We used interactive ticketing and we get great service from them so we've stuck with them ... I believe in building relationships and making them work for you. It would take a lot to get me to switch at this point. I've been offered a lot let me tell you!
I don't think any of these ticketing companies are a rip off, but they all offer different plans and packages and one could be a whole hell of a lot better deal than another. When selling online ticket let me give you a few things to consider...
Take it from me because I know... I doubt very seriously ANYONE in the industry is selling more online tickets than us I have made this a focus for 10 years plus. My goal is to sell 50% of my tickets online this year or more... I love online ticketing it keeps your money in the bank, its easy to track, and it gives the customer the opportunity to make an impulse decisions to buy a ticket.
For me if that ticketing company site goes off line like what happened last year NO WAY IN HELL am I going there. If they dont' have 24 hour customer support NO WAY IN HELL AM I GOING THERE. If they don't give me the ability to change the fees I want I won't go with them... I want my customers to buy online and I think if the charges per ticket are too high customers won't buy.
Bottom line and its really simple... you must sell tickets online and you must give your customers incentives to do so. I've been pitched by every company and they mostly lie to you by telling you they can help you sell more online tickets than the next guy... TOTAL LIES! They can't really... the only person who can help you sell more tickets online is YOU!
You drive the business to your website through your marketing efforts, YOU create the event they want to attend and if its good more people want to buy... you drive them to your site end of story. All they really do is help you give you the system to sell your tickets online... I could right now create my own software to do the same and I would sell the same amount no matter what ticketing company I worked with.
There is only a handful of ticketing companies that can really help you like Ticketmaster with massive databases they could in theory blast out millions of people about your event, but they won't. Stub Hub places like that with huge connections of people buying sporting tickets or whatever I guess they give you more eyeballs where as they smaller ticketing companies just provide a service.
SO go with the company that has the best backend tools for the best price and work with people you trust. End of story!
You must do the rest from there... Larry
