tickets and how it could be done better

[stuartbert two hats]

this has occurred to me, most deposits are non refundable.

however by having the sale in October of the previous year combined with how quickly they sell, GFL are forcing people to buy tickets for an event they have no idea if they can actually go to. Also when you buy tickets you have no idea who is playing so having a refundable deposit is an act of good faith on their part, aided in no small way by the fact they know they will sell all the refunded tickets.

im sure once demand drops the refundable deposit will disappear.

I don't see why lower demand would lead to a non-refundable deposit.  Surely fewer people are likely to take a punt if they know they'll lose the full deposit if they can't go.  This way, people are sorta committed to going, even if they can drop out later.

[Smeble]

I don't see why lower demand would lead to a non-refundable deposit.  Surely fewer people are likely to take a punt if they know they'll lose the full deposit if they can't go.  This way, people are sorta committed to going, even if they can drop out later.

simple, cash flow! 

If you aren't going sell all your tickets, you need all the money you can get.

at the moment they can afford to give refunds because the tickets will sell, if demand drops and they can't sell all of them then £50 from each ticket is better than none.

im guessing it would take a few years of not selling out for it to happen, but it would.

Edited November 3, 2015 by Smeble

[stuartbert two hats]

simple, cash flow! 

If you aren't going sell all your tickets, you need all the money you can get.

at the moment they can afford to give refunds because the tickets will sell, if demand drops and they can't sell all of them then £50 from each ticket is better than none.

im guessing it would take a few years of not selling out for it to happen, but it would.

I'll rephrase that, I do see your point, but I think the widely advertised refundable deposit stimulates demand. It gets them through the door, you see.

[Smeble]

I'll rephrase that, I do see your point, but I think the widely advertised refundable deposit stimulates demand. It gets them through the door, you see.

I agree it does, but if demand drops, then you need to protect your cash flow, and the easiest  way to do that is non refundable deposits.

it may be that the refundable deposit is such an intrinsic part of the system that it puts too many people off but a drop in demand would also stimulate first timers to go who aren't even aware of the refundable deposit.

[guypjfreak]

so how many tix are we gonna be allowed in resale ??

just a thought old sons

[Chazwozza]

How about a system where if you've been, say, 3 times in a row you get let in to an early ticket sale, a bit like the cyclists to?  That should ensure the hardened Glasto addicts get their annual fix, without blocking newcomers out altogether.  It'd need a bit of research into what proportion of the ticket seeking population the addicts form, but it might work.  Worth a try anyway...?

[MichaelsBeard]

Would have to be capped at so many thousand tickets though. I reckon it could still sell out on people that have already been 3+ times alone.

[LondonTom]

4 hours ago, Chazwozza said:

How about a system where if you've been, say, 3 times in a row you get let in to an early ticket sale, a bit like the cyclists to?  That should ensure the hardened Glasto addicts get their annual fix, without blocking newcomers out altogether.  It'd need a bit of research into what proportion of the ticket seeking population the addicts form, but it might work.  Worth a try anyway...?

Nah, the only preference should be how hard you try for a ticket. (and then only slightly, cause you know you may love Glasto but real life commitments.)

[Avalon_Fields]

It would be wrong to benefit Glastonbury regulars, I say that even though it would be of help to me, the festival has to change and develop with the times and can't be stuck in a rut as that would eventually kill it off, basically the same crowd every year would get stale eventually.

[morph100]

There should be a ticket sale every month on some really slow servers that constantly crash and it takes 10 hours to sell out, each sale gives you part of a ticket, you need 8 parts to make a whole ticket, if you only get 7 parts you have failed. Only the strong will survive!

[shuttlep]

on ticket sale day, 

you log on to see tickets

the first page should be a Sudoku quiz,  the 2nd page should be a cross word, 3rd page a word search. then on to the ticket sale page,  if the moon is the right part of your star sign you will be allowed to buy half a ticket for yourself and a friend and then your friend would by half a ticket for themselves and you. (that's if they manage to get past the first three pages, and star sign aligns.

 

problem sorted

 

[Hugh Jass]

Just give me all 135,000 tickets. I'll distribute them fairly I promise. My proposal involves me sitting in a big chair while people approach me one by one to request a ticket.

