Under the dragon, above the crowd

On Sint-Baafsplein, the dragon on top of the Belfry has been looking down on Ghent for centuries. During the Gentse Feesten he looks down on the Onder de Draak stage: ten days of shows, from bagpipes and brass bands to karaoke and DJs, with thousands of people between the Belfry and the cathedral.

Anyone after a bit more comfort sits in VIP Belfort. Drinks in real glasses, table service and a front-row view of the stage. The VIP pass costs €50, is valid for all ten days and comes with twenty drink tokens. That pass had to be sold online. Without it turning into a months-long project.

The shop sells exactly one thing: the VIP pass. So it’s just one screen. Pick your quantity, enter your email, tick the terms and check out. On a phone, the total and the pay button stick to the bottom, because nobody wants to scroll back up to pay.

The price doesn’t live in the page but on the server. Anyone fiddling in their browser to give themselves a one-euro pass simply pays €50. Sorry.

Checkout happens at Stripe: Bancontact, card and the rest. Safe, familiar, and we never have to touch payment details. After payment, Stripe lets the shop know it’s done. The shop stores the order and immediately sends two emails: a confirmation to the buyer and a heads-up to the organisers.

You pick up the pass and the tokens at De Abt in Lange Kruisstraat, two days after paying. The catch: De Abt is closed on Sundays and Mondays. So the shop works out for itself when your order will be ready. Pay on a Friday and “two days later” lands on Sunday, so it moves on to Tuesday. That date is in your confirmation email. No arguing at the bar.

Behind the shop sits a protected back office. There, Onder de Draak sees every order: who, how many, when, with a link to the payment in Stripe. Pass ready? Click “Mark ready” and the order turns green, with the time next to it. Clicked too soon? Back to new. That’s all it needs to be.

This isn’t a big platform, and it doesn’t need to be. One product, one payment, two emails and a list with a button. Light, quick to build, and without a ticketing platform taking a commission on every pass. The bigger sibling, with invoices and credit notes, is what we built for the Waregem Koerse VIP sales. And the Onder de Draak website itself? Ours too.