FAQ

• Who is Saffire?
• How long have you been in business?
• What inspired you to start Saffire?
• What are the Saffire company core values?
• Who are your customers?
• What does Saffire enable me to do?
• I already have a website and/or ticketing provider; why should I use Saffire?
• What is your vision? Where are you going next?

1. We are smart and creative innovators
2. We make nerdy fun
3. We are dedicated team players
4. We treat clients like family

• If I decide to work with Saffire, what is the process to get started?
• How long does it take to launch a new website and ticketing project?
• Are there any system requirements to use Saffire? Can I use my iPhone or iPad? My Mac?
• What are some ways I can get familiar with Saffire?

2. We set up your website first. Within a few days, you’ll have kickoff, design and layout meetings.

3. You’ll also get access to a “starter site,” where you can start to play with entering content into our Spark content management system, as well as access our Saffire U 8-week website training program.

4. You meet with your Saffire coach weekly until we launch your website, at which time you’ll feel confident you can manage your Saffire website. We will continue to check in on you, and we are here for you whenever you need anything at all!

5. As part of setting up your website, we’ll help set up your items you’ll sell online, as well as everything you need to accept print-at-home tickets at your gate. We’ll also help you with offline advance ticket sales, helping you print tickets if needed, and set you up to use SaffireTix for gate sales.

• How much do Saffire websites cost?
• How much does it cost to use SaffireTix and SaffireCommerce for online sales?
• How much does it cost to use SaffireTix for pre-sale and gate sales?
• Are there any other fees for doing ecommerce or ticketing?
• What are your payment terms? When do you start billing me?
• Are there other fees besides these?
• Are there any long-term contracts?
• Do you offer any discounts?
• Can I pay by credit card?
• Can I pay in a currency other than US Dollars?
• Are there applicable taxes? Can I be exempt?

How much do Saffire websites cost?
Saffire websites works well for events, venues and destinations of all sizes, so it depends on several factors - what you’ll be using it for, how much throughout the year and your dreams for your design. The good news is, we can give you a really good idea on price after spending about 20 minutes learning your strategy and needs.

Saffire websites include a combination of both initial setup fees and ongoing subscription fees. Initial fees include a charge to set up your website on the Saffire platform, to give you a custom website design and to populate your initial website content if you like. Subscription fees include hosting and licensing. Hosting is on a secure, dedicated server with only Saffire clients, and licensing includes ongoing feature updates, as well as unlimited support when you need it.

How much does it cost to use SaffireTix and SaffireCommerce for online sales?
It depends on quantities, but online QR code ticket sales (SaffireTix) start at $1 per item redeemed. Whether single-use or multiple-use, an item only counts once, so season passes and family fun passes count as one item. Many clients charge a convenience fee equal to or greater than the fee and are revenue-neutral or positive for this service.

Or if you want to sell items on your site that don’t need QR codes, you can use SaffireCommerce for $0.50/item.

How much does it cost to use SaffireTix for pre-sale and gate sales?
The cost of advance and gate sales is dependent on the quantity you anticipate selling, so we need to meet before we can give you pricing for this part. When we talk, we’ll ask you for prior year(s) data on tickets sold online, in advance and at the gate. So feel free to have this info handy!

Are there any other fees for doing ecommerce or ticketing?
There are optional fees for device rentals and/or sales (iPod Touches and MiFi hotspots), advance hard ticket printing, device and ticket shipping, and on-site support and travel. Also, as with any ecommerce, there will be credit card transaction fees paid to the processing company.

What are your payment terms? When do you start billing me?
For websites, the initial invoice includes 50% of the initial setup fees, plus prorated subscription fees to get you to the next billing cycle, which start January 1 and July 1. The remaining 50% of setup fees is invoiced after your website is live. After this, ongoing fees are invoiced twice a year, in June & December, and due within 30 days.

For ecommerce and/or ticketing, we bill all fees approximately 10 days after your event ends, including ticket processing fees, advance tickets, on-site support, travel and device rentals, device and ticket shipping, are invoiced immediately after the event and are due within 30 days after event. Rolls of gate tickets are free of charge.

