--- title: "Early Bird Pricing, Ticket Tiers and On-Sale Scheduling" description: "Sell early bird and tiered releases that open on a date, a sell-out or your sales pace, hold back promised tickets and go live at the minute you announced." canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/ticket-types-and-pricing/ticket-tiers-and-releases" --- # Early Bird Pricing, Ticket Tiers and On-Sale Scheduling 1. [Features](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features) 2. [Ticket types & pricing](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/ticket-types-and-pricing) 3. Tiers & releases # Raise Your Price as Each Release Sells Out, and Open Your On-Sale on Time An [early bird](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/event-promo-codes) price gets fans buying the day you announce, but someone has to open the next price when it sells out, often in the middle of the night, and every fan arrives in the same minute when tickets open. Give every release its own price and allocation, and choose what opens the next one: a date, a sell-out, whichever comes first, or the pace of your sales. Group your tickets so buyers find theirs quickly, hold back the tickets you promised to artists and sponsors, and schedule the minute your event goes live. Each price opens on time and your team watches the sales come in. [Get started free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) - Early sales that reward your first fans - The next price opens without anyone at a keyboard - Live at the minute you announced ![Ticket Fairy Early bird ticket type with its price, allocation and a sales start and end date](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-table-tickets--ticket-release.png) ## Reward Your First Fans With an Early Bird Price Fans who buy early get the best price, and you get money in and momentum on announcement day. Create early bird, first release and final release as their own ticket types, each with a name, a price, an allocation and a description of what the buyer gets. Buyers see one clear price at a time, and every release keeps its own sales figures. Create a separate ticket type when the buyer gets something different, such as General Admission, VIP, Friday or Full Weekend. Create a release for each price step of the same admission, and put those releases in one ticket category so buyers see them together. Decide whether buyers pay the booking fee on top or you absorb it into the ticket price, and buyers see a clear, inclusive price either way. Add a limit per order or per customer account on any release that touts would target, require a bundle such as a pair of seats, and give each release its own door times or entry rules when it needs them. - **Early bird**: your best price for your first fans - **Releases**: each price step with its own allocation - **Purchase limits**: per order or per customer account - [Set up ticket types](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/set-up-ticket-types) - [Get the Details You Need From Every Buyer and Lose Fewer Sales](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/checkout) ![Ticket Fairy Create Ticket Type form on the Tickets page with General Admission, its price and Maximum Number of Sales](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-ticket-page-form--create.png) ## Open the Next Price the Moment the Last One Sells Out Your price rises exactly when demand says it should, and buyers never land on a sold-out page while tickets are still for sale. Each release goes on sale at a specific time on a specific date, once the previous ticket type sells out, or whichever of the two comes first. Every release opens and closes on schedule in your venue's own time. A date suits a release that must open at a time you announced. The previous release selling out suits a price that demand should decide. Whichever comes first suits the release you promised for a date but want to open sooner if the one before it sells out, so you keep your word to fans and never leave money on the table. While each release is on sale, the fraud watch shows the person running ticketing what needs a look, so you can act on touts and fraud before the release sells out. - **At a set date and time**: the moment you announced - **When the previous release sells out**: demand opens the next price - **Whichever comes first**: a promised date, or sooner if it sells out - [Schedule ticket releases](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/schedule-ticket-sale-windows-and-release-tiers) ![Ticket Fairy ticket type form with At a specific time on a specific date chosen and a Sales Start Date and Sales End Date entered](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-ticket-page-form--sale-window.png) ## Keep Each Next Release Out of Sight Until Its Turn Buyers see the price that is on sale now, so nobody hesitates between three. Hide a later release until its moment comes, revealed by a date and time, a sell-out of the release before it, whichever comes first, or the buyer being in a country you choose. Keep a ticket always hidden for an access code or an invitation to reveal. - **Hidden until its turn**: revealed by a date or a sell-out - **By the buyer's country**: a release for the countries you choose - **Always hidden**: for an access code or an invitation - [Unlock hidden tickets with an access code](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/unlock-hidden-tickets-with-an-access-code) - [Sell Tickets to Exactly