How to Start a Classified Website for Selling Tickets and Events

Are you a person who wants to sell tickets or mark a calendar event online in an online business? This guide should walk you through how you can do it with Yclas.

Why Yclas?

Yclas lets you create a site for selling event tickets in a few simple steps, usually within minutes, and the sites it builds are responsive on phones and desktops.

Thousands of entrepreneurs and business owners have built their marketplaces with our software.

Yclas sites use responsive designs that work on phones and desktops.

Example site Have a site like this This is how your site can look on Yclas. Pick the Aurora design or one of 100+ others, add your own domain and categories. Free for 15 days. Start from this example Brightmarket is a made-up example with demo listings, not a real business.

How does it work?

You might be reading this just now and don't have an account with us yet, but let's get you to jump to an exciting motion in the next line.

First, the seller can select an event date posting to his ad. Then, the buyer clicks the buy now button and buys the ticketed event. What makes it more convenient for the buyer is they will receive an email confirmation which includes the order and product ID.

Selling Event Tickets in 2026: Price and Resale Rules to Know

First, an update: Yclas is now a hosted platform only. There is no open-source or downloadable version any more. You create your site here, and we host and update it for you. You get a 15-day free trial, and plans are listed on the pricing page. The event features described above still work. If you add a date custom field called eventdate, each listing disappears once its event has passed, and the site gets a calendar page that shows upcoming events day by day. If you also turn on stock management, every Buy Now sale lowers the number of tickets left.

In short

Add a date custom field named eventdate so past events disappear and a calendar lists upcoming ones, and turn on stock so each Buy Now sale lowers the tickets left.
Buy Now works with PayPal seller payments, Stripe Connect or Escrow.com, and with Stripe Connect you can take a commission from the seller's payout.
In the US the FTC fee rule (since May 12, 2025) requires the total ticket price up front, and the UK plans to cap resale at face value plus unavoidable fees.
Keep payments on the site, ban bank transfers and record face value, since UK research put ticket fraud losses at £150 million a year.
Eventbrite charges 3.7% plus $1.79 per paid ticket plus 2.9% processing, while your own site charges no platform fee unless you set one.

Adding a custom field. A custom field added to a category, then shown on the posting form. Click to pause.

The biggest change since this guide was first written is the law on ticket prices. If you are planning a ticket marketplace, these rules affect how your listings and fees must look:

Market	Rule	What it means for a ticket site
United States	FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (16 CFR Part 464), in force since May 12, 2025	It covers any business that offers, displays or advertises live-event tickets, including resellers and third-party platforms. You must show the total price up front, and more prominently than other prices. Only taxes, shipping and optional extras can be left out, and you must disclose them before taking payment. Businesses that break the rule can be ordered to refund customers and pay civil penalties (FTC FAQ).
United Kingdom	Ban on reselling above face value, announced 19 November 2025	Resale prices will be capped at the original price plus unavoidable fees, and resale platforms' service fees will be capped too. Individuals will not be allowed to resell more tickets than they were entitled to buy. The CMA can fine businesses up to 10% of global turnover. The government estimates fans will save about £112 million a year (GOV.UK). In May 2026, TicketNews reported that the bill will only appear in draft form and is unlikely to become law before the 2027-28 parliamentary session.

Fraud is the other reason to design your site carefully. In a 10 August 2026 warning, the UK government cited O2 research that put ticket fraud losses at £150 million in a year. The same research found that 77% of fraudulent tickets were bought through online platforms and that 31% of 18-24 year olds had bought a fake ticket. The official advice to buyers is to avoid bank transfers and to pay through the platform's own payment methods.

Template

Stay-safe tips page for buyers and sellers

Publish this as your safety page and link it from every listing and message screen; add your own payment and reporting details.

