Presale vs Onsale: 5 Access Types, No Price Promise
A presale is an early sale open only to eligible groups, such as fan club members or cardholders, while an onsale is the public sale open to everyone at the listed time. Presale gives you earlier access, but it does not promise a lower price or a ticket in your cart. Think of it as a head start, not a discount.
TL;DR:
Registration for an artist presale only grants access to its window, not a purchase guarantee; organizers may cap shows and tickets per order.
High demand can exhaust presale inventory before public sale, so use an eligible presale for likely sellouts; smaller shows may have tickets left later.
Standard presale seats usually match public face value, while VIP bundles may cost more; compare resale listings for the same section before deciding.
Join official artist, venue, or card issuer channels for free codes, and avoid sellers demanding payment because paid code offers may be scams.
Table of Contents
What presales and onsales are, and the types you will see
An onsale is the general public sale. Anyone with an account and a payment method can try to buy when it opens. A presale happens before that, with access limited to a specific group. Organizers run presales to validate demand and to reward loyal audiences, while the general onsale reaches the broader market.
Here are the presale types you will run into most often:
Artist or fan club presale: open to paid members or email subscribers of the artist.
Venue presale: offered to people on a venue’s mailing list or membership program.
Promoter presale: run by the company producing the tour, often tied to its own account holders.
Credit card presale: unlocked automatically or by code for cardholders of a partner issuer.
Radio or streaming presale: a code shared on air or inside an app by a media partner.
Each type is a different door into the same event. Some doors are free, like an email list, and some come with a cost, like a fan club fee or a specific card. Knowing which one you already qualify for saves you from chasing codes you do not need.
How presales work and who can get in
Access usually arrives in one of three ways. With a code-based presale, you type a word or string into the ticketing page. With a registration or verified-fan system, you sign up ahead of time and the organizer sends access to selected people. With automatic cardmember access, the presale unlocks when you log in with the right card on file.
You can become eligible through several routes:
Joining an artist’s fan club or mailing list
Signing up for a venue’s email list or membership
Holding a card with a ticketing partnership
Catching a radio or streaming promotion
Limits matter as much as access. Per Live Nation’s help guidance, registering for an artist presale does not guarantee you can purchase tickets. It only gives you the opportunity to take part in a specific presale window. The same guidance says fans are typically capped on how many shows they can buy for and how many tickets they can take per order.
Pro Tip: Read the presale email twice and note the ticket limit and the exact start time before the window opens, so you are not making decisions under pressure.
Where presale codes come from and how to find them
Codes do not appear out of nowhere. They are handed out through a small set of channels, and the people who find them reliably are the ones watching those channels before a tour is announced.
Artist fan clubs and mailing lists: the most common source, and often the first to get a code.
Venue and box office emails: local venues frequently send their own code to subscribers.
Credit card issuer offers: check your card’s benefits page when a tour is announced.
Radio and streaming partners: codes are read on air or posted inside the app.
Sponsors and promotional partners: brands tied to a tour sometimes share access with customers.
To find codes, opt in to the official channels for the artists and venues you care about, and rely on their own announcements. Be careful with codes sold or posted by strangers. A real code is free to receive through an official channel, and a code someone asks you to pay for is a red flag. If a message pressures you to act fast or send money, treat it as a possible scam and go back to the artist’s or venue’s own site.
Timing, windows, and how much inventory is available
Presale windows are short. Many run from a few hours to a couple of days, and the length varies by promoter and artist. The public onsale then opens at a set time, usually shortly after the presales close.
Inventory is not always shared evenly. Organizers often reserve limited blocks for presale groups and leave the rest for the public. That has a few practical effects:
A high-demand show can sell out inside a presale, leaving little or nothing for the onsale.
A lower-demand show may have plenty left on onsale day, which makes the presale rush unnecessary.
Different presales for the same event can draw from different allocations, so missing one does not always mean you missed everything.
