at home
  • Print at Home - which would charge a fee for tickets printed at home. We have not had and venue ask for this yet - but it exists for completeness
Any of these fees are optional. if you do not wish to charge them, set the fee to zero or leave the fee setup blank.

Turning off any of these options mean that cannot be selected by the patron on the checkout window, regardless of any settings for each event.

 

Permitted E-Ticket Delivery Options
Set initial delivery option based on cart contents Tells the web server how to best set the ticket delivery options on the cart checkout page. If
  • checked (the default), the web server picks the most appropriate ticket delivery option based on the contents of the shopping cart. For example: if the cart has events that allow e-tickets, that will be the default. If the cart has no e-tickets, the default becomes pick up at will call.
  • un-checked, the patron must always pick a delivery option manually.
Mail to patron Tickets purchased on the internet are marked for printing and mailing by the box office. A Mail Fee must be entered above in order for this option to be selected. When selected, online patrons are presented with a Mail My Tickets option at checkout.
Mail Fee The number of the order fee designated as a Mail Fee in Fee Tables.
Print At Home Tickets Tickets purchased on the internet are marked as printed and patrons are presented with the option to print their own bar-coded tickets. Click here for information on turning on Print at Home for a selected event or performance.

If you are printing at home, you can print using one of two types of bar codes.

  • Standard 3 of 9 bar code. This is the same as what is printed on hard ticket stock and looks like a ladder.
  • QR code format. This is the square 2D bar code found that is typically used for quick access to web sites

Additional Action Items:

If you enable print at home tickets in company preferences, there are some other things you might also want to:

  1. Edit some current events or performances and selectively enable print at home. Exiting events are not converted, all new events default to print at home
  2. Buy a ticket yourself and print it to PDF to see what the ticket looks like. The default print at home ticket has space for an 'AD' that you might like to change in the default web pages.
  3. Decide if you want to email tickets to patrons who phone in to the box office - an email ticket option will appear where the print ticket used to be to provide choice. This is useful as it also acts as a confirmation while allowing you to update email data for parsons.
  4. Read about how to batch email ticket to patrons via the print unprinted tickets function
Note: The Linea-Pro scanner attachments for IOS (for iPhone/iPod) are able to scan both 3 of 9 and QR codes. The older MC55A windows mobile based bar code scanners can only scan the standard 3 of 9 bar code. If you are using those wireless scanners, do not pick QR code.
Print at Home Fee The number of the order fee designated as a Print at home Fee in Fee Tables. This fee will be charged to patrons who print their tickets at home. Leave blank if you don't want a fee for this option.
Hold for Will Call When selected, patrons online can select to have the box office print and hold their tickets in Will Call. The exception is, any ticket for a performance where the print at home setting is 'must print at home' or is 'mark ticket as printed' will be set accordingly.
Will Call Fee The number of the order fee designated as a Will Call Fee in Fee Tables. This fee will be charged to patrons who elect to have their tickets picked up at the box office. You do not have to have a fee - leave blank if you don't want one.
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