What ‘sold out’ means when the map still blinks
Capacity, fire limits, and app inventory can disagree — and buyers feel the disagreement as bad faith.
“Sold out” should be a single truth shared by the fire certificate, the venue plan, and the ticketing app. When those three diverge, buyers refresh into seats that vanish, or see availability the door cannot honour.
Three numbers, one night
Write down licensed capacity, seats offered in the app, and seats already allocated to holds, comps, and production. The gap between those figures is where refund risk and reputation damage hide.
Comps and production holds
Unreleased production holds that never return to public inventory inflate the sense of scarcity without helping the night. A Launch Readiness Check asks who owns each block and when it returns.
After the fact
If you already oversold a section, document the sequence before changing public messaging. App analytics can show when inventory counters drifted; they cannot replace a clear apology and a fair reallocation plan.
A modest practice
Keep a one-page capacity sheet beside every major on-sale brief. It is unglamorous paperwork — and it prevents the worst class of “sold out” surprises.