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.

Last Updated: June 2026

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 under an hour. This guide walks through every step, from plugin installation 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.

According to Statista, global online raffle and lottery participation reached 184 million users in 2024 and is projected to grow at roughly 8% annually through 2028. Capturing even a fraction of that appetite through your own store, rather than a third-party platform, is a meaningful competitive advantage.

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 to your WooCommerce product editor, manages all ticket inventory automatically, and includes a built-in random winner picker that logs a verifiable audit trail. For a side-by-side comparison of all major options, see the best WooCommerce raffle plugins guide.

To install ReviewRaffles:

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins, then Add New Plugin.
2. Search for "ReviewRaffles" or upload the plugin ZIP file obtained from your account at reviewraffles.com.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.
4. Navigate to ReviewRaffles, then Settings. Enter your license key and connect your WooCommerce store. The setup wizard completes in under five minutes.

Once activated, you will see a new "Raffle" product type inside WooCommerce. No coding is required at any stage of this process.

Step 2: Create Your Raffle Product

With ReviewRaffles active, go to Products, then Add New. In the Product Data panel, switch the product type dropdown from "Simple product" to "Raffle." This unlocks the raffle-specific fields described below.

Field	What to Enter	Notes
Ticket Price	Price per raffle entry	Can be any amount; free raffles use $0.00
Total Seats	Maximum number of tickets available	Inventory closes automatically when reached
Max Tickets Per Customer	Entry limit per buyer	Helps ensure broad participation
Draw Date	Date and time of winner selection	Displayed as a countdown on the product page
Prize Description	Plain text or HTML prize details	Appears in the product description and confirmation email

Fill in your raffle title, a detailed product description explaining the prize and rules, and at least one high-quality product image. The product image appears in the WooCommerce shop grid and on the raffle page itself. Write your description for clarity: list the prize, its retail value, how the winner is chosen, and any eligibility restrictions.

Step 3: Set Your Raffle Rules and Legal Compliance

Before you launch, establish clear rules and verify that your raffle structure complies with the laws in your jurisdiction. This is not optional. Raffle and lottery regulations vary significantly by country, US state, and Canadian province. The key legal distinction in most jurisdictions is whether a raffle requires a purchase to enter. If it does, it may be classified as a lottery, which typically requires a gaming license.

Common compliance steps include:

• Publishing your official raffle rules as a standalone page on your site, covering eligibility, entry method, draw date, prize details, and odds of winning.
• Offering a free alternate method of entry (AMOE) where required by law. ReviewRaffles supports a free ticket request form that satisfies AMOE requirements in the US and Canada.
• Displaying the total number of tickets available so buyers can calculate their odds before purchasing.
• Retaining a complete record of all ticket purchases and the winner-selection process for at least 12 months after the draw.

Consult a local attorney if you are running a high-value raffle or selling tickets across multiple jurisdictions. The UK Gambling Commission and the US Federal Trade Commission both publish free guidance on promotional sweepstakes and raffles that is worth reading before launch.

Step 4: Sell Raffle Seats Through Your WooCommerce Checkout

Once the raffle product is published, ticket sales work identically to any other WooCommerce product purchase. Buyers add tickets to the cart, proceed through checkout, pay, and receive an order confirmation email that includes their ticket numbers.

ReviewRaffles assigns a unique ticket number to each seat purchased and emails it to the buyer automatically. The raffle product page displays a live seat counter showing how many tickets remain, which creates urgency without any manual updates on your part. When the total seat count is reached, the product automatically moves to "sold out" status and closes the checkout.

A few tactics that consistently improve ticket sales:

• Bundle pricing: offer a discount for buying three or five tickets at once. WooCommerce's built-in grouped products or a quantity discount plugin handles this without touching ReviewRaffles settings.
• Email your existing customer list with a direct link to the raffle product page. Customers who have purchased from you before convert at a significantly higher rate than cold traffic.
• Display a countdown timer prominently. ReviewRaffles injects a countdown block onto the product page that updates in real time.
• Add the raffle to your WooCommerce homepage widget or a dedicated "Raffles" shop category so it surfaces naturally during regular browsing.

Step 5: Pick a Verified Random Winner

On the draw date, navigate to ReviewRaffles, then Draws in your WordPress dashboard. Locate your raffle and click "Run Draw." ReviewRaffles pulls the complete ticket list from WooCommerce orders, runs a cryptographically random selection using PHP's random_int() function (which uses the operating system's CSPRNG), and logs the winning ticket number alongside a timestamp and the seed used. This audit trail can be exported as a PDF if you need to demonstrate fairness to participants.

