Buying & on-sales · Ticket resale glossary
General Sale
Also known as: General on-sale, Public on-sale, GA sale
The general sale (or public on-sale) is the moment tickets go on sale to everyone, after any presales have closed. No code or membership is needed — only an account on the ticketing site.
General sales for popular events open at a fixed on-sale date and time and queue buyers in a virtual queue. Depending on how much inventory the presales absorbed, there may be few tickets left, which is why big shows can sell out in minutes.
Sold out at the general sale isn't always final: unpaid baskets, released holds and new drops put tickets back on sale later, often without announcement.
How much inventory reaches the general sale
The general sale gets whatever the presales didn't take, minus anything the organiser still keeps back as holds or premium inventory such as platinum tickets. For a mid-demand show that can be most of the venue; for a major tour it can be a few thousand seats or none at all.
Organisers rarely publish the split, so the general sale is often a guessing game. The clearest guide is how the presales went: if every presale stage sold out quickly, expect a short general sale.
What happens on general sale day
A high-demand general sale follows a predictable sequence, even if the outcome isn't.
- Waiting room: the virtual queue opens some time before the sale, and everyone who arrives early is randomised when it starts.
- Release: at the on-sale time buyers are let in in batches and pick tickets within the purchase limit.
- Basket timers: chosen tickets are held for a few minutes; unpaid baskets go back on sale when the timer runs out.
- Sold-out message: once every released ticket is in a basket or sold, the page shows sold out, even though some baskets will expire.
- Aftermath: in the following hours and days, expired baskets and cancelled orders return as a restock.
Worked example
A 12,000-capacity venue sold 8,500 tickets across its presales and keeps 700 seats as holds, leaving 2,800 for the general sale. As an example, 120,000 people join the queue. The sale shows sold out after nine minutes. Over the next day, around 150 tickets come back from expired baskets and failed payments, mostly in ones and twos, and sell again within seconds.
Reading a general sale as a reseller
The general sale is the moment the public's demand meets what's left of supply, and resale prices react the same day.
- No general sale at all: when the presales clear the venue, resale demand is concentrated and prices tend to be strongest.
- Sell-out speed: minutes points to strong resale; tickets still available hours later point to prices near or below face value.
- Prices on the primary site: dynamic pricing rising during the sale shows the organiser is capturing demand that would otherwise go to resale.
- Resale activity: a spike in tickets sold in the last 24 hours on resale sites right after the sale shows how many buyers missed out.
General sale vs presale
A presale is restricted to a group of buyers and usually gets the first and often best allocation. The general sale is open to anyone with an account but gets what's left. The prices are normally the same unless dynamic pricing moves them between stages. For buyers, the presale is the better chance at good seats; the general sale is the bigger crowd.
Catch it with Eventory
With Eventory monitors you get a Discord alert when tickets restock after a general sale, filtered by section, price and quantity.
Frequently asked questions
What time do general sales start?
There is no universal time. General sales commonly open on a weekday morning in the venue's local time zone, often at 9:00 or 10:00. The exact date and time are listed on the event page and in the tour announcement.
Will there be tickets left for the general sale after a presale?
For most events, yes. For very high-demand tours the presales can take nearly all the inventory, and the general sale may be short or cancelled. Sold-out presales are a warning sign.
Are general sale tickets more expensive than presale tickets?
Usually not: both are sold at face value. With dynamic pricing, though, prices can rise as demand shows up, so general sale buyers sometimes pay more for the same seats.
What should I do if the general sale sells out?
Watch for restocks. Expired baskets, cancelled orders and released holds put tickets back on sale at face value, often in the first hours after the sale and in the last week before the event.