Are there other fees besides these?
Other fees are completely optional. You’ll want to have a communication plan for email and social media. We include social media and email content recommendations and assets for all SaffireTix customers. For email, you’ll need an email marketing platform - we recommend Mailchimp. You can also opt to text message market to your customers with SaffireText. If you’d like an app, we can provide one with integrated content management through a partnership with a mobile app company. Finally, you may need to budget for some photography, which is the best way to sell yourself online!

Clients occasionally request custom functionality outside of the standard Saffire platform. It’s fairly uncommon, but if needed, we can include these costs in your proposal.

Are there any long-term contracts?
We want you to stay with Saffire because you love our platform and service, not because you’re tied to partnering with us! So for websites, we typically do a one-year contract that is self-perpetuating every year unless you cancel.For ticketing, we’re open

Do you offer any discounts?
We don’t typically offer discounts, but we do run specials occasionally based on how you meet us, the timeframe for starting your project or the contract length.

Can I pay by credit card?
Yes, you can absolutely pay by credit card if you like! We can set up your invoice to have a link to pay right online.

Can I pay in a currency other than US Dollars?
While we can accept payment in currencies other than US dollars, our pricing is based on USD, so you must pay the equivalent in your currency based on the current exchange rate for the day you are paying.

Are there applicable taxes? Can I be exempt?
Clients must generally pay taxes for site development, hosting and licensing if you are in a state that charges sales tax. Tax-exempt clients must provide a tax exemption form showing the basis of the exemption, generally because of 501c3 status or being a government entity.

• What is the reasoning behind Saffire features?
• How many users can manage our Saffire website under our licensing agreement?
• Are there limitations on number of pages, businesses, events or forms on my website?
• Do you enter our old website content, or do we?
• Do I have to use one of your layout “templates?”
• How do I know you’ll give me a design I love?
• Will my site be mobile and tablet friendly? Are your websites responsive?
• What can we change about our website, and when do we need to call you?
• Can I schedule anything in advance for our website?
• How do you help me market my events to get more attendance?
• What are other ways you help me make money?
• How can you make my life easier with application forms I receive?
• How is my site optimized for search engines?
• How does my site maximize social media sharing?
• How does my site maximize email marketing?
• How do you integrate photos and video?
• Do you offer an app?

What is the reasoning behind Saffire features?
We have two main sources we go to when developing software features – our customers and latest trends. Since our customers use Saffire on a daily basis, they are our best source of feature ideas. Our features come from an annual customer survey and ongoing feature requests. We also watch industry trends and add and enhance features based on what is the “latest and greatest” in software development, user interface and design.

How many users can manage our Saffire website under our licensing agreement?
You can have as centralized or distributed website and ticketing management as you like. Unlimited people can manage your website and ticketing through your Spark content management system for no additional charge. You can even give customized access to various team members, so they can only manage and see certain parts of the website.

Are there limitations on number of pages, businesses, events or forms on my website?
You can have unlimited pages, events, businesses and forms on your website. We’ve heard stories of other web software placing arbitrary limits. We want your website to work for you, and frankly, that’s just not our style.

Do you enter our old website content, or do we?
We can do whatever works best for you. Of course, we want you to learn our easy Spark content management system so you can make changes in a flash, but if you’re pressed for time, we can enter initial content, depending on your preference and budget. We replace Wordpress websites in many instances, so we can usually import Wordpress site content.

Do I have to use one of your layout “templates?”
No! It’s true that website layout trends change, and of course our clients want website designs that are on trend. But the sky's the limit for your site design. We’re always happy to share best practices with you, and we have some layouts to get you started, but every client is different, and we want their websites to reflect that.

How do I know you’ll give me a design I love?
There is always a little trepidation that you’ll get a beautiful, unique design. We want to put your mind at ease. Our creative director is gifted at taking your hopes and dreams and translating those into a beautiful design. We’re proud to say we’ve gone through the process hundreds of times, and we have a great success record.

Will my site be mobile and tablet friendly? Are your websites responsive?
Yes! Our websites are completely responsive, so they look great no matter what platform your clients view your website.

What can we change about our website, and when do we need to call you?
Many providers say they have great content management, but our Spark content management platform allows you to manage virtually every part of your website and ticketing. You can change your homepage images, your navigation (including any drop-down navigation below your main items – and even re-order navigation), add and change unlimited pages, upload unlimited images, add and edit unlimited forms and much more. And by using one integrated solution for our website and ticketing, you can even add and edit any items for sale, all in one place!

