Waitlist Tickets | Organizer Guide
The Waitlist Tickets feature in Zoho Backstage helps event organizers manage sold-out ticket classes effectively. It automates attendee handling, maximizes attendance, and improves customer satisfaction—ensuring no potential registration is lost when demand exceeds capacity.
Why allow Waitlist Tickets?
When tickets for an event sell out, organizers often face manual effort managing requests from those who still wish to attend. The waitlist system solves this by keeping interested attendees in queue automatically.
As tickets are canceled or additional capacity is added to ticket classes, the system confirms waitlisted registrations in order of placement, filling available spots quickly and fairly.
Availability: Included in the Premium and Ultimate plans.
Enabling and Configuring Waitlist
The waitlist can be enabled for individual ticket classes.
- Navigate to Registrations > Setup > Ticket Classes from the Dock.
- Click Add Ticket Class or Edit an existing ticket class.
- Go to the Advanced Settings tab.
- Enable Waitlist and enter the maximum Waitlist Quantity.
Managing Waitlisted Registrations
Once waitlist has been enabled, the Waitlist tab appears in the registration section.
From this tab, you can:
- View, edit, or cancel waitlist records.
- Issue refunds for canceled waitlist tickets (cancellation policies don’t apply).
- Perform bulk cancellations and refunds for up to 20 records at once.
Refunds for online payments are processed through the original payment mode.
Orders and Attendees View
- Waitlisted orders are labeled with a Waitlist tag in both the Orders and Attendees tabs.
- When a waitlist ticket is canceled or confirmed, it appears under the Canceled filter of the Attendees tab.
- Only confirmed tickets follow the configured cancellation policy; waitlisted ones receive full refunds automatically.
Registration Approval and Waitlist
If both Registration Approval and Waitlist are enabled:
- A new registration must first be approved.
- Approved registrations are then added to the waitlist queue.
- As seats open, approvals are automatically converted to confirmed tickets, based on the order of placement.
- This ensures organizers retain control over who gets confirmed while maintaining fairness.
Automated Communication
Three automated emails are triggered during the waitlist lifecycle:
- Registration Confirmation – sent immediately after a waitlist registration.
- Registration Details – sent when the ticket moves from waitlist to confirmed.
- Waitlist Ticket Confirmed – sent once the ticket is officially active.
Automated emails are sent only if the corresponding email notifications are enabled for the event. The availability, timing, and content of these emails depend on the event’s configuration and waitlist settings, and may vary accordingly.
Adjusting Capacity or Ticket Quantity
Organizers can increase the ticket quantity or event capacity to allow pending waitlist tickets to be confirmed automatically, in order of their original placement.
- This automatic confirmation happens only if the increase occurs before the event starts.
- Once an event begins, all remaining waitlisted tickets are locked and cannot be confirmed.
Check-In Rules
- Waitlisted attendees are excluded from event, session, and zone check-in lists.
- Only confirmed ticket holders appear in check-in views and are eligible for entry.
Automatic Cancellations
- No new waitlist confirmations are processed after the event starts.
- All unfulfilled waitlist tickets are automatically canceled and refunded three days after the event begins.
Best Practices
- Enable the waitlist for high-demand or limited-capacity events.
- Regularly review the Waitlist Tab to confirm or clear records.
- Communicate with waitlisted attendees if you anticipate capacity increases.
- Ensure your event capacity accommodates both confirmed and pending tickets before activating waitlist fulfillment.