the People You Choose](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/private-sales-and-presales) ![Ticket Fairy ticket options with Hidden turned on and a date and time chosen to reveal the release](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-tickets--hidden-until-date.png) ## Help Buyers Find the Right Ticket in Seconds With day tickets, weekend tickets and several releases on one list, a buyer reads every line before choosing. Group your ticket types into categories around the choice a buyer makes, such as Friday, Saturday, Full Weekend or VIP. Your event page shows each category under its own heading, so buyers compare days and areas first and reach checkout sooner. A release set to open when the one before it sells out looks at the earlier releases in its own category, so each day's prices rise on their own. Rename a category or move a ticket type to another one at any point in the on-sale, and nothing a buyer pays changes. Each category also decides what your [waiting list](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/event-waiting-list) offers when a ticket comes back. With Current Tier the returned ticket is offered at the release on sale now, and with Final Tier it is always offered at your final price, so a late buyer never pays less than the fans who bought early. - **Ticket categories**: a heading for each day, area or kind of admission - **Releases kept together**: every price for the same admission side by side - **Current Tier or Final Tier**: the price a returned ticket is offered at - [Group your tickets into categories](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/group-your-tickets-into-categories) - [Run a waiting list for a sold-out event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/run-a-waiting-list) ![Ticket Fairy Ticket Categories section of an event's Tickets page, with four categories and the resale type each one uses](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-ticket-categories--categories.png) ## Keep Every Ticket You Promised Before the On-Sale Opens The artist's guest list, a radio giveaway and a sponsor's contract all need tickets that a sell-out cannot take. Hold tickets keeps named reserves inside a ticket type and out of the public on-sale, with a name on each one so you know who it is for. Your sales figures do not move, and every partner's reserve shows who took what. Send invitations or an invitation link from a reserve, and the people you invite buy out of it even when the public release has sold out. Give each partner a reserve of their own, so when the promoter, the venue and two sponsors ask how many of their tickets were used, you have the answer. When you no longer need a reserve, remove it and everything it still held goes back on sale for your fans. - **Named reserves**: guest lists, giveaways and sponsors - **Invite from a reserve**: guests buy from the tickets you kept - **Back on sale**: what nobody took returns to your fans - [Hold back tickets for later](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/hold-back-ticket-stock) - [Run Your Guest List Without a Spreadsheet](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/guest-lists-and-comps) ![Ticket Fairy Hold tickets setting with two named holds on a general admission release](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-tickets--hold-tickets.png) ## Let Your Sales Pace Open the Next Price Fast early bird sales move your buyers on to the next price sooner, and a quiet week keeps the current price on sale for longer. Release rules open each tier on the pace of your sales, as well as at a date or when the release before sells out, with your holds in the same plan. A fraud watch keeps an eye on every release while it is on sale and shows the person running ticketing what needs a look. Compared with last time on your Performance page sets your sales beside one of your past events at the same number of days before its event day, and tells you how far ahead or behind you are. When you can see the pace, you can decide how each next release should open and how much to hold back. - **Release rules**: the next price opens on your sales pace - **Fraud watch**: what needs a look on each release - **Compared with last time**: ahead or behind your last event - [Know How Your Tickets Are Selling at Any Moment](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/sales-reports) ![Ticket Fairy Compared with last time for a summer festival, ahead of last year, with tickets sold, share of capacity and last year's total](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--statistics.png) ## Open Your On-Sale at the Minute You Announced You told your fans tickets open at 10am, and your event page goes public at that minute wherever your team happens to be. You schedule the publish in your event's own time zone, and everyone on your team can see the time it goes live on the event itself. A waiting room sits in front of every on-sale and turns itself on when arrivals climb, moving your buyers into checkout in turn. Test the whole purchase yourself before your fans arrive: a cheap test ticket hidden behind an access code lets you buy from the event page through to the confirmation email on your own phone. Refund your own order, take the test ticket off sale, and go into the real on-sale knowing checkout works. Let your most loyal fans buy first with personal invitations to your own list, or open pre-registration after the announcement, so they are not queuing with