When purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster, customers have a limited amount of time to complete the checkout process once tickets are in their cart. This time limit applies specifically to highly coveted tickets that are expected to sell out quickly. The time limit helps ensure that customers don’t hold tickets in their carts indefinitely, which would prevent other buyers from purchasing them.
Why Ticketmaster Has a Time Limit
Ticketmaster implements checkout time limits in order to give more customers a fair chance at buying popular tickets. Without a time limit, buyers could add tickets to their cart but take too long to finish checking out. Meanwhile, those tickets would appear unavailable to other buyers looking to purchase tickets to the same event.
The time limit requires buyers to complete the checkout process within a certain window of time once the tickets are in their cart. This helps prevent tickets from getting stuck in carts unnecessarily and enables more people to buy tickets before they sell out.
How Long Is the Time Limit?
The specific time limit can vary based on the event. For extremely high demand tickets, the time limit may be very short – some limits have been reported to be as low as 2-5 minutes. For less popular events, the time limit is typically longer.
In most cases, Ticketmaster does not publicly state what the precise time limit is. They simply start the countdown clock once tickets are added to your cart. This builds pressure on the buyer to complete checkout quickly before tickets get released back to the general inventory.
The time limit applies specifically to coveted tickets that have high demand and low availability. For most regular events, there is no checkout time limit. But for big concerts, sports playoffs, or special performances that are likely to sell out instantly, buyers need to act fast once tickets are secured.
What Happens When the Time Expires?
If a customer fails to complete the Ticketmaster checkout process within the undisclosed time limit, the tickets in their cart will be released back to the general ticket inventory. The buyer will lose the tickets they had been trying to purchase.
Once the time expires, those tickets then become available for other buyers to add to their carts and attempt to checkout. The cycle continues with each new buyer having a short window of time to checkout before the tickets are released again.
This ensures that no single buyer can hold onto popular tickets indefinitely without finishing the transaction. It gives more customers a chance at acquiring the tickets, even if some shoppers don’t manage to complete checkout fast enough the first time.
Checkout Tips for Beating the Time Limit
To increase your chances of purchasing tickets within the tight time constraints, here are some tips:
Enter Payment Details Faster
The most time consuming part of the checkout process is often entering billing information like credit card and shipping details. Save time by setting up an account on Ticketmaster in advance so your payment details are stored. You can breeze through checkout much faster.
You can also use auto-fill features in your browser so it enters card numbers, addresses, etc automatically. The less typing you have to do at checkout, the better.
Use the Ticketmaster App
Downloading the Ticketmaster app on your phone or tablet can provide a faster checkout experience versus using the desktop website. The app may be optimized to load listings, process orders, and accept payments more seamlessly. This gives you a better shot at beating the countdown.
You can enter your payment info into the app ahead of time as well. Then when hot tickets go on sale, just open the app and cruise through checkout.
Don’t Get Distracted
Stay completely focused once the desired tickets are in your cart. Avoid switching between tabs or apps on your device which could cause unnecessary delays. Ignore incoming texts or other notifications. Entering your payment and personal information should take priority over everything else happening on your device.
Only use trusted internet connections as well – public wi-fi networks tend to be slower. Use the fastest, most reliable connection within your home or office when you’re on Ticketmaster attempting to purchase competitive tickets. A lost signal or lagging network can ruin your chances.
Be Ready at Your Computer
Log in to your Ticketmaster account 5-10 minutes prior to the tickets going on sale. Have the event page and your payment details ready so you can add tickets and check out instantly. Don’t scramble to get set up after the sale starts. Precious time will be wasted.
Refresh the page periodically as you get closer to the starting time. Try to enter the virtual “queue” to access tickets as early as you can. You want your spot in line to be as close to the front as possible right when sales open up.
Use an Alternate Card if Needed
Sometimes a credit card will get erroneously declined during the frantic Ticketmaster checkout process, even if the card is valid with sufficient funds. This can cost you valuable time as you attempt to redo the transaction.
Have a backup payment method ready like another credit card, a PayPal account, or a gift card. If your primary card fails for any reason, you can instantly switch to an alternate payment option instead of trying to fix the issue with your primary card and potentially losing the tickets.
Policies on Time Limits
Ticketmaster officially states that they reserve the right to cancel orders that are not completed within a required time frame. This policy enables them to release tickets back into circulation for in-demand events when a buyer is taking too long to finish up.
Customers do need to be aware that if they step away, get disconnected, or take too long to checkout, their ticket order can be canceled. However, Ticketmaster states they will also attempt to contact the customer if an order is at risk of being released before the time limit expires.
There are no strict rules on what the time limits must be. Ticketmaster has discretion to make them longer or shorter based on the event demand. But typically limits for hot tickets are kept very short. Limits are rarely longer than 10 minutes max, as the shortest times give buyers the greatest pressure to act fast. But again, the limits are never published.
Is the Time Limit Policy Fair?
