The Eventbrite Alternative That Pays Out Immediately

Eventbrite is such a ubiquitous name when it comes to events and ticketing that it’s hard to think of any other solutions. But when you get down to it, Eventbrite has plenty of drawbacks, especially if your event isn’t a major production. An Eventbrite alternative can offer more perks at a better price point.

For one, their pricing is higher than many Eventbrite alternatives in the industry. Eventbrite’s “Professional” package charges a price of $1.59 per ticket, plus 3.5% of the ticket’s total price.

For another, your Eventbrite event site comes cluttered with Eventbrite logos and branding. They even promote other events right there on your page, which you have absolutely no control over.

But by far, Eventbrite’s biggest flaw is that they hold your ticket revenue until after your event is over—no matter how far in advance an attendee bought their ticket. Eventbrite can hold your payout for weeks after your event date, even if your event is canceled.

Eventbrite alternatives pay out sooner, and one, SimpleTix, pays out instantly.

Getting your money as soon as a customer hits “purchase” can change the game for organizing your event.

Instant payouts make it easier to budget

Whether you’re throwing a backyard music festival or organizing a bee-keeping convention, your event requires ancillary resources like catering, security, facilities, cleaning staff, and a host of others.

Without the income from pre-sale tickets, you’ll have to rely on sponsorships, exhibitor fees, and crowdsourcing donations to fund the rest of your festival.

These revenue streams can be extremely hit or miss, and they are a ton of work to pursue. If you’re unsuccessful in these efforts, you may be forced to extend yourself or your organization financially to cover the costs of your event.

The more tickets you sell, the more resources your festival will demand. So it only makes sense that you should use the funds from pre-sale tickets to pay for them.

But even aside from that: when you sell a ticket, that’s money you’ve made. Why shouldn’t you be able to access it? 

Maximizing your pre-sale ticket volume is a crucial part of your organizing. Pre-sales give you insight into how much staff and other resources you’ll need, which can save you a ton of money.

  • For example, you’ll know how many t-shirts to order for your event.
  • You’ll know how much gate staff you’ll need to check attendees in swiftly.
  • You can predict how many tables, chairs, and port-a-johns you’ll need.

Instant payouts let you send refunds quickly

There is a reason organizers and customers trash Eventbrite on review sites like sitejabber.com and trustpilot.com, where Eventbrite is rated a mere 1.2 stars out of 5.

The biggest complaint from customers is that they can’t obtain a refund for a canceled event.

To be fair, Eventbrite is not in charge of setting the refund policies of the events that use their platform. However, they don’t do event organizers any favors. There are a couple of factors at play.

  • The cluttered site design of your Eventbrite page makes it hard to communicate your refund policy.
  • With all the Eventbrite links and CTAs (15 off-site links in all), your attendees can misguidedly contact Eventbrite to ask for help, rather than the organizer.

Eventbrite alternatives like SimpleTix help you communicate with your customers better and focus on your event.

Even if they do reach the right person, you can’t issue refunds if Eventbrite is holding your money hostage.

Issuing a refund swiftly probably won’t create a word-of-mouth advocate for your event, but failing to issue a refund may cause a stink that impacts the reputation of your event and organization. It may make other potential ticket purchasers hesitant to buy, and the refund-seeking customer reluctant to buy a ticket to your next event.

With instant payouts, you can keep purchasers happy and leave a good impression. SimpleTix allows ticket holders to transfer their ticket to a different owner with just a click.

The secret is in the Square

Eventbrite can’t issue your funds because they use their own internal payment infrastructure, which functions clunkily.

Eventbrite alternatives may integrate with existing payment platforms, like Square or Stripe. SimpleTix is one of the rare ticketing platforms with an official Square partnership. 

Square allows attendees to pay with Apple Pay, Android Pay, chip cards, mobile wallets and other forms of payment. SimpleTix integrates with 20 payment gateways, so you can use SimpleTix with your preferred payment processor.

SimpleTix’s Square integration makes it easy to perform transactions on the day of your event, too. Even though pre-sales are ideal, you’ll sell plenty of tickets at the gate, and you need to make those sales without holding up the line. This can be especially difficult if you rely mainly on cash.

Day-of ticket revenue hits your account just as quickly, making post-event reconciliation a breeze.

Stay in Control

When you use Eventbrite to manage and promote your event, it’s on Eventbrite’s terms.

An Eventbrite alternative like SimpleTix gives you more control and support in throwing a stellar event. They’ll help you keep customers informed about updates and changes, keep the lines moving on the day of your event, and sell tickets through a frictionless platform.

The best Eventbrite alternatives let you try out their platform without charging you a dime, so be sure to go with the platform that makes ticketing simple and keeps money in your pocket.