How to sell tickets for a small event online without paying a cut

Who this is for

You run something small with a fixed number of seats: a tasting for twelve, a Saturday cupping, a pottery workshop. You announce it in a story, people send you DMs, and you want the money before the evening, not after it. There are three usual ways to take it, and each costs you something different.

Bank transfer after a DM

The guest writes, you reply with your IBAN and a reference, they pay, you check your bank and add them to a spreadsheet. There are no fees.

You pay with your time. You answer every message by hand, often late at night. You match transfers to names, and some arrive with no reference. A guest who said yes and never paid holds a seat until you chase them. Two people get the last seat when you answer both before checking the list.

For six guests once a month it works. Past that, the evenings go to DMs and seats go unpaid. If you stay with transfers, send a payment QR code with the amount and reference filled in, which banking apps in Slovakia read, and set a deadline: unpaid by Tuesday, the seat goes to the next person.

A ticket site that takes a percentage

Ticket sites run the checkout, send the tickets and keep the list. Most take a percentage of every ticket, some add a fixed fee per ticket, and the card fee comes on top. For a concert with hundreds of tickets that is a fair trade. For a small event the costs are easy to miss.

The fee grows with your price, so a €40 chef's table pays more than a €10 cupping for the same work. Some ask the guest to make an account, and some guests give up there. Some pay you only after the event. And the page looks like the ticket site, not your place, while your guest list lives in their system.

Read the fee page before you pick one, and check whether you or the guest pays at checkout. Then run your numbers: ticket price times seats times events a month. If the percentage of that is more than a monthly subscription, the cut costs more than a tool would.

Card payment on your own booking page

The guest picks a seat and pays by card, and the money goes to your own payment account. You pay the card fee on each payment, and nobody takes a cut on top. What to look for:

• a seat count per event, so sales stop when it is full
• seats held while the guest pays, so two people cannot buy the last one
• no account for the guest
• a confirmation email and a reminder on the morning
• one guest list where you and your staff see who is coming and who has paid

Before you sell the first ticket

Whichever way you choose, decide these first and put them on the event page:

1. Seats. The number you can really host, not the hopeful one.
2. Price and what it includes. "Five wines and bread" answers most questions before anyone asks.
3. Refund rule. For example, a full refund up to 48 hours before, nothing after.
4. What happens if you cancel. Say that everyone gets their money back.
5. How to reach you. A phone number or email for the guest who is running late.

Setting it up on a booking page

1. Create the event: date, time, length, seat count, price, a short description and your terms.
2. Connect your payment account, so the money goes straight to you.
3. Open the event on your phone and go through the booking as a guest would, up to the payment. Fix whatever made you hesitate.
4. Put the one link in your story and your Instagram bio. Keep DMs for questions, not bookings.
5. On the evening, open the guest list on your phone and mark who arrived.

Where STOL fits

STOL is the third way. The event, its seats and its price are one form, and guests book on a page in your venue's own look, without an account. Seats are held while the guest pays, and when the event is full booking stops. The guest gets a confirmation and a reminder on the morning of the event, and the list is the Board, which the whole team has on their phones.

Online payment is on Plus, €22 a month without VAT. STOL takes no cut of ticket sales on any plan; on each ticket you pay only the card fee, to the payment provider. If you collect money at the door, Basic at €12 a month covers free events and payment at the venue. If you work in ChatGPT or Claude, you can create the events from that chat too (setting STOL up with AI).

A guest cannot cancel a paid ticket from the link. They ask you, you check your rule, and the money is your call. For free events, the reminder carries a cancel link, so a guest who cannot come gives the seat back while you can still fill it. STOL is not a ticket site: no seat maps, no door scanning, and the guest list is yours.

Questions about paid events go to support. To start, create your page. The first 7 days are free, no card.