The only thing you can’t do is change your site design - we like to say we give you just enough rope so you can’t hang yourself! But other than that, you have complete control over your website and ticketing. If you ever want to refresh your website design, we’re happy to help you - it’s a snap, since your existing content ports over to your new design.

Can I schedule anything in advance for our website?
Our clients have one thing in common – they’re all busy! We try to make their lives easier by allowing them to schedule homepage features, events, even tickets for sale all in advance. For example, for homepage features, you can set unlimited date/time ranges and show different features for each range. So your customers (and Google!) see your website is up-to-date, but you’re able to do it all at one time when it’s convenient for you!

How do you help me market my events to get more attendance?
We love to give advice on email marketing, social media, SEO and especially increasing your ticket sales. Included in your licensing fee is all the free advice you want! We also do targeted social media and email marketing campaigns on a limited basis, or we can recommend a partner to help you with these as well.

What are other ways you help me make money?
We give you great ways to promote your sponsors and rent your facility (if you have one). We also help you create bundles and packages that can increase online sales dramatically. Even if you think there’s something that “can’t be sold online,” talk to us about it, because more than likely we will have sold it!

How can you make my life easier with application forms I receive?
We’ve visited lots of organizations that have binders of PDF applications. Or even worse, they take PDF forms and enter them into a database, causing unnecessary delays and data entry errors. With Saffire, when someone completes a form online, it is automatically emailed to you and added to a spreadsheet, which you can view anytime in Excel (or other database programs).

How is my site optimized for search engines?
Saffire websites are optimized for search engines from the ground up. First, we incorporate CSS-based navigation, so it is fast-loading and can be crawled by search engines. We also allow you to add customizable, descriptive URLs to as many pages as you want. We also allow customizable page title, description and keywords and provide social sharing options for specific events and businesses, increasing in-links to your pages.

How does my site maximize social media sharing?
Often web developers say they integrate social media, but Saffire has “social on steroids!” We integrate with unlimited social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. Social media icons are included not only on every webpage, but also in the site navigation. Facebook Like and Twitter Follow links appear on the bottom of every webpage. Your site visitors can share individual events and businesses on social media that are most relevant to them, which increases viral social marketing significantly. Saffire even makes it easy for you to share events and businesses on your own Facebook page, with a one-click Facebook share button in Spark. We can also give you a custom Facebook cover photo and Twitter background design to coordinate with your website.

How does my site maximize email marketing?
Saffire integrates with industry-leading MailChimp and most popular email marketing tools. We give you graphics for an email marketing template to coordinate with your website as part of your design project. You can allow email sign-ups from every page of your website to automatically go into your email marketing tool so when you’re ready to send an email, your email list is ready.

How do you integrate photos and video?
You can upload unlimited photos and videos (with captions) onto your Saffire website. Your site includes photo gallery and video gallery pages that automatically populate every event and business listing photo and video that has been added to the site. You may also choose to feature these photos on your homepage without re-uploading. Videos embed directly on your site from YouTube, so you also get increased exposure to your brand on your YouTube channel. You can crop images if needed from our included tool, and your site visitors can email or share them on social media. Buy buttons appear along with every photo for each event that has something for sale, taking customers directly to the place where they can make a purchase. Finally, site visitors can upload their own photos to the site if they like.

Do you offer an app?
Saffire can partner with an app developer to offer a mobile application that is integrated with our platform. Through this partnership, the majority of your content on your website, mobile site and app is managed in one place, saving you time and energy. Let us know if you want to get more information on our app features!

• What is SaffireCommerce?
• Why SaffireCommerce?
• What are some examples of items we can sell?
• What is SaffireTix?
• How do I sell things using SaffireCommerce and SaffireTix?
• How do you prevent using tickets more than once?
• For pre-sales, how will my tickets look?
• What do we use to sell tickets in our box office and scan tickets at the gate?
• Do you rent or sell Apple devices we can use to scan tickets?
• What kind of internet connectivity do I need at my gates?
• Can we offer promo codes for SaffireTix Items?
• What kind of reporting do you offer for SaffireTix?
• How often can I make changes to my items for sale or promo codes?
• What if I create more tickets or stickers than I needed?
• What if a customer loses their ticket?

