How Ticket Sales Work
What buyers see, which payment methods work for tickets, how seats are held, when tickets are emailed, and what happens on cancellation or refund.
Buying tickets
On the event page, the buyer sets a quantity for each ticket type and clicks Add Tickets to Cart. Each ticket type shows its price and description, plus a note when relevant:
| Note | When |
|---|---|
| N available | The ticket type has a capacity and N tickets are left |
| Sold out | No tickets of that type are left |
| Event ended | The event's end time (or start time, if there's no end time) has passed |
If you haven't added any ticket types, the page says "Tickets are not available yet." After an event ends, the page shows "This event has ended." and tickets can't be added to the cart.
Cart rules
- One event per order. A buyer can get several ticket types for the same event in one order, but not tickets for two different events.
- Tickets are checked out on their own. They can't be combined with products or services in the same order.
- Capacity is checked when tickets are added to the cart and again at checkout. If a ticket sells out or its price changes in the meantime, the buyer is asked to review their cart.
Checkout
At checkout the buyer enters their name and email, answers your attendee fields, and enters an address only if you turned on Collect address at checkout. The checkout says "Tickets will be emailed to you after payment confirmation."
Payment methods for tickets
| Method | When it's offered |
|---|---|
| Credit Card (Stripe) or Credit Card / PayPal | Whichever is your default payment provider, if connected |
| Interac e-Transfer | If you accept Interac and the buyer is paying in CAD |
| Zelle | If you accept Zelle and the buyer is paying in USD |
| Free | When the order total is 0, no payment is needed |
Cash at Pickup is never offered for event tickets.
Seat holds and when tickets are issued
Each ticket gets a unique 6-character ticket token (e.g. K7PX3M) as soon as the order is placed. What happens next depends on how the buyer pays:
| Payment | Seats | Tickets emailed |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Confirmed immediately | Right away, in the order confirmation email |
| Card (Stripe or PayPal) | Held for 30 minutes while the buyer pays | As soon as payment succeeds |
| Interac e-Transfer or Zelle | Held until you act: there's no time limit | After you click Mark Payment Received on the order |
The ticket email lists each ticket's event, ticket type, date, location, and token, and attaches event-tickets.pdf with one page and QR code per ticket. Buyers can show the QR code or read out the token at the door.
For Interac and Zelle orders, the buyer's first confirmation email says their tickets will follow once you confirm payment. Check your e-Transfer or Zelle account, then click Mark Payment Received on the order to confirm the tickets and send them.
When a hold runs out
- Card payments: if the buyer doesn't finish paying within 30 minutes, the held tickets are released and become available to others. Their status changes to Cancelled. If the card payment fails, the tickets are cancelled straight away. An order that is still unpaid after about 8 hours is marked Aborted.
- Interac and Zelle: the seats stay held until you mark the payment received or cancel the order. Cancel orders you won't be paid for so the seats go back on sale.
Cancellations and refunds
Event orders are managed from Orders. Event orders don't ship and have no "complete" step; a paid order stays Confirmed.
| You do | Order becomes | Tickets become | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancel the order | Cancelled | Cancelled | Released for resale |
| Refund the order (card payments only) | Refunded | Refunded | Released for resale |
Cancelled and refunded tickets can't be checked in. Cancelling a card-paid order that has already been paid also refunds the payment. Interac and Zelle payments have to be refunded by you outside E2C.
Deleting or deactivating an event does not cancel or refund tickets that were already sold. Cancel or refund those orders first.