Selling Event Tickets & Managing Reservations in PrestaShop

E-commerce store owners can now sell tickets to their online webinar, product launch, or workshop within PrestaShop. Thus, they don’t have to outsource or do extra efforts for this. 

This interesting blog post is meant to guide you all through the entire process of selling event tickets online and managing reservations, from creating a product to handling participants, so you sell your events like a pro without having any technical skills.

Why You Don’t Sell Tickets without a Ticketing & Reservation System in PrestaShop

Selling tickets without any sort of organized approach can quickly turn into a free-for-all. Most of the time, merchants start with email inquiries, messages or basic forms, and once events become popular, it becomes impossible to manage the interest. Manual tracking is error-prone: oversold events, lost confirmation emails, double bookings and upset attendees.

The PrestaShop Events Booking Module creates an automatic system for every step of the reservation process. Actual ticket stock is kept current to avoid overselling. Customers receive booking confirmations by email, with PrestaShop ticket PDFs.

This can be extremely useful for occasions, such as concerts, training sessions, workshops, webinars and conferences. However, if there is no ticketing system in place, you’d be absolutely swamped with verifying each booking, checking remaining seats and having to send tickets one by one. 

In a nutshell, through the use of tickets, your shop becomes an event management system, improving shop operation on the dealer side and enhancing the purchase experience for most users.

Creating Ticket Products in PrestaShop

The basis of selling tickets in PrestaShop is the formation of ticket-based products connected to separate events. Here’s how you can do that:

Add Ticket Products Tied to Events

Create a new product in your PrestaShop back office:

Catalog -> Products -> Add New Product

Give a name to the ticket product (e.g):

• General Admission:  Photography Workshop
• VIP Ticket:  Annual Tech Expo
• Standard Ticket:  Online Webinar

Once you have the product, you go to the Prestashop Sell Tickets Module and link it to the right event:

Events Manager → Events → Edit → Attach Tickets 

One ticket product can be attached to multiple events, or you can have different ticket products for different types of events. With this arrangement, you can sell:

• Standard tickets
• VIP or priority-access tickets
• Early-bird tickets
• Online access passes

Add Attributes and Pricing Rules for Ticket

Many events require you to choose between so many different ticket levels. Possibility to add variations using PrestaShop’s attribute system:

• Ticket Options: General / VIP / Behind the Scenes
• Schedule: Morning / Afternoon / Evening
• Seating: Front Row / Balcony or General Admission

Pricing rules can also be set:

• Early-bird discounts for early registrants
• Group pricing for multiple attendees
• Time-limited promotions

This freedom enables you to optimize ticket sales and meet diverse audience requirements.

Control Options for Stock and Availability Settings

For paid ticket events, you need to have control of your inventory. In the “Quantities” tab:

• Scale remaining inventory by the  capacity of the venue
• Turn on out-of-stock behavior to avoid overselling
• Set available through dates so the tickets are not purchasable after the event.
• Show the alerting messages for low stock to create a sense of urgency.

This allows customers to see exactly how many tickets are left and eliminates overselling and confusion.

Enable PDF Ticket Generation

• It includes information on ticket type, seat type and order reference
• QR code or barcode on verification

The e-ticket will be sent to the customer's email address and can also be found in “My Account.”

This automates the delivery process and gives you a professional ticket waiting for each of your participants.

Reservation Workflow Overview

The customer booking journey is simple and easy:

Customer Chooses An Event from A Calendar or List:

• The ticket product page opens
• Ticket type and Quantity selection by the customer
• Checkout and payment are completed
• An email with a PDF ticket is sent for confirmation
• A booking is registered at “My Account → Orders → Tickets.”

This end-to-end flow eliminates manual effort for both merchant and attendee.

Manual or Automatic Booking Confirmation

The PrestaShop booking module provides two ways to confirm:

• Instant Confirmation:  Customers will have a booking and ticket issued instantly after payment. Great for public speaking, webinars and large workshops.
• Manual Confirmation:  The admin needs to confirm each booking before confirmation. Great for private parties, VIP classes and small workshops.

