How can I sell event tickets without platform fees?
Updated: · AnyEventTool
Short answer
Use a ticketing tool where you are the merchant: guests pay into your own payment account and the platform takes no cut. In AnyEventTool (AET) you connect your own plata by mono (Ukraine) or Stripe account, set prices or ticket tiers, and AET charges 0% on every plan. You still pay your payment provider's processing fee, and you handle refunds and taxes as the seller.
Key facts
- AET platform fee on tickets and shop sales: 0% on Free and on Pro
- Payment goes from the guest straight to the organizer's own account: plata by mono (Ukraine) or Stripe (elsewhere)
- The only per-sale cost is your payment provider's processing fee
- Two ways to sell: paid registration with tiers, or seat tickets (N tickets or seats on a hall map)
- Seat orders: up to 10 tickets per order, seats held for 15 minutes during checkout
- Payment keys are verified with a live request, stored encrypted and shown only masked
- AET is not a payment institution: refunds come from your provider account, taxes and receipts are on you
Step by step
- 1Create the event page
Sign in at https://aet.events/en/events, create an event and add description, place and date.
- 2Choose the selling mode
Add Registration and paid participation for paid registration, or Seat tickets for quantity or seat-map sales.
- 3Set prices
Enter a price or create tiers with price, optional old price, seat limit and perks; for seats, set price categories.
- 4Connect your payment account
Paste your plata by mono token or a restricted Stripe key; AET verifies it and stores it encrypted.
- 5Write your refund policy
Add a custom section with refund and contact rules so buyers know what to expect.
- 6Publish and share
Make the event visible and share the short link or QR code; track sales in the section counters.
- 7Check in buyers
Scan tickets at the door with aet.events/qr; the scanner flags unpaid and refunded tickets.
Where do ticket fees come from in the first place?
A paid ticket usually carries up to three layers of cost:
- Payment processing — the bank or payment provider charges a percentage (sometimes plus a fixed amount) for moving the money. Nobody can avoid this layer; it is the price of accepting cards.
- Platform or service fee — many ticketing platforms add their own fee per ticket, paid either by the buyer on top of the price or deducted from your payout.
- Payout timing and currency conversion — if the platform collects the money first, you wait for a payout and may pay conversion costs.
"No platform fees" means removing layer 2 and, ideally, layer 3: the guest pays you directly, you receive the money in your own account, and the tool earns elsewhere (for example from a subscription).
How does the merchant model work in AET?
In AET the organizer is the merchant. You connect your own payment account once:
- plata by mono — monobank's internet acquiring for Ukrainian businesses (for example a sole proprietor, FOP). You paste your mono token.
- Stripe — for organizers in countries where Stripe operates (Ukraine is not one of them at the moment). You paste a restricted Stripe key; AET registers the webhook itself.
The key is checked with a live request, stored encrypted and afterwards displayed only as a mask. A key you already connected to your shop or another event can be reused.
When a guest buys, they are sent to your provider's payment page and come back with a ticket. Payment statuses arrive from the provider through webhooks. AET does not hold the money at any point, which is why it can charge 0%: it earns only from the optional Pro subscription ($19/month).
Which selling mode should I choose?
| You need | Use this section | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| One paid place per person, with a registration form | Registration and paid participation → Paid participation | Guest fills in the form, pays, gets a QR ticket. Optional tiers (for example Regular / Pro / Max) with price, old price, seat limit, perks and color; guests see "N left" |
| Several tickets per order without forms | Seat tickets → a number of tickets at a price | Guest picks a quantity, enters name and email, pays; every ticket arrives by email with its own QR |
| Specific seats or tables | Seat tickets → hall designer | Guest picks seats on the plan; price categories, 15-minute hold, up to 10 tickets per order |
| Paid participation after you approve applicants | Participant selection + Paid participation | Approved people get an email with a payment link that works without signing in; you set how many hours they have to pay |
One event uses either paid registration or seat tickets, not both at once.
What will a guest's checkout look like?
For paid registration: the guest fills in your form, goes to the payment page of your provider, pays, and returns to the event page with a QR ticket that is also emailed with a PDF.
