Purchasing Raffle Tickets

Once your raffle campaign has been configured, you can begin processing raffle ticket purchases.

If you have not yet set up your raffle campaign, please complete these steps first - Creating a Raffle Campaign.

Before launching your raffle, we recommend testing the online purchase process to ensure the widget is easy to follow and that ticket fulfilment and acknowledgements are working as expected.

Online Purchases

The Event widget is recommended as the primary method for processing raffle ticket purchases. Using the widget allows Vega to automatically process the payment, allocate ticket numbers, and send the configured ticket fulfilment acknowledgement.

The widget can be embedded on your website using the iframe code available under Admin > Widget Configuration > Event.

You can also promote the raffle through email and other channels using a personalised link to the widget.

A widget can also be used to process purchases made over the phone. For example, telefundraising agents can be assigned a separate raffle channel and widget to process purchases during calls.

More information on this can be found in the Event Widget - Widget Code article.

Viewing Online Purchases

All purchases made through the widget can be viewed under:

Money > Website Payment Log

From the Website Payment Log, you can view limited information about each contact who has purchased tickets.

Click a payment to open the contact's dashboard, where you can view:

Information entered through the widget
Any attributes included on the widget
Ticket numbers assigned to the contact

Note: The Vega ID must have been generated and the payment must have a Posted status of True before you can open the contact from the Website Payment Log.

Processing Purchases in Vega

Raffle ticket purchases can also be processed directly in Vega, either for an individual contact or in a batch.

To add a raffle ticket purchase directly in Vega, the raffle campaign action must be published.

When entering the payment, you must select the product being purchased. This ensures the payment is recorded as a raffle ticket purchase and that ticket numbers are allocated.

If the purchaser is also making an additional donation, add a second distribution without an associated product. This will record the additional amount as a donation rather than as a ticket purchase.

The recording below demonstrates how to add a raffle ticket purchase in Vega.

Ticket Fulfilment

The same ticket fulfilment document configured for online purchases can be used when processing a purchase directly in Vega.

After a successful payment is processed, the ticket fulfilment document can be emailed to the purchaser. If the purchase is unsuccessful, the ticket fulfilment document will not be sent.

Each raffle ticket purchase is recorded on the contact's:

Payments & Recurring tab, showing the payment and ticket purchase details
Products tab, showing the ticket type and assigned ticket numbers

Example: Payments and Recurring Tab

Example: Products tab

Unable to Process Ticket Purchases

There are several situations where a raffle ticket purchase cannot be successfully processed through the widget or directly in Vega.

These transactions may be recorded with a Tickets Suspended status. Suspended transactions do not have ticket numbers assigned, but they may still reduce the number of tickets available.

Important: Because suspended transactions can reduce the remaining ticket count without being assigned ticket numbers, the ticket number range should always be larger than the maximum ticket capacity.

The following sections explain the most common reasons a ticket purchase may not be processed and what action can be taken.

Tickets Have Run Out

When the maximum ticket capacity set for the raffle campaign action has been reached, no further ticket sales can be processed.

The widget will display a message indicating that the raffle is full. When 10 or fewer tickets remain, the widget will also display the number of tickets remaining.

The message displayed when the raffle is full can be customised by assigning a document as the Event capacity full document under the widget configuration. If no document is assigned, Vega will display the default message.

If you try to add a ticket purchase directly in Vega after the ticket capacity has been reached, 0 items available will be displayed and the raffle products will no longer be available for selection.

Concurrent Purchases

In some circumstances, two purchasers may attempt to purchase the final available tickets at approximately the same time.

The widget updates the number of tickets remaining as transactions are processed. However, if multiple transactions are being processed simultaneously, both payments may initially be accepted.

When Vega processes the second transaction, it will check the available capacity and prevent ticket numbers from being issued above the maximum capacity. The payment will still be recorded, but no ticket numbers will be assigned, and the transaction will appear with a Tickets Suspended status.

The Pay Details will indicate why the tickets were suspended.

If your raffle is not restricted by a specific ticket capacity due to licence requirements, you can:

Unpublish the raffle campaign action.
Increase the ticket capacity and ticket number range.
Save the changes and republish the raffle.
Right-click the suspended payment and select Set as Successful.
Confirm that ticket numbers have been assigned.
Manually email the ticket fulfilment document from the payment.

Important: If your raffle is subject to a licensed ticket capacity, do not increase the capacity beyond the permitted limit.

The Campaign or Ticket Type Has Ended

Tickets cannot be purchased if the campaign's ticket purchase period has ended, or if the available period for a specific ticket product has ended.

On the widget:

Products with a specific end date are no longer displayed after that date.
Once the campaign end date is reached, a message is displayed and the Submit button is hidden.

The message displayed after the campaign has ended can be customised by assigning a document as the Event expired document under the widget configuration.

A widget may have been opened and completed while the raffle was still active but submitted after the campaign or product end date. When Vega begins processing the transaction, it checks the relevant dates and will not issue tickets if the purchase period has expired.

If the purchase should have been allowed, update the relevant campaign or product end date and then:

Right-click the payment and select Set as Successful.
Confirm that ticket numbers have been assigned.
Manually email the ticket fulfilment document from the payment.

Invalid or Declined Card Payments

If a credit card payment is declined when a purchase is attempted through the widget or directly in Vega, the payment attempt may still be recorded against the raffle campaign, but no ticket numbers will be assigned.

For widget purchases, the purchaser will see a message advising that the payment was declined and the purchase was not processed.

Declined widget payments can be viewed in:

Money > Website Payment Log

The payment will also appear on the contact with a Payment Declined status.

Important: Do not simply update a declined payment to Successful. Declined payments do not have the ticket distribution allocated when they are created, so ticket numbers will not be assigned.

If the purchaser successfully completes the payment after the decline, a new successful payment should be added to the contact.

Cancelling or Refunding a Raffle Purchase

There may be occasions when a raffle ticket purchase needs to be cancelled, refunded, or corrected.

If a credit card payment needs to be refunded, the refund must first be processed through your payment gateway and then recorded in Vega.

To cancel a payment in Vega:

Open the payment on the contact.
Right-click the payment.
Select Delete Payment.

The payment status will be updated to Payment Cancelled.

Cancelled payments remain available in reports; however, the ticket numbers assigned to the original purchase are not returned to the available ticket pool or reallocated to another purchase.

Important: Always record the reason for cancelling the payment in the Pay Details section for audit purposes.

Partial Refunds

A raffle ticket purchase cannot have only some of its tickets cancelled.

If a partial refund is required:

Cancel the original payment in Vega.
Process a new payment for the correct number of tickets.
Record the reason for the cancellation in Pay Details.

This ensures the payment and ticket allocation accurately reflect the final purchase.

“Some content in this article may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by staff.”

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