Why use randomization instead of first come first served principle?

By default Queue-it’s virtual waiting room operates on a first-in, first-out basis. However, if visitors arrive early to a sale or registration, they are placed in a pre-queue.

Visitors in the pre-queue see a countdown to the start of the sale or registration. Once the sale or registration starts, those early-comers in the pre-queue are randomized, and from that point on anyone else who joins the waiting room will be put at the back of the queue in a first-come, first-served order.

A pre-queue prevents website crashes from early demand and delivers online fairness.

Without the pre-queue, the start of the sale or registration would artificially move earlier and earlier. For example, consider a concert ticket sale that starts at 10am. If someone showing up at 9:30am gets a prioritized spot in line, what’s to stop someone from arriving at 9am, or 7am, or the day before?

The pre-queue also neutralizes the advantage that visitors with fast internet or bots with speedy scripts would otherwise receive by arriving seconds before a sale or registration.