Put traders on the right pitches and collect your share

Put each trader on their pitch with one drag

Approved traders without a pitch wait under Traders to place, beside your site map. Drag one onto a pitch, or choose Place here. The trader gets the pitch name and the zone around it, such as the food court. Their trader page then shows their pitch number, the zone and a map of the area. If you move them, their page shows the change straight away.

The pitches are the areas you already drew on your festival site map, so you have no second plan to keep up to date. When a pitch is taken, the dialog names the trader on it before you swap. On the morning of load-in, a trader who wants to know where to go opens their own page and sees the map. Your crew sees the same pitch in the trader panel.

This works for a small market with no site map too. Enter a pitch number in the trader's panel, and their page shows the number without the map.

• Traders to place: drag and drop onto the pitches you drew
• Pitch and zone: shown in the trader's panel and on their page
• Taken pitches: see who is on a pitch before you swap

• Place your traders on pitches on your event site map
• Draw your site to scale and time each delivery

Set pitch rules the way you would say them

Enter a rule such as keeping the two coffee vans apart, keeping hot food near the seating or keeping the fire lane clear. Fai checks it against your map and shows you the rule as she will apply it. Rules keep traders apart or near a place, limit the traders in a zone, keep a place clear or set a zone's power. The pitch check then lists the pitches you must fix and the ones worth a look.

Each problem is outlined on the map, so you see the coffee van parked across the fire lane instead of reading about it. If Fai cannot understand a rule, it opens for you to say what it does and which traders and places it covers. You never lose a rule to unusual wording. Turn a rule off for a weekend when it does not apply, and back on later without entering it again.

Rules guide you and never block you. You can still put a trader anywhere by hand and see what breaks. Fai's plan and the answers to move requests never use a pitch that must be fixed.

• Rules in your words: Fai shows you each rule as she will check it
• Pitch check: must fix and worth a look, outlined on the map
• Turn a rule off: pause it without losing it

• Set pitch rules and let Fai plan your trader pitches at your event

Let Fai plan pitches for the traders still waiting

Ask for Fai's pitch plan. She puts the traders still without a pitch on free pitches that keep your rules and overlap nothing. She gives a reason for each. Untick anyone you prefer to place yourself, then place the rest together. Nobody moves until you say so. Once all pitches keep your rules, the pitch check shows Nothing to fix.

An evening of moving names around a spreadsheet becomes a few minutes of checking Fai's reasons. Each placement is checked again as you place it. If a teammate takes a pitch while you review the plan, you see that trader refused and try again. No pitch ends up with two traders.

• Fai's pitch plan: free pitches that keep your rules, each with a reason
• You approve it: untick any trader before you place the plan
• Nothing to fix: the check confirms the whole layout

Answer pitch move requests without a phone call

A trader asks to move from their own page, with the reason and where they would like to be. They do not need to phone you. You choose a free pitch, and the dialog checks it against your rules before you confirm. The trader sees your answer on their page and by email.

Requests wait in one Move requests list with the trader's reason, such as needing a flat, hard pitch for a coffee van. When a trader cannot move, decline with a note, and they see it on their page and in their email. Past requests keep who asked, who answered and when, so you can settle a dispute on the day.

• Move requests: each with the trader's reason and wish
• Checked against your rules: fire lanes, zone limits and power kept
• Answer by email: the new pitch or your reason, on their page too

• Handle trader requests to move pitch at your event

Give your electrician a power sheet that stays current

Create a private link for one zone or the whole site and send it to your electrician. The sheet lists each pitch with its trader, the amps they need and whether they need water. Pitches are grouped by zone, with the totals at the top. Your electrician needs no sign-in and always sees the pitches as they are now. A trader you move shows in the right place next time.

The power sheet never shows a trader's contact details, so you can send it to a hired contractor with confidence. You see how many times the link was opened, so you know your electrician has looked before the build starts. You can stop the link whenever you choose. Your own site crew sees the same amps and water figures in the Pitches view.

• Power sheets: amps and water for each pitch, by zone
• Opened count: see that your electrician has looked at it
• Stop link: end access whenever you choose

• Share a power sheet with your event electrician
• Keep the power on, effects safe and every team online

Get takings from traders with the till report attached

When a pitch fee includes a share of sales, the hard part is getting accurate takings after the event. Each trader's page asks for their total takings, split into card and cash if they like. They attach their till or card machine reports as a PDF, a photo or a spreadsheet. If a trader hands you a paper sheet, you enter their takings yourself. The figure shows as entered by the event team.

You agree the share before the gates open. A pitch fee can carry a percentage of sales with a minimum and a maximum. A quiet weekend still earns you the minimum, and a trader who sells out never pays more than the maximum. Traders see the fee when they apply and, after the event, what their share would be.

• Reports with each figure: till and card reports sent with the takings
• Card and cash: split out when the trader has the figures
• Enter takings: for traders who report on paper
• Minimum and maximum fees: a floor and a ceiling on each share of sales

• Check your traders' takings after your event and invoice their share of sales

Spot takings that do not match the till report

Fai checks each report and marks the takings Reports match, Reports differ or Reports unclear. She shows what she found, such as a card export total higher than the trader entered. Open the reports beside her findings. If she cannot read a file, ask her to read it again or check it yourself. Fai only checks, and you decide which figure stands.

When the numbers do not add up, ask the trader about it with a note on what is wrong. The trader gets an email, their page asks them to enter their takings again, and you review the new figure. The earlier figure stays in the trader's panel marked Replaced, so you have the history of each declaration if anyone asks later.

• What Fai found: the totals she found in each report
• Match, differ or unclear: a result for each trader in the Takings view
• Ask about it: your note to the trader, by email and on their page
• Replaced figures kept: earlier declarations in the trader's history

Invoice your share of sales and see who has paid

Accept the takings, and the share is worked out from the trader's pitch fee. The panel shows whether the minimum or maximum applied. Raise the share-of-sales invoice, and the trader gets it by email with a link to pay. The Invoices view lists your trader invoices, what each is for and whether it is paid. You see totals paid and still to pay in each currency.

Pitch fees, deposits, balances and shares of sales sit together in the Invoices view. Your finance team sees what each trader owes without opening each panel. Trader invoices also show in Bulk Invoices with your other invoices. Traders pay into your event's own payment account.

• Share-of-sales invoice: raised from the accepted figure, with a link to pay
• Invoices view: fees, deposits, balances and shares of sales together
• Paid and still to pay: totals in each currency

• Pay on time and settle each show line by line