Whether you’re hosting a workshop, planning a benefit concert, or live-taping a podcast, selling tickets online is one of the easiest ways to reach your audience and ensure your event runs smoothly. A good online ticketing setup will create a seamless experience for your customers from the moment they discover your event to the day they walk through the door.
Choosing the right sales platform, creating a compelling event page, and crafting a thoughtful and comprehensive pricing and promotional plan all play a major role in executing a smooth and successful event. Streamlined check-in and ticket transfer also come into play, ensuring that your event logistics remain streamlined and straightforward.
Ahead, learn everything you need to know about how to sell tickets for online events, including how to engage your community, maximize sales, and create an event guests will remember for all the right reasons.
Table of contents
How to sell tickets online
- Choose a sales channel
- Build the event page and checkout
- Set ticket prices
- Pick a buyer-friendly ticket vendor
- Promote your event
- Leverage analytics to measure results
From choosing a sales channel and building a detailed event page to setting prices, promotional rules, and managing the back-end logistics, here’s how to successfully sell tickets online.
1. Choose a sales channel
Ticket sales can take place through social media, your own website, or ticketing platforms like Eventbrite or Ticketmaster. The latter handles the logistics of selling tickets online, but they can come with a frustrating user experience, including fees that go beyond the face value of the ticket.
Eventbrite charges a service fee of 3.7% plus $1.79 per ticket, plus a 2.9% payment processing fee per order. You can choose to absorb this cost or pass it on to your customers, but it’s important to consider that extra costs like these account for up to 39% of all abandoned carts.
Selling tickets through your own website allows you to bypass that challenge, while also offering other direct-to-consumer benefits such as:
- Control over the buyer experience
- Access to customer data for retargeting
- Higher profit margins
- Low minimum payout thresholds
Shopify combines checkout, attendee lists, QR codes, and ticketing apps into one ecommerce platform. Plus, if you’re selling products at your event (either physical or digital), Shopify POS lets you take payment from your phone via Tap to Pay.
| Your own website | Ticketing platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Suited for | Brands that host repeat events, sell products, or want to own the event experience from end to end | One-off events or brands that want to outsource ticket management entirely |
| Selling fees | Payment processing (from 2.9% + 30¢ on Shopify) | Eventbrite: 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per ticket Ticketmaster: 5% to 7% of the total ticket price |
| Brand experience | Fully branded online store and checkout on a custom domain | Platform branding, including their domain and checkout process |
| Discoverability | No built-in event discovery | Visible in the platform’s search tool |
| Ticket management | Requires a ticketing app | QR codes, scanning app, waitlists, check-in tools included |
2. Build the event page and checkout
Syndigo’s 2025 study found that 44% of consumers have abandoned a purchase due to insufficient product information, and over a third were disappointed when their purchase didn’t meet expectations set by the description. To avoid the impact of this common pitfall when selling event tickets online, check that you’ve included the following details on your ticket sales page:
- Basic event details. Be sure to include the event date, start time, vendor or performer lineup, venue address, and age restrictions.
- Accessibility information. Mention any disability accommodations available, parking information, and public transport options. If the event will be held outdoors, include what happens if there’s inclement weather.
- Answers to FAQs. Coverwhat you’re allowed (or not allowed) to bring inside the event, the event’s code of conduct, and your return or ticket transfer policy.
- Social proof. Reviews, ratings, and user-generated content are the most important product page elements for 57% of shoppers. They prove your legitimacy and highlight a track record of successful sales and events.
- Ticket tiers and checkout links. Show what each ticket tier includes with multiple calls to action (CTAs) that entice people to buy.
- Clear pricing. In 2025, the FTC implemented a new rule on unfair or deceptive fees that impact ticket sellers. In order to abide, you’ll need to include extra fees upfront and make sure the lowest advertised price is actually available for customers to buy.
Usal Project demonstrates what this looks like. The page for its glowworm night hike includes basic event details alongside intensity ratings, information about the event’s leader, and what equipment to bring.
3. Set ticket prices
The price of each ticket depends on your event type, audience, and the goal of the event. If it’s to drive customers to your retail store, for example, you might be willing to offer cheaper tickets as an incentive to get people there.
If you’re hosting a larger event, factor in the cost of running it, such as venue fees, food, and any merchandise you plan to give away. Using a profit margin calculator can help determine the ideal ticket price once you factor in operating costs and how many tickets you estimate you’ll sell.
Remember, ticket sales don’t have to be your only source of income. For example, Usal Project combines ticket sales with event sponsors. Its goal is to make the outdoors accessible, so it offers low-cost tickets and partners with brands like Nike and North Face to diversify its revenue streams and gain legitimacy through brand partnerships.
