Can’t sell off your extra ticket? Try SpareTicket.in

Earlier this year, a situation arose with a few friends wherein there were 2 spare IPL tickets worth Rs.3,200 because a couple of their friends backed out just one day before the match. In spite of their desperate attempts till the last minute, calling up all their friends and mailing everybody they knew, they could not get rid of the two spare tickets. It was a hapless and frustrating feeling because there were hundreds of others in Bangalore who'd love to get those tickets. This is what led this group of entrepreneurial friends to startup the very recently launched SpareTicket.in. SpareTicket has been developed by IgluLabs, and Jubin Mehta from YourStory.in caught up with co-founder Smit Kant Raturi to know more about the business idea behind their venture.Tell us as to how the whole process of SpareTicket.in works.

A number of times we find ourselves with spare tickets for movies, sports and theatre events, which we have no means of giving away, except for desperate last minute calls to friends, family and colleagues. On the other hand, at times we are looking for tickets that have been sold out for a while. SpareTicket is a very simple utility, which serves as a platform for those who have spare tickets to find people who are looking for these tickets.

There is also a provision for users to offer a discount on the spare tickets as an extra incentive to give them away quickly. Another very cool feature is letting users set alerts in advance for shows they want to watch but couldn't get the tickets for. As soon as those spare tickets become available, interested users will be notified via email. They can also register their mobile numbers (without DND enabled) to get instant SMS alerts. We are also working on a SpareTicket.in mobile app for our smartphone, app savvy users.

How do you ensure the exchange of tickets?

SpareTicket.in lets you post your contact (email/mobile) along with your spare ticket details. Those who are interested in your ticket will respond to your post and when both parties agree to exchange contacts, they can view each other's email ids and mobile numbers (if provided). Rest of the transaction happens offline, and the two parties can call/email each other and find a convenient way to exchange tickets.

How do you plan to monetize this venture?

To begin with, the Spareticket.in portal is free for users. Our intention is to create a community of users who find this portal useful. We then plan to monetize the venture through a subscription based revenue model. The secondary source of revenues would be advertising.

What is your marketing model?

We are using a viral marketing model to create a buzz about Spareticket.in. We have started our marketing through word of mouth and emails to friends, family, colleagues, corporate and alumni forums. We are also leveraging the social networking sites like Facebook, which we update regularly with new versions and releases of the product. Products like Spareticket.in are dependent on people trying them out - more the number of people using the product more useful it becomes.

How do you ensure that the ticket availability posted on the site is authentic?

Firstly, we do not believe in policing the users. In future updates we will allow the users the ability to mark bogus users as spammers. Hence any user who does not provide authentic information on the site can be permanently banned from the site. Secondly, we encourage users to register their mobile numbers on the site. Users with verified mobile phones are less likely to be spammers. Thirdly, we limit posting of non-existent tickets by wherever possible, verifying the events posted on the site.

How do you plan to take this forward?

Currently our Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore users can post spare tickets for movies running in their cities. We are slowly rolling out support for events, sports, and theater as well. Looking at the support we are getting, we we'll be rolling out SpareTicket.in to Noida, Gurgaon, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and other cities over the next couple of weeks. Also, we'll be launching our mobile app very soon that will provide our smartphone users, the freedom to post and check spare tickets availability even at the last minute. Our SpareTicket.in team is busy working hard round the clock to keep our users delighted!

Here’s the space to check out if you’re looking to buy or sell a spare ticket http://spareticket.in/