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How the Waitlist Works Growth+This feature requires the Growth+ plan or higher

The waitlist feature lets customers sign up to be notified when a fully booked item or experience becomes available. Instead of losing potential bookings, you capture demand and convert it automatically when availability opens up.

The Big Picture​

Here is how the waitlist works from start to finish:

  1. A customer tries to book a product or experience, but it is fully booked for their desired dates.
  2. The customer joins the waitlist by entering their name and email.
  3. When availability opens up (e.g. another booking is canceled), EquipDash automatically notifies the waitlisted customer by email.
  4. The customer clicks the link in the email to book the now-available item.
  5. If they complete the booking, their waitlist entry is marked as Booked.

The Waitlist page overview showing type tabs, search and filter options, and the Add to Waitlist button

Where Customers Can Join the Waitlist​

Customers can join the waitlist from several places:

SourceHow It Works
Booking WidgetWhen a product or experience is fully booked on your website, customers see a "Join Waitlist" button.
Point of Sale (POS)When you try to add a fully booked item during POS booking creation, you can add the customer to the waitlist directly.
APIExternal systems can create waitlist entries through the API.
ManualYou can manually add a customer to the waitlist from the waitlist page by clicking + Add to Waitlist.

Widget -- Rental Waitlist​

When a rental product is sold out for the selected dates, the Join Waitlist button appears in place of the add-to-cart button on the product detail page.

A rental product detail page in the booking widget showing a Sold Out label and a Join Waitlist button.

Widget -- Experience Waitlist​

When an experience session is fully booked, the time slot shows Sold Out with a Join Waitlist button underneath.

An experience detail page in the booking widget showing a sold-out time slot with a Join Waitlist button.

Waitlist Entry Statuses​

Each waitlist entry moves through a lifecycle:

StatusMeaning
WaitingThe customer is actively on the waitlist.
NotifiedAn availability notification has been sent to the customer.
BookedThe customer has successfully converted their waitlist entry into a booking.
ExpiredThe desired date has passed without the customer booking.
CancelledThe customer (or you) canceled the waitlist entry.

What Triggers a Notification?​

EquipDash automatically checks for newly available spots when:

  • A booking is canceled that included the waitlisted item or experience.
  • An experience schedule's capacity is increased.
  • Additional inventory is added for a rental product.

When availability is detected, all customers in Waiting status for that item are notified.

Waitlist Types​

The waitlist works for both booking types:

  • Rental waitlist -- customers wait for a specific product (and optionally a specific variation like size or color) to become available for their desired dates.
  • Experience waitlist -- customers wait for a spot to open on a specific scheduled session.

Enabling the Waitlist​

The waitlist is available on the Growth+ plan and above. To enable it:

  1. Go to Settings in the sidebar.
  2. Scroll down to the Waitlist section.
  3. Toggle Enable Waitlist on.
  4. Optionally toggle Auto-Notify to have EquipDash automatically send availability notifications (recommended).
  5. Click Save.

Duplicate Prevention​

EquipDash prevents the same customer from joining the waitlist twice for the same item. If a customer tries to join a waitlist they are already on, they will see a message letting them know.

Rate Limiting​

To prevent abuse, there is a limit of 5 waitlist submissions per email address per hour per business.