Proposed Solution to 10c Ticketing, I wanted to get your thoughts.

Veddernarian · February 2008

As a member of 10c, I saw and experienced what happened with getting tickets for the April Fools Tour. Here is my proposed solution, what do you think about it? Also, Please post adjustments or constructive solutions. Thanks.

Proposed solution:

The 1st part of the solution is to stagger the shows by 1/2 hour. So Vancouver could be at 10AM, Berkeley at 10:30AM, and so on. But this is only part of the solution.

The rest of the solution entails people logging on to 10c, clicking the [BUY] button on the desired show. And that's it. The system would take the timestamp and the 10c member's info based on the login. In other words, people would be clicking the [BUY] button like on a game show. When the number of seats are taken, the show shows as "Sold out" and the buy button disappears. Then, later on (after the [BUY] button process is over for all shows), 10c e-mails the successful applicants with a personalized code. Maybe a 10 digit number or something like that. The 10c member can log in, enter the code, and complete the transaction to verify mailing address, enter credit card info, etc. If a certain amount of time passes, and the member doesn't enter their card to complete the transaction, or if 10c can't validate a member's status for some reason, 10c could send "purchase" e-mails to runner ups until all tickets are actually sold.

The benefits I see:

- Staggered times to apply for shows would limit the number of hits (traffic)
- Only clicking the [BUY] button would limit the duration of one's login thus reducing traffic.
- Even if the system is still crashing due to the limited traffic still being too much, nobody is entering credit card info while it is crashing.
- Later on, when people are entering credit card info, this will be at a time when people are not crashing the system trying to pound on the [buy] button, and there is little liklihood of system crashes during this time.

What do you think?

SoapMakesUTaller · February 2008

Those are great ideas...I'll just add one more, invest in a better server as well to insure all this works.

chromiam · February 2008

Upgrade servers or outsource the ticket sales.. simple solution. I don't trust sending emails back and forth varifying this and confirming that because either due to the 10C or my email server, I always recieve email from 10C either a few days or even a week after it has been sent.

jxthoya · February 2008

How about outsourcing ticket pre-sales to Ticketmaster? The 10c website is designed to handle the sale of merch, not configured to handle hundreds of club members trying to buy concert tickets at any one given time. U2 does their pre-sales thru Ticketmaster whereby they supply each member with a unique password to buy tickets to ONE show. Once the password is used, it is voided. If TM is selling the general admission tix, why not let them handle the pre-sale as well?

Get_Right · February 2008

the current system would work fine if they fixed the server problems

Veddernarian · February 2008

Get_Right wrote:

the current system would work fine if they fixed the server problems

Definitely true. The question (which I don't have an answer to) is what extent you would need to upgrade to handle these extreme spikes when tickets are offered. And these offers occur so infrequently. I would suppose that at all other times, there is overcapacity, even with the current system. If it isn't too costly to cover the spikes with a server upgrade, then that would be great. If, however, it would be very costly, then alternatives, like modifying the purchase process, would have to be considered.

redrock · February 2008

BeerBaron wrote:

You idea does make a lot of sense though and I remember during the 2006 tour they staggered the on-sale times of each show so only 3 shows or so were on sale at any given time.

But weren't there complaints about that too? For the reasons you stated in your previous post. Whatever they do, not everyone will be happy. Even if they upgrade their servers, everything goes smoothly, etc., we will still end up with loads of moaning threads because the tickets are VERY limited and only a very limited number of people will get them. There will always be 'reasons' for those who didn't get them to moan (eg 'everything went too smoothly with the server not crashing, so by the time I logged in at 2 minutes past the sale time, all tix were gone!')

Veddernarian · February 2008

redrock wrote:

But weren't there complaints about that too? For the reasons you stated in your previous post.

Maybe it would be possible to group the shows by area per staggered time. Probably wouldn't work everywhere but maybe Vancouver/Seattle/Portland being a group, Boise/Misoula being a group. Santa Barbara, LA, Orange County, San Diego. Phoenix/Vegas. Maybe the Northeast would be an issue with large markets close together. I guess that would require further thought.

SoapMakesUTaller · February 2008

Veddernarian wrote:

Definitely true. The question (which I don't have an answer to) is what extent you would need to upgrade to handle these extreme spikes when tickets are offered. And these offers occur so infrequently. I would suppose that at all other times, there is overcapacity, even with the current system. If it isn't too costly to cover the spikes with a server upgrade, then that would be great. If, however, it would be very costly, then alternatives, like modifying the purchase process, would have to be considered.

Another simple solution to the higher cost of a server.......sell more limited items through the 10C over the course of the year. (Posters, vinyl,shirts/sweaters, books, etc) Simple solution, and I'm sure everyone around here would be happy anyway.

NYbenben · February 2008

jxthoya wrote:

How about outsourcing ticket pre-sales to Ticketmaster? The 10c website is designed to handle the sale of merch, not configured to handle hundreds of club members trying to buy concert tickets at any one given time. U2 does their pre-sales thru Ticketmaster whereby they supply each member with a unique password to buy tickets to ONE show. Once the password is used, it is voided. If TM is selling the general admission tix, why not let them handle the pre-sale as well?

this is a great idea... but not one that the band would embrace by any means... Ticketmaster has the bandwidth and server capacity...but they are a bunch of crooks that Pearl Jam only associates with, because of the lack of choices.

