Skip to main content

Chapter 8 — How Pricing Really Works: "discount" is just a price

Attend onboarding guide · ~6 min read · ↑ Back to contents

Chapter 7 ended with ticket type codes setting the price. This short chapter is about one idea that trips everyone up at first — and once it clicks, Attend's whole pricing model makes sense.

A "discount" is not a coupon​

When Attend's UI says "3-game pack — 10% off," it's tempting to picture a coupon: take the $100 price, subtract 10%, charge $90. That's not what happens.

Instead, there's simply a different ticket type code that is already priced at $90. No subtraction, no coupon — just another price for the same seat. "Discount" is a word in the UI, not a mechanic in the system.

Teams already sell one seat at many prices​

This isn't an Attend invention — it's how teams already work. The same premium seat might be sold at a dozen different prices, each its own ticket type code:

  • adult, child, senior,
  • military / veteran,
  • corporate, group rates,
  • and so on.

So "many prices for one seat, via many ticket type codes" is the normal state of the world. Attend just adds a few more codes of its own.

Attend's packs are ticket type codes​

Here's how a Flex game pack actually works under the hood for the Warriors. The team creates ticket type codes for the packs:

  • PR_A — adult — $100 (the base price)
  • PR_3GP — 3-game pack — $90 (what the UI calls "10% off")
  • PR_5GP — 5-game pack — $80 ("20% off")

There's no direct pack-to-code table. A pack is a condition on a pricing rule (Chapter 21): when a fan who picked the 3-game pack qualifies for that rule, the rule's price rows resolve to PR_3GP, and Attend sends that code to the vendor. The vendor sells the seat for $90, full stop — it never hears the words "pack" or "discount."

This is the "Attend flavor" from Chapter 5 in action. The pack is Attend's idea; the discounted price is a real ticket type code the team set up in the ticketing system. Attend's job is to connect the two.

Where the actual prices are set​

One detail to file away: price codes and ticket type codes exist as reusable building blocks, but the actual dollar amounts are set per event. The same PR_A might be $100 for a regular game and $150 for a playoff. You don't need this yet — just know pricing lives at the event level.

Recap​

  • A "discount" is just a different ticket type code that's already priced lower — never a coupon applied at checkout.
  • Teams already sell one seat at many prices (adult, military, corporate…), each its own ticket type code.
  • Attend's packs resolve to ticket type codes too (PR_3GP = $90): a pack is a condition on a pricing rule whose price rows carry the code — there's no direct pack→code map (Chapter 21). The vendor just sees a price.
  • Actual prices are set at the event level.

Next → Chapter 9 — Selling a Seat: carts, holds & dummy events