What is SaffireCommerce?
SaffireCommerce is the built-in shopping cart that comes with Saffire. Items that don't need to be scanned at your entrance can be sold on your Saffire website for 50 cents per item. Your customers stay on your website with no change in URL or design to complete their purchase, increasing sales. Our shopping cart makes buying simple, with minimal clicks to make a purchase and lots of buying options throughout your Saffire website.

Why SaffireCommerce?
We want your digital presence to be on the revenue side of your budget, instead of just the expense side. We are passionate about helping you find things to sell on your website, which can both increase revenue and make your life easier. Our goal is for you to make as much revenue as possible before people get to you. Our clients have told us the money they make online is incremental revenue, not replaced revenue from what their customers typically spend at the event. We help you get money out of customers’ pockets ahead of time (when it’s out of a different paycheck).

What are some examples of items we can sell?
In addition to selling tickets, our clients have been very successful taking payments from sponsors, vendors, members, exhibitors, facility renters and more. You can also sell merchandise, parking and anything else you can dream up. Bundles and packages have shown to increase online sales as well!

What is SaffireTix?
SaffireTix takes your sales to the next level by offering:

• Online sales with print-at-home tickets you can scan at the gate
• Advance sales with hard tickets or QR codes you can attach to any hard ticket
• Gate sales and tracking, via cash and credit cards

You can promote sponsors on tickets, including up to four logos and an advertisement. Comprehensive, up-to-the minute reporting is integrated into your Spark dashboard and emailed to you nightly.

• Adult general admission (one scan at gate, any event day)
• Weekday discount pass (one scan on designated dates)
• Adult general admission and a carnival wristband (one scan at gate, one scan to redeem wristband)
• Family pass (four uses in one day)
• Season pass (one scan at gate per day)
• Mega pass (one scan at gate and one to scan wristband per day)
• VIP pass (one scan at gate, one for VIP parking and one at VIP tent per day)

Advance tickets can be in one of two formats:

• For smaller quantities, you can print a 1.5” or 2” square QR code sticker (on Avery 22805 or 22806 labels) and place it on anything – a card, lanyard, ticket or anything you can dream up! Our clients have used these for season passes, VIP passes and more.
• For larger quantities, Saffire provides blank tickets and Dymo ticket printers to print as you need them. Tickets will be printed on 2x4” with event and ticket information, a QR code and an optional note. Or we can coordinate custom ticket printing if you like.

• Scan mode is where you scan all QR-coded ticket purchases. You simply log in and use the device’s camera to scan tickets as they come through the gate.

• SaffireTix displays a bright green screen with the word “Success!” in large letters, along with a success “ding” sound for valid tickets.
• If someone tries to scan their ticket more than you’ve designated, a bright red screen with the word “Denied!” in large letters will appear along with exactly when, where and by whom it was scanned and a denied “buzz" sound

• Sales mode is your ticket sales cash register, in the palm of your hand. Select predetermined items you want to sell (set up in Spark), and it calculates the total and allows you to accept cash or credit card. If you choose cash, it can calculate the amount of change due to the customer. If you choose credit card, simply swipe the card with the small, attached card reader (like a Square) that processes the payment immediately. You can then give the patron inexpensive roll tickets for them to take to the gate.

Can we offer promo codes for SaffireTix Items?
You can offer promo codes on any product you sell through Saffire. They are managed through your Saffire dashboard and appear to your customers in checkout. You may create unlimited promo codes at no charge. Here are some things you can do with promo codes:

• Create promo codes of either percent or dollar value discount on either a per-item or per-order basis.
• Display a promotion description/message in the shopping cart.
• Schedule promo codes ahead of time with a start date and either an end date or a number of uses (e.g., a promo for the first 10 people who enter the code).
• After codes are no longer valid, automatically stop accepting codes and instead display a custom message telling customers the code is no longer valid (e.g. Sorry, we already picked our 10 winners! Watch Facebook for more promos like this one! etc.)
• Optionally offer free shipping for each promo code.
• Optionally designate a threshold for total order volume for each promo code.
• Optionally designate the number of things a customer can buy with each promo code.

