--- title: "Take pre-registrations before your ticket on-sale | Ticket Fairy Guides" description: "Take the names of the people who want tickets before you have any to sell, reward them for bringing friends, and open a pre-sale to them ahead of everyone else." canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/take-pre-registrations-before-your-on-sale" --- 1. [Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/) 2. [Guides](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides) 3. Take pre-registrations before your ticket on-sale Setting up an event # Take pre-registrations before your ticket on-sale With pre-registration, you collect the names of the people who already want a ticket, before you have any to sell. Buyers register their interest, earn points for sharing the event, and get first access through a pre-sale once the tickets go on sale. Takes: 14 minutes [Watch the video: Take pre-registrations before your ticket on-sale](https://d3lcdr963b5ubl.cloudfront.net/uploads/guides/video/take-pre-registrations-before-your-on-sale/d9464f872382969650eff4834ceddfae337aa39e4ae28f4413e71fc624a17276/42030e0e5b6c8961/guide.mp4) · [English](https://www.ticketfairy.com/resources/captions/guides/guide-take-pre-registrations-before-your-on-sale-42030e0e5b6c.vtt) ***Watch how it's done** 3 min 56 s, with captions.* - [Turn pre-registration on](#step-1) - [Set the registration window](#step-2) - [Open a pre-sale for the people who registered](#step-3) - [Set both ends of the pre-sale window](#step-4) - [Give the pre-sale its own release](#step-5) - [Choose whether referral links and codes also open the pre-sale](#step-6) - [Choose what earns points](#step-7) - [Add a prize worth competing for](#step-8) - [Check the pre-sale as a registered buyer would](#step-9) ## Before you start - The event is published, even with no ticket types on sale yet. Buyers reach the pre-registration page through your event page, and a draft event shows them nothing. - You know when tickets go on sale. The pre-sale has to start after pre-registration ends. - You have decided what a fan who registers gets for sharing, if anything. Points and prizes are optional, and you can add them after the window opens. 1. ## Turn pre-registration on [Play from here](#guide-video) Open the event and select **Enable Pre-Registration**. **Note:** You cannot switch it off again while rewards are running, so set the rewards after the dates rather than before them. ![Pre-registration dates with the pre-registration and pre-sale windows and their enable switches](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-pre-registration--dates.png) *Pre-Registration Dates, with both windows set.* 2. ## Set the registration window [Play from here](#guide-video) Enter the **Pre-Registration Start Date** and the end date beside it. **Note:** Enter both dates before you share the link, or nobody can complete the form. **Tip:** Open registration the day you announce. If it opens later, you lose the attention the announcement brought you. 3. ## Open a pre-sale for the people who registered [Play from here](#guide-video) Select **Enable Pre-Sale**. **Note:** The pre-sale is the reward. It has to start after pre-registration ends, and the dashboard refuses a window that starts earlier. 4. ## Set both ends of the pre-sale window [Play from here](#guide-video) Enter the day and time the pre-sale opens, after registration closes, and the day and time it ends. **Note:** Without a closing time, some pre-sale links treat the window as already closed, so a registered buyer is turned away from a pre-sale that is running. 5. ## Give the pre-sale its own release [Play from here](#guide-video) Make the pre-sale a release of its own with a set number of tickets, and keep the public release hidden until the public on-sale. Otherwise a registered buyer can choose that public release during the pre-sale too. **Note:** Hold back enough for the window to be worth registering for, and few enough that the public on-sale is still worth announcing. 6. ## Choose whether referral links and codes also open the pre-sale [Play from here](#guide-video) A referral link from an existing buyer and the pre-sale limited code can also let a buyer in during the window. Leave both off for a registration-only pre-sale, or tell your team that those links and codes work too. 7. ## Choose what earns points [Play from here](#guide-video) Open **Pre-Registration Actions** and give each sharing action a point value. **Note:** Sharing a personal link is worth more than a follow, because it brings other buyers to the page. Give it more points. 8. ## Add a prize worth competing for [Play from here](#guide-video) Open **Pre-Registration Prizes** and select **Add New Prize**. **Note:** A prize only your event can give away beats a cash-equivalent one: guest list, a soundcheck or a bar tab. 9. ## Check the pre-sale as a registered buyer would [Play from here](#guide-video) Register yourself before the window opens, then sign in with that same account and add the pre-sale ticket to the cart once the window starts. **Note:** In a signed-out browser the same ticket should not go into the cart, which is why a registered fan signs in with the account they registered with. ## Or have it done for you Fai, your AI teammate, can check sales, update your event or change a ticket when you ask. Fai can set both ends of the registration window and both ends of the pre-sale window, and report how many people have registered and how many tickets they asked for. She shows you the dates before she saves them. Set the points, the prizes and the pre-sale release yourself. