Knowledge Base
Everything you need to run your gathering
Guides for setting up tickets, welcoming people, handling the money, and getting the word out — written for organizers, not engineers.
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For Attendees
Tickets, refunds, transfers, wallet passes, payments, and event-day details — everything a ticket buyer needs.
7+ articlesPlatform Setup
Technical requirements, account configuration, API access, and initial platform setup.
5+ articlesEvent Configuration
Event schema, ticket type configuration, custom fields, and automation rules.
6+ articlesPayments & Settlement
Stripe Connect architecture, payout schedules, fee structures, and refund processing.
5+ articlesMarketing Automation
Amplify system architecture, email automation, Meta pixel integration, and analytics.
6+ articlesCheck-In System
Zero-login scanner technology, QR code specifications, offline mode, and validation API.
5+ articlesIntegrations & API
REST API reference, webhooks, third-party integrations, and embed widgets.
5+ articlesHow-To Guides
Step-by-step guides for event creation, ticketing setup, marketing, and best practices.
50+ articlesMost Popular
All Articles
Platform Setup7
- Platform Architecture OverviewTechnical overview of BrightStar's infrastructure, data flow, and system components.4 min read
- Account Configuration GuideComplete setup guide including profile configuration, team access, and security settings.3 min read
- Connecting Stripe to Get PaidConnect your Stripe account to BrightStar so ticket sales can reach your bank account, and learn what happens when verification is pending.2 min read
- API Authentication & SecurityAPI key management, OAuth flows, rate limits, and security best practices.4 min read
- Adding Your Team and Choosing What Each Person Can DoInvite staff to your BrightStar account once and set what each of them can see and do across your events.4 min read
- Claiming the profile BrightStar already built for youFind your artist, venue or organizer page, prove it is yours by website email or Instagram, and take control of it.4 min read
- Finding an answer in the BrightStar help centreHow BrightStar's feature guides are organised, how search works across them, and why some guides are not published yet.4 min read
Event Configuration34
- Gated Video & Online EventsStream ticket-gated video for online and hybrid events, control access by ticket type, and keep recordings earning on demand.3 min read
- Event Data Schema & ConfigurationComplete event object schema, required fields, validation rules, and configuration options.3 min read
- Ticket Types & ConfigurationTicket schema, pricing options, availability rules, and advanced ticket features.4 min read
- Custom Checkout FieldsConfigure custom questions, waivers, dietary requirements, and data collection at checkout.3 min read
- Discount Code EngineDiscount types, validation rules, usage limits, and promotional code strategies.4 min read
- Event Page BuilderPage layout options, SEO configuration, social sharing, and customization features.4 min read
- Multi-Session & Recurring EventsConfigure workshops, retreats, and classes with multiple dates or sessions.4 min read
- Assigned Seating & Interactive ChartsInteractive seating chart configuration, Seats.io integration, section pricing, accessibility settings, and Social Seating.5 min read
- Ticket Categories & OrganizationCollapsible accordion-style ticket grouping, drag-and-drop organization, custom icons, and conversion optimization.3 min read
- Selling Merch With Sizes and StockAdd shirts, tanks and other merch with size or colour options and stock counts, then sell them at your events and track pickups and sales.4 min read
- Visible Tiered Pricing — Show What Comes NextShow the price today, the next step and its date, and the final price struck through — so early booking has a visible reason.5 min read
- Automatic Pass-Holder DiscountsHolders of a pass save on the add-ons and extras you choose, automatically: no code to remember, nothing to explain.4 min read
- Attendees Can Pass Tickets to FriendsTicket holders send individual tickets to other people by email, and each recipient gets their own QR code.3 min read
- Swap to another of your eventsLet attendees move their tickets to another event you run, paying only the difference, instead of a refund-and-rebuy.2 min read
- Sell rooms and beds for retreatsSet up room types, nightly rates and real bed inventory, and let guests book lodging alongside their ticket.4 min read
- Offer early arrival and late checkoutLet guests add up to three nights before or after your retreat, priced automatically against real availability.3 min read
- Multi-track festival scheduleBuild a multi-day, multi-stage schedule and let attendees sign up for sessions and build a personal itinerary.3 min read
- Sell access to session recordingsHost session videos and unlock them for the ticket holders who bought the right pass.3 min read
- Guided Event Setup — Building Your Event Step by StepWalk through dates, location, lineup, cover art and tickets one screen at a time, then edit any section later.4 min read
