Waitlist for Sold-Out Paid Events

When a paid-ticket event sells out, the registration panel no longer dead-ends. A visitor can Join waitlist with just a name and an email. Nothing is charged, no ticket is issued, and no order is created.

This page covers what the visitor sees, what happens to the entry, and what you do with it. For free RSVP events, see RSVPs.

What You Will Learn

• When a paid event offers the waitlist
• What a visitor sees and what they have to fill in
• What happens to a waitlist entry
• Why a paid event’s waitlist is not promoted automatically, what the “seat is open” email does, and how you admit people yourself

When the Waitlist Is Offered

The waitlist form replaces the ticket picker on the event page when both are true:

• The event is full. That means its capacity is used up, or every ticket type is sold out.
• Waitlist when full is on at Eventonomy → Settings → Registration.

If Waitlist when full is off, a sold-out paid event shows “This event is full” and no way to register, as before.

What the Visitor Sees

The panel shows the note “This event is sold out. Join the waitlist and we will let you know if a spot opens up.”

Visitor	Fields shown
Logged in	No fields. One Join waitlist button.
Logged out	Your name and Email (both required), then Join waitlist.

If the site is set to Must log in (Settings → Registration → Do attendees need an account?), a logged-out visitor sees the login prompt instead of the form.

The “Create an account” Checkbox

For a logged-out visitor, unless the site is set to Guest, no account, the form shows a checkbox: “Create an account at this address so I can manage my waitlist spot later.”

• It is ticked by default, like the same checkbox on the free RSVP form and the ticket checkout.
• Unticking it is honoured: no WordPress account is created, and the visitor manages the entry through the secure link in their email.
• With the box ticked, an email that already has an account is matched to it instead of creating a second one. On Guest, no account, or with the box unticked, the registration stays a guest registration, managed through the secure link in the email.

The owner-level choice is described in RSVP Settings.

After the visitor clicks Join waitlist, the panel replaces the form with a status line such as “You are on the waitlist.” It does not reload the page.

What Happens to the Entry

The entry is stored as a normal RSVP with the status Waitlist, in the next queue position. It has:

• no ticket and no order, so nothing is charged and there is no refund to process;
• no check-in: only a Going registrant can be checked in, so a waitlisted person is refused at the door until you change their status;
• a place in the attendee roster, where you can see it and message it (the message audience Going + waitlist includes it).

Waitlisted people do not count against the event’s capacity.

Who Admits People

A paid event’s waitlist never promotes anyone automatically. On a free RSVP event, when a Going attendee cancels, the oldest waitlisted RSVP is promoted to Going and emailed. On a ticketed event that step is switched off on purpose: a Going status on a paid event is meant to be a paid ticket, and an automatic promotion would admit the next person without anyone charging them.

When a Seat Opens Up

When a ticket on a sold-out paid event becomes available again, Eventonomy emails everyone on the waitlist with the subject “A seat is open for {event}” and a Buy your ticket button. This happens when someone cancels, a refund is issued, or an unpaid checkout expires.

• The first person to complete checkout gets the seat. Nobody is reserved a seat and there is no countdown.
• Because the order of payment decides, a paid event’s waitlist does not show people a queue position.
• This email is classed as essential, so it still reaches people who unsubscribed from notification mail.

The entries stay in the queue in their original order, and the admin waitlist lists people in the order they would be offered a seat. If you want to choose who gets in, the options in the attendee roster are:

1. Contact the people you want to admit, from the roster’s message tool, and point them to the event page once seats are open (for example, after you raise capacity or add ticket stock).
2. Use Add attendee with a Comp ticket to give a waitlisted person a free ticket. Promoting someone from the waitlist issues a comp ticket for their whole party. See Attendees & Orders.
3. Change a person’s Status in the roster’s status menu. This records them as Going without a ticket or a payment, so use it only for people you are admitting without charge.

Note: The email links to the event page, not to a held seat. A closed event does not offer the waitlist at all.

Related

• RSVPs - statuses, capacity and the free-event waitlist.
• Tickets & Checkout - ticket types and stock.
• Attendees & Orders - the roster, comp tickets and messaging.