Sales Peaks and Virtual Queue
When you launch a highly anticipated event, hundreds or thousands of people may hit your site in the same minute. This guide explains how Fanz behaves in that scenario, clarifies what does not exist today, and reviews the tools you do have to organize the sale opening.
Fanz has no waiting room or virtual queue
Today Fanz does not offer a waiting room, virtual queue or turn system that orders buyers before they reach checkout. It is a request we have received from organizers, but it is not available on the platform.
During a demand peak, every visitor reaches the event page at the same time and the order is defined by who completes their reservation first.
Note: Fanz does not publish an official recommendation on capacity or number of simultaneous buyers. There is no "safe" number we can guarantee for your launch.
How stock is protected during a peak
Even without a queue, stock is not oversold. When a buyer moves forward in checkout, their tickets are held for a limited time (10 minutes in the standard online checkout):
- While held, those tickets are not available to anyone else.
- If the buyer pays, the purchase is confirmed.
- If they do not pay in time, the hold expires and the tickets return to stock automatically.
That is why during a launch you may see tickets show as unavailable and become available again minutes later: those are holds that expired.
Tools you do have to organize a launch
1. Schedule the sale start per ticket
Each ticket can have a sale start date and time. Until then, the ticket is visible in checkout but cannot be selected, and it shows when the sale opens.
- Where: Events → [your event] → Tickets, edit the ticket and enable Sales Schedule. There you set Ticket on sale from and, optionally, Ticket on sale until.
- What it is for: publishing the event in advance so people learn about it, and opening the sale at an exact time.
- Useful idea: stagger tickets (for example, open one section at one time and another later) to spread demand instead of concentrating it in a single instant.
More detail in Manage tickets.
2. Ticket notices and countdown
From Events → [your event] → Ticket notices you can:
- Schedule the sale opening for an event date (it is the same schedule as the opening in the Tickets tab). Until it opens, the event page can show a countdown and collect emails from interested people.
- Turn on Notify when tickets are available: if a date sells out, visitors leave their email and you notify them when there is new stock.
This lets you gauge interest ahead of time and notify everyone at once, without people having to keep refreshing the page.
Note: A notice is not a reservation or a place in a queue. It does not hold stock or guarantee a ticket.
More detail in Ticket notices.
3. Hide the event until launch
You can keep the event out of your site's public listing until you want to announce it:
- When publishing, choose Publish as hidden.
- On an already published event, use Hide event from the event menu (and Show event when you want to make it visible).
A hidden event does not appear on your site, but it can be reached via direct link. This is useful for private presales: you share the link only with the people you want, and everyone else sees it when you make it visible.
Summary
| Need | What to use |
|---|---|
| Open the sale at an exact time | Sales Schedule on each ticket |
| Spread demand | Different start times per ticket or section |
| Notify interested people before opening | Ticket notices → Schedule the sale opening |
| Notify when stock is back | Ticket notices → Notify when tickets are available |
| Private presale by link | Publish as hidden / Hide event |
| Virtual queue or waiting room | Not available today |