Point of Sale
Navigate to: Menu > Sales & Payments > Point of Sale
Overview
Point of Sale is your box office sales screen. Use it to sell tickets and products to customers at the box office window or over the phone, take payment, manage held seats, and handle refunds, exchanges, reservations and gift vouchers. It also has tools for busy periods, such as Express Sale for the rush before curtain up.
Make a sale
● Go to Sales & Payments > Point of Sale
● Click the performance or product the customer wants. Use Search to find it quickly by typing its name
● Choose the options, for example the seats on the seating plan for a reserved performance, or the ticket type and quantity for an unreserved one, or the size of a merchandise item
● Click Add To Cart to keep adding items, for example interval drinks or a programme, or click Finalize to go to checkout
● Or click Add To Cart & Checkout to go straight to checkout
Checkout
● A one line summary of the basket is shown. Click Show Order Summary to see the full details of each item
● If more than one delivery option is available, for example e-ticket, post or collect from box office, choose it from the dropdown
● Choose No Customer to complete the sale without taking the customer’s details, for example a quick cash sale at the window before a performance
● Or choose Customer to attach the sale to a contact, which is best for phone bookings so you can send e-tickets and keep their booking history
Find or add a customer
● Search for the customer by Name, Email Address, Phone Number or QR Code
● Click the green Select button to choose an existing contact, or the green Edit button to update their details
● If they aren’t in your contacts yet, click Add New Contact. Anything you typed in the search fields is filled in for you
Take payment
● All available payment methods are shown on screen (see Methods of payment below)
● Choose the payment method and click Pay to complete the sale
● For Card, enter the customer’s card details
● If a contact is attached to the order, you can also send them an invoice to pay later
Methods of payment
● Cash: For cash payments at the box office window
● Card: For card payments taken over the phone, where you enter the card details
● Card Reader: For card payments when the customer is in front of you. This is faster and easier than Card
● Other: For other payment methods, such as cheque or bank transfer, for example a school paying for a group booking
● Gift Voucher: Gift vouchers can be accepted using Other, or using Price Override (see Gift vouchers below)
● Reservations: For orders that will be paid later (see Reservations and invoices below)
The Point of Sale screen
● Cart: Go to checkout once you have finished adding items
● Clear: Cancel the current basket and remove all items. This also resets the cart timer
● Search: Find a performance or product by typing its name
● Last Order: The box in the bottom right corner shows the most recent order, so you can quickly refund, reprint or exchange it
Click the Settings cog to see these options:
● Auto Print: When set to on, the print window opens automatically after each sale. Use it for busy periods when you need to print tickets straight away. To make it the default, go to Admin > Settings, open the Storefront tab and set Auto Print to Yes
● Express Sale: Sell tickets for one performance faster (see Express Sale below)
● Customize Columns: Choose what is shown on the sales screen
● Show tiles / Show images: Choose how performances and products are laid out
Cart timer
A cart timer is shown in the bottom right corner. It counts down from 60 minutes after each sale or refresh, and items in the basket must be paid for before it runs out. This stops seats being held in a basket by mistake, for example if the box office computer is left unattended. When the timer reaches 00:00, the basket is abandoned, the seats are released and a new basket opens, with an alert to let you know. To reset the timer, click the red Clear button and start the sale again. If you have been away from the screen, check the timer when you come back and refresh the page if needed.
Express Sale
Express Sale speeds up selling for one performance when you have lots of sales in quick succession, for example walk-up sales in the hour before curtain up. After each sale, the screen loops straight back to the same performance and section.
● Open the Express Sale dropdown at the top of the screen
● Choose the performance you want to sell
● Make a sale as normal. For a reserved performance, select the seats and click Add To Cart & Checkout. For an unreserved performance, choose the ticket type and quantity
● You go straight to the finalise page. Adding customer details is switched off in Express Sale
● Choose the payment method and complete the sale. The screen returns to the same performance ready for the next customer
● You can still add another item to a basket if needed. Once it is added, the screen returns to the Express Sale performance
● To stop, choose No Express Sale from the dropdown
Express Sale works well with Auto Print switched on.
Selling held seats
Held seats are seats kept back from general sale, for example house seats, company seats or press seats. Box office staff can still sell them.
● Reserved seating: Held seats show on the seating plan in the colour set for each hold. Select a held seat and click Add To Cart as normal
● Unreserved seating: You can choose to sell from the open tickets or from a specific hold. For example, if a hold has 25 tickets and you sell 3 from it, 22 remain held
Refunds and reprints
Standard refund or reprint
Available to system admins. A standard refund returns the money to the original payment method. If the customer paid by card, the money goes back to their card. If they paid cash, the refund is recorded in Backstage Manager and you need to give them the cash back.
