VBO Tickets Reviews

“good choice for arts organizations”

Pros

Right from the start, this has been an outstanding match for our mid sized nonprofit arts organization. It lets us handle everything in one place, including classes, camps, workshops, ticketed and general admission performances, art sales and donor management and tracking. For an organization with a wide range of offerings, VBO Tickets is a cost effective solution and the website feels user friendly for both our patrons and our staff.

Cons

The only downsides for us are that it currently can't calculate and add sales tax to orders and it doesn't support payment method specific fees. We'd like the option to apply a percentage based credit card fee without having that cost affect every customer. That said, we've shared these requests with the support team and they've always been receptive to feedback and suggestions.

“time saving scheduling tools”

Pros

Automatic scheduling works really well and saves a lot of time and effort and the interface is very user friendly too.

Cons

There are times when the system lags during output which ends up forcing me to restart the app again from the beginning.

“feature rich platform”

Pros

From the start, the sales, support and development teams have been very open, receptive to our pain points and fast to roll out fixes. They genuinely listen to client feedback and are willing to put in the effort to make the product function the way you'd expect. The platform covers just about everything we need and the core features that staff and patrons depend on are all included. We've also received very positive feedback from patrons about how user friendly it is.

Cons

Most of my complaints are really limited to the back end admin side. There are a few very minor UI quirks, like text and formatting inconsistencies, help tips that aren't always that useful and support documentation that could be improved since it leans too heavily on video instead of text. The event builder can take some experimenting to land on the right settings though that's partly because the platform offers a lot of customization. At times, options and settings aren't located where you'd naturally expect them, probably because features have been added over time. The admin interface also doesn't have a truly mobile friendly version, branding options are more limited than the white label messaging suggests and administrative users still can't log in through organization SSO even though that feature is mentioned in several places. On top of that the end user SSO integration has a few limitations as well.

“powerful ticketing for every event”

Pros

Running the box office at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin, I've seen firsthand how essential this app has become to our day to day work. Over the last 8 years, it has been a reliable and valuable system for handling ticketing and registration for events across campus and throughout the community. We use it for all kinds of events, including alumni functions, athletic events, visual and performing arts programming, camps and student activities. Features like registrations, season tickets and event ticketing let us keep one centralized box office while still giving departments across campus the access they need. That setup has significantly improved transparency and communication among our internal teams and it has created efficiencies that have truly transformed how we operate. Beyond our college events, we also use campus resources to host rental events for both non profit and for profit groups in the community. VBO Tickets helps us provide those organizations with the same level of transparency and service for roughly 70 rental events each year in addition to our college related programming. Our renters especially value the Event Manager Portal because it gives them on demand access to sales and customer information for their events whenever they need it.

Cons

Since I've worked with several ticketing platforms, learning a new system usually comes pretty naturally to me and we also make use of nearly every feature available in this app. That said because the platform offers so much functionality, I can understand how smaller organizations might feel a bit overwhelmed by its overall size and scope.

“solid reporting capabilites”

Pros

Using it has been really helpful because it's easy for both administrators and ticket buyers and the reporting system is pretty powerful.

Cons

The front end data import was a bit difficult to work through but it was definitely necessary.

“versatile ticketing powerhouse”

Pros

Managing the ticket sales for several promoters across different venues can get complicated fast but this software manages it really well. It's an impressively broad yet powerful solution and it handles this kind of multi promoter, multi venue setup in a very polished way.

Cons

Because the platform is so extensive and my setup requires using nearly all of its features, I do run into bugs from time to time. That said, the team is consistently very fast when it comes to fixing them.

“strong event tools for all”

Pros

Even smaller organizations with tighter budgets get access to the kind of features you'd normally expect from a large scale event management platform.

Cons

It's not really a downside but there are a huge number of features so setting everything up on the back end takes some time. There's definitely a learning curve at first but once it clicks, the system pretty much runs on its own.

“gives you impressive results”

Pros

So far using this platform has been very simple and my student staff were able to pick it up in less than a week.

Cons

I really don't have anything negative to say about it. I've been using it for a little over two months now and I'm genuinely very impressed with the software.

“makes a huge difference in how we manage work”

Pros

Switching to this gave us access to features our old software simply didn't offer especially the CRM tools, reporting and coupon code functionality. Those additions have made a noticeable difference in how we manage things day to day.

