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Reserved Capacities holds a ticket spot for a participant as soon as they add it to their basket, and gives them a set window to finish checkout. While the spot is held, no one else can buy it. If the participant completes their registration, the spot is theirs; if they leave or run out of time, it goes back into the pool for the next person. A “spot” here comes out of the capacity you set on a ticket — the total number of places you make available for that ticket type. This stops the classic on-sale problem where two people both reach the payment screen for your last remaining place and only one can actually be charged. Each participant gets a fair, time-boxed window to complete their purchase.
Reserved Capacities is on automatically for every organizer — there is no switch to flip in your dashboard. The capacity you set on each ticket is what gets held; the holding and timing behavior described below then happens automatically at checkout. It covers ticket spots by default — see Add-ons aren’t held the same way below for how add-ons in the same basket are typically handled.

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When it helps

Reserved Capacities matters most when demand is likely to outpace supply in a short window:
  • High-demand on-sales where many participants hit checkout at the same moment and your ticket capacity is limited.
  • Events with strict capacity caps — sold-out races, capped waves, or limited premium tickets — where overselling is not an option.
  • Reserved entry allocations, where a fixed number of places are set aside and must not be double-sold.
For a low-demand event with plenty of capacity, participants will rarely notice the feature at all — spots are held quietly in the background and there is almost never contention for the last place.

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What your participants experience

The whole flow is automatic for the participant. There is nothing for them to turn on.
1

A spot is held when tickets go into the basket

The moment a participant adds tickets and moves into checkout, those spots are reserved for them. The places are taken out of general availability straight away, so no one else can claim them while this participant is filling in their details.
2

A countdown shows how long they have

A banner at the top of checkout reads Time to complete registration with a countdown timer (for example, 9:30). It starts at 10 minutes and counts down while the participant works through checkout. This is their window to finish before the held spots are released.
3

A warning appears if time is nearly up

When 30 seconds of the countdown remain, a pop-up warns the participant that their session is about to expire due to inactivity. They can click I’m still here to keep their spots and carry on. This adds 5 more minutes to the timer.
4

The hold is released if time runs out

If the participant doesn’t act in time, the message Allocated time for checkout has expired, we are redirecting you to the start of the flow appears and they are sent back to the ticket selection screen. Their held spots return to the pool for other participants, and they can start again if tickets are still available.

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The extension is one-time only

The I’m still here button can only be used once per checkout. After a participant takes the one extension, the warning will not appear again — when the extended timer runs out, their spots are released and they are returned to ticket selection. What to tell a participant: if they need more time, they should use the extension deliberately and then complete their details promptly. If they were sent back to the start, nothing was charged — they simply need to add their tickets again and finish within the window.

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Tickets held in other baskets

While other participants have spots held, your remaining capacity reflects what is actually still available. If every remaining place for a ticket is currently held in someone else’s basket, that ticket shows the message Tickets are currently held in other customers' baskets. Check back soon, they may become available. rather than letting a new participant start a checkout they couldn’t complete. This is different from Sold out. “Sold out” means the tickets are gone for good. “Held in other customers’ baskets” means the places are temporarily reserved by people mid-checkout — if any of those checkouts aren’t completed in time, the spots come back automatically. What to tell a participant: ask them to check back in a few minutes. Held spots are released as soon as another participant finishes or their timer expires, so availability can reopen without you doing anything.

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Add-ons aren’t held the same way

By default, Reserved Capacities holds ticket spots only. If a participant’s basket also includes add-ons — merchandise or other extras purchased alongside a ticket — those items are typically not reserved the moment they’re added to the basket. Availability is checked again when the participant submits their details, so someone else can still claim the last one while your participant is still filling in checkout. If an add-on sells out before submission, the participant sees a message against that item — something like Only 2 left for merchandise, or Not enough capacity for a limited-quantity add-on — rather than the “held in other customers’ baskets” message tickets show. Their ticket spot is unaffected; they just need to adjust the quantity or remove that item to continue. What to tell a participant: if this happens on an add-on, it sold out to someone else while they were completing checkout — it isn’t an error, and their ticket registration isn’t affected. They can remove or reduce that item and resubmit.

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What happens when a registration completes

Once a participant completes checkout and pays, their held spots are converted into confirmed places. The capacity is permanently claimed and the countdown no longer applies — there is no risk of their place being released after a successful registration.

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Why a place sometimes reappears

Because abandoned and timed-out checkouts release their spots automatically, a ticket that briefly showed as held or unavailable can become available again a few minutes later. This is expected behavior, not an error. If a participant tells you a ticket “came back,” it means someone else’s hold expired and the place returned to the pool.