● Go to Contacts & Relationships > Contacts
● Search for the customer and open their record
● Click the order
● Click Refund Transaction, or Print Items to reprint the tickets
Express refund or reprint
Available to all box office staff for the most recent order.
● Click the Last Order box in the bottom right corner of the Point of Sale screen
● Click Refund Transaction or Print Items
Refund to Other
Use this when you can’t refund to the original card, for example if it has expired. You arrange another way to repay the customer, such as a bank transfer or cash, and the refund is still recorded in Backstage Manager so it shows in your reports.
● Find the order, either by opening the customer’s record in Contacts & Relationships > Contacts, or by using Transaction Search with the order number
● Click the red Refund Transaction button in the top right corner
● Choose Refund to Other
Refund to Hold
This refunds the order to the original payment method and puts the seats straight onto a hold, for example returning seats to your house seats. The seats won’t be available online, but box office staff can still sell them, and they show in the hold’s colour on the seating plan. Choose the hold and click Refund.
Price override
Use this to change the price at checkout, for example to waive booking fees for a Friends Member or apply an agreed group rate.
● Make the sale as normal until you reach checkout
● Click Price Override in the top right corner
● Remove item fees, remove transaction fees, or enter a new price and click Update Item Price
Reservations and invoices
Reservations are for bookings that will be paid later, with no payment taken now, for example a school or group booking that will pay by invoice.
Set up your reservation email
● Design your invoice or reservation email in Email & Promotions > Template Designs
● Go to Admin > Settings, choose it in Reserved Email Template and click Save Storefront Settings
● This email is then sent automatically whenever you choose Reservations as the payment method
Make a reservation
● Make the sale as normal
● Choose Customer and attach the contact, so the reservation is linked to them
● Choose Reservations as the payment method. The customer is sent an email with a link to pay online
● If you untick Send Email Confirmation, the customer won’t receive their tickets until they have paid
● The order now has a Pay Reservation button. When the customer pays, click it and mark the order as paid by Cash, Card Reader or Card
Exchanges
Use an exchange when a customer wants to swap their tickets, for example moving to a different performance of the same show. The new order must be the same value as the original.
● Go to Contacts & Relationships > Contacts and search for the customer
● Click the order you want to exchange
● Click Exchange Transaction, then choose Exchange Transaction
● The Point of Sale screen opens. Choose the new tickets, making sure the order value matches the original
● Click Finalize to complete the exchange
Gift vouchers
Customers can pay with your theatre’s gift vouchers or vouchers from a third party. For example, to take a £20 voucher against a £40 order:
● At checkout, click Price Override
● Reduce the price by the voucher amount, in this case to £20
● Enter the voucher number in the order note or voucher number box
● Click Update Item Price
● Take payment for the remaining balance and finish the order as normal
Scan and sell
If a customer has a season ticket card or Friends card, scan its QR code to find their record straight away instead of typing their details, for example when they buy a programme or merchandise.
● At checkout, choose Customer
● Scan the card, or type in the code from the card
● The customer’s record appears. Click Select
Linking every purchase to the customer saves time at the counter, gives you a fuller picture of what your audiences buy, and lets you give members any benefits they are entitled to.
Fulfilment and batch printing
Use the Shipping page to print tickets for lots of orders at once, for example printing all tickets to be collected from the box office before a performance, or all tickets to be posted this week.
● Open the Shipping page
● Choose a date range from Select Date. Preset ranges refresh the list straight away. For a custom range, choose Custom Date, pick the start and end dates and click Update
● Click Filters to narrow the list, for example Transaction Date set to This Week, the Delivery method set to box office collection, and Fulfilled set to No to show only orders that haven’t been printed yet
● Click Update to show the orders
● Click Print Listed Tickets
● When asked whether the orders printed successfully, click Yes. The orders are marked as fulfilled so they won’t be printed twice
You can also search the list by name, choose columns with Column Visibility, export to CSV, PDF or Excel, print the list, and choose to show 10, 25, 50 or 100 entries per page.
Tips
● Switch on Express Sale and Auto Print for the walk-up rush before each performance
● Attach a customer to phone bookings so you can resend tickets and contact them if a performance changes
● Check the cart timer if you have left the box office screen, so seats aren’t held in a forgotten basket
● Batch print collection tickets well before doors, and mark them as fulfilled
● Use Refund to Hold when returning house or company seats, so they go straight back to the right hold