BUY AND SELL SAFELY ON [SITE NAME] Most people on [Site name] are genuine. These simple habits protect you from the few who are not. MEETING IN PERSON: - Meet in a busy public place in daylight, such as a shopping centre or outside a police station. [Add local safe-trade spots if you have them.] - Tell a friend where you are going, or bring someone with you. - For large items at a home, do not go alone, and keep valuables out of sight when buyers visit yours. - Check the item fully before you pay. Test electronics, and check that serial numbers match any paperwork. - For vehicles, see the registration documents and check the item is not reported stolen or under finance where your country allows. PAYING AND GETTING PAID: - Best for in-person deals: pay or get paid on the spot, once you have seen the item. - [If your site has payments:] Pay through [Site name]'s checkout. Your money is held until you confirm you received the item. Payments made outside the site are not covered. - Never pay in advance by gift cards, wire transfer, money transfer services or crypto to someone you have not met. - Sellers: do not hand over an item until the money is in your account. A screenshot or an email "confirming payment" is not proof. - Be careful with cash for large amounts; consider a bank transfer you can see arrive before handing over. SIGNS OF A SCAM: - A price far below what the item usually sells for. - The other person cannot meet, is "abroad" or wants to use a courier you have never heard of. - They send you to a payment link or website that is not [Site name]. - They overpay and ask you to send back the difference. - They ask for codes sent to your phone, your passwords or ID photos. - They push you to decide quickly or move the chat off the site. PROTECT YOUR DETAILS: - Keep chats inside [Site name] messages until you are ready to meet. - Never share your account password or verification codes. [Site name] will never ask for them. IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG: - Stop contact and do not send more money. - Report the listing or user with the "Report" link, or write to [contact email]. - If you lost money or feel unsafe, contact your bank and the local police. [Emergency number]

More free tools →

In practice, set up your ticket site like this:

Show the full price: include any booking or service fee in the listing price instead of adding it at checkout.
Keep payments on the site: take payment through the built-in checkout (for example Stripe or PayPal) so that buyers have a record and a way to dispute a charge. Don't let sellers ask for bank transfers.
Record the face value: add a custom field where resellers enter the original ticket price. This lets your moderators spot overpriced listings, which matters even more once the UK cap applies.
Use the event date: listings for past events then disappear automatically, so nobody pays for a show that has already happened.
Use stock: a seller can't sell more tickets than they actually have.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Check the rules in each country where you sell tickets.

Part of the guide Starting a marketplace

Ticket sales setup step by step, and how the fees compare with Eventbrite and Ticket Tailor

This page also replaces our older post on selling event tickets from your classifieds website. Its setup steps and fee comparison are collected here.

The setup, step by step

Create a date custom field named eventdate in your admin panel. The name matters: the event features switch on only when a field with this name exists. Visitors can then sort listings by event date, and the calendar of upcoming events appears at /calendar.html on English-language sites.
Turn on a way for sellers to get paid. The Buy Now button works when PayPal seller payments, Stripe Connect or Escrow.com payments are enabled. Buyers who are not logged in go through guest checkout, and each buyer gets a confirmation email with the Order ID and Product ID.
Turn on stock control in the Payment settings and set each listing's stock to the number of tickets. When stock reaches zero, the listing can no longer be bought, so you don't oversell.
Optional: take a commission. With Stripe Connect you can set an application fee (a percentage, a fixed amount, or both) that is deducted from each sale before the seller is paid. Because it comes out of the seller's payout, it does not raise the price the buyer sees, which keeps you in line with the all-in price rule above.

How the fees compare with dedicated ticketing platforms

Platform	Platform fee per paid ticket	Payment processing
Eventbrite (US)	3.7% + $1.79 service fee	2.9% per order
Ticket Tailor	£0.60 pay-as-you-go (from £0.22 with prepaid credits), plus VAT, as listed on its UK pricing page	Charged separately by Stripe, PayPal or Square
Your own classifieds site	None, unless you set a Stripe Connect fee	Your PayPal, Stripe or Escrow.com rates

Sources: Eventbrite organizer pricing and Ticket Tailor pricing, checked October 2026. On a $25 ticket, Eventbrite's service fee alone is about $2.72, which buyers pay by default. That gap is one reason niche communities run their own event listings. The market is also changing: Eventbrite is now owned by Bending Spoons, whose website lists it as "Acquired March 2026".

Calculator

One sale: what the seller gets and what you keep

Enter an item price, your commission and your payment provider's rate (Stripe's standard US card rate is 2.9% + $0.30).

Item price (in dollars) Your commission (percent) Your fixed fee per sale (in dollars) Payment provider fee (percent) Payment provider fixed fee (in dollars) Who pays the payment fee?

Payment provider fee –

Your commission –

Seller receives –

You keep –

Your net take rate –

Taxes, refunds, chargebacks and currency conversion are not included. More free tools →

Events beyond ticket sales

The event date works for any kind of listing, not only concerts and shows. You can run a sale or an auction as an event, or group real estate, vehicle or kids' listings under a dated event such as a winter sale, so visitors keep coming back for what is coming up next.