Setting up an event
Approve orders before buyers receive tickets
Require a decision for every order or selected ticket types, control payment timing and approve or decline each pending order before its hold expires.
- For
- Reviewing ticket requests before confirming admission
- Takes
- 12 minutes
- Choose event-wide or ticket-type approval
- Turn approval on for every order
- Turn approval on for one ticket type
- Choose when supported payments are collected
- Place one test order through the chosen ticket
- Find every order that needs a decision
- Act before the payment hold expires
- Approve an order you want to accept
- Decline an order you cannot accept
What you need 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 supported payment methods should reserve the amount until you decide.
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Choose event-wide or ticket-type approval
Use event-wide approval when every order needs your decision. Use 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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Turn approval on for every order
Open Tickets, select Settings, and turn on Require order approval under Ticket Settings. Save the settings before the event starts taking requests.
Every new order then waits for your decision. The event-wide setting also becomes the inherited setting for every ticket type.
Tickets, Settings, Ticket Settings. -
Turn approval on 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. Save the ticket and repeat only for the other types that need review.
A ticket type inherits event-wide approval when the event setting is on. Turn the event setting off first when some ticket types should sell without review.
Tickets, Edit Ticket Type, Options. -
Choose when supported payments are collected
For event-wide approval, turn on Hold payment until approved. For ticket-type approval, turn on Hold payment until approved in that ticket type. Supported payment methods then reserve the order amount at checkout and collect it only after you approve. Leave the relevant switch off when payment should be collected at checkout.
A payment method that cannot hold the amount collects it at checkout. Declining that order sends a refund, and the payment processing fees on that refund may not be returned.
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Place one test order through the chosen ticket
Open the event in a private browser window and place an order containing the ticket type you configured. Confirm that checkout says the order is waiting for approval and does not issue usable tickets yet.
For ticket-type approval, repeat with an ordinary ticket on its own. That counterexample should complete normally when event-wide approval is off.
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Find every order that needs a decision
Open Orders, choose Needs Approval and find the order. On a wide screen, select ... on the order, then select Approve or Decline. On a smaller screen, open the order; its details show Approve and Decline. On a phone, select ... first, then select Approve or Decline.
Read the buyer, ticket types, total and order details before you act. One approval decision covers every ticket and add-on in that order.
Orders, Needs Approval. -
Act before the payment hold expires
Read Hold expires on any order with a reserved payment and decide before that time. The dashboard marks the deadline more strongly as it approaches.
An expired hold cannot be collected. The order is declined and the reserved amount is released, so contact the buyer with a new purchase route when you still want to admit them.
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Approve an order you want to accept
Select Approve, check the order number in the confirmation and select Approve again. A held payment is collected, the order becomes paid and the tickets are issued.
When payment was already collected at checkout, approval marks the order paid and issues its tickets without collecting it again.
Orders, Approve Order. -
Decline an order you cannot accept
Select Decline, check the order number in the confirmation and select Decline again. A reserved amount is released; a payment already collected at checkout is refunded.
The buyer receives the rejection notification. Read the order once more before confirming because decline closes this pending request.
Orders, Decline Order.
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 and approve a specified pending order.
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
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. Another method collects at checkout and receives a refund if you decline. 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 wide screen, select ... on the order, then select Approve or Decline. On a smaller screen, open the order 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.
Where to go from here
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.