Hi Lyse,
Is it possible to assigned tickets numbers (starting at say #501) when tickets are sold online?
The ticket number reflects the post ID for that ticket (each ticket is in fact a custom post type) and so by default this simply uses the next available ID in the posts table.
You could probably change this – certainly you could change the next available integer if you are comfortable working with MySQL – or even mask it with a “pseudo ID” that follows your own convention – but I’m afraid it’s beyond the scope of support to guide you through that.
How can I format the ticket purchase template that gets sent out to customers?
So you mean the PDF ticket(s) that are dispatched by email?
These can be customized but it does require a solid amount of WordPress/PHP know-how – we have however taken on board that this is something people would like to be more readily customizable and are taking steps in that direction for the next release 🙂