everybody else. Split a high-demand on-sale into releases with their own allocation and opening time, so the fans who miss the first one have the next to come back for, and keep a waiting list running from the moment the last ticket goes, so every fan who missed out is a buyer for your next release. - **Schedule Publish**: live at the minute you announced - **Waiting room**: turns itself on when arrivals climb - **Waiting list**: fans who miss out kept for your next release - [Schedule when your event goes live](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/schedule-when-your-event-goes-live) - [How do you keep a high-demand on-sale running smoothly?](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/keep-a-high-demand-on-sale-running-smoothly) ![Ticket Fairy Schedule Publish dialog, with the date and time the event page goes public](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-publish--schedule-publish-dialog.png) ## Adjust Your Releases While Tickets Are on Sale Your release plan can change with demand, and nobody who already bought is affected. Duplicate a release to start the next one with the same settings, put your ticket types in the order buyers should see, and take a release off sale while keeping its history. Mark a release as sold out at any moment, and choose whether buyers who already have it in their basket can finish checkout. Ask Fai, the assistant inside your dashboard, to set up the next release. She asks for the price, the allocation, the purchase limits and the sales window, shows you the complete ticket type and creates it once you approve. She can also sort your ticket types into categories, add a reserve, reorder your list, mark a release as sold out and schedule your publish, each after your approval. - **Duplicate a release**: the next price with the same settings - **Mark as sold out**: with a choice about live baskets - **Fai sets it up**: you approve each change - [Get Your Ticketing Work Done by Asking Fai](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/fai) ![Ticket Fairy confirmation for a sold-out ticket type that buyers still hold in their baskets](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-tickets--sold-out-live-baskets.png) ## How Organisers Price and Release Their Tickets - ### A Club Night That Sells Out Every Week A promoter sells early bird, first release and final release, each set to open when the one before sells out. The price rises on its own at 2am when early bird goes, and the door price is the final release. - ### A Festival With Days, Weekends and VIP A festival groups its tickets into Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Full Weekend and VIP categories, each with its own releases. Buyers compare the days first, and each day's price rises as that day sells. - ### An Arena Show With Promised Tickets A concert promoter holds reserves for the artist's guests, a radio giveaway and the headline sponsor before the on-sale. The public release sells out in minutes, the guests buy from their reserve through invitations, and the unused radio tickets go back on sale the week before. - ### A Tour Announced for 10am A tour schedules each date to go live at 10am in each venue's own time zone and tests checkout with a hidden test ticket the day before. On the morning, the waiting room turns itself on and the team watches the sales arrive. - ### A Conference Pacing Its Prices A conference watches Compared with last time and sees registrations running ahead of last year. The organiser lets release rules open the standard rate sooner and keeps a reserve for speakers' guests in the same plan. [Get Started for Free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) [Book Demo Call](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) **Get this page as a PDF** Read it later or share it with your team. We email you a link to the PDF. What to put in your PDF Enter your email We will email you this deck. We may also email you now and then about Ticket Fairy features that can help your events. You can unsubscribe at any time with one click. ## See It in Your Dashboard - ![Ticket Fairy Create Category dialog, with the category name and resale type fields](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-ticket-categories--create-category.png) Name a category the way buyers know it, and choose the price returned tickets are offered at. - ![Ticket Fairy ticket type form with Set custom maximum quantity per order turned on and a limit entered](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-ticket-page-form--purchase-limits.png) Set a limit per order on any release. ## Set It Up Step by Step - [Set up ticket types](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/set-up-ticket-types) - [Schedule ticket releases](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/schedule-ticket-sale-windows-and-release-tiers) - [Group your tickets into categories](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/group-your-tickets-into-categories) - [Hold back tickets for later](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/hold-back-ticket-stock) - [Schedule when your event goes live](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/schedule-when-your-event-goes-live) - [How do you keep a high-demand on-sale running smoothly?](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/keep-a-high-demand-on-sale-running-smoothly) ## Questions About Ticket Tiers and Releases ### Tiers & releases #### What is the difference