A visitor lands on your ticket page and sees “Adult,” “Child 3-12,” “Sr/Mil,” “Member Guest,” and “Comp – Staff” in an order that made sense to whoever built the program five years ago. They can’t tell which one applies to them, so they pick the cheapest option or call the front desk. Neither is what you want.
How price types look on Altru web forms (the label, the order, and which ones show at all) is mostly decided by settings that also drive your front desk, your reports, and your revenue. That’s why changing them feels risky, and why it’s worth doing deliberately. Below is what controls the display, what you can safely change, and where Altru’s own options run out.
What actually controls the display
Three things shape what an online buyer sees:
- The price type name. Price types are shared across your organization. The same name a cashier taps at the register is generally the name a web buyer reads. There usually isn’t a separate “web label” field.
- Which price types are on the program or event pricing. If a price type is attached to a program, it’s a candidate to appear online. Whether you can limit a price type to certain sales channels depends on how your pricing and sales methods are set up, so confirm that in a sandbox or with Blackbaud support before assuming it’s possible.
- The order. Price types tend to display in the sequence they’re configured, not alphabetically or by price. If “Senior” sits above “Adult” online, start by checking the order on the program’s pricing and in your price type configuration.
Web form appearance settings can change things like colors, headers, and introductory text, but they generally don’t let you relabel individual price types on one form only. If you’re not sure what your version allows, test on a copy of the form before editing the live one.
Before you rename anything
Renaming a price type is the most direct fix and the one most likely to cause side effects. Check these first:
- Reports and queries. Saved queries, smart fields, or exports that filter on a price type by name may need updating. Pull a list of what references the price types you plan to touch.
- Front desk screens. A longer, friendlier name (“Seniors 65 and over”) might wrap or get cut off on the point-of-sale layout. Look at it on the actual desk hardware.
- Printed tickets and receipts. The price type name often prints on tickets. Make sure the new wording works there too.
- Finance and reconciliation. If your accounting team reconciles revenue by price type, tell them before the name changes so their month-end doesn’t break.
Changes that usually pay off
Write names for the public, not for staff
Drop internal abbreviations and codes. “Child (ages 3-12)” beats “CHD 3-12.” Put the qualifying rule in the name when it’s short enough, because many buyers never read help text. Keep staff-only types (comps, staff passes, vendor tickets) off public programs entirely rather than relying on buyers to ignore them.
Put the most common choice first
Order price types by how often people buy them, not by price or by when they were created. For most attractions that means Adult, then Child, then discounted categories. Free categories like infants are worth listing explicitly so families know they still need to include them, if that’s your policy.
Explain eligibility near the form
If a discount needs proof (military ID, student ID, EBT card), say so in the page text around the form, and say what happens at the door if they don’t have it. That one sentence prevents a lot of refund requests.
Be careful with web-only duplicates
Some teams create a second set of price types just for online sales so they can use friendlier names. It works, but it splits your reporting: “Adult” and “Adult – Online” now need to be combined everywhere you analyze attendance. Only go this route if you’re prepared to update every query and report that counts visitors by type.
Where Altru’s options stop
If what you really want is a different label online than at the desk, descriptions under each option, grouping (for example, “General admission” and “Discounts” as separate sections), or a mobile-first layout, you’re past what renaming and reordering can do. Your choices are to accept the shared naming, ask Blackbaud whether your setup supports more customization than you’re using, or put a different checkout in front of Altru.
That last option is what our Checkouts product is for. It replaces Altru web forms with a branded, mobile-friendly checkout for tickets, memberships, and donations, and the sales write back to Altru, so your price types and reporting stay as they are behind the scenes.
Quick answers
Will renaming a price type change past transactions?
Historical sales typically reference the price type record, so reports may show the new name for old sales. Check a few existing transactions after a rename in a test environment to confirm how your reports present it.
Can I hide a price type online but keep it at the desk?
Sometimes, depending on how pricing and sales methods are configured for that program. Test it, or ask Blackbaud support for your specific setup, before you rely on it for something like staff comps.
