Selling tickets for an event used to mean a cash box on the door, a roll of raffle tickets, and a lot of hope. Today, most organisers sell online before the doors even open, and the ones who do it well fill more seats, spend less time on admin, and walk in on the day already knowing their numbers. This guide walks through the whole process, from choosing where to sell to handling entry on the day, with the practical detail you need whether you are running a comedy night, a football fixture, or a two-day festival.
Decide how you want to sell
You have three broad options: sell through your own website, sell through a dedicated ticketing platform, or sell in person only. For all but the smallest events, a dedicated ticketing platform is the sensible choice. It handles payments, sends the tickets, scans people in, and gives you a live view of sales without you building any of it yourself.
The thing to watch is cost. Many platforms charge a booking fee on every ticket, and because that fee is usually passed to the buyer, it inflates your prices and can put people off. On Tickts there is no platform fee and no booking fee for fans, so the price you set is the price they pay. You keep 100 percent of the ticket price, with money paid out directly to your own bank through Stripe. The only deduction is Stripe's own card processing charge of 1.5 percent plus 20p per transaction, which every platform pays and none can avoid. For a fuller breakdown of where ticketing money actually goes, read our guide to the true cost of ticketing fees.
Set up your event the right way
Before you sell a single ticket, get the setup right. A clean, complete event page does most of the selling for you, and fixing mistakes after tickets are live is far more painful than getting it right first time.
- Connect your payouts. Link your bank account so takings land with you directly rather than sitting with the platform. On Tickts this is a one-time Stripe Connect setup that takes a few minutes.
- Choose your ticket types. Decide on general admission, concessions, early bird, VIP, or whatever fits your event. Give each tier a clear name and say exactly what it includes.
- Set your capacity. Match your ticket allocation to what your venue and licence actually allow. Overselling a small room is a fast way to a bad night.
- Write the listing. A strong description sells the experience, not just the logistics. Our guide on writing an event listing that converts covers exactly how to do this.
If this is your first time setting up online sales, our complete guide to setting up online ticketing takes you through every step in order.
Price your tickets to sell
Pricing is where organisers most often go wrong, either underselling their event and leaving money on the table, or pricing so high that the room stays half empty. Start from your costs, work out your break-even point, then look at what comparable events in your area actually charge.
Tiered pricing is your friend. An early bird rate rewards the fans who commit first and gives you cash flow and momentum early in the campaign. A standard rate covers the bulk of your sales. A last-minute or on-the-door rate captures the people who decide at the eleventh hour. Because Tickts adds no booking fee, you can price in round, honest numbers and the buyer pays exactly what is on the label. For the full method, see our definitive guide to pricing event tickets.
Promote so people actually turn up
A ticket page nobody sees sells nothing. Your promotion does not need a big budget, but it does need to be consistent and to start early. Share your event across the channels where your audience already is, build a mailing list you own, and lean on word of mouth from previous attendees.
The single most effective lever for most independent organisers is a good email list, because those people have already told you they are interested. Social media widens the net, and a well-optimised listing catches people searching for something to do. Our event marketing guide lays out a twelve-week timeline you can follow from announcement to sold out.
Understand how the money reaches you
One of the biggest advantages of selling online is that the payment, the ticket, and the record all happen automatically. When someone buys, they pay by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, they receive a QR code ticket by email straight away, and the money moves toward your account.
On Tickts, payments run through Stripe Connect, which means funds are paid directly into your own Stripe account and then to your bank, rather than being held by the platform and paid out weeks later. You stay in control of your own money, and you own your customer data outright, so you can export it and market to those fans again for your next event. For the mechanics of how this works, read our explainer on what Stripe Connect is and why ticketing platforms use it.
Handle entry on the day
Selling the tickets is only half the job. On the day you need to get people through the door quickly and keep out anyone with a fake or duplicated ticket. Modern digital tickets make this straightforward.
- Scan, do not eyeball. Each ticket carries a unique QR code. A free scanner app on any phone reads it, marks it used, and flags anyone trying to enter twice.
- Add extra lanes for peaks. If everyone arrives at once, more scanning points clear the queue faster than a single busy door.
- Sell walk-ups too. Box office mode lets you take on-the-door sales through the same system, so your numbers stay accurate whether tickets sold last week or thirty seconds ago.
Because tickets sit in the buyer's phone, and can be added to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, there is nothing to print and nothing to lose. That is faster for your team and easier for your attendees.
Review and do it again
After the event, the data you gathered becomes the foundation for the next one. Look at when tickets sold, which promotion drove the most sales, and how many people bought on the day versus in advance. Keep your attendee list, thank the people who came, and tell them what is coming up next. Selling tickets for an event is a cycle, and every event you run should make the next one easier to fill.
