Free event registration and RSVP for Shopify

How does free registration work without a checkout?

The guest never leaves your product page. The app’s popup takes their details, shows them back once, and issues the ticket on the spot.

The buy button becomes “Get your free ticket”

On a free-registration event the buy button reads “Get your free ticket”, ahead of any wording you gave your own button. It opens the usual attendee form, whose submit button reads “Confirm your spot”.

• First name, last name and email on every registration.
• Phone, when the event has the phone field switched on.
• Your own attendee questions, the same ones a paid ticket asks.

A review screen asks for one more click

The review is headed “Confirm your spot” too. It lists the event, the date and time, the ticket type and the line “1 free ticket · No payment required”, then the guest’s details.

“Back to details” returns to the form with everything still filled in. “Get tickets” creates the ticket, and a double click cannot create a second one.

“You're in” confirms where the ticket went

The last screen shows a checkmark, “You're in” and the address the ticket was sent to.

“Open your ticket” opens the guest’s own ticket page in a new tab, and “Done” closes the popup.

Which events can use free registration?

Any event whose ticket types are all single-admission and cost 0, with nothing paid sold alongside them. Switch it on anywhere else and it refuses with “Free registration requires individual free tickets without add-ons, refund protection or reserved seating.”

Five things keep an event on the normal checkout

Any one of these keeps free registration off, whether it was there before you switched it on or was added later.

• A ticket type priced above 0.
• A ticket type that admits several people: a bundle ticket, or a Group size above 1.
• An add-on or refund protection.
• Reserved seating, including a seat map still being set up.
• A ticket type whose Shopify variant was deleted, until you reconnect it.

A paid type added later sends the event back to checkout

The switch can stay on while the event stops qualifying. The product page then quietly falls back to the normal cart and checkout, so a paid ticket and a free RSVP cannot share one event.

A 0-priced ticket type still works through that checkout. Bought on its own it becomes a 0.00 Shopify order, and the buyer still gets a QR ticket.

The switch lives on the main event

Free registration is set on the main event, and every date of a series follows it. On a single date the switch is greyed out, with an Open main event settings button beside it.

It is off by default, the Create event page does not offer it, and duplicating an event leaves it off.

Can one guest register a group?

Yes. The popup’s own stepper counts the group, and the theme’s quantity box stays hidden at 1.

The cap follows your ticket limits

With Limit tickets per order switched on, one registration takes up to your limit, and a limit set per ticket type applies to that type. The stepper also stops at the places left on the date.

One name for the group, or a name per ticket

Each ticket gets its own form, and the review lists them as “Attendee 1”, “Attendee 2” and so on. The event’s one-name switch is on by default, so the guest can tick “Book all tickets under one name” instead.

Turn that switch off when you need every guest’s name at the door.

The whole group fits, or nothing is booked

The app checks room for every ticket before it creates any. A group of five on a date with three places left gets “This event is full.” and no tickets at all.

How do you cap a free event and stop repeat sign-ups?

Give each ticket type a real capacity, and the app adds a 10-minute wait per email address on top.

Capacity is set per ticket type, per pool or per date

Inventory on each ticket type is its number of places, or one shared pool can cover every type. On a series each date keeps its own number, which you change on the Time slots tab.

The guest who confirms after the last place sees “This event is full.” An Inventory of 0 means no cap, so that date never fills.

Repeat sign-ups wait 10 minutes, and floods hit a ceiling

One email address can register once per date every 10 minutes, across ticket types and browsers. A second try shows an amber note ending “Please wait 10 minutes before registering another ticket.”

The app also holds a few ceilings that stop a script from emptying the event:

• Registrations only come through your own storefront, and calls from other websites are refused.
• 20 registrations a minute from one internet address, which matters when guests sign up on your venue’s Wi-Fi.
• 300 registrations every 10 minutes on a date with no capacity set.
• 2,000 registration emails an hour across your whole store.

A full date opens the waitlist

With the event’s waitlist on, which it is by default, a full date swaps the button for “Join the Waitlist”. When you cancel a ticket or move a guest off the date, the app emails the people waiting, oldest first, one per free place.

The email links back to the product page and holds nothing, so the place goes to whoever registers first.

