The Wix Events ticketing system provides a complete solution for selling and managing event tickets. The ticketing infrastructure consists of multiple interconnected APIs that handle the entire ticket lifecycle, from reservation to check-in.
These APIs allow you to manage events ticketing:
- Ticket Reservations: Temporarily hold tickets during checkout to prevent overselling.
- Orders: Manage the complete purchase transaction, including buyer information, payment, and ticket delivery.
- Tickets: Track physical tickets and handle ticket check-in.
The ticketing process follows a multi-step flow:
1. Ticket reservation
When a site visitor selects tickets and proceeds to checkout, the system creates a ticket reservation. This reservation:
- Temporarily holds the selected tickets.
- Deducts tickets from available inventory to prevent overselling.
- Starts with
PENDING status and includes an automatic expiration time.
- Prevents other site visitors from purchasing the same tickets while the reservation is active.
If the site visitor doesn't complete payment before expiration, tickets automatically return to inventory and become available for other site visitors.
2. Checkout and payment
The checkout process collects site visitor information:
- Buyer details.
- Guest registration form responses for each ticket.
- Optional discount coupons, gift cards, or pricing plan benefits.
- Payment method selection.
The Orders API handles checkout through Wix Payments and creates an order record that links the reservation to the completed purchase.
3. Order confirmation
After successful payment:
- The reservation status changes to
CONFIRMED.
- The API creates an order with a unique order number.
- The API generates individual tickets for each guest.
- Site visitors get tickets in an email with check-in QR codes and PDF downloads.
Note: Free events skip payment processing and move directly to confirmed status.
4. Ticket management
After purchase, a Wix user can manage individual tickets:
- Retrieve ticket details and guest information.
- Check in attendees at the event using QR codes.
- Track check-in status and attendance metrics.
- Archive or cancel tickets.
It's important to note the following points before starting to code:
- The site must have Wix Events & Tickets installed.
- Selling paid tickets requires a premium plan. Free events work without premium features.
- For paid orders, ensure you configure and make available at least one payment method.
- Tickets require existing events and ticket definitions. Create these using the Events V3 and Ticket Definitions V3 APIs first.
- Ticket Definition: The template or type of ticket (for example, 'General Admission', 'VIP') defined at the event level, including pricing, availability, and sale rules.
- Ticket Reservation: A temporary hold on specific tickets for a limited time period during checkout. Prevents other site visitors from purchasing the same tickets.
- Order: The complete transaction record for a site visitor's ticket purchase, including buyer information, guest details, payment data, and associated tickets.
- Ticket: An individual admission document that grants access to an event, containing details about the guest, pricing, check-in status, and a unique ticket number.
- Line Item: An individual entry in a reservation or order representing tickets of the same type, pricing option, and seating.
- Buyer: The person making the purchase and providing payment information, who may be different from the event guests.
- Guest: An individual attendee who purchases a ticket, including their registration form responses and ticket assignment.
- Invoice: A detailed breakdown of charges for a ticket reservation, including individual ticket prices, service fees, discounts, and total amounts.
- Checkout: The process of converting a ticket reservation into a confirmed order by collecting guest information and processing payment.
- Expiration Time: The date and time when a
PENDING reservation will automatically expire and release tickets back to inventory.
- Pricing Option: Different price tiers for the same ticket type (for example, 'Early Bird', 'Regular', 'Member').
- Service Fee: Additional platform fees applied by Wix for payment processing and platform usage.
- Check-in: The process of marking a ticket as used when a guest arrives at the event, typically by scanning a QR code.
- Seat Assignment: Specific seat locations for assigned seating events, including section, row, and seat number identifiers.