Guide
Who holds the ticket money until curtain
Some platforms pay after the event. Some hold the funds. Some never touch them. That is a theater-ops question, not a fee-math page.
The question is not “what is the fee.” The question is who has the money between the sale and curtain, and when it lands in the organization’s account.
A volunteer house pays the rights, the lumber, and the pizza before the last performance. If the ticket money sits with a platform until after closing night, that is a production problem.
Three ways the money sits
The charge runs on the organization’s processor. The organization owns the charge, and its processor determines when the funds become available and reach its bank.
The charge runs on the platform and routes the organization’s share to a connected balance. The platform owns the charge, but the organization’s share moves into its connected processor balance. Bank payout remains a separate step.
The platform pays the organization later. The platform retains the organization’s share and releases it after the event or on another schedule. In ordinary language, this is the model where the platform “holds the money.”
What their pages say
These are their statements, with the date we read them. They are not Places rates.
- Ticketleap pricing (as of 21 Aug 2026): they process via Stripe; payouts are 4–7 business days after the event.
- Brown Paper Tickets pricing (as of 21 Aug 2026): payout within 10 business days after the event ends, on their default processor.
- Eventbrite sell-tickets features (as of 19 Aug 2026): they advertise pre-event payouts. They are a marketplace, not a volunteer box office.
- On The Stage FAQs (as of 21 Aug 2026): They say Stripe Connect means they never handle the funds. OTS Managed holds funds in escrow until after the production. ACH or check arrives 5–7 days after the run closes. They do not publish a dollar platform fee on that page; do not invent one.
How Places is intended to move the money
Places plans to create Stripe destination charges on the Places platform account without on_behalf_of. At capture, Stripe would route the organization’s share into its connected Stripe balance and return the Places application fee to the platform. The organization’s share would not be designed to sit with Places until curtain.
A connected Stripe balance is not the same as a bank deposit. Under the planned setup, Stripe would first make the funds available, then pay them out under the connected account’s payout settings. Places will not promise a payout day until that live path has been verified.
Tools are free. Places earns a dollar when a reserved seat sells. General admission is free for small events for a limited time. Comps and free tickets are $0, because a comp is not a sale.
Frequently asked questions
- Who holds the ticket money?
- The account that owns the charge, the balance that receives the organization’s share, and the schedule that pays that balance to the bank can belong to different parties.
- When does Ticketleap say they pay?
- Their pricing page, as of 21 Aug 2026, says payouts are 4–7 business days after the event.
- Why does this matter for a volunteer house?
- Closing night is when the bills come due. A payout that waits until after the run is a cash-flow problem, not a checkout-fee problem.