What emails and tickets do free registrants get?

Each registrant gets the event’s normal ticket email, with a QR code that scans at the door.

The ticket email is your event’s confirmation email

It leaves within moments, in the event’s Confirmation design and under your Sender name. A one-ticket email shows the QR code and a “View your ticket” button, and a PDF is attached if you switched that on.

A group follows the event’s Delivery mode: Individual sends one email per ticket, and All-in-one sends one per email address. Booking under one name always means one email with every ticket.

On an online event the same email carries the join link.

Every registration gets its own ticket page

“Open your ticket” and the email both lead to the ticket’s own page. Guests can correct their name and email there, and move to another date when you allow it on a series.

• The QR code, the same one the email carries.
• A PDF download of the ticket.
• “Add to calendar” links for Google, Outlook and Apple Calendar.

Reminders reach free registrants too

Turn on Send reminder email on the Emails tab and pick a time under Hours before event, from 1 hour to 1 week. Every ticket holder with an email address gets one reminder, however many tickets they hold.

A reminder is never sent late, and a big list takes time. At the app’s sending pace, 15,000 reminders need at least 37.5 minutes.

How are free tickets checked in at the door?

With the same scanner as every other ticket: the check-in page on any phone, or the Check In tile in Shopify POS.

The QR code scans like a paid ticket

Staff open the event’s check-in link, type the PIN on each phone and point the camera at the code. The ticket type’s check-in rules apply exactly as they do to paid tickets.

A free group has no Shopify order, so the door shows no group hint and an order number finds nothing. Each ticket is scanned on its own.

Door mode takes over at 2,000 tickets on a date

A date with 2,000 or more tickets opens the check-in page in door mode. It shows the counter and the last 25 check-ins instead of two long lists, and a scan updates the counter without reloading the page.

It switches on by itself, and every scan still needs a connection.

• The Find button looks up a guest on that date by name or email, from two characters.
• The Show lists button loads the Checked in and Missing lists when you want them.
• Every phone’s counter catches up within about 30 seconds.

Does a free ticket count toward your monthly tickets?

Yes. Every free ticket uses one ticket of your plan’s allowance for the 30-day cycle, exactly as a paid one does.

Guests see “Tickets temporarily unavailable” at the limit

When the allowance is used up, the product page shows “Tickets temporarily unavailable” and switches the button off. A guest caught halfway sees “Free registration is unavailable for this selection.”

A group needs room for all its tickets, or none are created.

Cancelling a free ticket does not return it

Cancel ticket on the Attendees tab frees the place and emails your waitlist, but the ticket stays counted for the cycle.

Tickets come back on Shopify refunds and order cancellations, and a free registration has no order to refund.

Plans differ only in tickets per 30 days

The Plans page puts it plainly: “Every plan has every feature. Plans differ only in how many tickets you can sell or give away every 30 days.”

Pay yearly and you pay for ten months, with no per-ticket fee on any plan. Above Business, a custom plan is agreed with us at support@upsellshark.com.

• Free: 20 tickets every 30 days.
• Essentials: 500 tickets for 29 USD a month.
• Professional: 1,500 tickets for 89 USD a month.
• Business: 2,500 tickets for 149 USD a month.
• Founders, for shops installed before paid plans began on 23 September 2026: 500 tickets every 30 days at no cost.

What this does not do

• No Shopify order and no Shopify customer record. Free registrations stay out of Shopify’s Orders, customers and reports.
• No paid extras. Paid ticket types, add-ons and refund protection all keep an event on the normal checkout.
• No email verification and no captcha. The 10-minute wait applies per address, so a guest who types a new address can register again.
• No approval step. Every valid registration is accepted straight away.
• Guests cannot cancel their own free ticket, and cancelling it yourself does not return it to your monthly allowance.
• No group hint at the door, no order-number lookup and no group on the printed guest list, because a free group has no order behind it.
• The event’s Analytics tab counts free registrations as tickets and files them under Imported in Booking sources.
• Registration closes at the date’s end time, while sales are paused, outside the sale window and while the event is hidden.

How do you set it up?

Who uses this?

What should you read next?

See every Easy Tickets featureRead the setup guide in the manual