- Grouping Tickets Into SectionsOrganize a long ticket list into named sections — admission, packages, accommodation, add-ons — in the order you choose.3 min read
- Selling Add-Ons at CheckoutOffer parking, camping, meals or merch alongside tickets — buyers add them at checkout or after they have bought.3 min read
- Discount CodesCreate percentage or fixed-amount codes, cap redemptions, set an expiry, and see which codes drove sales.4 min read
- Recurring Weekly Class ScheduleTurn one event into a weekly class. Every date becomes its own event with tickets, check-in and reminders, and new dates keep coming.4 min read
- Private Sessions: 1:1 Bookings From Your ProfileOffer one-to-one sessions on your BrightStar profile. Set your hours once; clients pick a time in their own time zone.5 min read
- One Page for a Recurring SeriesGive a recurring retreat, course or class series its own lasting page listing every upcoming date.3 min read
- Group discounts that apply themselves at checkoutSet a lower price that takes effect on its own once a buyer puts several tickets in one order.3 min read
- Price suggestions, and prices that move with demandLet BrightStar's Smart Pricing raise or lower your ticket prices inside a range you set, or ask you first.3 min read
- Putting a ticket type on sale at a set timeGive each ticket type its own start and end time, in your event's timezone, so sales open and close without you being there.3 min read
- Collecting a signed waiver during checkoutHave attendees read and accept your liability waiver as they buy, with the acceptance kept on the ticket.3 min read
- One Inbox for Everything Your Attendees AskQuestions and refund requests land in one threaded inbox, with AI drafts, saved replies and a place to decide refunds.3 min read
- Letting Visitors Ask a Question Before They BuyA "Contact the organizer" link on every event page lets people who have not bought yet reach you privately through BrightStar.4 min read
- Issue Comp and Presenter PassesGive a real ticket to a guest, presenter or volunteer from the Sangha tab, one at a time or by uploading a CSV list.3 min read
- Run a fundraiser or crowdfunding campaignRaise money for an album, a temple build, festival seed money or a cause, with a goal, rewards, a give-any-amount tier and updates for your backers.4 min read
- Front of House Readiness ChecklistA checklist to work through before doors open: venue, safety, staff, check-in, refunds at the door, and a full section for assigned-seating events.19 min read
Payments & Settlement21
- Tap to Pay POS — Selling at the DoorTake card and contactless payments at the door from your phone — no extra hardware — with offline check-in and cash sales, and one unified sales ledger.3 min read
- BrightStar Plans: Seva, Elevate and AmplifySee what Seva, Elevate and Amplify cost per ticket on BrightStar, what each plan includes, and which plans you can choose today.3 min read
- Stripe Connect ArchitectureHow a ticket payment moves from checkout to your connected Stripe account, and how fees are split.2 min read
- Payout Schedules & SettlementUnderstand how BrightStar tracks your pending balance and sends it to your connected account.2 min read
- Fee Calculation EngineHow BrightStar calculates the platform fee and the payment processing fee, and what changes when buyers pay fees or the organizer absorbs them.3 min read
- Refund Processing SystemHow refunds work in BrightStar: full and partial refunds, what happens to payouts, and the self-serve refund policy you can set ahead of time.3 min read
- Multi-Currency SupportSupported currencies, conversion rates, and international payment handling.4 min read
- Earn from Organizers You ReferRefer another organizer to BrightStar and earn 20% of BrightStar's platform fee on their ticket sales, paid to your connected Stripe account.4 min read
- Get Paid Directly to Your BankConnect a Stripe account once, and ticket money is sent to an account that belongs to you.3 min read
- Refund an Order YourselfIssue a full or partial refund from an order in your BrightStar dashboard, with the payout side handled in the same step.4 min read
- Let Attendees Refund ThemselvesSet a refund percentage and cutoff, and requests inside your policy process without you touching them.6 min read
- Add Your Own Fee at CheckoutCharge a flat or percentage fee of your own — venue, cleaning, donation — on top of the ticket price.5 min read
- Give Credit Toward a Future EventTurn a cancelled ticket into credit an attendee can spend on your next gathering instead of a cash refund.3 min read
- Accept tips and donations at checkoutInvite buyers to add a tip for you, or a donation to a cause you name, before they pay.3 min read
- See your sales and revenue reportsRun revenue reports on your real order data, and see how gross and net revenue are worked out for your events.3 min read
- Recurring memberships for your communitySell weekly, monthly or yearly memberships that give members ongoing access to your classes, with member pricing on everything else.5 min read
- Class packs and credits for your weekly classesSell classes in bundles, welcome newcomers with an intro offer, and let students book a class with one credit.5 min read
