A pending registration is holding a seat

Symptom: Your event shows as sold out or a ticket type is unavailable, but you expected an open seat. In the Guests section, you see a row in the collapsed Pending group at the bottom of the list (the guest drawer displays it as Incomplete).

Cause: A visitor started checkout but did not finish. When seat holds are enabled, the Incomplete record holds the seat for the hold period your team has set (5–60 minutes). If the buyer does not complete checkout within that window, the seat returns to inventory automatically. Hosts can also remove the record immediately to free the seat sooner. One exception: a checkout started from a standalone paid event link that cannot be handed off to your Squarespace checkout releases its hold immediately, so that seat can return to inventory without anyone removing the record.

Fix: Remove the incomplete record from the guest list rather than cancelling it.

1. Open the event in your Eventually dashboard and go to the Guests section.

2. Click the guest with the Incomplete badge to open the guest drawer.

3. Click Remove from roster.

4. Confirm in the modal. The row disappears and the seat returns to inventory immediately.

Any team member can remove an Incomplete row; you do not need owner or admin access. Read the full steps in Remove a guest from your roster.

Symptom: A paid or confirmed Registered attendee can no longer attend and you need to open the seat for someone else.

Cause: The registration is active, so the seat is confirmed.

Fix: Cancel the registration to change the status to Cancelled and free the seat. If you also want to delete the record entirely, remove it from the roster afterward. Only owners and admins can cancel.

1. Open the event in your Eventually dashboard and go to the Guests section.

2. Tick the checkbox next to the guest.

3. Open the More bulk actions menu (the three dots), choose Cancel registration, and confirm.

Cancelling frees the seat but keeps the record with a Cancelled status. It does not process a refund and does not automatically promote waitlisted guests. Read the full steps in Cancelling a registration.

Symptom: A buyer who started checkout longer ago than the hold period has now completed their purchase.

Cause: The pending reservation expired after the hold period, but the buyer finished checkout through Squarespace Commerce later.

Fix: No action needed. The buyer still receives their paid ticket. The order sync creates a fresh registration. The seat was available during the gap, so the event may have accepted other registrations in the meantime. A paid Squarespace order can still create a registration beyond capacity, even though pending holds do not reduce the Squarespace stock number. When that happens, the registration is retained and marked over capacity for you to resolve.