How to buy event tickets online safely
Nine checks that take two minutes, help you spot fake tickets and ticket scams, and prevent almost every problem we see in support.
Published · Updated
Buying event tickets online is safe when you buy inside a real checkout, and risky the moment you step outside one. Nearly every complaint that reaches our support team — fake tickets, a code that would not scan, money sent to a stranger — traces back to something checkable before payment. None of these checks are difficult. They are just easy to skip when a show is selling fast.
Before you pay
- Confirm the date and the day of the week together. “Sat 14th” is a mismatch worth catching before checkout, not after.
- Check the venue address and city, not just the venue name. Popular venue names repeat across cities.
- Look for the verified organizer badge. Verified means we have checked business registration and settlement details.
- Compare tiers on what they actually include — entry time, access area, drinks — rather than price alone.
- Read the entry policy: age limit, ID requirement, dress code, re-entry and prohibited items.
- Expand the fee breakdown so the total you pay matches the total you expected. Fees and GST are itemised at checkout.
- Check the refund window, and whether the ticket is transferable if you cannot attend.
How to spot a fake ticket or a resale scam
Most ticket scams in India are not sophisticated forgeries. They are a sold-out event, an urgent stranger and a UPI request. The pattern repeats because it works on people who are afraid of missing out, so learn the shape of it rather than the specific story:
- A sold-out show suddenly available from a private account, usually at or below face value.
- Pressure to pay immediately by UPI, bank transfer or a payment link because “someone else is asking”.
- A screenshot of a QR code offered as the ticket. A screenshot is not ownership — the same image can be sold to ten people, and only the first through the door gets in.
- No verifiable order. A real transfer arrives from the platform and lands in your own account, not in your DMs.
- A brand-new profile, a stock photo and a request to move the conversation to WhatsApp.
If you want a ticket to a sold-out event, wait for an official release or a platform transfer. Nothing bought in a DM is protected, and no platform can refund a payment it never processed.
After you pay
- Check the confirmation email and your account. Your ticket lives in your GATEZERO account, so it survives a lost inbox or a dead phone.
- Add the event to your calendar or wallet straight away, with the door time rather than the set time.
Treat the QR code like cash
Every attendee gets a unique QR token, and it is scanned exactly once. Whoever presents it first gets in — so a readable screenshot posted publicly is an open invitation for someone else to use your ticket. Never post a legible ticket code to a story, a group chat or a resale listing.
- Do not share a screenshot where the code is in focus.
- Use the built-in transfer flow to send a ticket to someone else — it reissues the token, so the old code stops working.
- Screenshot your ticket for yourself as an offline backup in case venue signal is bad.
- If a code is exposed, transfer the ticket to yourself again to invalidate the old one, then contact support.
On the day
Arrive with the ID that matches the entry policy, screen brightness up, and the ticket already open before you reach the scanner. Check-in queues move at the speed of the slowest phone. If something is wrong at the door, contact the organizer through the event page — they can look up your order and re-issue on the spot.