A sold-out event is what event creator dreams are made of, but even sold-out events can have empty seats. No-shows decrease your attendance numbers and can affect food and merch sales, negatively impacting your overall revenue. Taking control of ticket resales can help tackle these new challenges. We’ve put together a quick guide to understanding the ticket resale process and making it work for you.

What are resale tickets?

Reselling tickets involves using a third-party app or website to sell tickets to an event you’ve already purchased. If a ticket buyer experiences an abrupt change in plans, they may want to resell their tickets to recoup some of the money they spent on them in the first place.

Scalping and reselling tickets are not the same. Scalping is the purchase of a high volume of tickets by a private citizen with the intention of selling them for an above-market price to make a profit. Scalping, unlike ticket reselling, is illegal.

How to use ticket resale to your advantage

Putting thought into what happens to a ticket after you’ve sold it has become an increasingly important step in creating a successful event ticketing strategy. To make sure as many seats are filled as possible, Eventbrite has partnered with verified ticket resale specialists to enable ticket holders to resell their tickets. This lets ticket buyers sell tickets if their plans change and allows eager attendees a second chance to buy tickets to a potentially sold-out event.

Flexibility for attendees

Unexpected things can arise after potential attendees purchase tickets, preventing them from coming. Using a verified resale partner that integrates with Eventbrite protects both ticket holders and potential resale ticket buyers from fraud. It also ensures that the latter get verified tickets at a fair price.

This leaves your ticket buyers happy, since they can easily resell their tickets and recover their money safely. Happy ticket buyers are potential repeat customers for you.

Flexibility for the organiser

Event marketing strategies that increase attendance are a driving factor in increasing your event’s total revenue. The logic is clear: The more people who attend your event, the more food, drinks, and merchandise sales you’ll have. When tickets go unused, even if they’re paid for, you miss out on day-of revenue streams.

There is also the issue of when a ticket buyer wants to offload their ticket and comes to you for a refund. To avoid the hassle of processing refunds, work with a verified reseller and make the process of reselling a ticket easy. Ticket holders aren’t likely to use a complicated system. Give them a simple and secure way to transfer tickets — through trusted resellers.

Ready to offer ticket resells?

Ticket reselling doesn’t have to be your enemy. Embracing the reselling process can benefit you and your attendees: your seats will be filled, and the original ticket buyers will get at least some of their money back. To make this process easy, choose a resale partner that integrates with Eventbrite