Cosmo · February 2008

I agree... One of the ideas I thought of was 'Queueing the requests"... that is, saving the requests as they came in. Save them in a database with the timestamp and process them in the order according to the timestamp. Send an auto response to the user's E-Mail, letting them know their request Number. If a User (member) submits more than one... have the database kick it out the subsequent ones as duplicates and shoot off a E-mail reminding them to only submit one order.
The Ticketing System runs the requests in order, using its processing capabilities to it's fullest. This way, your server works at its capacity, not beyond it. When the process is completed... either pass or fail (failure due to insufficient funds or incorrect Credit Card Information), the user is notified by E-Mail. When all of the tickets are sold for each venue.. a click on the 'BUY' button will return a 'SOLD OUT' message.
...
The downside is... you will not recieve immediate results. The results will have to be E-Mailed to you stating whether your transaction was completed... whether your credit card was rejected.. or whether your request came in after all of the allotment of tickets have been sold.
...
You're still going to get complaints... because some people will complain about anything. But, at least the system would be fair and a little less frustrating.
...
Technical Note: I'm thinking in Oracle terms here. These are similar to things we used to have to run here, before we got our 16 CPU per Node HP SuperDome. We don't need to Queue up anymore because of our massive (and massively expensive, complicated and expensive to maintain) system.

josevolution · February 2008

:eek:

...

you guys know what i'm talikng about when will this end ....

mookie9999 · February 2008

josevolution wrote:

:eek:
...

you guys know what i'm talikng about when will this end ....

Try Valtrex. It won't make them go away forever, as there is no cure, but it will assist in your dealing with them. Oh Wait!! This isn't the diagnose/cure yourself thread!! Sorry?!? Now what was the question?

Veddernarian · February 2008

NYbenben wrote:

this is a great idea... but not one that the band would embrace by any means... Ticketmaster has the bandwidth and server capacity...but they are a bunch of crooks that Pearl Jam only associates with, because of the lack of choices.

I agree, if they would outsource to T/M or somebody like that, the better. My original proposed solution is under the assumption that 10c wouldn't consider outsourcing. I don't know if they would outsource or not.

Get_Right · February 2008

hahahahahaha

gotcha

terminix works too Jose, or so Ive heard

Get_Right · February 2008

Veddernarian wrote:

I agree, if they would outsource to T/M or somebody like that, the better. My original proposed solution is under the assumption that 10c wouldn't consider outsourcing. I don't know if they would outsource or not.

TMs terms and conditions are probably not acceptable to PJ me thinks

perhaps live nation is ready to deal

decides2dream · February 2008

Get_Right wrote:

hahahahahaha

gotcha

terminix works too Jose, or so Ive heard

:eek:

are you equating me with a cockroach or fireants?

it's called DISCUSSION boys, sharing opinions. you don't like the discussion or opinions, fair enough. participation isn't mandatory.

however, it's annoying to start a thread about too many threads :rolleyes:...and it's worse imo when some feel like squashing a discussion.

mookie9999 · February 2008

decides2dream wrote:

:eek:

are you equating me with a cockroach or fireants?

it's called DISCUSSION boys, sharing opinions. you don't like the discussion or opinions, fair enough. participation isn't mandatory. however, it's annoying to start a thread about too many threads :rolleyes:...and it's worse imo when some feel like squashing a discussion.

I think I've shown time and again that I'm open to discussing anything and everything whether you want to hear about it or not!!!

Get_Right · February 2008

decides2dream wrote:

:eek:

are you equating me with a cockroach or fireants?

it's called DISCUSSION boys, sharing opinions. you don't like the discussion or opinions, fair enough. participation isn't mandatory. however, it's annoying to start a thread about too many threads :rolleyes:...and it's worse imo when some feel like squashing a discussion.

termites actually

nah, I was just goofing around, you were not in my thoughts when I posted that

I am enjoying the debates.

Rossum20 · February 2008

this same crap has been a problem since they switched after 2003....for a band that is "all about the fans"...it would be nicer to see a little common sense on the subject? For what its worth, Im studying abroad in France and am not involved with any of the chaos but it is nothing new....its too bad its been over 5 years with NO improvement....I love this band with all my heart but it has gotten to a point where its just pathetic and its causing their most loyal fanbase to turn on them...what is the problem? Are they hiring their friends to do the tech side who just aren't qualified or what? WAKE UP! This is not a complex issue it is one that can be solved by getting someone who is actually qualified? It's just like the posters....good for Ames Bros...i like a lot of their art but how many other poster artists make them look like 1st graders trying to color inside the lines? You would think the 10c staff that has to clean up the current disaster would try and lobby for change, no?

Capricorn Sister · February 2008

people would be clicking the [BUY] button like on a game show

The button on 'Jeopardy' only lets you click it once before you get locked out. Some folks will always think that clicking 'buy' 5 times gives them a better chance at tickets.

Proposed Solution to 10c Ticketing, I wanted to get your thoughts.

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