For seat tickets: the guest chooses a number of tickets or seats, enters a name and email (optionally a name for each ticket), sees a cart with a hold timer, pays, and receives one email per ticket with its own QR code. "Your tickets" on the page shows what they bought and can resend the email. No account is required for seat tickets.
Who handles refunds, taxes and receipts?
You do, because you are the seller:
- Refunds are started from AET (one ticket or the whole order) and the money is returned from your account at the payment provider.
- Taxes, fiscal receipts and invoices follow the rules of your country and your business form. AET is not a payment institution and does not act as merchant of record.
- Chargebacks and disputes are handled in your provider's dashboard.
This is the trade-off of the direct model: lower costs and immediate access to money, in exchange for doing the seller's paperwork yourself. Platforms that act as merchant of record take on some of this work and charge for it. Note that payout timing depends on your provider, not on AET.
How much do I actually save?
Worked example: 300 tickets at 20 USD in the United States, each bought as a separate order (6,000 USD gross). Rates below were read on each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-10-01.
| Setup | Fees per 20 USD ticket | Fees on 300 tickets |
|---|---|---|
| Direct, Stripe US card (2.9% + 0.30 USD) — e.g. AET | 0.88 USD | 264 USD |
| Luma free plan: 5% platform fee + Stripe | 1.88 USD | 564 USD |
| Eventbrite US: 3.7% + 1.79 USD service fee + 2.9% processing | about 3.11 USD | about 933 USD |
Processing is calculated on the 20 USD ticket price. Sources: stripe.com/pricing, luma.com/pricing, Eventbrite help center article "How much does it cost for organizers to use Eventbrite" (US fee table). On Eventbrite the buyer pays the fee by default unless you absorb it, so the cost shows up as a higher price for your guests rather than a lower payout. Luma Plus (69 USD a month, or 59 USD billed annually) removes Luma's platform fee.
In Ukraine, plata by mono charges 1.3% for Ukrainian cards and 2% for foreign cards (monobank.ua/plata-by-mono, checked 2026-10-01): on a 500 UAH ticket that is 6.50 UAH. Stripe does not currently support businesses registered in Ukraine (stripe.com/global), so Ukrainian organizers use mono.
Prices change and differ by country and card type; check the current rates on each provider's site before you decide.
When is a fee-charging platform still the better choice?
- You need buyers you do not have yet. Marketplaces such as Eventbrite show events to people browsing nearby; part of the fee pays for that reach.
- You cannot open a merchant account. If you have no business account with a payment provider, a platform that collects money for you is the practical route.
- You want someone else to handle disputes and tax documents as merchant of record.
- You need native apps, box-office hardware or deep integrations (CRM, Zapier, API). AET has none of these today.
If none of these apply, a direct-payment tool usually leaves more money with you.
What do I need before I start?
- A business payment account: a mono acquiring account in Ukraine or a Stripe account where Stripe is available.
- Your prices, tier names and any seat limits.
- Your refund policy, written on the event page (a custom section works well).
- A plan for check-in: anyone you add as co-admin can scan tickets (Free: 1 co-admin per event, Pro: up to 10).
Questions and answers
Does AET take any percentage of ticket sales?
No. AET charges 0% on tickets and shop sales on both Free and Pro. You pay only your payment provider's processing fee.
Who receives the money and when?
The guest pays straight into your own plata by mono or Stripe account. Payout timing is set by your provider, because AET never holds the funds.
Can I sell tickets in Ukraine?
Yes. Connect plata by mono, monobank's internet acquiring for businesses, and accept payments in hryvnias.
Can I offer different ticket types like Regular and VIP?
Yes. Paid participation supports tiers with their own price, an optional old price, a seat limit, a list of perks and a color. For seat maps, use price categories.
How do refunds work?
You start a refund for one ticket or a whole order in AET, and the money is returned from your provider account. The scanner then shows that ticket as refunded.
Do buyers need an AET account?
Not for seat tickets: they enter a name and email. Paid registration goes through your registration form, where guests sign in with Google or a one-time email link by default.
Is AET a payment processor or merchant of record?
No. You are the merchant. AET connects your own payment account and issues tickets, but taxes, receipts and disputes are the organizer's responsibility.
Try AET for your next event
Free: event page, registration, QR tickets and check-in. 0% platform fee on ticket sales.