wintixNew ways to email receipts/tickets from Wintix

Because we changed email services recently, there are changes you need to make in order to email receipts and tickets from Wintix. 

Wintix 6 users:
Due to security protocols, Wintix 6 users will need to contact support@centerstage.com (831-920-1254) for assistance with usernames and passwords. Click here for instructions.

Wintix 5 users:
You will now need to create a PDF and attach it to an email from your regular email account. We are no longer developing version 5, but this will work until you upgrade to version 6. Click here for instructions.
emailIs it possible to receive the email confirmations 
that were missed during the Mandrill email stoppage?


No.  All emails to patrons through Mandrill stopped on Thursday, November 7 at 10:32 am PST. 

As a courtesy, you might consider contacting people who purchased tickets online. Run a report daily sales report for clerk = Webtix from November 7 through November 9 at 2 pm EST. 

You may need help modifying your Wintix email settings to switch from smtp.mandrillapp.com to smtp.postmarkapp.com. Please contact us at support@centerstage.com or call 831-920-1254.
feeHow much would you be losing if you had to pay per ticket fees?


A lot of our competitors try to lure new clients by telling them that any per ticket fees they charge can be added to the ticket price so your patrons pay them - not you.

That may sound okay at first - until you do the math and realize you'd be out thousands of dollars, even if you are a small community operation.

Here is an example:
  • You sell 300 tickets for $45 each for one performance.
  • The ticketing software company charges a 5% fee for each ticket.
  • That equals $675 for ONE performance that isn't going into your organization's back account.
  • Now add up all the performances/events for one year! 
returnHow to return reserved seats or general admission (GA) tickets in Wintix 6


There are many times any box office needs to return seats or GA tickets for sale. If you upgraded to Wintix 6 as most of our clients are doing, the procedure is just a bit different from what it was in Wintix 5. 

willieHow many "Willie Nelsons" should we set our servers for? 
That is our tongue-in-cheek way we quantify the impact 
of your big ticket sales event! 



Got a big event coming? The kind that creates so much excitement that people sit in front of their computer waiting to get tickets the minute they go on sale?

We hope you know by now that we can  increase the server capacity if you notify us ahead of time. You may estimate the online traffic will increase by 25%. One of our clients had a recent event for which we all underestimated the server load, so we've come up with a new, "highly scientific" measurement term - the Willie Nelson. 

Maybe 25% more web traffic equals two Willie Nelsons. Maybe 50% equals four Willie Nelsons.

Here's what happened: 

We were watching as the performances went on sale. The CPU usage hit a high of 44.8%. That should have been able to handle the load, but the performances were more popular than the estimate. This was a surprise because this configuration had been more than adequate for other shows.

The problem is once we are locked into a particular configuration, it can't be easily changed. It means shutting down the server and re-starting it. That takes about 30 minutes and your phone lines would jam with a lot of angry customers.

We needed to give the servers more resources - they did have about double what we usually give. What we needed was about five times that.

We can increase the servers, but we need an idea of how much.

How many Willie Nelsons will you need?

Here is what a huge server spike looks like. 
To us, it looks like a side view of Willie's old guitar.

adaIs your website ADA accessible?



In fact, it allowed Domino's Pizza to be sued by a blind man, "Guillermo Robles, who complained he had been unable to order a pizza online because the Domino's website lacked the software that would allow him to communicate. He cited the ADA, which guarantees to people with a disability 'full and equal enjoyment of the goods and services ... of any place of public accommodations.' " 


While the ADA was originated to protect people in brick and mortar spaces, websites have become under more scrutiny and retail websites have been subject to 50% of the lawsuits filed. 

There are a lot of resources to help you evaluate and improve the design, content, and programming that add up to an ADA compliant website, though. Here are a couple.



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