Setting Up Voucher Types for the Season

A voucher type represents one particular type of single ticket, subscription, or other product sold during a specific season. A voucher type belongs to one of five categories:

• Regular revenue: A normal single ticket for which you charge money
• Comp: A single-ticket complimentary admission
• Voucher included in a bundle: A voucher only available as part of a package, such as a subscription that includes one ticket to each of four shows; these vouchers have no dollar value because they can only be purchased as part of a bundle
• Bundle: A collection of vouchers that can be sold as a single product (like a subscription or two-fer)
• Nonticket product: An item with a price that is not a ticket; use this category of voucher type to sell products (wine, raffle tickets, etc.) and collect fees (ticket-exchange fees, etc.)

Each voucher type is valid only for the specific season associated with it, beginning on the season start date you specify on the Options tab and ending one year later. Each new season you need to create a new set of voucher types for that season, even if many of the prices are the same. So, for example, a “General Admission” voucher type created for the 2023 season cannot be associated with any 2024 shows; a new General Admission voucher type for 2024 must be created instead.

To view the existing voucher types, click the Vouchers tab and select the desired season. You may also filter the list of voucher types displayed by category (comp, bundle, etc.).

Creating a New Voucher Type from Scratch

To create a new voucher type, click the Vouchers tab and then the “New Voucher Type” button at the bottom of the list of voucher types. The fields you fill in will vary depending on the category of voucher type you create.

When do you need to create a new voucher type instead of just adding additional redemptions (discussed in this article) to an existing voucher type?

1. If you want to have a different price point, then you will need a separate voucher type. All redemptions for one voucher type will have the same price point, so you need multiple voucher types to charge different ticket prices.
2. If two different types of tickets have the same price point but you want to be able to track sales separately, then you need two separate voucher type. For example, youth and senior tickets may sell for the same price, but if you want to break down the revenue from each in reporting, they should be separate voucher types.
3. If you want a ticket type that is only valid for specific productions or performances, it probably needs to be a separate voucher type.

Cloning a Voucher Type from a Previous Season

Since a voucher type is only usable for one season, you will need to create all new voucher types when creating a new season. If a voucher type in the new season will be the same or similar to a voucher type from a past season, you may choose to “clone” the previous voucher type into the new season instead of creating it from scratch.

To clone an existing voucher type into a new season, click the Vouchers tab and select the season that contains the existing voucher type you wish to clone. Click the Clone button associated with the voucher type you wish to clone.

You will now be on a page that looks just like the page where you create a new voucher type from scratch, except that all of the fields will already be filled in. Edit any fields that need to change from the previous season to the new season – for example if there was a price increase. Also be sure to set the season for the cloned voucher type. Click the Create button to create the new voucher type in the new season.

You cannot clone bundles, but you can clone voucher types belonging to any other category.

Creating Bundles and Subscriptions

A bundle is a special category of voucher type that actually just collects together a bunch of other voucher types into a package. Even though the bundle is itself a voucher type, it’s a voucher type that cannot be redeemed for anything; think of it as a “container” for the rest of the voucher types in the bundle. So when a patron buys, for example, a four show subscription, they are actually getting five vouchers: one representing the subscription itself, and one each for the four shows in the subscription.

Bundle voucher types have the special property that if a bundle is canceled or transferred to another patron, all of its constituent vouchers travel with it. If you cancel and refund a subscription, that automatically cancels the vouchers included in it; if you transfer a subscription to another patron (maybe it had been intended as a gift), all the included vouchers go with it.

To create a bundle, you must first create all of the voucher types that will be part of the bundle, and they must have the category “Voucher included in a bundle”. This type of voucher doesn’t allow you to specify a price, because they will only be sold as part of a bundle.

After you have created all of the voucher types that will be part of the bundle, you create the bundle voucher  type itself and associate any number of bundled voucher types with it, and set the price for the entire bundle.

Creating Voucher Types for Exchange Fees and Concessions

Create voucher types with a category of “Nonticket product” in order to charge customers for items other than subscriptions or seats to a performance, such as wine, raffle tickets, or exchange fees. Typically these items are only sold by the box office, so be sure to set the availability to “Box office use only”. If you would like the item to be sold in person at a performance, be sure to check the box for “Walkup sales allowed”.

As with single ticket voucher types, a redemption must be created for every performance at which the fee or concession can be sold. Typically, a redemption will be created for every performance of every show in the season for this type of voucher.

For example, if you plan to sell wine and snacks at all performances, then you might create a nonticket product voucher type for a glass of wine and another for a cookie. Set availability to box office use only, and check the box to allow walkup sales. Create redemptions for these voucher types for all performances of the season. This will allow patrons to pay for concessions at each performance at the box office using cash or credit card, and the transactions will be recorded in Audience1st for future reporting.

Exchange fees work in a similar way. If the theater charges a flat $5 fee to change a single ticket to an alternate performance, then the box office can “sell” the exchange fee to the patron using the Buy Tickets page while changing the patron’s reservation to the alternate performance date.