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Lesson 13 of 15

Group sales: holds, deposits, and converting to tickets

Box OfficeVenue AdminSuper Admin

A group sale is a named hold on a block of seats (or a GA quantity) that a group pays off over time — by deposit, invoice, or payment link — and converts to real tickets automatically once it's paid in full.

Group sales is an optional module — if AdminBox OfficeGroup Sales shows a "not enabled" message, ask a venue admin to turn it on.

Creating a group sale

  1. Go to AdminBox OfficeGroup Sales and click New.

  2. Pick the event, then select the seats (or GA quantity) to hold for the group.

    New group sale form with an existing group hold visible on the seat map
    1Seat inventory
    New group sale form with an existing group hold visible on the seat map
  3. Fill in the organization name, contact name/email/phone, price lines, and a payment deadline.

  4. Save. The group gets an auto-assigned invoice number in the format GS2026-000001.

Held seats from a group sale show Held — {group name} when another staff member hovers over them on the seat map, so it's clear they're spoken for.

Collecting payment

Group sale detail page with deposits table and balance due
1Organization
2Invoice number
Group sale detail page with deposits table and balance due

There are three ways money comes in:

  • Record a deposit directly — cash, check, or PO, with an amount, an optional reference, and a date. (An "other" method exists too, but recording one requires a venue admin.)
  • Send a payment link — creates a Stripe Checkout link you can text or email the contact; the deposit is recorded automatically once they pay.
  • Send invoice — generates and emails a PDF invoice with the price lines, deposits received so far, and the balance due.

Fees are applied to group sales the same as any other order. Only a super-admin can waive them — box office and venue admins see a read-only Noctern fees: applied note.

Converting to tickets

As soon as the balance due hits $0 — from any combination of deposits, a payment link, or an invoice payment — the group sale converts automatically. Real tickets with QR codes are minted and the group's seats scan normally at check-in from that point on. There's nothing extra to click to trigger the conversion.

There's no way to swap seats on a group sale from the UI once it's created, even before a deposit is recorded. If the group needs different seats, use Release hold to cancel the group sale and start a new one — if deposits have already been taken, coordinate the refund with a venue admin first, since releasing does not refund automatically.

Open this topic in the help center

Try it

Create a test group sale from Admin → Box Office → Group Sales: hold three seats, enter a contact and organization, set a deadline, then record a partial deposit and read the balance due on the detail page.

Checkpoint

Answer all 3 questions correctly to mark this lesson complete.

  1. 1. What happens when a group sale's balance reaches $0?

  2. 2. A group organizer asks to change which seats are held after paying a deposit. What is needed?

  3. 3. Who can waive Noctern fees on a group sale?