In some cases, it may also make sense to sell season tickets, like if you’re working for a sports team or promoting a concert series. You get more money for multiple tickets upfront—even if you offer a season pass discount—which can help with cash flow and allow you to get ahead on planning future events.
4. Pick a buyer-friendly ticket vendor
One major thing you’ll have to consider if you sell your tickets independently is how you’ll deliver tickets to customers who buy them online.
One option is to connect your checkout page to a list of event attendees so their names can be checked at the door. This method relies heavily on manual work where there’s risk of error, like customers not being on the list if they bought a last-minute ticket.
Event calendar apps, like Event Ticketing, can help you create, sell, and scan tickets through your online store. Tickets can appear on a customer’s order confirmation page, where they can then add them to their Apple Wallet or save them as a PDF to be scanned at the door. Event staff can then scan barcodes using the app on Shopify POS to verify tickets and allow access.
5. Promote your event
Once your ticket landing page is live, you’ll want to drum up interest and spread the word about your upcoming event. Useful marketing channels can include:
- Social media, including creator and influencer partnerships
- Your email list, particularly a segment of customers who’ve attended an event before
- Ads to people within a certain radius of where the event takes place
When it comes to promotion, your goal should be to get people excited about your event, even if tickets aren’t for sale yet. Holland Ridge Farms takes this approach—its u-pick sunflower farm is open only at the end of summer, but it teases behind-the-scenes on Instagram months in advance to encourage sales and spread the word.
6. Leverage analytics to measure results
If you’re working directly with an event venue, you may be able to gain insight into how past promoters have sold tickets. Selling tickets through your own website also opens the door to digging deeper into buyer behavior. Shopify’s Analytics unified data helps you understand:
- Which channel sends ticket buyers
- Which email links get clicks
- Which ticket tiers sell first or fastest
- When purchases spike
- Whether in-person buyers later shop online
- How many repeat customers your events have
Use what you learn to inform future ticket-selling strategies. For instance, you might find that most concert tickets are sold about a month out from the event date, or that offering a VIP tier can entice high-value customers at the point of purchase.
Tips for driving online ticket sales
Once you’ve got your ticketing website set up, here’s how to drive online sales and manage the logistics of delivering tickets to customers.
Promote your event on social media
According to a 2025 Shopify survey,* 35% of store owners rate building a social media presence as the second most common Year 1 growth strategy. And it’s not just about creating a connection with your audience—sharing engaging and informative social media content, like behind-the-scenes peeks or support for the local community, can drive ticket sales. Eventbrite’s 2026 report found that 50% of attendees are more likely to attend a cause-based event because it allows them to show up for something beyond fun or escapism.
De Soi, a non-alcoholic aperitif company, treats each event as a chance to acquire marketing material for future ones.
“There’s always a liquid to lips or cans and hands component to [any event],” CEO Scout Brisson says in a Shopify Masters interview. “But when we think about the slightly younger millennial audience, we’re thinking about more UGC shareability content.”
If you only want to sell on social media, consider the Shopify Starter plan. All you need is an image and a description of the event. From there, you can send social media followers to a Shopify checkout page to take payment and issue tickets.
Offer promo codes and early bird discounts
Encourage advance ticket purchases by providing limited-time promo codes or an early-bird sale, both of which can instill a sense of urgency and scarcity. One research study found that these elements result in more powerful purchase intent than personalization.
If you’re unsure about whether selling tickets to an event or launch is right for your brand, take a page out of Hearth Display’s playbook. It used pre-orders to validate its idea before even bringing it to market.
“We asked people to put down $50 deposits on Shopify to voice their support of the product and show that they were actually willing to pay for this solution,” Susie Harrison, co-founder and CGO, says in a Shopify Masters interview. “Those deposits were fully refundable, and we protected that customer capital so that every single customer could get every single dollar back had they ever wanted it.”
Provide tickets at different price points
Ticket tiers, such as general admission, assigned seats, or VIP tickets, let you cater to different buyers and upsell those who want a more premium experience.
If you’re hosting a workshop at your store, for example, the basic bronze tier might just include ticket access. The upgraded silver tier might offer a free drink, while the gold tier gives them a free product bundle and branded merchandise.
On your ticketing page, clearly explain the difference between each tier and what the customer will gain with their purchase, whether that’s:
- Early access
- Better seats
- Free products
- A special meet-and-great
- Early access to new launches
Holland Ridge Farms, for example, has different tiers based on the day of the week its customers want to visit the flower farm. Weekdays are cheaper than weekends, and there’s a group discount available for groups of 12 or more.
Sell tickets at the door
Selling tickets at the door lets people join at the last minute, capitalizing on foot traffic and bystander interest that you’d otherwise have to turn away. Tap to Pay on Shopify lets you do this without any additional hardware, turning your smartphone into a mobile POS system so you can take contactless payments at the door.
