Set available ticket sale dates
you want to control when ticket sales open and close — for early-bird pricing windows, last-minute close-offs, or any time-bound sale rule — and need to know exactly where the settings live and how they interact with Seating Charts.
Setting the sale window
Every ticket type has an Available dates for ticket selling field. Configure it per ticket type:
- Go to Tickera → Ticket Types (or Products if running Bridge for WooCommerce).
- Edit a ticket type.
- Find Available dates for ticket selling.
- Choose:
- Open-ended — tickets available indefinitely until you disable or sell out.
- During selected date range — set start and end dates. Outside the window, the ticket isn’t purchasable.
- Save.
What happens outside the window
If a ticket type’s sale window hasn’t opened yet:
- The ticket appears in the tickets table but the buy button is disabled (or hidden, depending on theme).
- If linked to a seating chart, seats assigned to that ticket type appear on the chart but are not clickable — buyers see them but can’t add to cart.
After the window closes, the same behaviour — visible-but-disabled, so buyers see “this was available but isn’t now” rather than nothing.
Common patterns
- Early Bird tier. Set a sale-window end date (when the Early Bird discount expires). Tickera flips the ticket off automatically — no manual disable.
- Last-minute cutoff. End the sale window 1 hour before doors. Avoids buyers showing up with tickets they just bought but can’t be processed.
- Pre-announce window. Set a future start date so the ticket appears in advance for marketing purposes but isn’t yet purchasable.
Seating Charts interaction
If a ticket type linked to a seating group has a future or past sale window, the seats remain visible on the chart but not clickable. This is intentional — buyers can see the venue layout and plan, but can’t act on it until the window opens.
Check-in window vs. sale window
Distinct settings:
- Sale window — when the ticket can be purchased.
- Check-in window — when the ticket can be scanned at the gate. Set separately via Set available date/time for ticket check-in.
A typical event: sale window opens months before, closes day-of; check-in window only on event day.
Related
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