December 09, 2004

New site aims to ease New Year's planning, ticketing

NYCNYE, a new party planning site that’s kind of a cross between E-vite and Ticketmaster, launched two weeks ago to help revelers plan their New Year's Eve in New York City.

I spoke with Felix Brutter, co-founder of NYCNYE, and learned the site aims to simplify the planning process and that all the listed events are vetted by NYCNYE staff. Brutter said they only use about 10 percent to 15 percent of the venues submitted. “We’re looking for special events that deviate from the norm,” he said.

The site allows a user to sign up as an organizer, choose events that look interesting and then send e-mails from the site asking friends to choose which event/s they want to do – including helicopter rides, dinner cruises and private parties. After they vote on a plan, the tickets are purchased via Paypal (per person or all at once,) and the person paying prints out the tickets.

So far, of all the groups registered with NYCNYE, only 15 percent have decided what they want to do, Brutter said. He expects their peak sales days will be Dec. 15 and 16.

Brutter and partner Mahdad Taheri designed the site to appeal to all age ranges – with listings such as a Ukrainian clown act to swing dancing in Harlem. New events are added almost daily, Brutter said.

NYCNYE makes part of its money via a service charge – which ranges from $4.95 to $12.95 depending on the value of each ticket. The price, Brutter emphasized, is far less than ticketing surcharges at other companies.

The site also makes money from the venues. Once an event passes the editorial group’s review -- meaning it's not the usual open bar and hors d'oeuvres, but rather that it has live entertainment or a creative theme -- a business can pay NYCNYE to be listed on the site, or it can get a free listing and pay a commission on each ticket the website sells on its behalf. Brutter said about 80 percent of the business have opted for the pay-on-commission route. He wouldn’t say how many tickets have sold, except that sales have been doubling daily. The average order has been about $250.

December 9, 2004 02:22 PM in Etceterology

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