5 Ways to Sell Tickets to a Small Show (Without Losing a Quarter to Fees)

Run the numbers on a typical DIY show — 100 tickets at $10 — and the mainstream ticketing stack gets ugly fast. Eventbrite's 2026 pricing works out to roughly 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% payment processing: call it around $2.45 of every $10 ticket. That's not a service fee; that's a bandmate's share.

You can check the math on your own show with our free ticket fee calculator — set your price and quantity and compare platforms side by side. Then pick one of these five approaches.

1. Cash at the door, clicker in hand

The classic. Zero fees, zero tech — and zero data. You won't know who came, you can't do will-call, and a busy door with one person counting heads gets messy. Works fine under ~50 people.

2. Venmo + a guest list spreadsheet

Lots of DIY acts take payment by Venmo/Zelle DM and keep names in a spreadsheet. Better than pure cash, but door night means scrolling a phone looking for names while a line forms.

3. A flat-fee platform

Ticket Tailor-style pricing (roughly $0.30–0.75 a ticket plus card processing) is dramatically fairer than percentage stacking, and it's the right call when you truly need online card checkout. On a $10 ticket you'll still hand over about a dollar once processing is counted.

4. The door-deal dodge

Let the venue ticket it. Simple — but the list is theirs, the data is theirs, and the settlement math at midnight is... theirs. If you go this route, bring your own count: our show settlement one-pager exists for exactly this conversation.

5. Issue your own QR tickets, free

This is the one we built. In a free Musavise account you issue batches of QR tickets — print them as physical ticket strips or DM individual ticket links — and whoever works your door opens a scanner link on their phone: no account, camera check-in, duplicate detection, walk-up sales, guest list, and a live headcount. You collect the money however you like — cash, Venmo, at the bar — and there is nothing for anyone to take a cut of.

It pairs with the rest of the live stack: your gig tracker knows what you're owed, the guest list shows on the door screen, and after the show the settlement sheet has your scan count pre-filled.

Everything above lives in one free Musavise account — no credit card, no trial clock, and your data exports any time you want it. Create your free account and it's yours in about two minutes.