Some customers have complained that Ticketmaster’s unannounced time limit puts undue pressure on buyers and can result in losing tickets through no fault of the customer. Arguments against the policy include:
Customers Aren’t Informed of the Time Limit
Many buyers are unaware of the countdown occurring behind the scenes while they are attempting to checkout. Since Ticketmaster does not reveal the time windows publicly, buyers cannot accurately gauge how much time they have. This results in some customers losing tickets simply because they didn’t realize they had to act so quickly.
Time Limits May Be Unreasonably Short
While Ticketmaster contends the limits must be short to be effective, some have argued that limits as low as 2 minutes are excessively unreasonable. They punish customers who encounter minor technical issues or get momentarily sidetracked. More lenient time windows would still prohibit buyers from holding tickets indefinitely without imposing such urgent pressure.
Lost Tickets Cannot Be Recovered
Once a ticket order is canceled after time expires, there is no way for the customer to retrieve those tickets. Even if the customer was denied due to a problem on Ticketmaster’s end or an extremely short time limit, the original ticket selection is permanently lost. The buyer must start over and hope to get lucky again.
Third-Party Sellers Benefit
Some speculate the harsh time limits push more customers to give up on Ticketmaster and instead purchase resold tickets from secondary sellers. This allows third parties to gain inventory of hot tickets that customers failed to purchase from the official source. The short limits benefit scalpers.
Reasons Ticketmaster Uses Time Limits
On the other side of the debate, Ticketmaster has reasonable incentives for enforcing undisclosed time limits:
Prevents Buyers from Hogging Limited Tickets
The limits deter “ticket bots” and other measures that could allow buyers to lock up tickets without actually completing purchases. Strict limits make it very difficult for individuals to horde tickets or manipulate sales.
More Customers Get a Fair Shot
By releasing unpurchased tickets after a certain window, more buyers can add them to cart and attempt to checkout before they sell out completely. Limits help tickets end up in the hands of genuine fans rather than quick resellers.
High Demand Events Sell Out Faster
Short checkout limits enable hot tickets to sell out very quickly. The faster they sell out, the greater the sense of demand and excitement is for the event. Fast sellouts from tight limits look good for Ticketmaster’s business.
Drives Urgency and Reduces Shopping Cart Abandonment
Just like when Amazon warns shoppers that items in their cart are selling out, Ticketmaster’s time limits strongly incentivize customers to finish transactions and not abandon them. This results in more completed sales and less wasted inventory.
Checkout Time Limits at Other Ticket Sellers
Ticketmaster is not the only ticket marketplace that imposes checkout time limits for competitive events. Other major ticketing platforms do the same:
StubHub
Stubhub similarly has countdown timers when fans are purchasing hot tickets. Time limits may range from just 1-2 minutes for extremely high demand events. StubHub also does not reveal the exact time window publicly during the process.
VividSeats
VividSeats claims to offer a more generous 10 minute limit once tickets are in a buyer’s cart. But for huge concerts or championship games, they reserve the right to implement shorter limits as needed. The countdowns aren’t shown to customers.
SeatGeek
SeatGeek uses dynamic time limits that shorten as demand increases. Customers are unaware of the timing. The ticketing site says limits create fairness and reduce scalpers.
AXS
The AXS ticketing platform warns users they have “limited time” to complete orders for popular tickets. However, they do display the countdown clock publicly so buyers can see exactly how much time remains as they are checking out.
Resale Sites
Major ticket resale marketplaces like StubHub and VividSeats do not impose time limits when buyers purchase tickets being resold by other customers. Only the primary ticket sellers use countdown checkout limits.
Is It Possible to Pause the Time Limit?
Unfortunately, there are no options available to pause, extend, or reset the countdown clock after the time limit has started on Ticketmaster. The clock ticks down continuously no matter what until it hits zero.
Customers have reported that even if they encounter errors or problems with Ticketmaster’s site during checkout, the time limit continues counting down regardless. And once tickets are removed from your cart, they cannot be recovered or added back.
The only way to get more time is to essentially start over – let the first tickets go, then quickly try to find comparable tickets again in the system before someone else claims them. Rushing through checkout again may yield better results the second time. But there are no guarantees you’ll secure the same seats again before they also sell out to another buyer.
Ticketmaster does clearly benefit from keeping the time limits urgent and immutable. Forcing customers to act hyper-quickly results in more mistakes and abandoned carts, both of which open up inventory for others to purchase at full-price.
Conclusion
Ticketmaster’s undisclosed time limit checkout policy does place significant pressure on buyers during the purchasing process for in-demand events. Customers have only a brief window of time to finalize transactions, requiring fast internet, flawless payment processing, and no unnecessary distractions. While arguably stressful and slightly opaque, these limits do help tickets end up in the hands of genuine fans rather than resellers or hoarders. Achieving checkout within the tight constraints simply comes down to preparation, speed, and a bit of luck with the online ticketing platform working smoothly.