- Cart and Guest CheckoutBuyers pick several ticket types, hold their place while they decide, and pay by card without creating an account.3 min read
- Selling your event in your own currencyPrice your event in the currency your audience actually spends, picked up from where your venue is.3 min read
- Take Cards with No Signal at the DoorKeep selling tickets by card at the door when there is no connection. BrightStar stores the payment and charges it when the signal returns.4 min read
- Sell gift cards for your gatheringsLet your community give your gatherings to the people they love: gift cards in the amounts you choose, emailed on the day the giver picks, spent on any of your events.4 min read
Marketing Automation26
- AI Meta Ads — Facebook & Instagram on AutopilotSkip Ads Manager entirely. From your event listing alone, BrightStar’s AI composes and rotates Facebook & Instagram ads across the whole sales cycle.3 min read
- Referral Program — Turn Attendees Into AdvocatesEvery attendee gets a personal referral link. When they bring new buyers or new organizers, credits and commissions flow back automatically.3 min read
- Amplify System ArchitectureTechnical overview of the Amplify marketing automation system.3 min read
- Geo-Targeting EngineHow geographic targeting works for email and ad campaigns.3 min read
- Meta Conversions API — flawless trackingAdd your Conversions API token so BrightStar sends your ticket sales to Meta server-side — recovering the conversions browsers miss.4 min read
- Meta Pixel IntegrationFacebook/Instagram pixel setup, event tracking, and custom conversions.3 min read
- Email Automation SystemTransactional emails, marketing campaigns, and automation rules.3 min read
- Abandoned Cart RecoveryTechnical implementation of cart abandonment tracking and recovery campaigns.4 min read
- Affiliate Tracking SystemCommission tracking, attribution rules, and payout configuration.4 min read
- Creating Many Discount Codes at OnceMake a batch of discount codes for your event from a list of names or a pattern, email each partner their own code, and track uses and revenue per code.5 min read
- See which Facebook and Instagram visitors actually buyTrack the full ticket funnel from Facebook and Instagram and send it back to Meta so your ads find more buyers.3 min read
- Run Facebook and Instagram ads without leaving BrightStarLaunch and manage paid Facebook and Instagram campaigns for your event from inside your BrightStar dashboard.3 min read
- Ad copy and images written from your event pageGenerate ready-to-use ad headlines and visuals from your event listing, with variations you can swap in.2 min read
- A promo email sequence that runs itselfA timed series of promotional emails goes out for your event on its own, from announcement through last call.3 min read
- Win back the people who left mid-checkoutShoppers who leave before paying get timed reminder emails, and you get a report on what came back.3 min read
- Pay others a commission to promote your eventSet a commission, hand out tracked links, and pay promoters automatically on the sales they bring you.4 min read
- Get your event in front of other organizers' buyersYour event is recommended to other organizers' ticket buyers, and theirs to yours, on confirmation pages and emails.3 min read
- Post your events to your own Facebook and Instagram automaticallyConnect your own pages, and BrightStar drafts a timed post series from your event for you to review before anything goes out.3 min read
- Your audience list, and how people manage their own emailEvery buyer and lead lands in one opt-in list, and recipients manage their own preferences without contacting you.4 min read
- Your AI Marketing GuideAn assistant that reads your event, says what is holding sales back, and proposes campaigns you approve.2 min read
- Test Two Versions of a PageShow visitors different headlines and calls to action, then see which version actually sells more tickets.3 min read
- Pay your affiliates their commissionSet a commission per event, see what each promoter earned, and release their money from your own Stripe balance.4 min read
- The Contact List You Actually OwnEvery buyer, signup and interested visitor collects into one deduplicated, consent-aware list that belongs to you.3 min read
- How Your Event Gets Found in Search and BrowsingWhat BrightStar search actually matches on, how browsing by category and city works, and what you can influence.5 min read
- The glossary behind every tag on your listingEach practice, tradition and tag on BrightStar links to a plain-language explainer, so newcomers understand what you offer.3 min read
- Turning your videos into pages people can findYour talks and performances become full articles with transcripts, so people reach you through search and AI assistants.3 min read
Check-In System16
- Zero-Login Scanner TechnologyTechnical deep-dive into the zero-login scanner architecture and security model.4 min read
- QR Code SpecificationsQR code format, encoding specifications, and customization options.3 min read
- Check People In Without SignalHow the BrightStar Organizer app keeps checking guests in with no signal, and how every device reconciles when it comes back.4 min read
