How to sell event tickets online
Ticket types, price, VAT, promo codes, refunds: the method for opening ticket sales without losing buyers along the way.
Updated October 2026 · All guides
To sell event tickets online, stick to two or three ticket types, show prices including taxes, and take payment in the registration form rather than on a separate site. Payment should create the registration and send the badge straight away. Decide your refund policy in advance, publish it on the site, and track sales per ticket type to know when to push.
Step by step
Choose few ticket types
A standard entry, a full pass and possibly a reduced rate are enough for most events. Each extra type is one more question for the buyer, and one more line to explain at the welcome desk.
Set the price including taxes
People compare prices including taxes. Record for each ticket the VAT rate it contains, so the invoice shows it, and check with your accountant which rate applies to your type of event.
Frame the sale in time
A quota per ticket type and a sales end date stop you selling a seat that does not exist. An early-bird rate works better as a dated promo code than as one more ticket.
Take payment in the registration form
Every extra page between wanting to come and paying loses buyers. The ticket is chosen in the form, payment comes right after, and the registration is created when the payment arrives, with its badge by email.
Write the refund policy
Until when do you refund, and in full or in part? Put it on the site, in the FAQ, before the first sale. A clear rule takes less time than a case-by-case discussion.
Track sales every week
Look at sales per ticket type and per promo code. A ticket that does not sell is withdrawn or made more visible; a code nobody uses is withdrawn. The order export serves the accounts.
The most common mistakes
- Selling on one platform and running the website, badges and welcome desk on another: you then have to merge two lists, and buyers receive two sets of emails.
- Opening a waiting list on a paid ticket. Nobody should pay for a seat you do not have: set a quota, and reopen sales if seats free up.
- Forgetting the invoice. A company sending an employee needs one, with its own VAT number, to book the expense.
Doing it with LiveEvent
In LiveEvent, tickets are created in the event’s ticketing and chosen in the registration form. Payment goes through Stripe, and the money goes to your organization’s Stripe account. Stripe makes the invoice with your legal details, and a refund frees the seat in one click.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a Stripe account to sell tickets?
- With LiveEvent, yes: each organization connects its own Stripe account, and that is where the money goes. Other tools collect for you and pay out later; in that case, ask about the payout delay.
- Can one event offer both free and paid tickets?
- Yes. A free ticket registers right away, a paid ticket goes through payment. Both give the same badge and the same access to the site.
- How do I offer a reduced rate without creating ten tickets?
- With a promo code: a percentage or an amount off the price, limited in number of uses and dates, for one ticket or all of them. A 100% code gives the seat away, to a speaker or a partner.