Definitions
Categories describe the admission or seats being offered. Price tiers describe choices within a category, such as Adult or Student. Together they let you offer different prices without treating every price as a separate seating area.
Categories
For general admission, a category groups admission tickets and has a capacity. For example, General Admission could have a capacity of 100 tickets, with Adult and Student price tiers drawing from that category's availability.
For reserved seating, categories group seats on the map for pricing. For example, Main Floor seats could offer Adult and Student tiers, while Balcony seats have their own prices. Adding a tier does not add seats to the map.
Price tiers
A tier is a pricing choice within a category. An Adult tier might cost $24 and a Student tier $18. Customers select the tier that applies to them. Use a price tier note for information such as who qualifies and whether they should bring ID. A category note can explain the admission or seating choice. Buyers see these notes while choosing tickets or passes.
Each configured ticket tier also has a pricing type. Fixed uses the listed amount; Variable minimum lets the customer choose an amount at or above the listed minimum, within the limits shown. See Fixed and Variable Minimum Pricing for examples and setup steps.
Shared labels versus configured prices
Settings → Pricing Catalog holds the organization's shared Pricing Categories and Price Tiers names and optional notes. These labels keep naming consistent across your catalog. A label such as Adult is not itself a price: you configure the amount and pricing type in the event's Seating & Pricing editor.
The same Adult label can therefore be used for a $24 ticket at one event and a $30 ticket at another. Renaming the shared label changes its name wherever it is used, rather than changing either amount.
An event can use a custom category or tier note, or choose No note. An event time linked to the event defaults follows the event's notes and cannot edit them. An independent event time can add its own note or choose No note. Otherwise, it inherits the event's note when the same category or tier is still active there, and the Pricing Catalog note when it is not. A collection pass option inherits only the Pricing Catalog note and can set its own custom note or No note. It does not inherit notes from events included in the collection. Notes are information for choosing a price; they are separate from purchase terms.
The same name can appear in both the category and tier lists. Check which kind of label you are selecting or editing. See Renaming or Archiving when maintaining those shared names.