The short answer
When a tier hits its cap it closes and offers the waitlist. Someone joins with a name and an email, and is emailed to say they are on it and what happens next.
When a place opens - a refund, an order deleted, a checkout never paid, or a cap you raise - you choose on the event who hears about it. Next in line emails the first person waiting, one per place, and moves on to the next if they have not booked within 6 hours. Everyone emails everybody waiting at once, and the first to book has it. Off leaves it to you, from Orders.
Nobody is charged for joining, and no place is held: the email opens the event with the ticket type picked. The waitlist is also a number you can see: twenty people waiting for a class of twelve is a second session, and the sold-out page can point at it.
A waitlist you keep in your notes is you, on a Tuesday night, messaging people one at a time. That is the whole difference.
Ready-made template
Sourdough Baking Class
Sourdough class, already set up as an event you can open now. Pick a date and a venue, change what you like, and publish. Nothing is saved until you do, and you can start without an account.
- Eight places, two to an order
- Monthly
- The waitlist on, for when it sells out
Which fits your event?
Start from the one requirement that decides it.
| Your main requirement | Start with |
|---|---|
| A room that sells out once a year | A note on your phone |
| A class that sells out every week | One Ticket |
| A cap you cannot move, and refunds that happen | One Ticket |
| You would rather add a second session | A second date, and a link to it from the sold-out page |
A full room is a good problem, and a waitlist is how it stays one.
How it works in practice
| What happens | On the waitlist |
|---|---|
| The tier fills | It closes and offers the waitlist |
| Someone joins | A name and an email, no charge |
| A place opens | Next in line, everyone waiting, or nobody: your choice on the event |
| Next in line does not book within 6 hours | The next person is told |
| Twenty waiting | A second session, linked from the sold-out page |
One Ticket for a recurring room
Everything below follows from one decision: a series is one object, not a list of dates.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Who came back | After every session: how many came, how many had been before, who is new and who has stopped coming, by name, with an address to write to |
| Subscriptions | One subscription covers every session in a series. Each night's ticket is minted ahead of time |
| Paid out | Every ticket is charged to your own Stripe account. A new account is paid out to your bank two days after each event, once guests have said how it went; after a first clean event it is paid out as it sells |
| Fees | No platform fee on the ticket price. The buyer pays a booking fee: a platform tier of 35c to $1.45 a ticket, then 1.5% of the price above $100, plus card processing. On a $25 ticket that is $1.45 all in, so the buyer pays $26.45. Free tickets cost nothing |
| Refund if it changes | Move the date, start time or place after people have booked and every one of them can refund in full, booking fee included, until it starts, whatever your refund policy says. You are warned before you save, and everyone booked is emailed the new details |
| Refund requests | On a case-by-case event the buyer asks from their ticket. You have 3 days to refund or decline; a request nobody answers goes to One Ticket support, and your payouts are held until it is settled |
| Guest ratings | After each event, ticket holders rate it: stars and a few words. From 5 ratings the average shows under your name on every event page, good or bad. Notes are for you alone, and never say who wrote them |
| Scam protection | Every page is read before it can send an email, and our emails carry none of an organiser's own links or phone numbers. A new organiser's money is held until after the event, and anyone can report an event from its page |
| Verified tick | Earned by selling here: 3 past events, 25 tickets, no chargebacks, no ignored refund requests, and an average of 4 stars once there are 10 ratings. A chargeback or an ignored request takes it away at once |
| Block a person | Block an address from a ticket type, for this event or every one after it. No public list, no conversation at the door |
| Your page | Your colours, your title font, your cover. Nobody else's event on it |
| Import | Paste an Eventbrite link and the title, description, date, venue and ticket types come across |
| Not included | A marketplace. There is no search page and no audience to sell into; the people are the ones you bring |
One Ticket
Sell tickets. Keep every dollar.