Skip to content
Sign in
Blend MoneyYour tickets, wallet and favourites live here.
For organizers
How do you stop a ticket site crashing when sales open?
A ticket site crashes at on-sale because everyone arrives in the same minute and every page load fights for the same tickets. You keep it up with a waiting room that lets buyers in at a pace the checkout can serve, tickets held while each buyer pays, and a launch spread over presale codes and waves.
Why do ticket sites crash at on-sale?
Because demand is not spread over the day. A post goes out at eight, and thousands of people open the same page within seconds. A site built for a steady stream of visitors meets a wall of them, and the checkout is the slowest part of the wall: payments, seats, confirmation emails.
When it fails, it fails in the worst way. Buyers refresh, pay twice, lose a seat halfway through, and post screenshots of the error. The tickets you didn't sell in that hour are the ones that end up with resellers.
What does a waiting room do?
A waiting room stands in front of the checkout. Instead of every buyer hitting the payment page at once, each one gets a place in line and is admitted when there is room, in the order they arrived. The page stays up, and the line is fair: nobody gets ahead by refreshing faster.
On Blend this is high-demand mode, which you switch on for the event before the on-sale. Behind it, each ticket a buyer picks is held while they check out, so two people can't pay for the same seat.
How do you spread demand before the on-sale?
The best crash is the one that never starts. Spread the rush across several moments.
- Open a presale first. Presale access codes let a list you choose (past guests, a partner's members, a sponsor's staff) buy before the public, so the biggest fans are served before the rush.
- Release in waves with real dates. An early release, then the regular price, then the final release: each one is a smaller rush than one big launch. See how to price tickets in waves.
- For the biggest events, collect pre-registrations or run a ballot, so demand is known before a single ticket goes on sale.
- Cap tickets per buyer, so one buyer can't clear a release for resale.
What should buyers see while they wait?
The truth, in one line: that they are in line, that their place is kept, and that refreshing will not help. Say the same in your announcement post, with the exact time sales open and the one official link.
Once the event sells out, switch the page to a waitlist. Late buyers join it without paying, and you move them off it if tickets come back.
How do you prepare for a big on-sale?
Treat the on-sale like the event itself: set it up the day before, and have someone watching it live.
- Switch on high-demand mode before you announce the sale time, not after the first complaints.
- Set the purchase limit per buyer and check every ticket type's quantity and sale dates.
- Run your presale first: it tests the checkout with real buyers before the public arrives.
- Publish one link and one exact time, everywhere, and pin it.
- Watch sales in your dashboard as they happen, and have the waitlist ready for the moment you sell out.
What happens to buyers who drop out of checkout?
Some buyers leave in the middle of paying: a call, a dead battery, a card declined. With abandoned-checkout recovery you can see who left without paying and follow up with them automatically.
Keep an eye on the gap between tickets held and tickets sold during the first hour. A large gap means buyers are stuck at payment, and a message on your page about the payment methods you accept can save the sale.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
With a waiting room in front of the checkout. Buyers get a place in line and are admitted in order at a pace the checkout can serve, and each ticket is held while a buyer pays, so it can't be sold twice.
Not on Blend. A ticket is held while a buyer checks out, so a busy on-sale never sells the same ticket twice.
Open a presale with access codes. You give the code to a list you choose, and they can buy before sales open to everyone.
Switch the event to a waitlist. Late buyers join it without paying, and are charged only if you move them off it.
Yes. For the biggest events, a ticket lottery runs a ballot when demand outstrips supply, and pre-registration collects interest before a single ticket goes on sale. Both are part of Blend's enterprise setup.
Next step
Fix it on your next event