You've have signed up to the platform, online sales are booming and fans are happy, but we know that when it comes to game-day there are lots of other things to consider. This article will outline everything you need to have in place to run a smooth operation.
Scanning
To scan people in you will need a scanning device and there are multiple device options to choose from:
Personal mobile phones
If your club attracts a smaller crowd and you have volunteers who will be scanning, their personal devices can act as scanner.
Phone scanners
If you would like to invest in dedicated scanning devices, we would recommend buying Android mobile devices that meet the following spec, which will cost around £150 per device:
Android 8.0+ or iOS 11.0+
3GB Ram
5+ inch touch screen
Barcode scanners
If you would like something more robust, you can invest in purpose built barcode scanners. These are more expensive but should last longer and add some more speed to your operation. You can look at brands such as Zebra.
Device set-up:
Download the Fanbase app onto the device.
Sign in with an account that has scanning access (you can give users access via the settings cog on the top right of the admin portal)
Connect to your stadium WiFi network. This should be your primary connection, with a 5GB monthly contract data sim as back-up.
Select the menu and click ‘Scan tickets’.
Automated turnstiles
You can also invest in automated turnstiles, removing the need for scanners. Whilst expensive upfront, this removes costs for every game moving forward. We have built multiple integrations with access control provides. Please get in touch with us regarding recommendations based on your needs.
Printed fixture tickets
If you would like to have thermal printed sports tickets, we recommend purchasing the following printer:
You will also need to buy the ticket stock with your club branding and designs. Once you have your pinter and your tickets, please complete the following steps:
Set-up your pinter
Connect your printer to your computer.
Attach your ticket stock into the printer.
Print a single fixture ticket from an order in Fanbase to ensure everything is connected.
It is very unlikely that the QR code and ticket details will line-up properly. At this stage, get in touch with your point of contact at Fanbase and we will tweak the dimensions so it looks great!
Game-day sales
You have multiple options, depending on your size and operation. Have a look at the option which best describes you and the corresponding solution.
We don't sell printed tickets at the ground, fans can just purchase in the turnstile
Your best option is to use our Pay at Gate feature. As fans walk into the turnstile, you can very quickly process their order on your scanning device and let them in. The focus here is speed, so you will not collect any of their details and it will go through as an anonymous order. The benefit comes from the reporting. You can see the balance of online vs in-person sales as well as the split of card or cash for the in-person sales when reconciling the fixture.
If you would like, you can connect your Pay at Gate feature with a Teya payment terminal for card payments. This will speed up the operation even further.
We sell some printed tickets at the ground from a ticket office on game-day
In this scenario, we would recommend processing orders through the ticket office on-demand. When a fan walks up, you can click the new order button on the top right, process their order for them, collecting valuable data in the process, and print the tickets there and then.
To run this operation, you will need to have the ticket printer in place as outlined above.
If you would like, you can connect our ticket office with a Teya payment terminal for card payments.
We sell lots of printed tickets at the ground from a ticket office on game-day
In this scenario, time is of the essence and you don't want big queue's forming. We would recommend processing a bulk order in the morning of the game. You do this by completing the following steps:
Managing a bulk order
Create an £0 internal club ticket type.
Choose 'bulk order' on the first step of processing an order, choose the number of tickets you like to print, select the £0 club ticket type and select 'unpaid' on the final step.
Print the tickets and have them ready at the gate
When fans walk up, you can very quickly collect the money and hand over the tickets. Although you will loose out on data collection, you will be much faster.
After the game, you can review how many tickets you actually sold via the bulk order and we can adjust the order for you to reflect the correct ticket types, so the reporting in the system is correct. Most teams track the combination of types they sold via a stub system on the tickets.
For now, you can submit the adjustment request to us and we will update it for you. Soon, you will be able to adjust it yourself.
If you have any feedback on these processes, please let us know by contacting support@fanbaseclub.com or you can submit feedback via our public roadmap.