[russycarps]

On 11/3/2015, 8:06:41, rivalschools.price said:

What about making the deposit non refundable?

surely it's not unreasonable to lose your deposit if you decide not to go, people may think twice about trying for a ticket if they stand to lose their whole deposit rather than the admin fee.

tilt glastonbury even more in the favour of the rich you mean?

no thanks.

 

[Jcatley]

My card I used to pay my deposit on has started to break, so I need a replacement card for the same bank account. 

Does this affect paying the rest of the ticket off due to my card number changing? 

I can see this question looking very stupid, but better safe than sorry aye. 

[stuartbert two hats]

3 minutes ago, Jcatley said:

My card I used to pay my deposit on has started to break, so I need a replacement card for the same bank account. 

Does this affect paying the rest of the ticket off due to my card number changing? 

I can see this question looking very stupid, but better safe than sorry aye. 

Not a silly question.

You'll be fine, you can pay off the deposit on anything. Even another person's card.

[Jcatley]

32 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Not a silly question.

You'll be fine, you can pay off the deposit on anything. Even another person's card.

That's a relief. Was worried I would have to glue my card together in the mean time.

[guypjfreak]

it would be nice to be able to pay the balance off early imo ...

[grumpyhack]

Can't see why they don't allow people to pay the balance off any time after ticket day.  Would surely help their cash flow.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

1 hour ago, grumpyhack said:

Can't see why they don't allow people to pay the balance off any time after ticket day.  Would surely help their cash flow.

I agree - they should even offer staggered payments to suit the customer. It's a bit mad really because a lot of financial institutions would fall over themselves to get that money in cash early. It would mean they could use that as an illusion that they have greater wealth than they really have. No 1 rule in high finance. Perhaps.

[DeanoL]

Something to do with tax years. I think it's because doing it this way ensures they have some income every tax year, including fallow years.

[eFestivals]

55 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Something to do with tax years. I think it's because doing it this way ensures they have some income every tax year, including fallow years.

It's to do with VAT returns, which have to be done every three months. VAT gets paid on the difference between money taken (in sales) and money spent (on business expenses).

If Glasto took all of the ticket money before 1st April, they'd have almost no expenses to put against that, and would then have to hand over 20% of everything they'd taken to the VAT man ... leaving them almost 20% short of cash with which to pay the costs of running the festival before the end of June.

While they'd then be due a VAT refund (because from April to June expenses would be much greater than sales), that refund would come their way at some point later on, and in the meantime they'd need to borrow around the amount they were owned in VAT (and borrowing involves extra unnecessary expense, as well as the hassle of arranging it).

The VAT on 135,000 tickets equates to £6M, so it's not an insignificant amount of money - 'float money' for putting the fest together, if you like - that this impacts on.

Edited December 1, 2015 by eFestivals

[Hugh Jass]

23 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

It's to do with VAT returns, which have to be done every three months. VAT gets paid on the difference between money taken (in sales) and money spent (on business expenses).

If Glasto took all of the ticket money before 1st April, they'd have almost no expenses to put against that, and would then have to hand over 20% of everything they'd taken to the VAT man ... leaving them almost 20% short of cash with which to pay the costs of running the festival before the end of June.

While they'd then be due a VAT refund (because from April to June expenses would be much greater than sales), that refund would come their way at some point later on, and in the meantime they'd need to borrow around the amount they were owned in VAT (and borrowing involves extra unnecessary expense, as well as the hassle of arranging it).

The VAT on 135,000 tickets equates to £6M, so it's not an insignificant amount of money - 'float money' for putting the fest together, if you like - that this impacts on.

So GF engages in creative methods to avoid paying tax?

Has anyone told Adele?

Edited December 1, 2015 by Hugh Jass

[eFestivals]

4 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

So GF engages in creative methods to avoid paying tax?

Has anyone told Adele?

It makes no difference to the amount of tax they pay, just when they have to pay it.

It's about cash-flow management, something that's important to any business.

[Hugh Jass]

14 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

It makes no difference to the amount of tax they pay, just when they have to pay it.

It's about cash-flow management, something that's important to any business.

I know, I was just trying to be funny.

[DeanoL]

On 01/12/2015, 15:06:54, thatcrazypenguin said:

the deposit being non refundable would be a vastly unfair idea........you assuming when you say that the majority of people just `decided` not to go and not had circumstances come up where they literally couldn't.

Unfair, but entirely industry standard.