Plain-language definitions of the terms used across ticket broking, the primary market, and the secondary market.
Ticket broker
Someone who buys event tickets to resell them, at a profit, on the secondary market.
A ticket broker buys inventory on the primary market — Ticketmaster, AXS, venue box offices — and resells it on secondary marketplaces such as StubHub, VividSeats, or SeatGeek. Brokers make money on the spread between what they paid and what the market will bear at the time of the event, which means the job is really inventory management and pricing: knowing which events will appreciate, how much to buy, and when to sell down.
Primary vs. secondary market
The primary market is the original seller; the secondary market is resale between buyers.
The primary market is where a ticket is sold for the first time, by the venue, promoter, or their ticketing partner — usually Ticketmaster or AXS. The secondary market is every resale after that, on marketplaces like StubHub, VividSeats, SeatGeek, or TickPick. Primary prices are set by the promoter in advance; secondary prices float with demand, which is what creates the spread brokers trade on.
Presale code
A password that unlocks ticket sales before the public on-sale begins.
A presale code (or presale password) grants access to a window of sales that opens before the general public on-sale. Codes are distributed by artists, fan clubs, credit-card partners, venues, and radio promotions, and each usually unlocks a distinct allocation of inventory. Because the best seats are frequently gone within the presale window, having the right code at the right minute is often the difference between getting inventory and not.
On-sale
The moment tickets for an event become available to the general public.
The on-sale is the scheduled public release of an event’s tickets, typically on a Friday morning local time and typically after one or more presale windows have already run. High-demand on-sales use a queue, so buyers are randomised into a waiting room before being admitted to the seat map.
Drop
Inventory appearing on a ticketing platform after the initial on-sale.
A drop is a release of tickets that becomes available after the on-sale has already happened — production holds released once the stage plot is final, unsold platinum reallocated, or seats returned by other buyers. Drops are unannounced, which is why brokers monitor events continuously rather than only at the on-sale.
Sell-down
The rate at which an event’s inventory is bought over time.
Sell-down describes how quickly a section, or a whole event, sells through. It is the single most useful demand signal a broker has: an event whose lower bowl sold out in four minutes will price very differently at the event date than one still half-open a week later. Reading sell-down requires a record of availability over time, not just a snapshot of what is left now.
Get-in price
The cheapest available ticket for an event at a given moment.
The get-in is the lowest price at which you can get into the event at all, regardless of seat quality. It is the standard shorthand for an event’s market level because it is a single comparable number, and its movement over time is a fast read on whether demand is strengthening or softening.
Queue (waiting room)
The randomised holding area buyers pass through before a high-demand on-sale.
For high-demand events, ticketing platforms place everyone who arrives before the on-sale into a waiting room, then randomise the order in which they are admitted to the live seat map. Arriving earlier does not improve your position once you are in before the cutoff; what matters is being in before it, and being ready to transact quickly once admitted.