What is the Waitlist Feature?
The Waitlist feature is designed to help ensure your event sells out and stays sold out, even if additional tickets become available due to cancellations or inventory adjustments. Once all timeslots and tickets are sold out, the Waitlist feature will automatically notify interested buyers when more tickets are available. This feature works for both Regular and Timed-Entry events. Learn more about the difference between Regular and Timed-Entry events
Note: The Waitlist feature is triggered only after all available tickets and timeslots have sold out.
How Does the Waitlist Work?
When your event sells out, Universe will update the checkout screen to let potential buyers know that the event is sold out, but they can still join the Waitlist. The Waitlist is accessible only once all tickets and timeslots are sold out (this includes locked ticket types).
Here’s how it works:
- Waitlist Activation: As soon as additional tickets (5 or more) become available, Universe will automatically email everyone who has joined the Waitlist.
- New Sales: If your event sells out again, the Waitlist prompt will reappear, and any new fans visiting the page will be encouraged to sign up.
- Inventory Updates: Each time you add more tickets to your event, the full Waitlist will be notified. If a Waitlist fan has managed to get tickets from additionally added inventory, they will not be emailed again.
Note: For buyers to receive a Waitlist email, there must be at least one Active ticket type on the event listing.
How Can I Increase Ticket Availability?
If your event is sold out, you can increase ticket availability in two ways to trigger the Waitlist:
- Increase your Timeslot capacity if you have one set.
- Increase Ticket Quantity: If you’ve already set a limit on a specific ticket type, you can raise the quantity to allow more ticket sales.
Both these settings can be adjusted in the Tickets tab of the Event Information section of the Event Editor as seen below.
Note: To trigger the Waitlist emails, you must increase the ticket count by at least 5 tickets. Emails will be sent immediately once inventory is updated.
How Do I Turn the Waitlist On or Off?
You can turn the Waitlist on or off at any time through the Tickets page in the Event Editor. By default, the Waitlist is turned on for all accounts to help ensure your event sells out.
- Turned Off: No emails will be sent to Waitlist members, regardless of available tickets.
- Turned On: When you reactivate the Waitlist, everyone on the Waitlist will be notified when tickets become available.
Privacy Opt-In and Reporting
To access the Waitlist Contacts report, a privacy policy must be uploaded to your account, allowing you to collect and view attendee data in compliance with privacy laws.
Note: This feature must be enabled by Universe Support. Please submit a support request, or get in touch with your Client Services Manager to have this enabled on your event.
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Why Upload a Privacy Policy?
When a privacy policy is provided, fans will have the option to opt in during Waitlist sign-up, granting permission to share their contact information with you. This opt-in is essential for you to view Waitlist data, including buyer details and Waitlist numbers.
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Where to Upload Your Privacy Policy:
To upload your privacy policy, go to your account settings and navigate to the account tab. Here, you will find the Policies for your events section where your privacy policy URL can be uploaded:
Note: The name displayed for the privacy opt-in comes from your account username. For a more professional appearance, we recommend using an Organization Account. If you need to adjust your account settings, navigate to your settings page, and go to the profile tab. Here, you will be able to switch between a Personal and Organization Account, and update your username:
What Reports Are Available with a Privacy Policy?
When a privacy policy is in place, two reports will be available:
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Waitlist Contacts Report (Event-Level):
Provides detailed visibility of Waitlist numbers and contact information for interested buyers.
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Marketing List Report (Account-Level):
Displays the same information at the account level, helping you track contacts across multiple events.
Additionally, you can monitor your Waitlisted count directly from the Event Overview Dashboard. The count will update based on the number of people who join the Waitlist or purchase tickets.
When a fan joins the Waitlist, that will add an entry to the Waitlisted count. On the contrary, when a fan buys a ticket, or unsubscribes from the Waitlist email, that will remove their entry from the Waitlisted count. There will be times when this count displays more Waitlisted fans than the Waitlist report. This is due to the privacy opt in, as fans will not be visible on the Waitlist report unless they opt in to share their data.
What Happens If No Privacy Policy is Provided?
Without a privacy policy, the Waitlist reports will not be available, as this data cannot be accessed without your fan’s consent. By default, the Ticketmaster opt-in remains in place, and fans will not be able to share their data for marketing purposes. However, you will still be able to view the Waitlisted count found in your event overview dashboard.