Building an event ticketing platform: the features that actually matter

Anyone can put a "Buy ticket" button on a page. The real test of a ticketing platform comes at 7 pm on event day, when a thousand people arrive at the same gate at once.

This checklist comes from building event and ticketing products. It is general, so use it to shape your own requirements.

Before the event: selling

• Clear event pages in Arabic and English, with date, venue, seating or zones, and what is included.
• Ticket types: general, VIP, early bird, groups, invitations and complimentary tickets.
• Local payment methods your audience actually uses, with clear receipts.
• Limits and fairness: caps per person, and protection against bots buying everything in seconds.
• The ticket in the pocket: a QR code in the email, in the account, and ideally in the phone's wallet.

On the day: the gate

• Fast scanning with a clear yes or no that staff can read at arm's length.
• Offline tolerance: venues often have weak coverage. Scanning should keep working and sync when the connection returns.
• One ticket, one entry, even across several gates at the same time.
• Simple staff onboarding: a new team member should be scanning within minutes.

For the organizer

• A live view of how many people are in, and where.
• Easy changes on the day: open a new gate, reassign staff, pause a ticket type.
• Reports after the event that the sponsor or the board will actually read.

The things people forget

• Refunds and transfers: decide the rules before you sell the first ticket.
• Support: a way for attendees to fix a wrong name or a lost email quickly.
• Accessibility and language: big readable tickets, right-to-left done properly, clear instructions.
• Load: the minutes after tickets go on sale and the hour before doors open are the peaks. Test for them.

FAQ

Do we need an app for the gate?

For staff, a dedicated scanning app is usually faster and works better offline than a browser. Attendees, however, should never need to install anything to show a ticket.

Can one platform run many events?

Yes, and it should. Build it so organizers can create and run events themselves, with their own pages, ticket types and reports.

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Planning an event platform? Share your plans with the editor on ahmed-adil.com.