Visa’s 2025 report found this to be a popular in-person payment method, noting that Tap to Phone experienced a 200% increase over the past year, with almost 30% of sellers being new small businesses.
Entice the public with special event offerings
To create more interest and demand around your event, emphasize special features like exclusive performances, meet-and-greets, or free merchandise that can add value to the cost of the ticket. Clearly advertise these special features on your ticketing website and in any social media or marketing mentions.
Optimize for mobile ticket sales
Roughly 71% of all online orders happen on a mobile device, so making your ticketing website mobile-friendly is an important step toward catering to mobile-first shoppers. A few ways you can set yourself up for success include:
- Optimizing for speed. On average, every millisecond delay costs 3.5% of conversions. Compress code, optimize images, and use browser caching to ensure things run efficiently.
- Using responsive design. Test your framework on different devices to guarantee that every customer has the same quality experience. “Don’t just test the iPhone 17,” says Greg Bernhardt, SEO strategist at Shopify. “Your customers might be on a Pixel, and everything could look funky there.”
- Supporting digital wallet payments at checkout. Stripe found that 61% of shoppers said they would use a digital wallet like Apple Pay or Google Pay. This payment method cuts average mobile checkout time in half, granting the user a more straightforward payment experience.
Menswear brand Serge Blanco moved to Shopify to optimize mobile checkout and saw immediate results due to the switch. “What changed very quickly was how simple checkout became,” says director of ecommerce Julien Fournier. “That drove conversion rates up directly, especially on mobile.”
Set a clear resale and transfer policy
The Better Online Ticket Sales Act prohibits people from using bots to overcome sellers’ purchase limits. Also known as ticket scalping, the BOTS Act exists to limit resellers from buying tickets at face value and selling them on for a higher price on a third-party site.
That said, customers may have a genuine reason for why they can no longer attend your event. In this instance, you could either offer a refund and withdraw the ticket or let them transfer it to someone else. Either way, set rules to prevent people from scalping tickets if you offer resale. For example, you can:
- Cap resale prices to deter scalpers, or offer face-value resale only
- Use a verified transfer platform, like StubHub or Vivid Seats, that handles payment and transfers the ticket to the new buyer
For example, Undertow, a company that facilitates concerts in intimate venues, allows customers to transfer their tickets to somebody else, and any name changes must go through their ticket transfer form.
Note that some states have regulations that limit ticket reselling. In New Jersey, registered ticket brokers are barred from charging more than 50% above the price paid to acquire the ticket. Contact a legal professional to see which laws apply to your business before you allow for reselling tickets.
Use targeted email marketing to engage the community
Your best customer base is those people who are already engaged with your brand, whether that means opening up your weekly newsletter the second it hits their inbox or participating in past events. To activate your existing fans, send personalized emails to account holders and past attendees, highlighting the benefits of attending your upcoming event, and include a direct link to buy tickets.
You could also:
- Send announcement emails when a new event launches
- Put out early-bird reminders for discounted tickets
- Broadcast last-call messages as the date approaches
- Share post-purchase reminders to keep people excited in the time between buying their tickets and attending the event
A strong email marketing strategy can also help you connect with attendees and keep them engaged even after an event ends, whether that’s selling them early tickets to the next event or including a link to buy the products they may have seen in-person.
“When we were doing pop-ups and in-person events, we realized we were making sales for all the months after because we would meet people in person,” says Myriam Belzile-Maguire, founder of Macguire Shoes, in a Shopify Masters interview. “We felt like having a retail presence made sense in our business, especially when people want to try shoes for the first time, at least once. Once they know they like the brand and they like their quality, then they feel more comfortable buying online.”
How to sell tickets FAQ
How do you sell tickets online for an event?
You can sell tickets through your own website or on platforms such as Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Ticket Tailor, and Brown Paper Tickets. If you choose a third-party site, make note of the ticket-selling platforms’ fee structures and terms of service before creating a ticket listing.
Can you sell tickets on Shopify?
Yes, anyone can sell tickets on Shopify. Start by building your storefront and taking payments for tickets, then use an event ticketing app to issue those tickets to buyers.
What are the best ways to sell tickets?
There is no best way to sell your tickets, but selling directly on your own website has advantages that ticketing platforms don’t. You own customer data, have full control over the buyer experience, and set your own prices to cut out middlemen fees.
Is reselling tickets illegal?
Restrictions vary by state and may include price caps above face value, licensing requirements for resellers, and proximity rules that prohibit selling within a set distance of the venue. Check the laws in your state before reselling tickets.
How do digital tickets work?
Digital tickets are often shared using a QR code or barcode system. Customers scan their ticket’s code at the event, which pulls up their details in your system and grants them entry, provided that the ticket exists, is valid, and hasn’t already been scanned.