You’ll also get a nightly email report with that day’s sales and redemption information.

What if I create more tickets or stickers than I needed?
SaffireTix only charges you for the stickers and tickets that are redeemed, so you don’t have to pay for unused items.

What if a customer loses their ticket?
It is entirely up to you what you want to do about lost tickets. We recommend that “officially” you aren’t responsible for lost and stolen tickets, but if any one calls you prior to arriving to you event, you are able to use Spark to look their order and resend them the tickets that came with their purchase. Additionally, the SaffireTix app allows you to look up any order and directly redeem tickets without the need to print out or download the tickets.

• What kind of support can I expect after signing up? Will I have my own account representative?
• What kind of support can I expect once I’ve launched my website?
• What days and hours is your support available?
• Are there any additional support levels available?
• Do you offer on-site support during my event?

What kind of support can I expect after signing up? Will I have my own account representative?
You will have your own Saffire support person who will help you launch your website, with weekly meetings to keep you on track with our Saffire U training program. This person will have your back, making sure your project is on track, serving as coach, cheerleader and occasionally therapist!

What kind of support can I expect once I’ve launched my website?
After you launch your site, you have unlimited support via phone, email and chat, which are monitored and answered by our entire support team. We also have our forum where you can ask questions of the Saffire team or other Saffire clients. We also have periodic educational webinars, client-only town halls and a Saffire Summit user conference in Austin.

What days and hours is your support available?
Our Saffire Support & Maintenance Terms contains all the information on when support is available and what response and resolution times you can expect.

Are there any additional support levels available?
Our support is already second to none, so there isn’t a need for additional support levels. We do offer optional on-site training and support if you need it.

Do you offer on-site support during my event?
Although we do the vast majority of training by phone and online, we are able to travel on-site for website or ticketing support for a cost of $300/day, plus hotel and travel expenses. We rarely do this for launching Saffire websites. But for your first year of using SaffireTix, we generally recommend two days of on-site support – the day before the event and opening day. On-site support fees may be waived with a certain amount in ticketing fees. On-site support fees and travel expenses will be invoiced post event, along with SaffireTix and SaffireCommerce charges.

• Where is my site hosted?
• Who is guarding my personal information?
• How is my data backed up, and how can I get it if I need it?
• How do you secure my website?

• How do you secure your servers?
• Who is guarding my personal information?
• Where are the data centers used to provide Saffire located?
• Are data centers audited by an accredited 3rd party?
• Who has access to production and back-end data, and what controls are in place to prevent unauthorized internal access (by staff, contractors, or others)?
• How are passwords stored in Saffire?
• How are security breaches communicated to customers? Are all breaches shared?
• In what instances/scenarios would data travel unencrypted/unprotected over the public Internet or any network?
• Through what mechanisms can customers request and receive full copies of data in a standard format?
• How long are (undeleted) customer records stored in the service retained and accessible?
• How is my data backed up, and how can I get it if I need it?
• Will any customer data/information be shared with any 3rd party for any reason?

How do you secure your servers?
Saffire servers are secured through several layers of protection from biometric controls to limit physical access to devices to hardware and software security protocols designed to prevent and detect any unauthorized access to files or data used in serving Saffire sites. From the planning phase through roll-out of new code, we make sure you and your customers can feel confident that your private information is safe.

Where are the data centers used to provide Saffire located?
Saffire sites and ticketing are hosted in a dedicated and private environment provided by Rackspace - an industry leader in managed and secured hosting - in their Dallas/Fort Worth data center.

Are data centers audited by an accredited 3rd party?
Yes, Rackspace security measures and standards are audited on a regular basis, which enables them to maintain their top tied security accreditation.

Who has access to production and back-end data, and what controls are in place to prevent unauthorized internal access (by staff, contractors, or others)?
Only personnel that require access to specific file and data systems have access. Saffire support staff have elevated access to your administrative for the sole purpose of providing immediate and full-service support. Access and modifications to data or our software as a whole is monitored and logged through outside processes to enable auditing and ensure proper controls are in place to prevent unnecessary changes by unauthorized personnel.

