We hams have always been known for using and developing some of the coolest gear in the universe and we think the new web site fits right into that category! The new SwapFest software we’re using this year let’s you check out the Fest long before you park in the lot on March 27th. Check out the new capabilities!
- Pick your table locations online! Want a table near the food? Or over by Club Corner? YOU choose where your table of soon-to-be-discovered finds will be located, right from the map.
- Online purchases reserve your table instantly. No hoping for table #4 and finding that Jim already got there before you! Click, buy it, and it’s yours.
- Need to add an extra ticket at the last minute? Order tickets and get them via email in mere seconds.
- Pay the way you want. The online system takes PayPal payments, as well as credit cards, debit cards, payments from your checking account, even Venmo. Now, I personally have no idea about why you’d use Venmo but, if f you use it, you can use it to buy tickets and tables to the Fest (and explain Venmo to me!) Officially, we can take a payment from your
- Checking account
- Credit Card
- Debit Card
- PayPal account
- Venmo
- Cash (at the doors)
- PAPER TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE. Sorry for shouting there, but for those of you who loved the way things worked before, you won’t have to change a thing. We still have paper tickets, and accept payments in green dollar bills. Or whatever color those new $10 bills are. If it’s US-issued currency (no Monopoly accepted), it’s still good. If you prefer the traditional approach, we’ve worked very hard to make sure you won’t need to do anything different.
- Then again, you may want to. Forgot your tickets at home? If you can bring up your email on your phone, you can use your iPhone or Android smartphone as your ticket! We can scan right from the phone, so you don’t even need to print anything!
- Remember trying to fill out the back of those tiny little tickets to get entered into the drawing? When your ticket is scanned on the way in, you’re entered. Entering the drawing is now so easy, that we’ll leave the rest up to you to worry about. Should you cross your fingers, throw some salt, wear your lucky socks…. hey, we’ve got you into the drawing, tricking the Fates into picking you is your problem!
- Sharing a table and a need to get a ticket to your “partner in grime”? Forward their ticket to them via email. Done. It’s no-worries table sharing. If only the rest of dealing with your buddy was that simple.
- Got a pair of tickets and can’t remember which one you were supposed to use? The crew at the front desk can tell you in an instant if that ticket has already been used. Flip to the other and you’re on your way to the equipment find that will make your Sunday morning superb!
- Hate the fuss of self-address stamped envelopes and the agony of having to wait forever to get your stuff back, but still want to order a table or tickets? Put the paper form down. Order it it online. Check your email. Done. And, while there is a convenience fee on credit/debit cards to cover the PayPal charges, it’s still way cheaper than two envelopes and two stamps.
- Lost a ticket? We can resend replacement tickets to you with just a click, and you can use either the original (if you find them) or the replacement. Well, only one of the two, but paper or eTicket, original or copy no longer matters. Just show up and enjoy the Fest!
- Fun. Did I mention how much fun it is to point your mouse to a table on the map to learn that the ARRL will have table 95, in the northeast corner? Or to know that NG9X will be back again at tables 4 through 7. (Everyone say, “Hi, Jim!”) Oh, loook at what N9ENR and KC9ONY is going to have out on their table! Looks like I’ve GOT to make a trip past Tables 52 and 53, right at the front when I walk in!
Check out of the new features at https://www.W9MQB.org/SwapFest !