Setting up an event
Approve orders before buyers receive tickets
Review every order, or only orders containing selected ticket types. Choose when to take payment, then approve or decline each request before its payment hold expires.
- For
- Reviewing ticket requests before confirming admission
- Takes
- 12 minutes
Before you start
- You can edit ticket settings and review orders for the event.
- You have decided whether every order needs approval or only orders containing particular ticket types.
- You know whether you want to take payment at checkout or after approval, where the payment method supports a hold.
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Require approval for every order
Open Tickets, select Settings, and turn on Require order approval under Ticket Settings.
Note: Every new order then waits for your decision, and every ticket type requires approval. Save the settings before the event starts taking requests.
Tickets, Settings, Ticket Settings.
When to review every order
Use event-wide approval when every order needs your decision, and ticket-type approval when only a membership tier, guest request or other selected ticket needs review. An event-wide setting applies to every ticket type; a ticket-type setting applies to the whole order whenever that order contains at least one ticket from the selected type.
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Require approval for one ticket type
Leave event-wide approval off, open the ticket type, and turn on Require order approval for this type in its options.
Note: Save the ticket and repeat for the other types that need review. A ticket type inherits event-wide approval when the event setting is on, so turn the event setting off first when buyers should be able to buy some ticket types without review.
Tickets, Edit Ticket Type, Options. -
Turn on Hold payment until approved
Turn on Hold payment until approved for event-wide approval, or Hold payment until approved in the ticket type for ticket-type approval. Supported payment methods then reserve the order amount at checkout and collect it only after you approve.
Note: Leave the switch off when payment should be collected at checkout. A payment method that cannot hold the amount collects it at checkout, and declining that order sends a refund whose processing fees may not be returned.
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Place a test order
Open the event in a private browser window and place an order containing the ticket type you configured. Checkout should say the order is waiting for approval and not issue usable tickets yet.
Note: For ticket-type approval, repeat with an ordinary ticket on its own. That order should complete normally when event-wide approval is off.
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Open Needs Approval
Open Orders, choose Needs Approval, and review the buyer, tickets, total and Hold expires time.
Orders, Needs Approval, Approve. -
Approve the order
Select ... on the order, then Approve, then check the order number and confirm Approve. A current held payment is collected and the tickets are issued; when checkout already collected payment, approval does not collect it again.
Note: If the order appears as a shorter row, open it and select Approve there; on a phone, select ... first, then Approve. Decide before the payment hold expires: an expired hold cannot be collected, the order is declined, the reserved amount is released and the buyer needs a new purchase link.
Or have it done for you
Fai, the assistant inside your dashboard, can turn order approval on for the event or selected ticket types, show you a pending order, and approve or decline it. She asks you to approve settings changes and asks again before the order decision. You can also complete the whole workflow in the dashboard. Your own AI assistant over the MCP server can show you a specified pending order and approve it only after you confirm.
In your dashboard, with Fai
Find my event by name. Require approval for <EVERY ORDER OR TICKET TYPE NAMES> and <HOLD SUPPORTED PAYMENTS OR COLLECT AT CHECKOUT>. Show me the setting and ask me to approve it. Then open pending order <ORDER NUMBER>, show me the buyer, ticket types, total and payment state, and ask whether I want to approve or decline it. Do not make the order decision until I choose and approve it
From your own assistant, over MCP
Connect your assistant to our MCP server and ask it:
The copied MCP configuration includes --read-only. Remove --read-only only when you want your assistant to make changes. Routine changes run when requested; destructive actions ask you in a compatible client. If your client cannot ask, make the change in your dashboard.
Find my event by name, open pending order <ORDER NUMBER>, show me the buyer, tickets, total and payment state, and ask me to approve the order. Do not approve it until I confirm
Decline a pending order
Open Orders, choose Needs Approval, select ... on the order, then Decline, check the order number and confirm Decline. A shorter row opens into the order, where Decline does the same, and on a phone the order's ... menu holds Decline.
Note: A reserved amount is released. Payment already collected at checkout is refunded, and the buyer receives the rejection notification.
Fai can decline the pending order after showing you the buyer, tickets, total and payment-hold deadline. MCP can open the order but cannot decline it, and the CLI does not expose this decision.
In your dashboard, with Fai
Open pending order <ORDER NUMBER> for <EVENT NAME>. Show me the buyer, tickets, total, payment status and hold deadline, then ask before declining it
From your own assistant, over MCP
The copied MCP configuration includes --read-only. Remove --read-only only when you want your assistant to make changes. Routine changes run when requested; destructive actions ask you in a compatible client. If your client cannot ask, make the change in your dashboard.
Find <EVENT NAME> and open pending order <ORDER NUMBER>. Show me the buyer, tickets, total, payment status and hold deadline so I can decide in the dashboard
Questions you might have
- Can I require approval for only one ticket type?
- Yes. Leave event-wide approval off and turn on Require order approval for this type on each type that needs it.
- What happens when one order contains an approval ticket and an ordinary ticket?
- The whole order waits for your decision. Approving issues every ticket in the order; declining closes the whole order.
- Is the buyer charged before I approve?
- With the event-wide Hold payment until approved switch, or the ticket type's Hold payment until approved switch, on, a supported payment method reserves the amount and collects it after approval. Other payment methods charge the buyer at checkout and refund them if you decline the order. With the switch off, payment is collected at checkout.
- Where do ticket-type approval orders appear?
- Open Needs Approval and find the order. On a desktop, select ... on the order, then select Approve or Decline. If the order appears as a shorter row, open it and use Approve or Decline. On a phone, select ... first, then use Approve or Decline.
- What happens when a payment hold expires?
- The reserved amount is released and the pending order is declined because the payment can no longer be collected. Use the displayed Hold expires time to act before that point.
- Can I approve only part of an order?
- No. Approval applies to the order as a whole. Ask the buyer to place separate orders when different ticket requests need different decisions.
- Does order approval make the event invitation-only?
- No. It lets someone place a request and gives you the decision afterward. Use a password, personal invitation or hidden-ticket access code when access must be controlled before checkout.
Related guides
Do this on your own event
Create your account, build your event and follow the steps in your own dashboard. You do not need to book a sales call.