Your First Paid Event on Catch: A Step-by-Step Guide

If this is your first paid event, the plumbing matters more than the playbook. Get the setup right and the rest is just running the event. Skip a step and you'll be untangling a refund or chasing a payout when you should be selling tickets.

This post walks through the full sequence, in order, with the pitfalls flagged.

Step 1: Connect Stripe (10 minutes, do it before you create the event)

Catch routes payments through Stripe Connect. Each organizer has their own Stripe account, Catch never holds your money.

In the app: Settings → Payments → Connect Stripe.

Stripe will ask for:

• Legal name + DOB
• Last 4 of your SSN (for identity verification, not credit check)
• A bank account (for payouts)

You don't need to be a business. An individual account is fine and ships you the same Stripe Express dashboard.

Pitfall: Don't skip this and try to create the paid event first. Catch blocks publishing of paid events until charges_enabled is true on your Stripe account. We do this on purpose, better to fail at create time than at checkout time.

You'll get a "you're ready to start earning" email from Catch the moment Stripe confirms verification. That's your green light.

Step 2: Create the event (20 minutes)

The non-obvious choices:

• Visibility tier. Most paid events should be Public or Followers. Close Friends + paid is rare and usually a mistake, you've gated the audience that's most likely to convert.
• Cover. Use a video. (See Video Flyers vs Static Images.) If you only have a static, fine, but plan to swap it before launch.
• Capacity. Set a real cap. Capacity scarcity is a sales tool. "47/100 going" outperforms "47 going."
• Date. 7 to 14 days out is a useful starting point for many independent social events. Less than a week can make the social-proof loop harder to build; much longer may require a stronger reminder plan.

Step 3: Set up ticket tiers (the part most people skip)

Don't ship a single GA tier. Stack three:

Catch handles the rolling cutover automatically when each tier sells out. See Ticket Pricing Strategy for the full reasoning.

Pitfall: Don't add Last Call after Early Bird sells out. Launch with all three visible from day one, the price ladder itself is the social proof.

Step 4: Publish

When you tap Publish, Catch:

1. Validates your Stripe account is still good
2. Charges nothing, paid events are pay-on-RSVP, not pay-on-publish
3. Sends you a coaching email with the next steps (you're reading the long version of it now)

The event is now live and indexable in your followers' feeds.

Step 5: Sell

The first 50 RSVPs are a separate playbook. See How to Get Your First 50 RSVPs.

Short version: ship to your inner circle first, then go wide, then run the social-proof loop.

Step 6: Day-of operations

A few things change on event day:

• Door scanning. Catch's organizer app scans tickets via QR. Pin a designated scanner phone, don't try to scan from your personal phone if you'll also be hosting.
• Capacity overrides. If you hit cap and want to add 10 walk-ups, you can raise capacity from the organizer dashboard mid-event. It auto-promotes the waitlist.
• Refunds. Issue from the dashboard, not from Stripe directly. Catch tracks the refund and updates the attendee count automatically.

Step 7: Payout

Stripe Connect runs payouts on a 2-business-day schedule by default. So a Saturday event hits your bank Wednesday or Thursday. You can change to weekly or monthly in the Stripe Express dashboard.

Catch's take rate is 5%. Stripe's processing fee is ~2.9% + $0.30 per ticket. The math on a $20 ticket:

• Buyer pays: $20 + service fees (~$1.50)
• You receive: ~$18.50 after Catch + Stripe fees

Run the numbers before you set the price. If you need $20 net per ticket, charge $22.

What to do after the event

This is where most first-time organizers leave money on the table:

1. Post photos / video the next morning. This is footage for your next event. Treat every event as content for the one after it.
2. Message attendees. Catch lets you blast everyone who came. "Thanks for showing up, next one is [date]" converts at 3 to 5× the rate of cold reach.
3. Look at your dashboard. Where did your RSVPs come from? Which share links converted? Run the same playbook for the next one, twice as hard on whatever worked.

TL;DR

Connect Stripe first. Stack three tiers. Launch 7 to 14 days out. Sell to your inner circle before you go public. Use the dashboard. Repeat.

The first paid event is the hardest one. Everything after it compounds.