Some packages come with one of something, and each additional one costs more: one character at a birthday party, one signature cocktail at a wedding, one prop set, a base number of uplights. Building a separate package or add-on for every count multiplies fast once you also sell 60-minute, 90-minute, and 2-hour versions. Instead, say how many items in a category are included with a package. The first picks are free and every pick after that is charged at the item price.
How it works
This is a setting on extra categories, the pick-from-a-list selections clients make during online booking. Each package decides, per category, how many picks are included at no charge. Everything else about extras stays the same: items live in a category, each item has its own price, and the category is enabled per package. If you have not set up extras before, start with the extras overview and come back.
- Included count is set on the package, not the item. The same Characters category can include 1 on a party package and 0 on an appearance-only package.
- It works with both selection policies: any number allowed, or a fixed maximum. With a fixed maximum, the included count cannot exceed it.
- It applies to packages only. Extras enabled on add-ons are always charged.
- The default is 0, so nothing changes on existing packages until you set it.
Setting it up
Create the category and items
Enable the category on the package
Stop the same performer being booked twice
When an item is a person or a single physical thing, give it a booking limit so it cannot be booked at two events at the same time. Open Availability under Business Settings, find the item under its extra category, and set Max Bookings to 1. For performers, 1 is almost always the right number. Skip this for items you can supply in any quantity, like cocktails or lighting.
Pricing the items
Each item can be priced flat or by the hour (the price method called Multiply by Package's Hours). Flat is simpler when you sell one length. Hourly lets one price scale across a 30-minute, 60-minute, and 2-hour package without creating separate items for each.
Worked example. A character company charges $625 for a 2-hour party with one character and $750 with two. Set it up as one package at $625, a Characters category with 1 included, and each character priced at $125 flat. If they also sell a 1-hour party, price the character at $62.50 per hour instead: the second character adds $62.50 on the 1-hour package and $125 on the 2-hour package, from one item and one price.
What the client sees
During online booking the pick button reads Choose (included) until the free picks are used, then switches to the price, for example Choose for $150. The cart and the deposit breakdown show the included item as Included with no charge. If the client removes their included pick, the next pick automatically becomes the included one, so they are never charged for the first item in the category.
On proposals and invoices the included item is listed at $0.00, the same way add-ons bundled into a package appear. Clients see that it was part of the package without a separate charge.
Changing it for one booking
The package setting is the default. If a specific client negotiates something different, for example two characters included because they booked a second event, open the booking, go to Settings, and change the included count for that category on that booking only. The package and every other booking stay as they were.