Setting up Reserved Seated Tickets for Events

Overview

Seated tickets let you assign prices to different areas of your venue and offer multiple pricing options (such as Adult, Child, or Senior) for each area. Customers selecting seats in your seating plan see the available ticket types and choose which price applies to them.

At its simplest, seated tickets answer one question: How much does each seat cost, and who qualifies for which price?

Who uses this: Event organisers with reserved seating events.

Key capabilities:

How It Works

1. Understanding the relationship

Three elements work together for seated ticketing:

2. Creating ticket categories

Each ticket category (like "Adult" or "Child") needs a price for every seat category in your seating plan. If you have Stalls, Circle, and Balcony, your Adult ticket needs a price for each of those three areas.

3. Controlling availability

You choose which performance dates each ticket category applies to. This lets you offer different pricing for opening nights, matinees, or special performances.

4. Setting visibility

Each seat category price within a ticket can be Public (visible to everyone) or Private (visible only to administrators). Use Private for complimentary tickets, special arrangements, or temporary holds.

The Seated Tickets Section

Location: Event Editor, side menu, Seated tickets (appears only when seating plans are enabled)

Collapsed view

Each ticket shows:

Expanded view

Click the plus button to expand and see:

Multiple seating plans

If your event uses multiple seating plans, the expanded view shows separate sections:

Main Auditorium Seat Categories & Prices

Studio Configuration Seat Categories & Prices

Creating Seated Tickets

Adding a ticket category

Common pricing structures

Concession-based:

Time-based:

Offer-based:

You can combine approaches - for example, offering both Adult/Child concessions and Early Bird/Standard timing.

Setting prices

Enter prices in pounds with pence as decimals (e.g., 25.50 for twenty-five pounds fifty pence).

Why does the label turn red? Invalid prices (non-numeric characters or blank values for public tickets) show red highlighting. The save button remains inactive until all prices are valid.

Controlling Availability

Date-specific tickets

Use the "Available dates" dropdown to control which performances each ticket applies to:

Use cases:

Public vs Private visibility

Each seat category price has a Public/Private toggle:

Public:

Private:

Why use Private pricing? Common uses include complimentary tickets (priced at zero), special arrangements with sponsors, or temporarily holding seat categories while negotiating group bookings.

Colour Coding

Each ticket category has an assigned colour that appears:

Changing colours

Best practice: Use distinct colours that customers can easily distinguish. Avoid similar shades like light blue and dark blue together.

Reordering Tickets

The order you set determines how customers see pricing options during booking.

To reorder:

Strategic ordering:

Working with Existing Tickets

Modifying prices

Before orders are placed: Edit freely with no restrictions.

After orders exist: You can still change prices, but changes only affect future bookings. Existing orders retain their original prices.

Why can't I delete a ticket with orders? Tickets with existing orders cannot be deleted to preserve order history. Instead, mark all seat categories as Private to hide it from new customers.

Hiding tickets from sale

To remove a ticket from public sale without deleting it:

The ticket becomes invisible to customers but remains available to administrators.

Deleting ticket categories

You can only delete tickets with no orders placed:

If orders exist, the trash icon does not appear. The ticket shows: "This ticket has existing orders placed against it and cannot be deleted."

Advanced Scenarios

Multiple pricing tiers across dates

Create date-specific pricing by making separate ticket categories for each tier:

Opening week:

Regular run:

Final week:

Complimentary tickets

For free tickets managed by administrators:

Administrators can issue free tickets while they remain invisible to public customers.

Restricted view seats

Handle seats with limitations through either approach:

Lower pricing: Create a seat category called "Restricted View" with reduced prices for all ticket types.

Private allocation: Price normally but mark Private, allowing administrators to allocate at their discretion.

Integration with discounts

Seated tickets work alongside discount codes. Discounts apply on top of base seated ticket pricing.

Example:

See Discounts for setting up discount codes.

Common Questions

Basics

What's the difference between seated tickets and general tickets?

Seated tickets are for reserved seating events where customers select specific seats from a seating plan. General tickets are for unreserved events where customers simply choose a quantity.

How many ticket categories should I create?

Start simple with 1-3 types for most events. Add complexity only if needed. More than 10 categories often confuses customers.

Can customers see the price before selecting a seat?

Yes. The seating plan displays a colour-coded key showing ticket categories and their prices.

Pricing

Can I have different prices for different performances?

Yes. Use the "Available dates" selector to control which dates each ticket category applies to, then create separate categories with different pricing for different dates.

Can I change prices after tickets have been sold?

Yes, but changes only affect future bookings. Existing orders keep their original prices.

Should I charge different prices for different dates?

Consider it when opening nights justify premium pricing, matinees typically sell at lower rates, or you want limited-time offers. Use consistent pricing when all performances offer similar value or simplicity benefits your customers.

Visibility

How do member discounts work with seated tickets?

Create private ticket categories for members at discounted prices. Administrators select the member rate when processing member bookings. For automated member pricing with self-service booking, see Member Settings.

Why can't I delete a ticket category?

You cannot delete tickets with existing orders. Instead, mark all seat categories as Private to hide it from new customers while preserving order history.

Technical

What happens if I delete a seat category from my seating plan?

The system removes pricing for that seat category from all tickets automatically. If orders exist for seats in that category, warnings prevent the deletion.

What if I have multiple seating plans?

Each seated ticket must set prices for seat categories across all plans. The system lists all seat categories from all plans when you create or edit tickets.

Troubleshooting

Ticket category doesn't appear in booking flow

Check:

Prices showing incorrectly

Check:

Can't save event due to ticket errors

Check:

Ticket order seems wrong to customers

Use the up/down arrows to reorder tickets logically. Most events put Adult first, followed by other concession types.

Colours too similar between tickets

Click the colour swatch (paint icon) for each ticket and select distinctly different colours. View the seating plan customer interface to test visibility.

Next Steps

If you haven't already:

Enhance your ticketing:

Ready to launch:

Complete Event Editor Guide: Editing your Event

Need help? Visit our Organiser FAQ or contact support@seaty.co.uk.