How to sell tickets online

Selling tickets online in 2026 takes about an hour of setup — the decisions inside that hour, mostly about money and audience, are what separate a smooth sale from a fee-leaking one. Here's the whole path in order.

1. Pick the platform by audience source, not brand

One question does most of the work: who brings the audience? If the answer is you (your Instagram, your list, your locals), a marketplace's 10% fee buys you nothing — use a zero-fee (Tickts) or flat-fee (Ticket Tailor) checkout. If the answer is genuinely the platform (club nights on Skiddle, dance music on RA), the percentage is a marketing spend — measure it as one.

2. Set the money up properly

• Prefer platforms settling to your own Stripe as sales happen — cash flow funds the event, not the platform.
• Decide fee bearing now: absorb-and-reprice usually converts better (see the analysis).
• Price with the break-even method, then design tiers: early bird → standard → late.

3. Build a page that converts

• Title with the what-and-where in it; a hero image that isn't a flyer JPEG of tiny text.
• First two lines answer: what happens, who's it for, why this one. Details after.
• Total price visible before checkout — surprise fees are the top abandonment trigger and now a legal risk.
• Answer the boring questions on-page (times, age policy, access, refunds) or your inbox becomes the FAQ.

4. Launch in the right order

1. Quiet on-sale to your list/regulars 24–48h early — first-day momentum is social proof for everyone after.
2. Public announce with the link everywhere the audience already is; one channel done properly beats five done weakly.
3. Weekly rhythm after: lineup drops, tier deadlines, behind-the-scenes — reasons to post, not repetition.

5. Door day

Scanning app on two or more phones, offline mode confirmed, a name-lookup fallback, and one person empowered to fix problems with a smile. Full detail: scanning at the door.