diff --git a/crud.py b/crud.py
index 3046f0e..450c091 100644
--- a/crud.py
+++ b/crud.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import json
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
 
 from lnbits.db import Database
@@ -8,47 +9,115 @@ from .models import CreateEvent, Event, Ticket, TicketExtra
 db = Database("ext_events")
 
 
+def _parse_ticket_row(row) -> dict:
+    """Normalize a ticket row before constructing a Ticket model.
+
+    - Empty-string sentinels in name/email (used because the DB columns are
+      NOT NULL but the Pydantic field is Optional when user_id is set) are
+      converted back to None.
+    - The `extra` JSON column may come back as a string when the row is
+      fetched without a model= argument; parse it so Pydantic can build
+      TicketExtra from a dict.
+    """
+    ticket_data = dict(row)
+
+    if ticket_data.get("name") == "":
+        ticket_data["name"] = None
+    if ticket_data.get("email") == "":
+        ticket_data["email"] = None
+
+    extra = ticket_data.get("extra")
+    if isinstance(extra, str):
+        ticket_data["extra"] = json.loads(extra) if extra else {}
+
+    return ticket_data
+
+
 async def create_ticket(
-    payment_hash: str, wallet: str, event: str, name: str, email: str, extra: dict
+    payment_hash: str,
+    wallet: str,
+    event: str,
+    name: str | None = None,
+    email: str | None = None,
+    user_id: str | None = None,
+    extra: dict | None = None,
 ) -> Ticket:
     now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
-    ticket = Ticket(
+
+    # name/email columns are NOT NULL in the schema, so we store "" when only
+    # user_id is supplied. _parse_ticket_row reverses this on read.
+    if user_id:
+        db_name = ""
+        db_email = ""
+    else:
+        db_name = name or ""
+        db_email = email or ""
+
+    db_ticket = Ticket(
         id=payment_hash,
         wallet=wallet,
         event=event,
-        name=name,
-        email=email,
+        name=db_name,
+        email=db_email,
+        user_id=user_id,
+        registered=False,
+        paid=False,
+        reg_timestamp=now,
+        time=now,
+        extra=TicketExtra(**extra) if extra else TicketExtra(),
+    )
+    await db.insert("events.ticket", db_ticket)
+
+    return Ticket(
+        id=payment_hash,
+        wallet=wallet,
+        event=event,
+        name=name,
+        email=email,
+        user_id=user_id,
         registered=False,
         paid=False,
         reg_timestamp=now,
         time=now,
         extra=TicketExtra(**extra) if extra else TicketExtra(),
     )
-    await db.insert("events.ticket", ticket)
-    return ticket
 
 
 async def update_ticket(ticket: Ticket) -> Ticket:
-    await db.update("events.ticket", ticket)
+    ticket_dict = ticket.dict()
+    if ticket_dict.get("name") is None:
+        ticket_dict["name"] = ""
+    if ticket_dict.get("email") is None:
+        ticket_dict["email"] = ""
+    await db.update("events.ticket", Ticket(**ticket_dict))
     return ticket
 
 
 async def get_ticket(payment_hash: str) -> Ticket | None:
-    return await db.fetchone(
+    row = await db.fetchone(
         "SELECT * FROM events.ticket WHERE id = :id",
         {"id": payment_hash},
-        Ticket,
     )
+    if not row:
+        return None
+    return Ticket(**_parse_ticket_row(row))
 
 
 async def get_tickets(wallet_ids: str | list[str]) -> list[Ticket]:
     if isinstance(wallet_ids, str):
         wallet_ids = [wallet_ids]
     q = ",".join([f"'{wallet_id}'" for wallet_id in wallet_ids])
-    return await db.fetchall(
-        f"SELECT * FROM events.ticket WHERE wallet IN ({q})",
-        model=Ticket,
+    rows = await db.fetchall(f"SELECT * FROM events.ticket WHERE wallet IN ({q})")
+    return [Ticket(**_parse_ticket_row(row)) for row in rows]
+
+
+async def get_tickets_by_user_id(user_id: str) -> list[Ticket]:
+    """All tickets owned by the given LNbits user_id."""
+    rows = await db.fetchall(
+        "SELECT * FROM events.ticket WHERE user_id = :user_id ORDER BY time DESC",
+        {"user_id": user_id},
     )
+    return [Ticket(**_parse_ticket_row(row)) for row in rows]
 
 
 async def delete_ticket(payment_hash: str) -> None:
@@ -107,8 +176,8 @@ async def delete_event(event_id: str) -> None:
 
 
 async def get_event_tickets(event_id: str) -> list[Ticket]:
-    return await db.fetchall(
+    rows = await db.fetchall(
         "SELECT * FROM events.ticket WHERE event = :event",
         {"event": event_id},
-        Ticket,
     )
+    return [Ticket(**_parse_ticket_row(row)) for row in rows]
diff --git a/models.py b/models.py
index fa1569f..0216653 100644
--- a/models.py
+++ b/models.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from datetime import datetime
 
 from fastapi import Query
-from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr, Field, validator
+from pydantic import BaseModel, EmailStr, Field, root_validator, validator
 
 
 class PromoCode(BaseModel):
@@ -94,21 +94,36 @@ class TicketExtra(BaseModel):
 
 
 class CreateTicket(BaseModel):
-    name: str
-    email: EmailStr
+    name: str | None = None
+    email: EmailStr | None = None
+    user_id: str | None = None  # LNbits user id (alternative to name+email)
     promo_code: str | None = None
     refund_address: str | None = None
     nostr_identifier: str | None = None
     payment_method: str | None = None
     fiat_provider: str | None = None
 
+    @root_validator
+    def validate_identifiers(cls, values):
+        name = values.get("name")
+        email = values.get("email")
+        user_id = values.get("user_id")
+        if not user_id and not (name and email):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Either user_id or both name and email must be provided"
+            )
+        if user_id and (name or email):
+            raise ValueError("Cannot provide both user_id and name/email")
+        return values
+
 
 class Ticket(BaseModel):
     id: str
     wallet: str
     event: str
-    name: str
-    email: str
+    name: str | None = None
+    email: str | None = None
+    user_id: str | None = None
     registered: bool
     paid: bool
     time: datetime
@@ -118,7 +133,7 @@ class Ticket(BaseModel):
 
 class PublicTicket(BaseModel):
     event: str
-    name: str
+    name: str | None = None
     registered: bool
     paid: bool
     time: datetime