Note: The features mentioned in this article are only available for Regular events. They are not applicable to Timed-Entry events. Unsure of the difference? Learn more here: Regular Events vs. Timed-Entry Events.
Tiered ticketing allows event organizers to introduce different ticket types (or ‘tiers’) that become available based on the sales of a previous tier. This is commonly used when you have different ticket types that you want to sell based on time. For example, you might want to sell early tickets at a lower price, and then increase the price once those tickets sell out, or when the event date is approaching.
If the tiered ticketing option is greyed out in your settings, click on the 'Contact Us to Upgrade' button and someone from Universe will be in touch shortly.
Note: Tiered ticketing does not support listings with more than one timeslot.
How to Set Up Tiered Ticketing
To begin, you need to define an initial tier (the first ticket type) that must sell out—or reach its ‘ticket sale ends’ time—before any future tiers (other ticket types) are made available.
Note: You can create as many initial and future tiers as needed, but each future tier can only be linked to one initial tier.
Step 1: Create Your Initial Tier
Your initial tier is the first ticket type that will be available for sale. To set this up:
- Set a Maximum Quantity: This ensures the future tier(s) will be made available once the initial tier sells out.
- Set a Sales End Time: This ensures that the ticket type is automatically hidden if the initial tier doesn't sell out before the sales end time.
Step 2: Create Your Future Tier
Next, create your future tier, which will go on sale once the initial tier sells out or the sales period ends. For the future tier:
- No Start Time Required: By default, the future tier will be automatically triggered when the initial tier sells out or reaches the sales end time (‘ticket sale ends’ date/time). However, if you prefer to have the future tier go on sale at a specific time, you can set a start time (‘ticket sale starts’ date/time). Note: If tiered ticketing is enabled for the future tier, any start time you set will be removed, and the future tier will follow the tiered ticketing parameters instead.
- Set the Ticket Status to Active: Future tiers should be marked as ‘Active’ so they appear on the checkout screen. If a ticket is marked as ‘Hidden’, it will not show up for buyers.
Step 3: Configure Tiered Ticketing
After creating your event, go to the Advanced Settings section and click on Configure under Tiered Ticketing.
In this section, you can specify which future tier (or ticket type) will be shown once a specific initial tier sells out.
Note: This step is crucial for ensuring the correct future tier appears once the initial tier is no longer available.
Examples Above (Steps 1-3):
- Initial Tier: General Admission (Early Bird) tickets will be available immediately. They will become unavailable once 20 tickets are sold or once the sales period ends on June 30th at 12:30 PM—whichever comes first.
- Future Tier: General Admission tickets will automatically be available once the initial tier is no longer available. Since no specific start time is set for the future tier, it will go on sale as soon as the initial tier sells out or the sales end time is reached.
Step 4: Test Your Setup
As an event host, you'll see the checkout screen differently than buyers do. To verify that your tiered ticketing setup is working correctly, log out of your host account or open an incognito window to view the buyer-facing checkout screen.
FAQ
1. Why didn’t my future tier show up after my initial tier sold out?
There are a few possible reasons for this. To troubleshoot:
- Ensure you’ve set a maximum quantity for your initial tier. This will indicate how many tickets can be sold before the future tier is triggered.
- Check that your initial tier has a ‘ticket sale ends’ time configured.
- Confirm that you’ve linked the future tier to the initial tier under the Advanced Settings tab.
2. Why can’t I set up an initial tier for a certain ticket type?
You can only set an initial tier for a ticket type if it meets these requirements:
- The ticket type has a maximum quantity set.
- The ticket type has a sales end time configured to automatically hide it if not sold out by the end time.