Presale

What is a presale?

A presale gives a chosen group first access to tickets. The group can be members, past attendees, newsletter subscribers or the customers of a sponsor. Everyone else waits for the general sale, which opens later.

A presale is about access, not price. Presale tickets often cost the same as tickets in the general sale.

How a presale works

1. The organizer picks the group. For example members, season ticket holders or people on a mailing list.
2. The organizer sets aside tickets. Only a part of the total capacity goes into the presale, so the general sale still has tickets.
3. The group gets a way in. This is a presale code, a private link or a login.
4. The presale opens for a fixed period. A presale usually runs from a few hours to a few days.
5. The general sale opens. Tickets that did not sell in the presale go back into the general sale.

Presale vs early bird pricing vs general sale

	Presale	Early bird pricing	General sale
Who can buy	A selected group only	Anyone	Anyone
What the buyer gets	First access to tickets	A lower price for buying early	Standard access at the standard price
How it is limited	By a code, a private link or a login	By a date, a ticket count, or both	By event capacity
Price	Often the standard price	Below the standard price	The standard price

The two can be combined: an organizer can run a presale for members and then open early bird pricing for everyone.

Types of presale

• Member presale. Members of a club, studio, congregation or association buy first, as a benefit of membership.
• Mailing list presale. People who signed up for updates get the link before the public announcement.
• Past attendee presale. People who came last year get first access to this year's event.
• Sponsor or partner presale. A sponsor gets an allocation for its own customers or staff.
• Artist or fan club presale. Common for concerts, where a fan club gets a code before the public sale.

Why organizers run a presale

• It rewards the people closest to the organization. Members and regulars get the places they want before the event fills.
• It shows demand early. A presale that sells fast tells the organizer to add capacity or a second date while there is still time.
• It gives people a reason to join. First access to tickets is a benefit an organization can offer to members or subscribers.
• It spreads the load. Two smaller sale openings are easier to support than one large one.

How to set up a presale for your event

On a Checkout Page event, a presale is a ticket type that only the selected group can see:

1. Create a ticket type for the presale. Give it a name, a price and its own quantity limit, so the presale cannot use the full capacity. See ticket tiers for how ticket types fit together.
2. Hide it from the public event page. A hidden ticket type appears only for buyers who open the link you share.
3. Set its sale window. Give the presale a start and an end date.
4. Schedule the public ticket type. Set the general admission ticket type to go on sale when the presale ends.
5. Send the private link to the group. An email to members or subscribers is the usual way.

The private link does the job of a presale code: only people who have it can see the presale tickets.

What goes wrong with presales

• The link or code spreads. Keep the presale quantity limited so that a shared link cannot sell out the event.
• The presale takes all the tickets. If nothing is left for the general sale, people who waited feel misled.
• The rules are not clear. Say who can buy, how many tickets each person can buy and when the presale ends.
• The general sale date is missing. Buyers outside the group need to know when their turn comes.