How to set up timed-entry tickets for a farm

Size slots to your tightest bottleneck

Capacity per slot isn’t how many people fit in the field. It’s how many cars your lot turns over, how many wagon seats you have, or how fast the checkout scales weigh fruit, whichever is smallest.

Start with hour-long slots. Shorter slots move people faster but leave less room for late arrivals; say in the ticket terms how late a guest can arrive and still get in.

Hold some capacity for walk-ups

Some families will drive up without a ticket. Decide how many spots per slot stay off the online sale so the gate can sell them, and sell them from the same capacity count so a slot never oversells.

The gate can cost a different fee than online. TicketSpice and SimpleTix both list a separate per-ticket fee for tickets sold in person, so check the gate rate as well as the online rate.

Write the weather policy before the first rain

Say up front what happens when the farm cancels a slot: a reschedule by default, or a refund to the original card. Say what doesn’t earn a refund, like no-shows or light rain.

Pick a tool that can cancel a whole day at once. TicketSpice lists mass cancellation for weather; with others you may refund order by order.

Decide who pays the ticket fee

Per-ticket platform fees add up over a season. SimpleTix lets you absorb its fee or pass it on to buyers. Passing it on keeps your price clean, but the guest sees an extra line at checkout.

For a seasonal farm, a monthly subscription runs all year unless the tool lets you pause. Bookeo lists an off-season freeze at a share of its monthly fee.

Don’t split admission and u-pick into two systems

U-pick fruit is sold by the pound at the exit, and ticketing tools sell admission, not weighed produce. That usually means a second checkout and a second set of books.

Opening soon. U-Pick Ticket sells timed tickets and weighs fruit at the gate on the same ledger.

Sources

• SimpleTix pricing
• TicketSpice pricing
• Bookeo pricing