between a ticket type and a release? A ticket type is what the buyer gets, such as General Admission or VIP. A release is a price step for the same admission, such as early bird and final release. In Ticket Fairy each release is its own ticket type, and releases for the same admission share a ticket category. #### Which release does "Once the previous ticket type sells out" wait for? The nearest earlier release in the same ticket category, skipping disabled and always-hidden ticket types. Keep each admission's releases in one category and in the order buyers should follow, because reordering the list or moving a release to another category changes which release it waits for. #### What time zone are the sales dates and the scheduled publish in? Release dates use your venue's local time, and a scheduled publish uses your event's time zone. Schedule a publish at least 15 minutes ahead; an event set for 10:00 normally goes live between 10:00 and 10:01. #### Will tickets be on sale the moment the event goes live? Only if every ticket is on sale by then. Publishing makes the page public; a ticket type with its own sale window still waits for that window. Set them to the same moment when you want the page and the sale to open together. #### Can I change who pays the booking fee after I create my releases? No. Choose Added or Absorbed before you create the first ticket type. Once ticket types exist, you cannot switch between them. #### Do held tickets count as sales, and can I change a reserve? Held tickets do not count as sales; the ticket type shows as sold out to buyers once what has sold plus what you hold reaches its maximum. A reserve's name and number are fixed once you save, so remove it and add a new one to change it. A reserve that belongs to a bulk invoice is released by cancelling the invoice. #### Can one ticket type be in two categories? No. A ticket type belongs to one category at a time. A category appears on your event page once it has at least one visible ticket type, and a Ticket Group name takes priority over the category name as the heading. #### Can I delete a release? Only while it has no orders and is not in a buyer's basket. Turn off Enable this ticket type to take it off sale and keep it with its history. #### Do my promoters get their links when a scheduled event goes live? Send Promoter Links applies when you publish straight away. If your promoters need their links at the on-sale, publish the event yourself at that moment with the box ticked. #### Who can set up releases and schedule the on-sale? You need an owner or admin role for the event. Fai, the assistant inside your dashboard, can make the same changes once you approve them. ## Explore More of Ticket Fairy - [Multi-day tickets Sell weekend, day and VIP passes for every day of a festival from one event page, with door times for each day and camping in the same checkout. Ticket types & pricing](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/ticket-types-and-pricing/multi-day-festival-tickets) - [Free & online events Take refundable deposits on free RSVPs, give them back at check-in and sell tickets to your livestream with a watch link per viewer and donations. Ticket types & pricing](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/ticket-types-and-pricing/free-and-online-events) - [Presales & access codes Take pre-registrations and reward sharing, open a presale to registered fans first, reveal hidden tickets with an access code and sell a tier only to your NFT holders. Private sales & presales](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/private-sales-and-presales/presales-and-access-codes) [Back to **Ticket types & pricing**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/ticket-types-and-pricing) [Next **Multi-day tickets**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/ticket-types-and-pricing/multi-day-festival-tickets) Ticket Fairy im Überblick: [Event-Ticketing-Portal](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/), mit den Funktionen, Preisen und dem Support hinter dieser Seite. ## Sell more tickets. Build the crowd that comes back. ## Start Selling Tickets Online Sign up without a credit card and build a test event before you commit. Go on sale in minutes when you are ready. No monthly subscription required for ticketing Start selling tickets immediately Ticketing tools included in the service fee [Get Started](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Talk to Fai Now](#) Ask Fai, our AI assistant, about Ticket Fairy’s features, pricing and how it could work for your event. No credit card required ## Demo‑Gespräch buchen Sieh dir das Empfehlungsmodell an, das im Durchschnitt 20 % mehr Ticketverkäufe bringt, erfahre, welche Kampagnen Tickets verkaufen, antworte Käufern schneller und halte Warteschlangen in Bewegung. Wie viele Tickets verkaufst du pro Jahr? 45‑Minuten‑Videoanruf Wähle eine Zeit, die dir passt --- This page is on Ticket Fairy, a ticketing, marketing and operations platform for live events and the venues that host them: festivals, club nights, concerts, conferences and tours, and night clubs, beach clubs and concert venues. It grows revenue with fan rewards that turn an audience into a sales channel, and runs the money side with payments and payouts, Vault business banking, and working capital advanced against ticket sales. [How Ticket Fairy ticketing works](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing) · [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)