Create a waitlist for your event

 Note: The Waitlist feature works with both Regular and Timed-Entry events, but will only trigger once all available timeslots and tickets are sold out. Click here to read about the differences between a Regular vs a Timed-Entry event. 

At Universe, we want to make sure your event sells out and stays sold out. But from time to time, you might have more tickets that you can offer or get last-minute cancellations. To ensure your event stays sold out, Universe’s Waitlist feature will automatically email all interested ticket buyers when more than 5 tickets become available.

How does it work?

As soon as your event sells out, Universe will update the checkout screen to let potential ticket buyers know that the event is sold out, but they can join your event’s Waitlist. The Waitlist is only available once all of the available timeslots and tickets are sold out.

If any 5 tickets become available, Universe will automatically email everybody who signed up for the Waitlist.

If your event sells out again, potential ticket buyers will then be encouraged to sign up for the Waitlist again.

Each time you add additional inventory, your full waitlist will be emailed. 

Note:  There must be at least one Active ticket type on the event listing for buyers to receive a Waitlist email. 

How do I increase my available tickets?

If your event has sold out, there are two ways for you to increase ticket availability to take advantage of your Waitlist:

1. Increase your Timeslot capacity if you have one set. 

2. Increase the Quantity for a particular ticket type if you’ve set a limit already 

Both these settings can be adjusted in the Tickets tab of the Event Information section of the Event Editor as seen below.

 Note: You will need to increase available tickets by a minimum of 5 tickets for your Waitlist to be emailed. Emails are sent out right after you add additional inventory. 

How do I turn the Waitlist on or off?     

You can turn off the Waitlist for your event anytime in the Advanced Settings of the Event Manager. By default, the Waitlist is turned on to ensure your event sells out. By default, this setting is automatically toggled on for all accounts. 

When you turn off your Waitlist, no emails will be sent out regardless of if anyone is on the Waitlist. When you turn it back, people on your Waitlist will be notified about available tickets. 

Privacy opt-in

When a privacy policy is provided, event hosts will now have an opt in at the point of the Waitlist signup for fans to share their data and join a hosts marketing communications. 

 Note:The name that is displayed for the privacy opt in will come from your account username. We recommend that you use an Organization Account to ensure that your business name is displayed. 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:

Event hosts can upload their privacy policy URL in their account settings. Navigate to your settings page and go to the account tab. Here, you will find the Policies for your events section where your privacy policy URL can be uploaded:

When a privacy policy is provided, a new report will also be available for event hosts that will provide the visibility of Waitlist numbers and contact details of interested buyers. On the event level, this report will be labeled as the Waitlist Contacts report:

On the account level, this report will labeled as the Marketing List report:

 Note:  this feature will need to be enabled by a member of the Universe Support team. Please submit a support request, or get in touch with your Client Services Manager to have this enabled on your event. 

In addition to the Waitlist report, hosts can also view their Waitlisted count in their event overview dashboard.

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. 

If no privacy policy is provided, event hosts will not be able to have an opt in at the point of the Waitlist signup for fans to share their data and join their marketing communications. By default, the Ticketmaster opt in will remain the same. 

In addition, you will not be able to view the Waitlist report, as this data cannot be accessed without your fan’s consent. However, you will still be able to view the Waitlisted count found in your event overview dashboard.