Does SoldOutAfrica support M-Pesa ticketing?

Yes. M-Pesa is the primary payment method, using the Safaricom Daraja STK push — the buyer receives the prompt on their handset and enters their PIN. Tickets are issued automatically once the payment callback confirms.

What event management software features do I get as an organizer?

Unlimited ticket types and tiers, promo codes, flash sales, gift cards, an affiliate program with per-promoter tracking, QR ticket scanning at the gate, a real-time sales dashboard, attendee exports, and M-Pesa or bank payouts.

Can I scan tickets at the gate without special hardware?

Yes. Gate staff scan QR codes from a phone browser or the scanner app, so you can run as many scanning points as you have phones rather than renting dedicated devices.

Can I sell tickets in more than one country?

Yes. Events can be priced and sold in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa in local currency, with the mobile money and card methods that are actually used in each market.

Is there an API for event ticketing?

Yes. High-volume promoters and venues can integrate ticket creation, sales, and validation directly into their own systems, and can run event pages on their own domain.

Online Ticketing Platform Features

SoldOutAfrica gives event organizers everything needed to sell tickets online in Africa: M-Pesa and card payments, unlimited ticket tiers, QR scanning at the gate, an affiliate program, promo codes, real-time sales, and payouts to mobile money. Everything below is included at the same per-ticket rate— there are no feature tiers to buy up into.

The platform was built around how African events actually run: mobile-money checkout rather than cards, promoters rather than ad budgets, gate staff with their own phones rather than rented scanners, and organizers who need to know today whether to release the next ticket tier.

Payments built for African audiences

Checkout is the point where most ticket sales die. Every payment method here is one your audience already uses daily, on the network they already trust.

M-Pesa STK push: Buyers enter their number, get the Safaricom prompt on their handset, and enter their PIN. No card, no redirect, no account signup. Tickets are issued the moment the callback confirms.
Card and mobile money: Visa, Mastercard, and regional mobile money for buyers outside M-Pesa, including the diaspora buying tickets for family back home.
Local currency pricing: Price in KES, NGN, GHS, or ZAR. Your audience sees the number they expect and is not charged again on a currency conversion they did not ask for.
USSD ticket purchase: Feature-phone and low-data buyers can purchase over USSD, which matters for events outside the major cities where smartphone checkout drops off sharply.

Ticketing and pricing control

Ticket structure is how you manage demand. All of this is set by you at event creation and can be changed while the event is live.

Unlimited ticket types: Early bird, regular, VIP, VVIP, group and table bookings, student rates — as many tiers as your event needs, each with its own price and capacity.
Flash sales and timed releases: Open a tier at a set time and close it automatically, or run a short discount window to create a genuine reason to buy today rather than at the gate.
Promo codes: Percentage or fixed-amount codes with usage caps and expiry, for sponsors, media partners, and your own campaigns.
Gift cards and redeemables: Sell credit that can be redeemed against any event, and issue redeemable passes for sponsors, artists, and crew without touching your paid inventory.
Free events and RSVPs: Run a free event with the same QR tickets and gate scanning at no cost — you only pay when money changes hands.

At the gate

The door is where a ticketing platform is actually tested. Everything here works on the phones your gate staff already carry.

Unique QR tickets: Each ticket carries a single-use QR code delivered by SMS and email. Scanned once, it is marked used, so a forwarded screenshot will not admit a second person.
Scanning on any phone: Gate staff scan from a phone browser or the scanner app. No dedicated hardware to rent, and no queue built around one device.
Offline ticket mapping: Tickets sold in cash or through an offline agent can be mapped into the same system so your gate list and your sales figures stay one number.
Live check-in counts: See how many of the people who bought have actually arrived, by ticket type, while the event is running.

Selling and growth

Most African events sell through people, not ads. These tools make that measurable instead of a WhatsApp guess.

Affiliate program: Give each promoter their own tracked link and pay them per ticket sold. You see exactly who moved volume instead of splitting a flat fee after the fact.
Short links and attribution: One short link per campaign, tracked end to end, so you know whether the Instagram post or the radio mention produced the sale.
Event page and SEO: Every event gets a public page with structured data, so it can surface in Google and in event-discovery results rather than only where you posted the link.
Buyer notifications: Automatic SMS and email on purchase, plus announcements to everyone holding a ticket if a time, lineup, or venue changes.

Money and reporting

You should not have to wait until the event is over to find out how it went.

Real-time sales dashboard: Revenue, tickets sold by tier, and sales velocity updating as they happen — enough to decide whether to release the next tier or push harder this week.
Wallet and payouts: Balance accrues in your wallet as tickets sell, and pays out to M-Pesa or a bank account you nominate.
Attendee exports: Download your buyer list with ticket type, payment reference, and check-in status for reconciliation, sponsors, or your next event's audience.
Reconciliation: Every ticket is tied to its payment reference, so a disputed M-Pesa transaction can be traced to a specific ticket in seconds.

Frequently asked questions

Does SoldOutAfrica support M-Pesa ticketing?: Yes. M-Pesa is the primary payment method, using the Safaricom Daraja STK push — the buyer receives the prompt on their handset and enters their PIN. Tickets are issued automatically once the payment callback confirms.
What event management software features do I get as an organizer?: Unlimited ticket types and tiers, promo codes, flash sales, gift cards, an affiliate program with per-promoter tracking, QR ticket scanning at the gate, a real-time sales dashboard, attendee exports, and M-Pesa or bank payouts.
Can I scan tickets at the gate without special hardware?: Yes. Gate staff scan QR codes from a phone browser or the scanner app, so you can run as many scanning points as you have phones rather than renting dedicated devices.
Can I sell tickets in more than one country?: Yes. Events can be priced and sold in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa in local currency, with the mobile money and card methods that are actually used in each market.
Is there an API for event ticketing?: Yes. High-volume promoters and venues can integrate ticket creation, sales, and validation directly into their own systems, and can run event pages on their own domain.

Get started →

See how this compares to Eventbrite and Pesapal Events, or read the organizer guides.