Why does this matter to you? Because the right move depends on demand. If the artist is a stadium draw, your best chance is usually a presale you already qualify for. If it is a smaller room or a mid-week date, waiting for the public onsale often costs you nothing. Our guide on the best time to buy concert tickets goes deeper on reading demand before you commit.
Are presale tickets cheaper? Pricing and resale effects
Usually, no. Presale tickets are typically sold at the same face value as public tickets. What changes is who gets to buy first, not what the seat costs. If you want to understand where real savings come from, our look at the types of concert ticket discounts covers what actually lowers the price.
A few pricing realities to keep in mind:
Special packages and VIP bundles sometimes launch in presale and cost more than standard seats.
After onsale, the resale market can push prices up when demand is strong, or pull them down when a show is not selling out.
A limited-run presale offer, such as a bundled perk or a card promotion, can occasionally be the cheaper path, so read the terms.
Presale is worth it when you want a specific seat or a sell-out show. Waiting can pay off when demand is soft and resale listings start to drop closer to the date.
Pro Tip: Compare the face value in the presale against the lowest resale listing for the same section before you click buy, so you know whether early access is actually saving you anything.
How to use a presale code and improve your chances
Preparation does most of the work. Before the window opens, log in to your ticketing account, save a payment method, and confirm the ticket limit and the start time in your own time zone.
Log in early and stay signed in.
Enter the code exactly as written, watching for capital letters and zeros versus the letter O.
Pick your seats fast and avoid overthinking section choices.
Move straight to checkout with your saved payment details.
Confirm the order and watch for your confirmation email.
Keep it simple on the technical side. A second device on a different connection can help, but avoid hammering the refresh button, which can slow you down or knock you out of the queue. If the organizer uses a verified-fan system, follow its instructions to the letter. Our summer concert ticket buying checklist walks through a full prep routine.
Pro Tip: Copy and paste the code from the original message when you can, so a typo does not cost you your spot.
Your onsale day checklist, and what to do if tickets sell out
Public onsales are crowded, so a short checklist keeps you steady:
Create and verify your account the day before.
Save a payment method and a billing address.
Be online early, with two devices ready if you can.
Look up the venue map so you know which sections you want.
Decide your price ceiling before the sale begins.
If tickets sell out, you still have options. Verified resale platforms list fan-to-fan tickets with buyer protections. Alert tools can tell you when new listings or released holds appear, and some events offer waitlists. Watching resale prices over several days gives you a better sense of the real market than the first panicked listing. Emotion is the expensive part of ticket buying, so set your limit in advance and stick to it. Our tactics for getting concert ticket deals cover alerts and monitoring in more detail.
Why we treat presales as one tool, not a shortcut
Presales reward preparation and loyalty, and that is exactly why they feel like a secret weapon. They are not. A presale gets you into the room early, but you still need a plan once you are there. The buyers who do best combine a presale they already qualify for with alerts, a watch on resale listings, and a flexible backup date. Treat early access as one piece of the toolkit, and you will make calmer, smarter decisions.
— The Ticket Blog
Where to go next for presale codes and ticket deals
We publish presale guides, curated promo postings, and practical checklists so you can find and buy tickets with less guesswork. Start with our guide to buying tickets for events and saving money, or browse our home page for the latest deals.
FAQ
Is presale or onsale cheaper?
Neither is reliably cheaper, because presale tickets are usually sold at the same face value as public tickets. Presale mainly gives earlier access. Special bundles or VIP packages may cost more.
What does onsale mean on Ticketmaster?
Onsale is the time when tickets open to the general public. Anyone with an account can try to buy, with no code or special membership required.
Is presale more expensive than onsale?
Standard presale seats generally cost the same as onsale seats. The price can be higher only when the presale includes a premium package or added perk.
What is the difference between a presale and a regular sale of tickets?
A presale is limited to a specific group and happens first, while a regular sale is open to everyone later. Even with presale access, registering does not guarantee you can purchase, so you still need to be ready when the window opens.
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