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Winlink Prize Fallbacks

What happens to a Winlink Instant Win when the linked competition has ended, has sold out, or would take the winner over its ticket limit.

A Winlink Instant Win awards the winner free tickets in another of your live competitions instead of a normal prize. The short answer to the most common worry: a Winlink prize is never lost. If the platform cannot hand over the free tickets for any reason, it automatically gives the winner the equivalent value as site credit instead, so nobody is left empty handed.

This page explains the three situations where free tickets cannot be allocated, what the winner receives in their place, and what it means for your budget.

A quick recap of how Winlink works

When you set up a Winlink Instant Win, you turn on the Winlink toggle and choose:

  1. The competition you want to send the winner into. This must be a different competition from the one being played, and it must be live. The list only shows your live competitions, so you cannot accidentally link to one that has finished.

  2. The number of free tickets to award the winner in that linked competition.

You fill in the rest of the Instant Win details (image, name, and so on) just as you would for any other prize.

When someone wins, the platform tries to drop those free tickets straight into the linked competition. Most of the time that works perfectly, and the winner gets a normal order confirmation email for their free tickets. Those new tickets are then checked for Instant Wins in the linked competition too, so a Winlink can happily chain into further wins.

New to Instant Wins? Start with Add Instant Wins for the full setup walkthrough. This page only covers the Winlink fallback behaviour.

When free tickets cannot be allocated

There are three moments where the linked competition simply cannot accept the free tickets at the time the prize is processed:

  1. The linked competition has already ended. The draw is over, so there is nowhere to put the tickets.

  2. The free tickets would take the winner over the linked competition's ticket limit. If that competition has a maximum number of tickets per person, and the Winlink tickets would push the winner past it, they cannot be added.

  3. There are no tickets left in the linked competition. It has effectively sold out at the moment the prize is processed.

In every one of these cases, the platform does the same thing: it converts the prize into site credit and adds it to the winner's wallet automatically.

How the site credit is worked out

This is the part worth reading carefully, because it affects your costs.

The credit amount is the linked competition's ticket price multiplied by the number of Winlink tickets. It uses the ticket price of the competition you linked to, not the competition the winner was actually playing.

For example, if you Winlink 10 free tickets into a competition whose tickets cost £5 each, the winner receives £50 in site credit when the fallback kicks in.

The winner can spend that credit on any future purchase on your site.

Site credit is real money against your business. A Winlink that points at a higher priced competition costs you more per fallback than one pointing at a cheaper competition. Keep this in mind when choosing the linked competition and the number of free tickets, especially if you are linking into a premium draw.

What the winner sees

  • When tickets are allocated normally: the winner gets a standard order confirmation email for their free tickets in the linked competition.

  • When the fallback applies: the winner gets a "Site Credit" email instead. It explains the reason in plain language (the raffle has ended, they had already reached the ticket limit, or tickets were unavailable) and shows the breakdown, for example 10 tickets × £5.00 = £50.00. It confirms the credit has been added to their wallet.

Either way, the win is recorded as settled in your order history, so your records stay tidy.

What this means for you

  • The prize always lands. The winner receives either the free tickets or matching site credit. There is no situation where they get nothing.

  • Expect some credit payouts late in a campaign. Because a linked competition can end or sell out before every Winlink prize is claimed, the later a Winlink is won, the more likely it pays out as credit rather than tickets. This is normal and nothing to worry about.

  • Plan the link with cost in mind. Since the credit value follows the linked competition's ticket price, linking into your most expensive draw means your fallback payouts are larger. Pick the link that makes sense for both your funnel and your budget.

However the prize resolves, your winner is looked after automatically. You do not need to step in or fix anything by hand.

Add Instant Wins

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