- Ticket Validation APIREST API endpoints for ticket validation, check-in, and attendee lookup.4 min read
- Multi-Entrance TrackingConfigure multiple check-in points and track attendance flow.3 min read
- Desktop Box Office: Sell Tickets at the DoorSell tickets from a laptop at the door with the Sell panel on your event's Sangha tab: cash, pay on phone, card reader or typed card.4 min read
- Self Check-In Kiosk for Studios and Small EventsTurn an iPad by the door into a BrightStar self check-in kiosk: students find their name or scan their ticket and check themselves in.4 min read
- iPad Check-In for Busy DoorsBrightStar's scanner app gives an iPad a two-pane check-in screen: guest list beside the scanner, plus entrances and a PIN lock for shared devices.5 min read
- Sell Tickets at the Door by CardTake card payments at the door and issue a real ticket on the spot, recorded against your event.3 min read
- Run check-in and room assignmentsSee every stay on a calendar, assign guests to rooms, check them in and out, and handle cancellations.4 min read
- Scanning tickets at the doorOpen the scanner in a phone browser, point it at a ticket QR code, and admit the guest.4 min read
- A dedicated scanner app for your door teamAn installable phone app your door staff pair to an event to scan tickets and sell at the door.4 min read
- Check People In Without SignalBrightStar's Organizer app keeps checking guests in when the signal drops, then syncs every scan on its own once you are back online.3 min read
- Track Multiple Entrances and GatesName each way into your event, choose which passes work where, and see live check-in counts for every entrance in BrightStar.3 min read
- Your Attendee List, and Getting It Out as a SpreadsheetSee everyone coming, filter by ticket type or check-in status, and export the whole list as CSV.3 min read
- Check guests in from your laptopNo phone, no app: check people in by name from the Sangha tab, or scan with the laptop camera on the web scanner.3 min read
Integrations & API11
- REST API ReferenceComplete API documentation with endpoints, request/response formats, and examples.4 min read
- WebhooksReal-time notifications to your own server: the events, the payload, verifying the signature, and what happens when delivery fails.5 min read
- Embed WidgetsReference for the BrightStar ticket widget: the code, layouts, themes, options and the iframe version.4 min read
- Calendar Sync IntegrationiCal feeds, Google Calendar, and Apple Calendar integration.3 min read
- CRM IntegrationsSend your ticket buyers to your own Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot or Salesforce, and your sales to Slack.5 min read
- Sending Ticket Buyers to Your CRM with ZapierConnect BrightStar to Zapier so new ticket buyers, attendees, room bookings and refunds reach your CRM, email tool or spreadsheet.4 min read
- Connecting Sched to Your EventConnect your Sched festival agenda to a BrightStar event page, and optionally add pass holders to Sched with the right ticket type.4 min read
- Selling tickets from inside your own websitePut a BrightStar ticket widget on your own site: live prices and availability, and a checkout that opens over your page.5 min read
- Connect Your Ticketing Platforms to BrightStarConnect Eventbrite, Humanitix, Ticket Tailor, Luma and more, and your events appear on BrightStar and stay in sync with your account.3 min read
- Switch from Mindbody to BrightStarBring your Mindbody clients, memberships, class pack balances and weekly schedule into BrightStar from Mindbody's own reports. Nobody is charged.4 min read
- Add Any Tool You Use to BrightStarPick the email, CRM or team tool you already use from BrightStar's list and connect it with your own key, then check it before anything is sent.3 min read
For Attendees9
- Finding & Accessing Your TicketsWhere your tickets live, how to open them at the door, and why you don’t need an account (and what one adds if you create one).4 min read
- Adding Your Ticket to Apple WalletSave your BrightStar ticket to Apple Wallet from your confirmation email or My Tickets, so your QR code is ready at the door.3 min read
- How Refunds WorkWhen you can self-serve an instant refund, how much comes back, and what happens when an event is canceled.4 min read
- Transferring a Ticket to a FriendSend your ticket to someone else in a tap — they get their own pass and yours is deactivated.4 min read
- Payment Methods & SecurityWhat you can pay with, how charges appear on your statement, and how your card details are protected.3 min read
- Event-Day Details & AccessibilityWhere to find the time, venue, and what to bring — plus how to confirm accessibility and companion tickets.4 min read
- When an Event Is Canceled or RescheduledWhat happens to your ticket and money if plans change — and the fastest way to sort it out.4 min read
- Your Printable PDF TicketEvery BrightStar order comes with a printable ticket, one page per person, each with its own scannable code.4 min read
- Messaging Artists, Venues and Other MembersHow direct messages work on BrightStar, including message requests, accepting a stranger, and blocking.4 min read