TL;DR: Running a raffle on WooCommerce means installing a raffle plugin, creating a ticket product, setting your rules, selling seats, and drawing a verified random winner. ReviewRaffles handles every one of those steps inside your existing WooCommerce store without requiring a third-party platform or revenue share.

Last Updated: September 2026. Tested with WordPress 6.7, WooCommerce 9.5, and PHP 8.3.

How to Run a Raffle on Your WooCommerce Store (Step-by-Step)

If you want to run a raffle online, WooCommerce is one of the most practical foundations available. You already have a product catalog, a checkout flow, a payment processor, and a customer database. A dedicated raffle plugin layers the ticket logic, seat limits, and winner-selection tools on top of all of that, turning your store into a fully functional raffle platform in well under an hour. This guide walks through every step, from plugin selection through announcing your winner, using ReviewRaffles as the recommended tool throughout.

Why Run Your Raffle Through WooCommerce in 2026?

Dedicated raffle platforms charge ongoing subscription fees, take a percentage of ticket revenue, and sit outside the brand experience you have built on your own domain. Running your raffle inside WooCommerce eliminates those costs and keeps buyers in your ecosystem. Every ticket purchase becomes a WooCommerce order, which means customer records, order history, email sequences, and revenue analytics all live in the same place they always have.

WooCommerce also gives you payment flexibility. Stripe, PayPal, bank transfer, and dozens of regional gateways work out of the box. You are not locked into whatever processor a standalone raffle tool has negotiated. And because the raffle lives on your domain, every page view earns SEO credit for your site rather than someone else's.

For a detailed look at the plugins available to power this setup, see our guide to the Best WooCommerce Raffle Plugins in 2026, where we compare features, pricing, and legal compliance for each option.

Step 1: Choose and Install a WooCommerce Raffle Plugin

The first decision is which plugin will power the raffle logic. A purpose-built tool beats a general giveaway plugin because it handles seat limits, per-customer ticket caps, countdown timers, and compliant winner selection out of the box.

ReviewRaffles is built specifically for WooCommerce stores running on WordPress 6.7 and PHP 8.3. It adds a "Raffle" product type directly to your WooCommerce product editor and manages all ticket inventory, entry validation, and winner selection from your existing WordPress dashboard. Pricing starts at $200 per month, with no per-ticket commission or revenue share taken from your sales.

Once you have selected a plugin, installation follows the standard WordPress flow. Navigate to Plugins, Add New, upload the plugin zip or search by name, activate, and run the setup wizard if one is provided. ReviewRaffles connects to your existing WooCommerce settings and product categories automatically.

Step 2: Create Your Raffle Ticket Product

With the plugin active, go to Products, Add New. Select "Raffle" as the product type from the dropdown. You will now see raffle-specific settings alongside the standard WooCommerce fields.

Set the following fields:

• Ticket price: The per-ticket purchase price. Keep this low enough to encourage multiple ticket purchases but high enough to cover your prize cost and platform fees.
• Total seats available: The maximum number of tickets that can be sold before the raffle closes automatically. Limiting supply creates urgency.
• Tickets per customer: A per-order cap prevents any single buyer from acquiring an unfair proportion of entries and demonstrates fairness to all participants.
• Draw date: The date and time at which the winner will be selected. Display this prominently on the product page to set clear expectations.
• Prize description: A clear, accurate description of what the winner receives, including any shipping restrictions or value limitations. This is a legal requirement in most jurisdictions.

Save the product as a draft while you finish the remaining steps, then publish when everything is in place.

Step 3: Write Your Official Raffle Rules

Official rules are not optional. The Federal Trade Commission and equivalent regulators in the UK, Canada, and Australia require that any paid-entry raffle disclose the odds of winning, the prize value, entry restrictions, the draw date, and how winners will be notified. Failing to publish clear rules exposes your business to regulatory complaints and consumer backlash.

Your rules page should cover at minimum:

• Eligibility (age, geography, exclusions for employees and their families)
• How to enter and cost per entry
• Total number of tickets available and odds of winning
• Prize description and approximate retail value
• Draw date, time, and method of winner selection
• How and when the winner will be contacted
• What happens if a winner does not respond within the claim period
• Governing law and jurisdiction

Publish your rules as a standalone page on your WordPress site and link to it directly from the raffle product page. For a full legal breakdown of raffle types and compliance requirements, see our guide on Contest vs Sweepstakes vs Raffle: What Is the Difference?

Step 4: Run a Raffle Online That Drives Real Ticket Sales

Publishing the raffle product is only the beginning. Without a promotion plan, even a well-structured raffle will stall. The following channels tend to produce the best results for WooCommerce store owners:

• Email list: Send a dedicated launch email to your subscriber list the day the raffle opens. Include the prize image, ticket price, total seats available, and draw date. Follow up with a reminder three days before tickets sell out or the draw date arrives.
• Existing customers: WooCommerce lets you segment by purchase history. Customers who have already bought from you are the most likely to purchase a ticket. Target them first with a loyalty discount on additional tickets.
• Social media: Post the raffle link with a clear image of the prize. Encourage sharing by offering bonus entries for referrals, if your plugin supports referral tracking.
• On-site banners: A sitewide banner or pop-up pointing to the raffle product page can convert existing traffic into ticket buyers at no additional acquisition cost.

