A phased sale sells a run of tickets one phase at a time: Early bird first, then General admission, then Last call. When a phase sells out, or reaches its sales end, it closes and the next phase opens. Each phase is a normal ticket with its own price and inventory, so you can see what sold at each price.
Phased sales are in beta, marked with a Beta badge on the switch.
Requirements: A one-time event, with Event Ticketing managing your inventory. Each phase needs its own inventory. Phased sales aren’t available on multi-date or recurring events, or on passes. They also can’t be used while Set total capacity? is on for the event.
Set up a phased sale
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In the Event Ticketing app, create or edit a one-time event.
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Under Tickets, add one ticket per phase, each with its own price and inventory. For example: Early bird at $20 (100 tickets), General admission at $30 (300 tickets), Last call at $40 (50 tickets).
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Go to the second ticket (General admission). On a new ticket, click More options to show its options.
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Under Sales, turn on Phased sale.
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In Opens after, choose the ticket that sells before it (Early bird).
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Repeat on the next ticket: on Last call, turn on Phased sale and choose General admission in Opens after.
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Save the event.
The first phase doesn’t need its own setup: choosing it in Opens after on the second ticket makes it the first phase. Its Phased sale switch then shows as on and locked, with Opens after set to Nothing (first phase), so you can give it a Sales start, a Sales end and a Phases not on sale yet choice.
While you edit, the Price phases card beside the form shows each run in order, for example “Early bird → General admission → Last call”.
Set start and end times
Dates are optional. Without them, each phase opens when the one before it sells out.
- Sales start: first phase only. Sales for the run begin at this time. Later phases have no start of their own: each one starts when the phase before it ends.
- Sales end: the phase stops selling at this time, even if it hasn’t sold out, and the next phase opens. Use it for an early bird deadline. A later phase’s Sales end must be after the previous phase’s.
Times are in the event’s time zone and are picked from a list in 15-minute steps.
Phases not on sale yet
Phases not on sale yet sets what your store shows for phases that aren’t on sale. You set it on the first phase, and it applies to the whole run. On later phases it’s shown read-only, with the name of the phase it’s set on.
- Use store default: follows your store’s setting (see below). The option shows which one that is.
- Hide them: phases that aren’t on sale are removed from your sales channels.
- Show them as sold out: phases that aren’t on sale stay listed, with 0 inventory. This needs Event Ticketing to manage your inventory.
Either way, a phase can only be bought while it’s on sale. A phase that isn’t on sale, whether it hasn’t opened yet or has closed, is set to 0 inventory in Shopify.
To set the store default, go to Settings > Products & sales in the Event Ticketing app and choose Phases not on sale yet under New product defaults. It starts as Hide them.
With Show them as sold out, most themes show the next phase as sold out. To show “Not on sale yet” instead, add the Event Ticketing order form block to your event page.
With Hide them, one phase can still show as sold out: when no ticket on the product would otherwise stay listed, one phase stays listed as sold out so the product page isn’t empty.
What customers see
Only the phase that’s on sale can be bought.
When a phase sells out, the next one opens shortly after the order comes in. When a phase reaches its Sales end, the next phase opens at that time.
A closed phase stays closed. A refund that restocks it in Shopify, or a change to the event date, doesn’t reopen it.
Check where a phase stands
After you save, each phased ticket shows its state under Phased sale, for example On sale now, Opens after Early bird sells out or on 1 Dec, 6:00 PM, or Closed on 14 Nov, 9:15 PM. After you change a phase, this line hides until you save, because it describes the saved setup.
The Shopify preview in the event form, and the Price phases card on the event’s page, mark each phase On sale, Pending or Closed. A phase that isn’t on sale also says what your store shows for it: Hidden from your sales channels or Shows as sold out.
Change or stop a phased sale
- Change the order: choose a different ticket in Opens after and save.
- Turn off a phase: turn off Phased sale on it and save. This clears its link, its dates and its display choice. You can’t turn it off on a ticket that another phase opens after; the switch names that phase. Change that phase’s Opens after first.
- Delete a phase: the phase after it moves up and opens after the phase before the deleted one.
- Duplicate the event: the copy keeps the phase order and the display choice, and clears every date. Set new dates before you save.
Related articles
- One-time event: create the event the phases sell for.
- Adjusting inventory and prices: change a ticket’s price or inventory.
- Event capacity: the shared limit that phased sales can’t be used with.
FAQ
Why don’t I see Phased sale on my ticket?
It shows only on one-time events, and only when Event Ticketing manages your inventory. If your store is set to Don’t manage inventory (Settings > Store > Inventory location), the switch doesn’t appear. On an event with Set total capacity? on, the switch is shown off and can’t be turned on; turn off Set total capacity? to use it.
Why does Opens after say the ticket needs its own inventory?
A phase closes when it sells out, so both the phase and the one it opens after need an inventory number. Give each ticket an Inventory value.
Can two phases be on sale at once?
Not in the same run. Each ticket can have only one phase opening after it, and a phase opens only when the one before it closes. An event can have several separate runs, for example one for standing and one for seated, each with its own phase on sale.
Can a phase open at a set time instead of on sell-out?
Yes. Set a Sales end on the phase before it. The next phase opens at that time, or earlier if the phase before it sells out first.
Can I use phases on a multi-date or recurring event?
No. Phased sales work on one-time events only. On other event types, change the ticket’s price yourself when you want it to change.
