Zero-fee ticketing with WooCommerce and NetterTech Events

The Problem with Platform Ticketing

Every major ticketing platform charges a percentage of your ticket sales. For a nonprofit running community events, those fees add up fast.

For a venue selling 5,000 tickets at $30 each, Eventbrite’s fees alone total roughly $9,750 per year. That’s money leaving your organization with every transaction.

How Zero-Fee Ticketing Works

NetterTech Events uses WooCommerce, the same ecommerce platform that powers over 30% of online stores, as its payment backbone. The key difference from platform ticketing:

You don’t pay NetterTech anything per ticket. You pay your payment processor’s standard rate (Stripe ~2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, or PayPal equivalent) and that’s it. No service fees, no platform fees, no per-ticket surcharges.

Pro add-ons (coming soon) will offer advanced features like QR check-in and promo codes. Zero per-ticket fees apply across all tiers. Learn more.

Setup Guide

1. Install the Plugins

You need two free plugins from WordPress.org:

• WooCommerce - handles payments, checkout, and order management
• NetterTech Events - handles events, ticketing, capacity, and check-in

Both are free. Install and activate them from Plugins > Add New.

2. Connect a Payment Processor

Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Payments and enable Stripe (recommended) or PayPal.

For Stripe:

1. Click Set up next to Stripe
2. Connect your Stripe account (or create one)
3. Enable “Payment Request Buttons” for Apple Pay and Google Pay support

Stripe charges ~2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. There is no additional fee from NetterTech Events.

3. Create an Event with Tickets

1. Go to Events > Add New
2. Fill in your event details (title, date, description, venue)
3. In the Ticket Types section, add a ticket type with a name, price, and capacity
4. Publish the event

NetterTech Events automatically creates a WooCommerce product for each ticket type. When someone buys a ticket, it flows through WooCommerce’s standard checkout: your branding, your domain, your customer relationship.

4. Manage Capacity

Capacity is tracked automatically. When tickets sell, available count decreases. When capacity reaches zero:

• The ticket type shows as “Sold Out”
• If you’ve enabled waitlist, visitors can join the waitlist
• When a cancellation opens a spot, the next person on the waitlist is notified automatically

5. Check In Attendees

The free plugin includes manual check-in: search attendees by name or email and mark them as arrived. Pro adds QR code generation on every ticket and camera-based scanning for faster throughput at the door.

1. Open the check-in page on any device
2. Search by name or email (free) or scan the QR code (Pro)
3. The attendee is checked in with real-time stats

With Pro, door volunteers get a shareable check-in link - they can scan tickets on their phone without needing a WordPress login.

The Math

For a nonprofit arts center running 50 events/year, 100 tickets/event, $25 average ticket price:

With Eventbrite:

• Gross revenue: $125,000
• Eventbrite fees: ~$11,725
• Net to organization: ~$113,275

With NetterTech Events + Stripe:

• Gross revenue: $125,000
• Stripe processing: ~$3,775
• NetterTech Events: free (Pro add-ons coming soon)
• Net to organization: ~$121,000+

Annual savings: $7,500+

That’s a part-time employee, a production budget, or a community program - redirected from platform fees back to your mission. Use the fee calculator to run the numbers for your organization.

When You Need More

The free plugin covers the core workflow. Pro add-ons (coming soon) will add advanced features, and zero per-ticket fees apply across all tiers. Learn more.