Paid event workflow

Selling access changes the registration path: a purchase replaces the form, and enrollment happens after the order.

1. Prepare WooCommerce first

Before touching the event:

• confirm a complete test purchase works end to end;
• confirm the thank-you page renders after payment — enrollment happens there;
• confirm order emails reach the buyer;
• decide whether guest checkout is allowed. Requiring an account makes the attendee list reliable.

2. Create the product

One product per event, named so a buyer recognizes it later:

Ticket — Spring tasting, 14 March 2026

Published, priced, purchasable and in stock. Consider hiding it from the shop catalogue so the event page is the only route to it — a purchase made directly in the shop carries no event link and enrolls nobody.

3. Create the event

As for a free event: dates, place, image, terms, content.

Then, on the E-Commerce tab, select the product in Associated products. The registration button becomes Get access.

4. Decide the capacity policy

Event capacity and product stock are independent and are not synchronized. Choose one to be the real limit:

• Product stock as the limit — the shop stops selling; keep the event capacity higher.
• Event capacity as the limit — accept that a buyer can pay and land on the waiting list.

Whichever you choose, publish the consequence in your terms. See Refunds, cancellations and attendee status.

5. Say what the buyer gets

The event page shows Get access and no price. Put the price, what is included and what happens after payment in the event's introduction or content.

Then make the WooCommerce order email carry the event details — date, time, place — because it is the message buyers keep.

6. Test the whole path

1. Open the event signed out.
2. Select Get access and confirm the cart holds only that product.
3. Complete a test order.
4. Stay on the confirmation page and confirm the enrollment message.
5. Confirm the attendee appears on the event.
6. Confirm the attendee's telephone and comment came from the order.

Then test the failure case deliberately: complete another order and close the tab before the confirmation page loads. Confirm no attendee is created, so you know what the gap looks like.

7. Reconcile, weekly

Because enrollment depends on the confirmation page, some paid orders will not produce attendees:

1. List paid orders for the product.
2. Open the event's attendee list.
3. Compare.
4. For anyone missing, ask them to open the order from their account, or handle it manually.

Do this weekly and again before the event. It is the routine that makes paid events reliable.

8. Handle cancellations in two places

A refund does not change the attendee list, and cancelling an attendee does not refund anything. Every case needs both actions.

9. Before the event

• Reconcile one final time.
• Read the order notes, which become attendee comments.
• Export the attendee list as the door list.

10. Afterwards

• Export again for the record.
• Reconcile a last time, so the financial and attendance records agree.
• Apply your retention policy to both the exports and the order data.

The three risks to manage