Gift Purchases

One of the unique features of Raffle for WooCommerce is the ability for customers to purchase raffle tickets as gifts for others.

Enabling Gift Purchases

Gift purchasing is enabled per-raffle:

• Edit your raffle product.
• Go to Raffle Settings tab.
• Check Allow Gift Purchases.
• Save the product.

How It Works

Customer Experience

• Customer adds raffle tickets to cart.
• At checkout, they see a checkbox: "This is a gift for someone else".
• When checked, recipient fields appear:

- Recipient First Name (required) - Recipient Last Name (required) - Recipient Email (optional) - Gift Message (optional)

• Customer completes checkout normally

What Happens Next

• Order is placed with gift information attached.
• Tickets are generated in the recipient's name (not purchaser's).
• Purchaser receives order confirmation email.
• Recipient receives gift notification email (if email provided).
• Winner selection uses recipient's name.

Checkout Compatibility

Gift purchasing works with both checkout types:

Classic Checkout

• Fields appear below the order review section.
• Standard WooCommerce form styling.

Block Checkout

• Fields appear in a collapsible section.
• Native block editor styling.
• No build process required.

Email Notifications

To Purchaser

Standard WooCommerce order confirmation, plus:

• Confirmation that tickets were gifted.
• Recipient name.
• Ticket numbers.

To Recipient

Special "Gift Received" email including:

• Who sent the gift?
• Gift message (if provided)
• Raffle details
• Ticket numbers
• Link to view raffle

Note: Recipient email is optional. If not provided, only the purchaser receives notification.

My Account Integration

Purchaser's View

In My Account → My Tickets, purchasers see:

• Gifted badge on tickets they bought for others.
• Recipient name displayed.

Recipient's View

If recipient has an account with the same email:

• Received badge on tickets gifted to them.
• Purchaser name displayed (as "Gift from...").

Admin View

Order Details

Gift orders show a special section with:

• Gift recipient name.
• Recipient email.
• Gift message.

Orders List

• Gift orders show a heart icon in the "Gift" column.
• Easy to identify gift purchases at a glance.

Tickets Admin

In WooCommerce → Raffle Tickets:

• "Is Gift" column shows Yes/No.
• Filter tickets by gift status.

Winner Selection

Important: When a gift ticket wins, the recipient is the winner, not the purchaser.

• Winner notification goes to recipient email (if provided).
• Prize fulfillment is for the recipient.
• Audit trail shows both purchaser and recipient.

Use Cases

Charity Fundraisers

• Supporters buy tickets for elderly relatives who can't purchase online.
• Corporate sponsors purchase tickets for multiple employees.

Family Events

• Parents buy tickets for children.
• Family members gift entries to each other.

Club Raffles

• Members purchase tickets for spouses/partners.
• Gift tickets as birthday presents.

Best Practices

• Encourage email collection - Helps with recipient notification.
• Set reasonable limits - Per-customer limits apply to purchaser.
• Clear terms - Explain that winner is the recipient, not purchaser.
• Gift message - Enable for a personal touch.

FAQ

Q: Can one person buy gifts for multiple people? A: Currently, all tickets in a single purchase go to one recipient. For multiple recipients, place separate orders. Q: What if recipient doesn't have an account? A: They'll still win if selected. They can create an account with the same email to see their tickets. Q: Can the purchaser see if the recipient won? A: Yes, they receive notification as the order owner.