How are passwords stored in Saffire?
Passwords are encrypted, hashed and salted and are never presented as plain text once entered by a user.

How are security breaches communicated to customers? Are all breaches shared?
In the event of a security breach, customers can expect to receive an email or phone call, depending on the nature of the breach and the sensitivity of the files or data accessed. Customers can always check the status of our systems and see updates on any known issues by viewing our status page at http://www.saffire.com/status/

In what instances/scenarios would data travel unencrypted/unprotected over the public Internet or any network?
Under no circumstance would sensitive data be presented or processed through unencrypted means.

Through what mechanisms can customers request and receive full copies of data in a standard format?
Customers can manually export their own lists of events and businesses through Spark. To receive a copy of dynamic page data or any supporting imagery, please submit a support ticket through Spark or email us at help@saffire.com to request the information or files you are looking for.

How long are (undeleted) customer records stored in the service retained and accessible?
Customer records are stored for the entirety of your active contract with Saffire and will be maintained for your use for up to 30 days after services with Saffire are canceled. After which time, all copies of customer data, site files, and imagery may be destroyed.

How is my data backed up, and how can I get it if I need it?
All files and data are backed up nightly and retained for 2 weeks. In most cases, we are able to recover pages, events, or business listings that you have deactivated. In some cases, we can also recover specific modules within page or sub-elements within different pages you are managing. Should you require us to restore any data for you, please submit a support ticket identifying what data you need and from what date, and we will provide you access to your restored data within one business day. While we can not promise to recover all information, we will make every effort to restore the data you wish to have recovered back to its original form.

Will any customer data/information be shared with any 3rd party for any reason?
No detailed customer data will ever be shared with a 3rd party without the express permission of the customer. We will collect generic, non-personal statistics and data to assist with analysis of traffic and generic demographic tracking, but none of this data can be traced back to an individual person or computer.

• How are customers notified about changes to Saffire?
• Through what mechanisms are bug fixes introduced into production?
• How do you communicate about service maintenance or disruptions?

• What is your policy regarding data ownership and availability should a customer fail to meet its payment obligations?
• What configuration or usage instructions must the customer follow to ensure data security and performance?
• Do you have any usage guidelines?
• What happens if one of us ever decides to part ways?
• Ready to talk to us?

What is your policy regarding data ownership and availability should a customer fail to meet its payment obligations?
The data used in the serving and creation of your Saffire site is owned by you the customer. You can request this up to the end of your current contract term. In the event of non-payment by the customer, we will make every attempt to reach a payment plan agreement the customer for 30 days after the payment is due. If we are unable to contact the client, or unable to reach an agreement on a payment plan, Saffire will shut off external access to the Saffire site and all related files and data, but will maintain an active copy of this information for an additional 30 days, after which time, all copies may be destroyed and rendered unrecoverable.

What configuration or usage instructions must the customer follow to ensure data security and performance?
Configuration is enforced by the Saffire platform to ensure the required level of security. However, customers should take all efforts to protect their usernames and passwords and ensure anti-malware software is installed on any computer used to access your Saffire site. Additionally, customers should never share their username and password with anyone else and each user should have their own credentials to use and protect.

Do you have any usage guidelines?
The intended use of the Saffire platform is for the presentation and management of websites and ticketing specific to the requirements of your own organization. Any intentional use of the Saffire platform to service outside lawful requirements (local, state, or federal) or to serve content not identified as being part of the focus of the customer’s organization can be viewed as a violation of the intended usage terms and can be construed as breaking the terms of the agreed contract. Any customer found to be using the Saffire platform outside of the intended use willbe notified and given a specific amount of time to correct the issue or may face closure of their account and the destruction of all customer data. Bottom line - don’t use our software to do illegal stuff! :-)

What happens if one of us ever decides to part ways?
At any time or the end of our partnership, we can provide to you a digital copy of all of your data, content, imagery, and retained work files used with Saffire. The format of the content may not help you duplicate your site in its entirety, but it can serve as a starting point for the content of individual pages you have created in the Saffire platform. Of course we’ll do everything in our power to ensure you never feel the need to leave Saffire!

Ready to talk to us?
Just give us a call at 512-430-1123 or send us email (sales@saffire.com). We’d love to learn more about you and your needs to see if there’s a fit.