By selling zero value tickets in the Scanning Interface, you can streamline entry to unreserved Events by combining ticket sales and scanning into one action. For example, offering Members free entry to an exhibition.
This means that customers won’t need to queue to purchase tickets at the box office or online in advance and then queue again to present their tickets for scanning.
In this article, we’ll explain how to sell zero value tickets in the Scanning Interface.
Before you read this article, you should be familiar with:
- The Spektrix Scanning Interface
- Introduction to Offers
- How to set up a Multibuy Offer
- Digital Customer Passes for Membership Purchases
What do I need in order to sell zero value tickets?
To sell zero value Tickets in the Scanning Interface, you’ll need:
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Offers: To sell zero value tickets, you’ll need to set up Multibuy Offers to reduce the ticket price to zero. The Scanning Interface will apply the Offer as long as the customer meets the criteria for that Offer.
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An Unreserved Event: You can only sell zero value tickets for Unreserved Events.
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Spektrix Scanning User Role: To log into the Scanning Interface, you’ll need the Scanning User Role. If you don’t have this Role, ask the Settings Administrator in your organisation to add this role to your Spektrix User Account.
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The Spektrix Scanning Interface URL: http://system.spektrix.com/XXX/client/scanning-app
Replace XXX with your client name.
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Scannable Customer ID: A Digital Customer Pass containing Customer information, a custom QR code sent to a customer by email, or a custom ID card. For example, a membership card.
- Scanning hardware: A ticket scanner or mobile device with a rear facing camera
How does it work?
A customer presents their Spetrix Customer Id for scanning. When the QR Code / barcode is scanned, the Customer Id is validated in Spektrix.
Once validated, you can view:
- The customer’s name
- Any Customer Groups the customer belongs to
- Ticket Types for the Instance you want to sell zero value tickets for
Setting up the Scanning Interface to sell tickets
To sell zero value tickets in the Scanning Interface, you’ll need to:
- Log into the Scanning Interface
- Select the Event Instance to sell zero value tickets for
Logging into the Scanning Interface
To sell a zero value ticket to an eligible customer, you’ll need to log into the Scanning Interface. Enter the following URL in your web browser. Replace XXX with your client name:
http://system.spektrix.com/XXX/client/scanning-app
When you log into the Scanning Interface, you’ll see the following options:
- Enabled event instances for ticket scanning
- Allow bulk scanning
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When presented with a valid Customer Id
Selecting an Unreserved Event Instance to enable ticket sales
Before you can sell zero value Tickets in the scanning Interface, you’ll need to select the Event you want to sell tickets for.
To sell tickets following successful customer validation, follow these steps:
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Scroll down to When presented with a valid Customer Id
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Select Sell an eligible customer £0/$0 tickets for...:
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Choose one of the following:
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A specific Instance: Select a specific Instance after the current time:
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The next upcoming Instance of: The next instance starting on or after the current time. For example, if the time is 14:50 and the next Instance starts at 15:00, this is the Instance that will be selected.
TIP: If there are no more Unreserved Instances available for the current day, you’ll see a No Valid Instance response in the Scanning Interface when scanning a customer’s Spektrix Id.
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The most recent Instance of: The last Instance that started before the current time. For example, if the time is 15:10 and an Instance started at 15:00, this is the Instance that will be automatically selected.
When selecting The next upcoming Instance of or The most recent Instance of, you’ll need to select the Event from the dropdown:
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Tap the green check at the top of the Scanning Interface to save your settings:
REMINDER: In the Scanning Interface, you can only sell tickets for Unreserved Event Instances.
Scanning and validating a customer
Once you’ve saved the Scanning Interface settings, you can scan a Spektrix Customer Id and sell zero value tickets.
To do this, you’ll need to scan a Customer Pass containing a Spektrix Customer Id. This might be a Digital Pass, a QR code sent to a customer by email, or a custom ID card, for example, a membership card.
In the Scanning Interface, a user can scan both Customer Passes and tickets. You’ll scan the QR code / barcode provided by the customer in the same way as you would scan a ticket.
TIP: To learn how to scan a ticket, take a look at our article on How to Scan Tickets.
Selling an eligible customer a zero value Ticket
When a customer has been successfully scanned and validated, you’ll see the customer’s name, any Customer Groups they belong to and available Ticket Types for the Instance.
To sell a ticket:
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Select the number of tickets by tapping + (plus) next to the ticket type. Then, tap Confirm:
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Once you tap Confirm, you should see a Success response:
The ticket(s) will be automatically marked as scanned as part of the sale.
Viewing the Scan History of a Ticket
Once a ticket has been scanned, you can view the scan history in the Sales Interface.
- Search for the Order or Customer in the Sales Interface.
- Select the Order.
- Go to the Cobo / Will Call Delivery section of the Order
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Select a ticket by checking the box next to the ticket:
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Click the dropdown next to Print and select View Scan History:
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In the Scan History pop up, you’ll be able to view the Time, Scanned By and Scan Result:
TIP: When a Ticket has been scanned more than once, each subsequent scan will be recorded as a successful scan if the QR code/barcode is valid.
Errors when selling zero value tickets
When selling zero value tickets in the Scanning Interface, you may encounter one of the warning responses below. These appear when scanning a customer's Spektrix Id after selecting an Unreserved Event, or when selling tickets where there is a balance to pay.
No Valid Instance (Upcoming Instances)
When selecting The next upcoming Instance of to sell tickets, you’ll see a No Valid Instance if there are no upcoming Unreserved Instances that day after the customer’s Spektrix ID has been scanned
No Valid Instance (Most Recent Instance)
When selecting The most recent Instance to sell tickets, you’ll see a No Valid Instance if there are no recent Instances before the current time a customer’s Spektrix Id is scanned.
Cannot complete purchase
The Scanning Interface contains the functionality to sell zero value tickets only. If there is a balance to pay, you’ll see this response in the Scanning Interface:
Reasons why there is a balance to pay might include:
- Offer setup: The Offer may have been set up incorrectly and tickets aren’t being discounted to zero. Check the Offer setup in Spektrix.
- Offer expiry: The Offer may have expired. Check the Offer setup in Spektrix.
- Offer eligibility: The customer doesn’t meet the eligibility for the Offer. Check the Offer eligibility. Compare this to the information in the Customer Record, for example, Tags, Attributes.
- Membership expiry: If you are using a Membership as the Offer criteria, check that the customer has a valid Membership in the Subscriptions section of their Customer Record.
- Offer Limits: The Offer’s limit rules have been met. For example, a Member is purchasing three tickets, where the Offer is limited to two. Check the Limits section of the Offer.
All sales with a balance to pay will be transferred to Open Transactions in the Sales Interface. Open Transactions are Orders that have started but have not yet been completed. To learn how to manage these, take a look at our article on Open Transactions.
Reporting on Scanned Tickets
It is possible to report on Scanned Tickets using a Custom Report created by Spektrix called Capacity, Sold and Scanned Report.
If you don’t have this Report in your system, submit a Report Request and our Support Team will add it to your system.