Selling event tickets online used to mean either an expensive agency or a clunky spreadsheet. In 2026 it's neither — but doing it well still takes more than picking a platform and pasting in a date. This is a complete, practical guide to selling tickets online: from choosing where to sell, through pricing and promotion, to running the door and learning from the numbers afterwards. It works whether you're a grassroots club, a first-year festival or a venue with a full calendar.
1. Choose where to sell
Your platform shapes everything that follows, so choose deliberately. The big decisions are: marketplace or white-label (do you want to be discovered on someone else's site, or sell under your own brand?), fees (a percentage and fixed amount per ticket — small differences add up fast at volume), and scope (do you only need tickets, or also a bar till, merch and memberships?). If your event is just a ticket, a simple low-fee tool is fine. If it has a bar, a shop or members, an all-in-one platform like ApexGo saves you running several systems. Whatever you pick, make sure it's mobile-first with Apple Pay and Google Pay — the majority of buyers are on a phone, and every extra tap loses sales.
2. Set up your ticket tiers
Resist the urge to sell one flat ticket. Tiers do two jobs: they capture different buyers, and they create urgency. A sensible structure for most events:
- Early bird — a limited cheaper batch that rewards your keenest fans and gets cash in early.
- Standard — your main price once early birds sell out.
- Concessions — junior, student or over-65 rates where relevant.
- Last release / on the door — a higher final tier so latecomers subsidise the early risk-takers.
Set each tier to move automatically when it sells out or on a date, so the right price is always live without you watching the clock. For multi-day events, sell day tickets and a weekend pass; for clubs, add season passes.
3. Get the pricing right
Pricing is where most organisers leave money on the table. A few principles:
- Anchor with a higher tier. A VIP or premium option makes the standard ticket look reasonable and lifts your average order value even if few buy it.
- Use scarcity honestly. Limited early-bird batches genuinely drive early sales — but only if the limit is real.
- Decide who pays the fee. You can absorb the booking fee or pass it to the buyer. Passing it on is normal, but a high fee shown at checkout hurts conversion — another reason low platform fees matter.
- Don't underprice. People rarely value a £3 ticket; a fair price funds a better event and a better experience.
4. Promote the event
A great ticket page sells nothing if nobody sees it. Promotion doesn't need a big budget, but it needs to be deliberate:
- Own your channels. Your mailing list, social following and website are free and convert best. An embeddable ticket widget on your own site removes friction.
- Use promo codes. Trackable codes for partners, sponsors and influencers tell you which channels actually sell.
- Make sharing easy. A clean, fast, branded page that looks good when shared on WhatsApp and Instagram does a lot of the work.
- Build urgency with tiers. "Early bird ends Friday" is the most reliable sales driver there is.
5. Run the day itself
Online sales are only half the job; entry is the other half. Plan it:
- Scan, don't search. QR check-in from a phone is faster than any printed list and gives you a live, accurate headcount.
- Sell on the door. A box-office or on-the-door mode lets you take last-minute sales without a separate system.
- Join up the bar. If you run a bar or merch, putting it on the same platform as the tickets means one set of takings instead of three.
- Have a signal plan. Make sure your scanning works even if the venue's wifi doesn't.
6. Learn from the numbers
The event finishing is the start of getting better. Afterwards, look at: which tiers sold and when, which promo codes worked, how many no-showed, and — if you ran a bar and merch — what each took. A platform with real-time analytics built in (and GA4) tells you where your buyers came from, so next time you spend effort where it actually pays. The single most valuable asset you build is your customer list: if you sold under your own brand, those buyers are yours to invite back, which is why white-label selling compounds over time.
A quick checklist
- Pick a platform that matches your scope and fees, and is mobile-first.
- Build tiered tickets with automatic transitions.
- Price with an anchor, honest scarcity and a deliberate fee decision.
- Promote through your own channels with trackable codes.
- Scan at the door and join up the bar.
- Review the data and keep your customer list.
The bottom line
Selling tickets online well is a repeatable process, not a one-off. Choose the right platform, structure your tiers, promote through channels you own, run a smooth door, and learn from every event. If your event involves more than just tickets — a bar, merch, memberships — doing it all in one place pays off quickly. ApexGo is free to start at 1% + 10p per ticket, so you can put this guide into practice without an upfront cost.