How to switch from Eventbrite

1. Decide which events to move

You don't have to move everything on the same day. Two common ways to do it:

• Start with your next new event. Events already selling on Eventbrite finish there. Your next event sells on Swarmtix from day one. This is the simplest switch.
• Move an event that is already on sale. Import the sales you already have, close sales on Eventbrite and sell the rest on Swarmtix. Everyone is then on one attendee list and checked in with one app.

Either way, import your past events too. Your sales history then sits next to your new events in Swarmtix analytics.

2. Export your orders from Eventbrite

In your Eventbrite event dashboard, open the orders or attendee report and export it as a CSV or Excel file. Eventbrite's help center has the current steps, because its menus change from time to time. Do this for each event you want to bring over.

The Swarmtix import needs these columns: event name, order number, order date, ticket type and price. It also uses the buyer's name and email, the attendee name, the currency, the barcode and the order status when the file has them, so include them if the report lets you pick columns.

Keep the files somewhere safe. They hold your buyers' names and emails.

3. Import your sales into Swarmtix

Create a free Swarmtix account, open your events list and click Import. You can also reach it from the analytics page with "Import from another platform".

• Upload. CSV, XLSX or XLS, up to 10 MB and 50,000 rows.
• Check the columns. Swarmtix tries to detect the platform from the header row and fills in the column mapping. If a column has a different name in your file, pick the right one from the list.
• Preview. You see one row per event, with orders, tickets, revenue, currency and any rows that could not be read. For each event, choose to create a new event, add the sales to an event you already made in Swarmtix, or skip it. Confirm the time zone for new events.
• Import. The summary shows what was imported for each event, with a link to its analytics. Uploading the same file twice skips orders that are already there.

What you get: real orders and tickets on the attendee list, in analytics and in check-in, marked as "Imported (Eventbrite)". New events start as private drafts. The import sends no emails to buyers. If something looks wrong, undo the import from the summary page or the list of past imports.

What the import does not bring over: custom checkout questions, discount codes, seat positions and Eventbrite's fees. Reserved seating events can't be an import target.

4. Set up the event and ticket types

If you imported the event, it already has one ticket type per ticket name in your file, priced at the most common price. Each ticket type's quantity equals the tickets you imported, so it shows as sold out. Raise each quantity to the full number you want to sell, counting the tickets already sold.

Then fill in what the export does not have: the description, the image, the venue and the dates. If you start a new event instead, the creating an event guide walks through each step.

• Ticket types. Each ticket type has its own name, description, price and quantity. Early bird, regular and VIP are three ticket types.
• Discount codes. These are not imported, so make them again. See the promo codes guide.
• Checkout questions. Add your custom questions again, such as dietary needs or T-shirt size.
• Recurring events. Once one event is set up, duplicate it from your events list for the next date, then check each ticket type before you publish.

Rewriting the event page anyway? The event description template helps.

5. Connect Stripe

Open the event's payment methods, pick the currency and click Connect with Stripe. Log in to your Stripe account or create one. The payment setup guide shows each screen.

Ticket money goes to your own Stripe account when someone buys. Swarmtix never holds your revenue, and you manage payouts in your Stripe dashboard.

6. Publish and change your links

Publish the event in Swarmtix. If you are moving an event that is already on sale, close ticket sales for it on Eventbrite at the same time, so nobody buys from both.

Then point every link to the new event page: your website, newsletter, social profiles and any ads. Eventbrite lists events in its marketplace; Swarmtix has no marketplace, so your buyers come from your own links, email and social posts.

7. Tell your buyers

The import sends no emails, so write to your buyers yourself. Their names and emails are in your Eventbrite export. Keep it short:

• Tickets they already bought stay valid. They don't need to do anything.
• New tickets are sold on your new event page. Give the link.
• Refunds for orders placed on Eventbrite still happen on Eventbrite, because that is where they paid.

Keep your Eventbrite account open until the events sold there are over and their refunds are done.

What changes: the fees

Swarmtix charges $0.99 + 1.5% per paid ticket. The fee is charged in the event currency, so a euro event pays €0.99 + 1.5%, and the same goes for pounds, Canadian dollars and Australian dollars. Free tickets are free.

In the US, Eventbrite charges a service fee of 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket. The platform fee per ticket:

Card processing comes on top on both. Eventbrite adds 2.9% per order in the US. On Swarmtix the card fee goes to Stripe at its normal rate, 2.9% + 30¢ per payment for a standard US card, so it is 30¢ more per order than Eventbrite's processing fee. Both platforms let you add the fees to the ticket price at checkout instead of paying them yourself.

Rates differ by country. In the UK and Australia, Eventbrite has no separate processing fee, so for cheap tickets Eventbrite can cost less. Put your own price and ticket count into the Eventbrite fee calculator to see both totals for the US, the UK, Canada or Australia. The Stripe fee calculator shows the card fee for your country, and Swarmtix pricing has the full details.

What stays the same

• Your buyers' tickets. Orders placed on Eventbrite stay valid. After the import they are on your Swarmtix attendee list too.
• Your sales history. Imported orders show in Swarmtix analytics, with the channel "Imported (Eventbrite)".
• Free events. Free tickets cost nothing on either platform.
• Ticket setup. Ticket types, quantities, sales dates, discount codes and checkout questions all exist in Swarmtix. You set them up once.

For a full feature comparison, see Swarmtix as an Eventbrite alternative.

8. Check everyone in at the door

• Scan tickets on phones. Door staff scan QR codes with the Swarmtix check-in app for iOS and Android. Check-ins sync across devices, so two entrances see the same list.
• Test your imported tickets. The import keeps each ticket's original barcode when your file has a barcode column. Scan a few tickets bought on Eventbrite before the doors open. A barcode that was already used in the same event gets a new one, and the import summary lists those.
• Look people up by name. Any buyer can be found by name or email in the attendee list and checked in by hand.
• Plan for weak signal. Check-in needs an internet connection and has no offline mode. Test the signal at the venue, and keep a printed attendee list as a backup.

The check-in guide covers scanning, manual lookup and multi-device check-in in detail.

Switching from Ticket Tailor, SimpleTix or another platform

The steps are the same. The import has presets for Eventbrite, SimpleTix, Ticket Tailor, TicketSource and Ticketleap. Any other platform works too if it exports orders as CSV, XLSX or XLS: you match the columns by hand in the mapping step.