In the Netherlands, ticket sales for many clubs start with a payment request in the group chat. Usually that means Tikkie: an app from ABN AMRO that turns "you owe me € 12.50" into a link people pay with their own bank. Everyone knows it, it takes a minute and it costs next to nothing.
We sell a ticketing system ourselves, so you might expect us to explain why a payment request is expensive. It isn't. On bare cost it's cheaper than we are. This article shows the sum, and then what that difference does and doesn't buy you.
The short answer
Selling fewer than thirty or so tickets to people you know, with nothing to check at the door? Send a payment request. If you have a venue with a maximum, a door where someone has to check, or buyers you don't know, a ticketing system pays off. Not because it's cheaper, but because it takes over work that otherwise lands on a volunteer.
What a payment request costs
The free Tikkie app is built for private use: splitting a dinner, sharing a gift. You can request up to € 950 per Tikkie and the money goes to the sender's personal account. For a club, that's the first problem. Club money belongs in the club's account.
Organisations have Tikkie Business (page in Dutch). The prices Tikkie lists there, as of 5 October 2026 and excluding VAT:
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Monthly subscription, including 20 paid requests | € 7.50 |
| 21 to 100 paid requests a month | € 0.25 each |
| 101 to 500 paid requests a month | € 0.20 each |
| More than 500 paid requests a month | € 0.15 each |
A business request can go up to € 5,000 and you can receive € 15,000 a day. You choose how long the request stays valid, you can add a reference and you can download an overview for your bookkeeping.
One thing to check before applying. Tikkie says you can sign up straight away with an ABN AMRO business account, and that with another bank you can apply directly as a sole trader or as a private company with a single director-shareholder. If your association or foundation banks elsewhere, ask first whether you qualify. Many Dutch banks also offer their own business payment request; the price per credit is in your bank's rate list.
The sum: 150 tickets for a club night
Take a theatre night by a village drama society: 150 tickets at € 12.50, sold in 120 payments, all in the same month.
| Tikkie Business | MijnEvent + Mollie | |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed cost | € 7.50 (20 payments included) | none |
| Per payment or ticket | 100 × € 0.25 = € 25.00 | 150 × € 0.50 = € 75.00 |
| Payment fees | included | 120 × € 0.32 = € 38.40 |
| VAT | 21% on € 32.50 = € 6.83 | included in the € 0.50 |
| Total | € 39.33 | € 113.40 |
| Per ticket | € 0.26 | € 0.76 |
The € 0.50 is our flat fee per paid ticket, VAT included. Free tickets cost nothing. The € 0.32 is what Mollie, the Dutch payment provider we work with, charges for a payment with iDEAL | Wero, the standard Dutch bank payment method. Mollie's price list doesn't mention VAT. More on those fees in Payment costs for ticket sales: the second bill.
The difference is just over € 74. That is real money, certainly for a club. Two footnotes. The Tikkie subscription keeps running until you cancel it, including the months without a show. And a ticketing system lets you charge a service fee. At € 0.75 per ticket you collect € 112.50, and the buyer covers the cost to within ninety cents. How to set that up is in Service fees per ticket type.
What that difference doesn't buy you
A payment request does one thing well: collecting money. Everything around it stays manual.
No ticket
Whoever pays gets a payment confirmation. No ticket, no QR code, no email with the date, time and address. So at the door you need a list, and someone to tick off names.
No maximum
A payment request is built to collect money, not to fill a hall. With 150 seats you keep track yourself and withdraw the request in time. If number 151 pays anyway, the treasurer gets to send it back.
You see who paid, not who's coming
Grandma pays for four grandchildren. A father pays from his business account. Your overview shows the name of an account holder, and you have to turn that into a guest list. If you want to tell visitors about a changed start time later, you have no email addresses.
Several prices become several requests
Members € 10, non-members € 12.50, children free: that's three requests, or one request with an open amount and a lot of sorting out afterwards.
Refunds are done by hand
If the night is cancelled, someone makes 120 bank transfers.
None of this is a disaster with forty people you know. With 150 tickets and a door, it adds up to an evening of work before the show and another one after. Why that matters for small events too is in Why small events deserve tickets.
What a ticketing system takes over
With MijnEvent you create one event page with your ticket types and a maximum per type. The buyer pays through Mollie and the money goes straight to your club's account; it never sits with us first. They receive a ticket with a QR code by email. Sales stop automatically when you're full, with a waiting list if you want one. At the door you scan with a phone. Afterwards you have an export of all orders for the treasurer, and refunds are done from the dashboard.
You do need a Mollie account in the club's name. That's a one-off job.
Which one do you choose?
A payment request is enough when:
- you know the buyers and there aren't many;
- there's no maximum number of places;
- nobody has to check anything at the door;
- there's a single price.
A ticketing system pays off when:
- your hall or site has a maximum;
- you want to know at the door who has paid;
- you also sell to people outside your own circle;
- you have several prices or days;
- you run the event more often and want last year's figures back.
In closing
Tikkie is cheaper. That stays true however you do the sum. The question is what the € 74 from the example gets you: a ticket for every visitor, sales that stop at 150 and a treasurer who doesn't spend Sunday at the table with a bank statement and a list of names. For the street barbecue, it isn't worth it. For a show with a full house, it usually is.
Want to work it out for your own event? See our pricing or register your organisation. Signing up is free, and you only pay per ticket sold.