Cons

There are still a few small quirks, like sometimes needing to click the print button twice to get tickets to print. Still, most of the improvements I bring up are at least listened to and taken into consideration.

“powerful mobile ticketing tools”

Pros

Across mobile phones and tablets, the integration works really well and the feature set feels complete without missing much. It covers more than just ticket sales too, with options for selling merchandise and memberships included.

Cons

Despite offering personalized pricing, they still weren't able to come in below the cost of the ticketing CRM we already use.

“top notch experience”

Pros

Out of all the online ticketing systems I've used, it has been the most user friendly by a wide margin.

Cons

I cant think of anything about the platform that I disliked.

“packed with features”

Pros

Right from the transition, the support team was incredibly responsive and even built custom programs for us without charging anything extra. It handles far more than basic ticketing too, our four tier membership program, comp tickets for cast and crew, merchandise sales, member discount pricing, reminder emails for expiring memberships and plenty of other tasks are all covered.

Cons

The pricing is on the higher side although we offset that by adding the cost into the ticket fee. Most customers are already familiar with those kinds of fees so it rarely causes complaints. It's also a fairly complex system which makes it challenging to keep our box office volunteers fully trained on all of its features.

“clean interface”

Pros

It feels very flexible and the interface stays clean and logical for both patrons and theatre staff. The template feature also speeds things up a lot when creating events which makes the whole setup process much more efficient.

Cons

A number of the more useful things VBO can do aren't really explained upfront. On top of that some features only work for general admission events and not assigned seating ones, such as group sales for 10 or more tickets purchased at once, while others apply the other way around.

“reliable ticketing every time”

Pros

Whenever customers are ready to buy tickets, it works without fail. Once I'm on the right part of the site, adding extra tickets is really simple.

Cons

Getting around the tasks we need to complete can be pretty difficult. That said, whenever questions come up, their team is always helpful and walks us through the steps.

“well designed layout”

Pros

From the beginning, it came across as a polished, professional looking platform and it connected nicely with our existing website. Once I got used to the backend, it was pretty easy to work through and I really appreciated how many customization options there are for setting up events.

Cons

At times, the workflow can feel a little scattered since some features only live in specific sections. For instance, you can't create a new event pricing template directly while building an event. That said, after learning where everything is, the system becomes fairly quick and simple to use.

“amazing features that simplify event planning”

Pros

The platform comes packed with a huge range of features that open up new possibilities for running sales and promotions. It works well for nearly every type of event, no matter the size or scale.

Cons

Because there are so many features, it takes time and proper training to get comfortable with the system. It can feel overwhelming at first and it would be even better if it included a more effective built in CRM email blast tool instead of depending on third party integrations.

“Responsive support”

Pros

This app feels like a well rounded platform that can really be adapted into whatever kind of solution you need. I've consistently been able to make changes to my sales setup and whenever I'm not sure how to handle something, the support team is quick to point me in the right direction.

Cons

Since the service keeps improving, older demos and previous setup guides can sometimes be a little confusing.

“Easy to set up recurring events”

Pros

Being able to set up recurring events and pull different types of reports has been a big plus.

Cons

The system is a bit too complex. For example if I need to change an event venue, I have to remember to go into "Manage Event Dates," which isn't obvious. I'm also still running into issues syncing with Constant Contact. That said, I end up contacting Customer Support often and they've been extremely helpful.

“user friendly platform”

Pros

It's very simple to navigate and makes problem solving much more manageable. I also appreciate that it offers different levels of functionality so some team members can stick to the basics while others across the organization can dive into the more in depth features.

Cons

Some parts of the event setup feel a bit repetitive. I do wish there were a better way to duplicate one event and carry it over into the next.

“adaptable setup”

Pros

VBO has offered the strongest support and the most adaptable setup for everything we need around ticketing and registration. We looked at a lot of different platforms and the simplicity from initial setup all the way to the buyer experience has completely changed things for us. We used to sell about 80% of our tickets in person or at the door and now 95% are sold online. That shift has made it much easier to forecast revenue, gauge how many volunteers we need for each event and stay in touch with ticket buyers before and after the event. Over the last two years, our ticket sales have grown significantly.

Cons

Even after selling more than 30,000 tickets each year, the number of complaints from users or buyers has been incredibly small, probably fewer than ten. Most of the time, the only issue is that some people do not realize they need to scroll down to add tickets to the cart. That has genuinely been the only recurring complaint and it has only come up around 10 times.