Fundamentals
Key terms glossary
A plain-language guide to the words behind official resale — from the basics to the features menta runs day to day.
If a term in any article isn't clear, this is the place to settle it. We use these words the same way everywhere, so there's one shared vocabulary across the whole knowledge base.
01
The basics#
- Primary market — The very first sale of a ticket, issued and sold by the ticketing platform. It's where a ticket enters the world. menta doesn't operate here.
- Resale — When someone who already bought a ticket sells it to another fan, inside the same platform that issued it. It gives a ticket a second life when the original buyer can no longer go — official, verified, and within the platform's rules.
- White-label — menta runs entirely inside the platform's environment and under the platform's brand. The fan never sees menta; resale just feels like part of the platform.
- Native integration — Resale lives inside the platform the fan already uses — same account, same event pages, same checkout — with no detour to an external site.
02
How a resale works#
- Listing — A ticket a fan puts up for resale, within the rules the platform has set.
- Pricing & price limits — The seller picks the resale price, but inside the platform's rules — which can set a floor and a ceiling (for example, a cap over the original price to follow local regulation or the organizer's strategy).
- Service fee — A clear fee on each resale, always shown to the fan, split between the platform and menta on a pre-agreed basis. No upfront cost and no flat fee — menta only earns when a resale actually happens.
- Payout — The money going to the seller once a resale closes, handled by menta.
- Transfer & reissue — When a resale is confirmed, the old ticket is voided and the platform issues a fresh, valid one to the buyer. menta runs the transaction; the platform issues the ticket.
- Traceability — A full, shared record of every resale — who sold, who bought, at what price — visible to both the platform and menta.
03
What menta runs#
- Rules / Ruleset — The settings that decide how resale behaves for a group of events: who can resell, which tickets qualify, price limits, and when resale opens and closes. A ruleset applies automatically based on event details (category, location, organizer, venue) — which is what lets rules scale instead of being set one event at a time.
- Control Station — menta's back-end, where the partner's team manages rules, events, and how resale is performing.
04
menta features#
- Smart Pricing — Optional pricing help for sellers: menta suggests competitive prices so listings actually sell, without the seller having to watch the market and re-price by hand.
- Deal Score — A buyer-facing 1-to-10 score that shows how good a resale price is versus the market, so fans can buy with confidence.
- NotifyMe — How menta keeps demand inside the platform: interested buyers sign up when there's nothing to buy, and likely sellers get a nudge when there's demand to meet.
- Express Listing — Lets a seller list now and add their payout details later; menta holds the money safely until they do, then releases it.
- Smart Grouping — menta bundles similar ticket options together so the resale experience stays clear and prices stay consistent across equivalent seats.
05
Who's who#
- Partner — The counterpart with the commercial relationship with menta, running official resale on its tickets. A partner can be a ticketing system, an organizer, a venue, or a promoter.
- Ticketing system — The platform that issues and sells the original tickets and that menta plugs into. The most common kind of partner; it stays in front of the fan and issues every ticket and access code, resale included.
- Organizer — The promoter, team, or venue that owns the event and decides its commercial strategy, including how resale should work. Can also be a partner.
- Fan — The real person buying or reselling a ticket — someone with a genuine reason to sell or buy, not a professional reseller.