Solving event ticketing problems
How do you keep a high-demand on-sale running smoothly?
Use the waiting room to control entry to checkout, stagger ticket releases to spread demand and collect a waiting list for later releases.
- For
- Putting a high-demand event on sale
- Takes
- 6 minutes
Use the waiting room to control how quickly buyers enter checkout, split tickets into timed releases and give people who miss out a waiting list. You can also invite selected buyers or pre-registered customers before the public on-sale to reduce the opening rush.
The waiting room activates during high demand and releases buyers into Ticket Fairy at a managed rate. Buyers see their place in the queue and roughly how long they have to wait, while checkout capacity stays protected.
Sell your tickets in releases and one rush becomes several smaller ones. Invite your own list or open pre-registration, then let those people buy first, and you sell part of the event before the public on-sale. Anyone who arrives after the last ticket has gone can join your waiting list, which gives you somebody to message when you add a release.
How Ticket Fairy handles it
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A waiting room in front of the checkout
It activates during high demand, gives each buyer a visible place in line and releases people at a rate that protects checkout capacity.
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Staggered ticket releases
Each release is its own batch, at its own price, opening at its own moment. Sell in tiers and one crowd becomes several smaller ones, and the people who miss the first release have something to come back for.
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Invitations before the public on-sale
Invite selected buyers or pre-registered customers to buy early, which reduces demand during the public on-sale.
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A waiting list, and a way back to it
People who arrive after the tickets have gone can join your waiting list. Message them when you add a release, or when tickets come back through resale.
How to set it up
What you need before you start
- You're an owner or an admin on the event.
- You know the on-sale time and have an estimate of expected demand. Use that estimate to decide how many releases to prepare.
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Schedule your on-sale rather than publishing by hand
Schedule the publish date and time so the event opens at the time you announced. Publishing manually depends on somebody being available to select Publish at that moment.
Publish, Payment/Support, Schedule Publish. -
Split your tickets into releases
Give each release its own allocation and its own moment. Set the later ones to appear when the one before sells out or at a set time, whichever comes first.
Two releases turn one rush into two smaller ones. They also give the people who missed the first one something to come back for instead of a sold-out page.
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Move part of the crowd earlier
Send invitations to your own list, or open pre-registration. The people most likely to buy are then not queuing with everybody else on the day.
Event, Invitations. -
Tell people what to expect
Say in your announcement that there is a queue, that it shows their place, and that refreshing will not move them up it. Buyers who were not told about a queue often decide the site has broken.
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Come back to the people who missed out
After the on-sale, message waiting-list members when you add a release, and contact buyers with abandoned baskets while their checkout is still relevant.
Questions you might have
- Is there a queue for a busy on-sale?
- Yes. A waiting room sits in front of the platform and turns itself on when arrivals climb. Your buyers see their place and roughly how long they have to wait, and it moves them through in turn.
- Do I have to turn the waiting room on?
- No. It is in front of every on-sale and only comes on when the traffic needs it, so there is nothing to switch on and nothing to forget.
- How does the waiting room protect checkout?
- It limits how quickly buyers enter checkout during a spike, leaving payment and order pages responsive for the buyers already there.
- Does refreshing the page move somebody up the queue?
- No. Their place is preserved while they wait, so refreshing does not move them forward.
- What happens to the people who do not get a ticket?
- They can join your waiting list. Message them when you add a release, or when tickets come back through resale.
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.