---
title: "Create a capacity-based price rule (beta)"
slug: "create-a-capacity-based-price-rule"
description: "Optimize your ticket sales with capacity-based pricing! Adjust prices based on session demand to maximize revenue and fill your sessions effectively."
updated: 2026-10-13T17:58:23Z
published: 2026-10-13T17:58:23Z
canonical: "mysupport.roller.software/create-a-capacity-based-price-rule"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mysupport.roller.software/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create a capacity-based price rule (beta)

School holidays fill your 11 AM sessions by Tuesday and leave the 3 PM ones half empty. A capacity-based price rule helps balance this demand by automatically adjusting ticket prices based on how full a session is. This way, your popular sessions earn more as they fill up, while lower prices incentivize bookings during quieter periods.

Use this guide to build the rule and choose the channels it prices on. To apply it to a product afterwards, see [Apply a price rule to products](/v1/docs/apply-a-price-rule-to-products-and-set-prices).

> [!NOTE]
> **Release stage:** Beta. To learn more, contact your customer success manager or the [support team](/v1/docs/contact-roller-support).
> 
> **Permissions**: The [permission](/v1/docs/permissions-by-feature-and-role) **Can manage price rules** is required to create and edit price rules. The permission **Can edit products** is required to apply the price rule to products.

## Why use capacity-based price rules

Use capacity-based rules when you want to:

| Goal | Venue example | How to use it |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Earn more from the sessions that fill first | Trampoline park | Set your highest tier for sessions above 70% full, so the ones selling out anyway carry a higher price |
| Give guests a reason to book a quiet session | Go-kart track | Set your lowest tier below the others, so a half-empty 3 PM session undercuts a busy 11 AM one |
| Price demand you can't predict | Escape room | Use capacity tiers instead of a time-based rule when which sessions fill changes week to week |
| Run dynamic pricing online and keep the counter flat | Bowling alley | Select **Progressive Checkout & API** under **Sales channels** and leave **Point of Sale** out, so POS charges the base price |

## How capacity-based pricing works

Capacity is measured against the resources assigned to the product, not against the product itself.

How a resource fills depends on its type. Multi-booking resources count the total number of guests. Single-booking resources count how many of the resource are still available.

ROLLER prices a booking off whichever of the product's resources is fullest at that moment. Take a party package that uses a jump area (100 guests) and five party rooms. Once four of the rooms are booked, ROLLER prices the next party off the rooms, even if the jump area is nearly empty. ROLLER prices a session pass that uses only the jump area off the jump area.

| What you set | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Tiers | Up to five **capacity tiers**, each with its own price per ticket type. |
| Sales channels | The channels the tiers price on. You pick them per rule |
| Base price | The standard price charged on unselected channels, regardless of capacity. |

Unlike other price rules that apply to all channels automatically, capacity-based rules let you select specific sales channels. This allows you to run dynamic pricing online while keeping fixed prices at your front counter.

## Before you begin

- **Check the product type first.** Capacity-based rules work on session passes, party packages, and packages containing a session pass. See [How price rules work with different product types](/v1/docs/price-rules-product-types).
- **Check your resources.** The product needs a resource assigned to it, because capacity is counted against its resources.
- **Check your session settings.** Price rules cannot be applied to products that have consecutive sessions enabled.

## Step 1: Create the capacity-based price rule

1. From Venue Manager, go to **Products** > **Price rules** > **Create price rule**.
2. Select **Capacity-based**.
3. Enter a **Price rule name**.
4. Under **Price condition**, define your capacity tiers. The first tier starts at 0; enter your desired upper limit in the **to** field (eg `From 0% to 50%`).
5. Select **Add tier** to create additional bands. Each new tier automatically begins where the previous one ended. Enter the upper limit for each new tier (eg `Greater than 50% to 60%`).

> [!NOTE]
> You can create up to five tiers. The final tier's upper percentage must be set to 100.
6. Under **Sales channels**, check the boxes for the channels where you want these tiered prices to apply:
  - Progressive Checkout & API
  - Point of Sale
  - Venue Manager
7. Select **Save**.

![Capacity-based price rule form showing the rule name, capacity tier bands and sales channel checkboxes to set before you save](https://cdn.us.document360.io/23700755-951c-4b69-8afe-ec8b33c6c689/Images/Documentation/image(69).png)

## Step 2: Apply the price rule to products and set your prices

The steps are the same as for any other rule type. See [Apply a price rule to products and set prices](/v1/docs/apply-a-price-rule-to-products-and-set-prices). Two items are specific to capacity-based rules:

- **Rules are grouped by type in the Price rule drop-down**, and each capacity-based rule displays a badge indicating the selected channels. The line under the drop-down repeats it once the rule is selected. ![Price rule drop-down on a session pass, with capacity-based rules grouped by type and a badge listing each rule's selected channels](https://cdn.us.document360.io/23700755-951c-4b69-8afe-ec8b33c6c689/Images/Documentation/image(72).png)
- **The variations table opens with a Base price column**, then one column per capacity tier. Set the base price for each ticket type as well as the tier prices. The base price applies to any channels not selected in the rule. ![Variations table with a Base price column and one price column per capacity tier, where you set each ticket type's prices](https://cdn.us.document360.io/23700755-951c-4b69-8afe-ec8b33c6c689/Images/Documentation/image(71).png)

## Check it works

1. Open your online checkout and view a session with high availability, then one that is nearly full. The prices should differ by the tiers you set.
2. Check the same two sessions on a channel you did not select. Both should show the base price.

If every session shows the base price, check that the rule is applied to the product and that the channel you are testing is selected on the rule.

## FAQs

**What price does a guest pay if the session fills up while they are checking out?**

The final price is calculated at checkout, not when tickets are added to the cart. If a session crosses into a higher capacity tier while the guest is checking out, they will pay the price active at the time of payment.

**Can guests add tickets to a booking later at the price they originally paid?**

Once a booking is purchased, extra tickets and changes to that booking keep the original purchase price, on any channel. A booking made online and added to at POS keeps the price it was sold at.

## Related

- [Apply a price rule to products](/apply-a-price-rule-to-products-and-set-prices.md)
- [Which sales channels a price rule applies to](/price-rules-sales-channels.md)
- [Manage checkout display settings for price rules](/price-rules-checkout-display.md)
- [Manage and optimize price rules](/manage-and-optimize-your-price-rules.md)