The winner receives an automated email from your WooCommerce store with their winning ticket number, prize details, and instructions for claiming the prize. You can customize this email template inside WooCommerce, Emails. ReviewRaffles also lets you publish a winner announcement directly to the raffle product page, keeping the page live as social proof for future raffles.

Transparent winner selection matters for repeat participation. When buyers can see that the process is documented and verifiable, they trust the raffle and are more likely to enter again. Many store owners screenshot or screen-record the draw and post it to their social channels, which also drives organic reach for the announcement. A dedicated random winner picker page is a useful standalone tool for stores that run multiple raffles concurrently; that functionality is available natively inside ReviewRaffles without any additional plugin.

Step 6: Announce the Winner and Follow Up

Winner announcement is both a fulfillment step and a marketing opportunity. Once the winner has been notified privately and confirmed, publish the announcement publicly. The standard sequence that works well for WooCommerce raffle stores:

1. Send the winner a private WooCommerce order note or direct email with prize claim instructions. Set a 48-hour response deadline to keep the process moving.
2. Update the raffle product page with the winner's first name and ticket number. ReviewRaffles has a one-click "Publish Winner" button that does this automatically.
3. Post to your social channels with a photo of the prize and a short video clip of the draw if you recorded it.
4. Send a follow-up email to all non-winning participants. Thank them for entering, highlight the verified fairness of the draw, and give them early access to your next raffle. This email consistently generates 20 to 40 percent of the ticket sales for the following raffle.

How to Run a Raffle Online: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even well-intentioned raffle operators run into avoidable problems. Here are the most common issues and how ReviewRaffles addresses them:

Mistake	Why It Hurts	ReviewRaffles Fix
Overselling tickets	Buyers lose trust; legal exposure	Hard inventory cap closes checkout automatically
No audit trail for winner selection	Accusations of unfairness, potential legal issues	Timestamped draw log exported as PDF
Manual ticket numbering	Errors, duplicates, hours of admin time	Unique ticket numbers assigned per order automatically
Forgetting to close the raffle	Tickets sold after draw date; refund headaches	Auto-closes on draw date/time set in product editor
No AMOE for US/Canada participants	Lottery classification risk	Built-in free entry request form

Scaling Up: Running Multiple Raffles at Once

Once your first raffle runs smoothly, you can operate several concurrently. ReviewRaffles supports unlimited simultaneous raffle products, each with its own seat count, draw date, and prize. A common model among ReviewRaffles customers is a rotating monthly raffle anchored to a high-value prize, supported by smaller weekly raffles that keep the customer email list engaged year-round.

WooCommerce's native reporting shows total revenue, average order value, and conversion rate for each raffle product the same way it tracks any other product. This makes it straightforward to identify which prize types, price points, and seat counts generate the best return. Over time, this data becomes the foundation for a raffle calendar that reliably drives revenue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a special license to run a raffle online?

It depends on your jurisdiction. In most US states and Canadian provinces, a raffle that requires a purchase to enter is classified as a lottery and may require a gaming license. Offering a free alternate method of entry eliminates this classification in many regions. Always check your local laws or consult a legal professional before launching a paid raffle.

How do I make sure the winner is chosen fairly?

Use a plugin that generates a cryptographically random result and produces a verifiable audit log. ReviewRaffles uses PHP's random_int() function, which draws from the operating system's cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator. The draw result is logged with a timestamp and can be exported as a PDF.

Can I run a free raffle on WooCommerce?

Yes. Set the ticket price to $0.00 on the raffle product. WooCommerce will process a $0 order and still assign a ticket number. This is useful for email list building or product launch promotions where the goal is participation rather than revenue.

How many tickets should I sell for my first raffle?

A good starting point is 100 to 200 tickets at a price point where ticket revenue covers the prize cost plus roughly 20 percent margin. For a $200 prize, 100 tickets at $2.40 each generates $240 in revenue, covering the prize with a $40 buffer. Scale seat counts and prices once you have data on your audience's buying behavior.

Does ReviewRaffles work with WooCommerce Subscriptions or membership plugins?

ReviewRaffles is compatible with standard WooCommerce and most WooCommerce extensions. It does not require WooCommerce Subscriptions. If you want to offer automatic monthly raffle entries to subscribers, a WooCommerce Subscriptions integration is possible but requires custom development or a compatible add-on.