Both offer correct bookings and flexibility, but with some conditions based on the event type.

Manage Attendees and Check-Ins

Admins can also view the attendees right in the dashboard. Each booking record displays:

• Customer name and email
• Ticket type
• Payment status
• Check-in status

Visitors can redeem tickets via the scanning of QR codes or barcodes. This way, only confirmed participants secure entry, and you have a reliable check-in process. 

In this section, you can choose Event Attendees manage, which is responsible for the event attendee list management.

Reservation Modifications & Refunds

Sometimes customers want changes after they’ve booked. The PrestaShop reservation module allows admins to:

• Edit reservations
• Cancel tickets
• Reassign tickets to another customer
• Issue partial or full refunds

This flexibility both delivers a professional experience and caters to real-life instances such as last-minute cancellations or upgrades.

Improving the Customer Journey While Booking & Checking out

How to book directly versus with OTAs. A seamless booking process leads to higher conversion and satisfaction. Key strategies include:

• Ensure Event Information is Obvious:  Ensure the date, time, location and ticket types are clear on the product page.
• Frictionless Purchase Experience:  Users can purchase multiple tickets, choose attributes and pay without hurdles.
• Booking options:  “Book Now Pay Later” and "Reserve Your Seat" give more flexibility to participants in managing their reservations.
• Email Notifications:  Email notifications about bookings, PDF ticket attachment to emails, email reminders and updates are sent.

Optimising these aspects will result in a refined experience that makes your customers want to come back and trust your shop.

Ticket Delivery & Post Purchase Policy

Ticket delivery and post-purchase PrestaShop ticket management are also automated following your payment:

• Auto-PDF Delivery:  Customers immediately receive a fully branded ticket with their email. It contains the event name, seat type, QR/bar code, order reference number, venue and terms.
• My Account Access:  Customers can view and download tickets anytime from their PrestaShop account.
• Customized Branding:  Include logos, colors, and even sponsor information on tickets for a professional look.
• Tracking & Re-sending: Admins can track ticket downloads and re-send tickets if email delivery fails.

This process eliminates the help calls and ensures your customers always have access to their tickets.

Dealing with A Series of Events or Recurrent Event Booking

If your store is running multiple or repeating events, you can save a lot of time, thanks to the following features at your fingertips for effective Prestashop event management on your store:

• Duplicate:  Duplicate the modalities using the modal's duplicate function if you have repeated events and only need to change the date or location (s).
• Schedule Multiple Dates on One Event:  Great for multi-day conferences and classes with multiple sessions.
• Automated Ticket Production:  Each instance gets its own group of tickets to avoid confusion and keep real seat counts.
• Categorize Everything: Categorize workshops by location, topic or format (online vs. offline), so you can manage them more easily and customers can browse better.

These policies help to keep complex event schedules running smoothly.

Common Support & Error Messages

There might be a few hiccups in the purchasing of tickets or with booking management:

• Purchased Tickets Not Displaying:  This may be due to a caching issue, stock configuration error or payment confirmation delays. Solution: Flush your cache and double-check product-event links.
• QR Codes Won’t Scan:  Formats, PDF files and electronic devices are not properly configured.
• Not Booking Sync:  Cron jobs may be disabled, or your custom theme may not work out. Turn scheduled tasks on and then check module overrides.
• The calendar is not displaying linked tickets:  Make sure that the event is public, products are visible, and module hooks are in place.

Actively watching these to prevent errors and deliver a solid booking experience.

Conclusion

PrestaShop Selling tickets & handling reservations is easier than ever before from now on with the help of the PrestaShop Events Manager Module. Ticket products can be managed and associated with events. 

Whether you facilitate webinars, workshops, local meetups or mega-conferences, this robust system is sure to save you time, error and frustration, and your customers love it. Attendees have a frictionless experience when booking tickets, and admins are always in control over sales and capacity.