If your goal is also to generate product reviews during the campaign, consider structuring entry conditions around verified purchases. Our detailed guide on how to use product review giveaways to boost WooCommerce sales covers this approach in depth.

Step 5: Select and Announce Your Winner

When the draw date arrives, ReviewRaffles generates a cryptographically random winner selection from the verified ticket pool. The system logs the draw result with a timestamp, giving you an auditable record you can share with participants to demonstrate fairness.

Announce the winner publicly on the same channels you used to promote the raffle. This closes the loop for all participants, builds trust for future campaigns, and generates shareable content. Contact the winner privately via the email address captured at checkout. Give them a defined claim window (seven to fourteen days is standard) and specify what happens if they do not respond.

For a full breakdown of compliant random draw methods, see our guide on how to pick a random winner for your online raffle.

ReviewRaffles vs Standalone Raffle Platforms: A Quick Comparison

Feature	ReviewRaffles (WooCommerce)	Standalone Raffle Platform
Revenue share	None	2–5% of ticket sales
Customer data ownership	Full (your WooCommerce database)	Partial (locked in third-party CRM)
Payment gateway flexibility	Any WooCommerce gateway	Platform-mandated processor
Branding	Fully on your domain	Co-branded or third-party URL
SEO value	All traffic goes to your site	Traffic goes to external platform
Starting price	From $200/month	Varies, often $800+/month with fees
Best for	WooCommerce store owners wanting full control	One-off campaigns with no existing store

For a side-by-side cost breakdown against a leading competitor, see our full ReviewRaffles vs Pinnwebtech comparison.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Running a WooCommerce Raffle

Even experienced WooCommerce store owners make avoidable errors on their first raffle. The most common are:

• No published rules: Regulators and participants expect to see official rules before they buy. Publishing them after tickets go on sale creates legal exposure.
• Geographic overreach: Some U.S. states impose specific registration requirements for paid raffles. Check the laws in your operating jurisdiction before opening ticket sales nationally.
• Underpriced prizes relative to ticket costs: If your prize value is not clearly higher than the maximum any single buyer could spend on tickets, the raffle looks like a bad deal and will underperform.
• No winner follow-up plan: Know in advance how you will contact the winner, how long they have to claim, and what your unclaimed prize policy is. Document this in your official rules.
• Ignoring post-campaign analytics: WooCommerce order data tells you which channels drove the most ticket sales, which customer segments participated, and what your effective cost per entry was. Use this to improve your next campaign.

More campaign-building guidance is available on our Blog, including promotional tactics, legal compliance overviews, and platform comparisons. You can also explore the ReviewRaffles home page to see the full feature set and current pricing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run a raffle online legally without a gaming licence?

In most U.S. states, a paid-entry raffle where the winner is chosen by random draw is classified as a lottery and requires either a charitable gaming permit or is restricted to nonprofit organisations. For-profit businesses often structure campaigns as sweepstakes (free entry available) to avoid this requirement. Always consult a local attorney before running a paid-entry raffle. The Federal Trade Commission provides general promotional marketing guidance at ftc.gov.

How do I limit the number of tickets one customer can buy on WooCommerce?

ReviewRaffles includes a per-customer ticket cap setting on the raffle product editor. Set a maximum number of tickets per order and the plugin enforces this at checkout, blocking purchases that exceed the limit. This ensures fairness and is a required disclosure element in most official rules templates.

What is the difference between a raffle and a giveaway on WooCommerce?

A raffle requires participants to purchase a ticket for a chance to win. A giveaway (or sweepstakes) offers free entry and selects a winner at random without requiring a purchase. WooCommerce supports both models: raffles through a raffle plugin like ReviewRaffles, and giveaways through giveaway tools that integrate with your product catalog. The legal rules that apply differ significantly between the two, so the distinction matters.

How long should a WooCommerce raffle run?

Most WooCommerce store owners find that seven to twenty-one days is the optimal window. Short enough to create urgency, long enough to allow multiple promotional touchpoints. If you sell out your ticket inventory before the draw date, close the raffle early and draw on the announced date. Never extend a raffle after it has sold out, as this changes the odds for existing ticket holders and may violate your published rules.

Does ReviewRaffles work with standard WooCommerce payment gateways?

Yes. Because ReviewRaffles adds a product type to WooCommerce rather than replacing the checkout, it works with any payment gateway already active on your store, including Stripe, PayPal, Square, and regional bank transfer options. Ticket purchases are processed as standard WooCommerce orders, so your existing accounting and tax integrations continue to function without modification.