There are a few common reasons why you may be having trouble purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster:
The event is sold out
If an event is sold out, Ticketmaster will not allow any more tickets to be purchased. This is one of the most common reasons for being unable to buy tickets. When an event goes on sale, especially a popular one, tickets can sell out extremely quickly. So if you try to purchase tickets even just a few minutes after the sale starts, you may find the event is already sold out.
Some signs that an event is sold out:
- The ticket listing says “Tickets currently unavailable” or “No tickets found”
- The ticket quantity dropdown only shows “0 tickets” available
- The Ticketmaster map shows all seats as grayed out when you try to select seats
Unfortunately if this is the case, there is nothing you can do on Ticketmaster to purchase tickets. Your only option would be to search for resale tickets on a site like Stubhub.
High demand is causing website errors
For extremely popular events, Ticketmaster will sometimes have trouble handling the huge number of fans trying to purchase tickets all at once when sales begin. This high traffic volume can cause errors, glitches, crashes and other issues on the website.
Some examples of errors you may encounter if this is the problem:
- “Unable to process your request” error messages
- Pages failing to load or only partially loading
- “Service Unavailable” pages
- Timeouts when selecting seats or processing order
If it’s due to high demand and traffic, unfortunately all you can do is keep trying! Refresh the pages, clear your browsing cache, or try switching browsers. The issues should only be temporary until initial demand dies down.
Ticket limits or presale restrictions
For some events, Ticketmaster implements ticket buying limits or restrictions to help prevent scalpers from buying up all the tickets.
Some common limits include:
- Limiting the number of tickets each customer can buy
- Requiring a special presale code to access tickets before the general public
- Restricting sales initially to fan club members only
If you’re running into ticket limits, make sure you’re not trying to exceed the posted ticket maximum purchase amount for that event. Limits like “6 tickets per household” are enforced.
For presale events, you must have the special presale code or meet the presale requirements to purchase tickets before the official public on-sale date. Without the code, you’ll have to wait until the public on-sale.
These kinds of limits and presales are intended to make ticket buying fairer.
Issues with your payment method
In some cases, there may be a problem with the specific credit card or payment details you are trying to use to purchase event tickets. Some potential payment issues include:
- Fraud prevention flags on credit cards
- Insufficient funds in your account
- Card expiration dates not updated
- Incorrect CVV code entered
- Failed address verification for billing address
Check carefully to make sure you are entering the proper credit card number, zip code, and CVV code. Also make sure your billing address with the card provider matches what you are entering on Ticketmaster.
If you continue having payment issues, try an alternate card if you have one available. Or contact your credit card company to make sure there are no flags or holds on your account, and that it has enough available balance for the ticket purchase.
Technology issues on Ticketmaster’s side
In rare cases, a widespread technical issue with Ticketmaster’s ordering systems may prevent ticket sales across all events. This is less common, but major outages have occurred in the past that temporarily took down all Ticketmaster sales for several hours. There will usually be announcements posted on Ticketmaster’s social media pages or support site if this type of outage is occurring.
A few examples of the types of technical issues that could cause widespread problems include:
- Failures of Ticketmaster’s data centers or servers
- Network infrastructure issues
- Database corruption
- DNS resolution problems
- DDoS attacks
There’s not much you can do as a customer if Ticketmaster is experiencing a major technical failure like this. All you can do is wait for Ticketmaster to resolve the problem on their end before ticket sales will be functional again.
Your account is suspended or banned
In some cases, an individual Ticketmaster account may end up suspended or banned from purchasing tickets. This is more common with accounts believed to be tied to ticket brokers or scalpers who violate Ticketmaster’s terms of service.
Some reasons your account could be restricted include:
- Exceeding posted ticket limits
- Using bots or automated tools to purchase tickets
- Purchasing tickets to resell above face value
- Fraudulent activity
- Chargebacks on Ticketmaster purchases
If you try to purchase tickets and get a notification that your account has been suspended or banned, you will need to contact Ticketmaster customer support. There may be an appeals process to get your account reinstated if it was suspended mistakenly or you believe the suspension was in error.
Tips for troubleshooting Ticketmaster ticket buying issues
Here are some general tips that may help troubleshoot and fix error messages or problems purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster:
- Make sure to use a supported modern browser like Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge. Older browsers may not work properly.
- Clear your browser cookies and cache to eliminate outdated Ticketmaster data.
- Try switching to incognito or private browsing mode, which won’t be affected by your main browser data.
- Use a wired internet connection instead of WiFi if possible for faster speeds.
- Shut down other apps using bandwidth like video streaming.
- Try completing the purchase on both desktop and mobile to determine if one platform works better.
- Consider using a different payment method such as a debit card or PayPal instead of a credit card.
Getting help from Ticketmaster
If you can’t resolve your Ticketmaster purchase issues, there are a few ways to try and get additional help and support:
- Contact Ticketmaster Customer Service – You can call Ticketmaster’s support line or reach out on their social media pages like Twitter.
- Check for an Event FAQ – Many event pages include an FAQ section that provides guidance on ticket sales.
- Look for Real-time Updates – Ticketmaster will often post updates on its @Ticketmaster Twitter account during major on-sales.
- Search Help Articles – The Ticketmaster Help Center has articles addressing many common ticket buying questions.
Explaining your specific problem in detail to their customer service team is often the best way to get additional troubleshooting assistance if you are still stuck.
Conclusion
Trouble purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster can be incredibly frustrating, but is often caused by fixable issues like sold out events or payment problems. Carefully review the potential reasons above to try and diagnose what might be preventing your ticket transaction from going through. With some targeted troubleshooting and help from Ticketmaster’s support team, you should hopefully be able to resolve your ticket buying problem and secure those coveted seats.