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` For , open pre-registration at 9am on 1 September and close it at 5pm on 7 September, then open the pre-sale at 10am on 8 September and close it at 10pm on 9 September. Show me the dates before you save. ``` ### From your own assistant, over MCP Connect your assistant to [our MCP server](https://www.ticketfairy.com/mcp-server) and ask it: Keep `--read-only` in your MCP configuration. This task only reads data, so your assistant does not need tools that make changes. ``` Pick the brand, find the event and show its pre-registration dates ``` ## From your terminal Install the CLI from [our CLI page](https://www.ticketfairy.com/cli), sign in with `ticketfairy auth login`, and choose the brand you are working on with `ticketfairy brand use `. `ticketfairy brand list` and `ticketfairy event list` show the IDs the other commands use. Read the event to check the pre-registration window. ### Show the event and its dates ``` ticketfairy event get ``` ## Email the people who registered [Play from here](#guide-video) 1. ### Send to the pre-registered audience Choose **Pre-registered customers** as the audience when the pre-sale opens. **Note:** There is a second audience for those who registered and never bought. That one is the reminder before the public on-sale. **Tip:** Give the day, the time with its zone, and when the pre-sale ends, so a fan in another time zone knows exactly when to buy. ![Email composer with the audience selector](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-messaging--email-composer.png) *Event, Messaging, Send Email.* Fai can draft the message and send it to the pre-registered audience after you approve it. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` Draft an email to everyone pre-registered for telling them the pre-sale is open, and show it to me before sending ``` ### From your own assistant, over MCP Keep `--read-only` in your MCP configuration. This task only reads data, so your assistant does not need tools that make changes. ``` Pick the brand, find the event and show its pre-registration figures ``` ### From your terminal Messages are reviewed and sent in the dashboard. #### Show the event before you message its audience ``` ticketfairy event get ``` ## Close the pre-sale release [Play from here](#guide-video) 1. ### Mark the pre-sale release sold out at the closing time Open the pre-sale release and select **Mark as Sold Out**. That reduces the allocation to the number already sold and stops new purchases, whereas hiding a release only removes it from the event page while registration, referral and access-code links keep selling it. **Note:** If buyers already have this ticket in their carts, choose **Clear Cart** to remove it or **Allow Purchase** to let them finish. 2. ### Mark it sold out again after a refund A refund can put a pre-sale ticket back, so wait a few seconds for the available quantity to update, then mark the release sold out again. Fai can mark the pre-sale release sold out after showing it to you and asking what happens to carts still in checkout. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` Mark the pre-sale release on sold out, and tell me first what happens to carts still in checkout ``` ## Message registered fans who did not buy [Play from here](#guide-video) After the pre-sale, choose **Pre-registered customers without orders** as the audience, and tell them when the public on-sale opens and which tickets remain. Fai can draft the message to registered fans who did not buy and send it after you approve it. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` Draft an email to the people who pre-registered for and did not buy, saying when the public on-sale opens, and show me before you send it ``` ## Read how the registration went [Play from here](#guide-video) 1. ### Open the pre-registration report Open **Pre-Registration** in the event reports for the totals. **Note:** Total tickets requested is the number to plan against. It is usually larger than the number of people, and smaller than what they buy. Fai can tell you the pre-registration totals. ### In your dashboard, with Fai ``` For , how many people pre-registered and how many tickets did they ask for ``` ### From your own assistant, over MCP Keep `--read-only` in your MCP configuration. This task only reads data, so your assistant does not need tools that make changes. ``` Pick the brand, find the event and show its pre-registration report ``` ### From your terminal Read the event statistics. #### Show the event statistics ``` ticketfairy event stats ``` ## Questions you might have **Do I need ticket types before I open pre-registration?** No. Registration collects interest rather than orders, so it runs on a published event with no tickets set up yet. Have the tickets ready before the pre-sale opens. **Why can't I switch pre-registration off?** Rewards are running on it. Finish or remove the rewards and the switch is available again. **Does a pre-registration guarantee a buyer a ticket?** No. It gives them access to the pre-sale ahead of the public. Hold back enough tickets for that window to be worth registering for. ## Still have a question? Book a demo and we will answer it on a call, on your kind of event. Or create your account and see it for yourself. [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required. ## Related guides - [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/private-sales-and-presales) - [How can fan club members get presale access?](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/give-fan-club-members-presale-access) - [Hold back tickets for later](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/hold-back-ticket-stock) - [Open your ticket on-sale](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/open-your-ticket-on-sale) - [Create an event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/create-an-event) - [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) - [Every Ticket Fairy guide](https://www.ticketfairy.com/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. [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) ## Sell tickets with Ticket Fairy Start free with unlimited events and no monthly fee, and choose a paid plan when you need more. - Set up your event in minutes - Free events are free - Fai, your AI teammate, is built in [Create a free account](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/welcome) No setup fees. No monthly fee. No credit card required. ## See it on a call Book a demo and we will show you how Ticket Fairy handles your kind of event. [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [More ways to use Ticket Fairy](https://www.ticketfairy.com/features/private-sales-and-presales) ### Tips for selling more tickets Practical advice from working event organizers, and every new guide as it is published. We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime. --- 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)