Event Registration System Options: Legal Considerations
Legal Considerations for Event Registration Systems
As more organizations begin to use online event registration systems for events, a potential headache in the legal area remains. Whether nonprofit or not, organizations are confronting a new area of legal considerations when collecting payments online. While your specific type of organization dictates your primary concerns, there are a number of basics to consider to evaluate which event registration system to choose for your needs. We’ve rounded up a few key areas here.
Event Registration System – Basic Concerns
On the surface, there are a few obvious areas to remember when considering an event registration system for your needs:
Collection of personal information and user data while collecting registration
Processing of payments and security of payment transactions
Ability to track incoming payments for accounting and reporting purposes
Ability to refund or reject payments per organizational legal requirements
Before evaluating any online event registration platform, these are four key areas to consider. The most important element is your internal organization’s legal requirements. If a government body is involved, these restrictions may be more stringent. This is especially true in the wake of GDPR, as personal privacy and data collection become more regulated and punishable by fines. While big companies are experiencing this acutely, there’s no need for your organization to risk similar exposure.
Benefits of Most Online Event Registration Systems for Legal Concerns
While every online ticketing system is different, most offer some basic security features that help cover common legal concerns:
Third party payment processors. Common processors like Stripe or PayPal are built on ability to secure payment information for all users. Most online event management systems partner with reliable payment processors like this to ensure that data is protected throughout a transaction.
Internal personal information storage. This is a bit less solid than payment processors. However, most reputable online ticketing systems have procedures in place to keep user information walled off from any loophole. If your organization operates in a particularly sensitive area, like government work, this is definitely something worth extra scrutiny. Reach out to your potential online ticket vendors to determine their process for storing personal information. This way you can avoid legal issues down the road, like the GDPR issues cited above.
Revenue tracking and reporting. While this means different things to different organizations, your legal department likely requires the ability to track every single cent that comes in (and goes out in form of reimbursement) to remain compliant. This is especially true if taxpayer money is part of your financial structure. Some payment platforms are better than others. The key thing to track is whether the event payment system allows for exporting spreadsheets and live tracking, which can easily be downloaded and transported to your accounting and legal departments.
Remaining Areas of Concern
Even with improving efficiency and security measures, a few potential legal areas remain worrying. The key ones:
Ensuring data security. While payment processors remain in business on their ability to guarantee user security, there is always the potential for a damaging leak. While we’d argue that current options are 99% secure, there’s always the small risk of a leak.
Who has access to data? Despite obvious legal recourse for losing/abusing personal data, it is key to choose a reliable event payment system to minimize risk in this area.
Client/user trust. While you may ensure the reliability of your chosen event platform, your users may still be unsure (especially in sensitive areas). Working with potential users and clients to reassure them about the process is a good step to build trust and avoid concerns.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
csrftoken
past
This cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
elementor
never
This cookie is used by the website's WordPress theme. It allows the website owner to implement or change the website's content in real-time.
laravel_session
5 days
laravel uses laravel_session to identify a session instance for a user, this can be changed
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
XSRF-TOKEN
1 month
This cookie is set by Wix and is used for security purposes.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cf_bm
30 minutes
This cookie, set by Cloudflare, is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_gat
1 minute
This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
_uetsid
1 day
Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website.
_uetvid
1 year 24 days
Bing Ads sets this cookie to engage with a user that has previously visited the website.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_ga
2 years
The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_ga_5XLFPG0W9S
2 years
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics.
_gat_gtag_UA_11703970_6
1 minute
Set by Google to distinguish users.
_gat_gtag_UA_11703970_9
1 minute
Set by Google to distinguish users.
_gat_UA-11703970-6
1 minute
A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gcl_au
3 months
Provided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid
1 day
Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT
2 years
YouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_fbp
3 months
This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
fr
3 months
Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
MUID
1 year 24 days
Bing sets this cookie to recognize unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. This cookie is used for advertising, site analytics, and other operations.
test_cookie
15 minutes
The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSC
session
YSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt.innertube::nextId
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requests
never
This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.