Booking Modes: Pay Now vs Request & Approve

Booking Mode controls whether attendees pay immediately at checkout, or submit a request that is approved first. It is set per event, in Manage → Details & dates → Information, under the Advanced section.

Pay Now

The default for every new event. An attendee picks tickets, pays immediately, and is confirmed on the spot.

1. The attendee adds tickets to their cart (held for 15 minutes).
2. They check out and enter payment details.
3. Payment is processed immediately through Stripe.
4. The booking is confirmed and ticket/QR emails go out right away.

• Tickets only count as sold once payment succeeds — there is no reservation without payment, so two attendees racing for the last ticket resolve on whoever pays first.
• An abandoned Pay Now checkout (cart created, never paid) is automatically cleaned up about an hour later.

Request & Approve

The attendee submits a request; nothing is charged until it is approved.

1. The attendee submits a booking request — no payment is taken.
2. It appears in the event's Orders / approvals queue.
3. The organizer approves or rejects it:
   • Approve (paid event) — the attendee gets an email with a payment link and a countdown to pay within the configured payment window.
   • Approve (free event) — the booking is confirmed immediately; no payment link is needed.
   • Reject — the booking is cancelled straight away and the attendee is notified; a reason (up to 500 characters) can be added and is included in their email.
4. If approved and payment is required, the attendee pays through the link within the window; the booking then confirms and tickets/QR codes are issued.

• Nobody is charged before the request has been reviewed — who attends is decided before any money moves.
• If the attendee misses the payment window, the booking automatically expires and any reserved seat is released — checked every five minutes, no manual cleanup needed.

Settings explained

• Booking Mode — Pay Now or Request & Approve, per event.
• Payment Window After Approval — only shown for Request & Approve. How long an approved attendee has to pay, from 0.5 to 72 hours.

How to switch modes

1. Open the event's Manage page, then Details & dates → Information.
2. Scroll to the Advanced section and pick Pay Now or Request & Approve.
3. If Request & Approve is chosen, set the payment window.
4. Save. This only affects new bookings from this point on — anything already confirmed, pending, or approved keeps working under the rules it started with.

Good to know

• Both modes apply to free events too — the payment step just disappears: Pay Now confirms the booking instantly on request, and Request & Approve confirms it the moment it is approved (no payment link is sent for a $0 total).
• Switching mode mid-event never retroactively changes bookings already in flight.

Troubleshooting

• An attendee says their approved booking “disappeared” — they likely missed the payment window; it auto-expired and released the tickets. They need to submit a new request.
• Approving a request throws a sold-out error — someone else bought the remaining stock (via Pay Now on the same ticket type, or another approval) between the request coming in and it being approved; the capacity check runs again at approval time.
• Cannot find the Booking Mode setting — it is under Details & dates → Information → Advanced, not a separate menu item.

Related

• Orders
• Ticket Types
• Setting Up Stripe Connect