Glossary
Reservation hold
A reservation hold is a temporary lock placed on ticket inventory while a buyer is in the middle of checking out. It stops two buyers from claiming the last ticket in a tier. If the buyer does not finish paying within the hold window, the tickets release back to inventory automatically.
Why platforms need it
Imagine two buyers both clicking the last GA ticket at the same time. Without a hold, both would see "added to cart", both would enter checkout, and one would pay while the other got an error after entering their card. That feels unfair to the buyer even when the platform did nothing wrong.
A reservation hold solves it by locking the inventory at the moment a buyer enters checkout. The first buyer in gets the lock. The second buyer either sees the tier as sold out or is held in a queue, depending on the platform.
How long is reasonable
Long enough that a normal person can finish a card form without rushing. Short enough that abandoned carts do not lock real inventory for hours. Five to ten minutes covers both ends. DIY Stubs uses a 5 minute hold.
What happens if the buyer does not finish
The hold expires. The inventory goes back to the pool and is available to the next buyer. The buyer who abandoned can come back and try again, but they will be starting a new hold and the tickets may be gone if someone else grabbed them in the meantime.
DIY Stubs specifics
- Hold length: 5 minutes per checkout.
- Hold scope: per tier. Other tiers are unaffected.
- Hold triggers: clicking "Continue to checkout" from the event page.
- Release: automatic when the timer expires or the buyer abandons.