How to manage a raffle with online and paper/in-person ticket sales
Setting up your raffle
Before starting your raffle, make sure you:
Check your local Gaming Authority regulations regarding raffles and obtain any necessary licenses
Determine how many physical tickets you plan to sell in person
Set up your online raffle form on Zeffy
Managing ticket numbers
There are two recommended approaches for handling ticket numbers across both sales channels: sequential numbering and manual entry.
Step 1: Sequential numbering
Designate a specific range for physical tickets (e.g., tickets 1-1000)
Fill out this ticket offset request form to have your online form start generating electronic tickets after your physical ticket range (e.g., starting at ticket #1001)
This ensures no duplicate ticket numbers between physical and online sales
We will need
1. The link to your Zeffy form.
2. The number you want your tickets to start at.
Ticket numbers can only be full digits: they cannot include letters, dashes, or leading zeros. By default, tickets start at number 1, but you can request a higher starting number with the offset form above.
The offset form only sets your starting number. The end of your ticket range is not configured on our end: to close sales at a specific ticket, set a ticket limit on your form as described in How can I limit my sales or set a maximum number of sales? For example, if you want to sell tickets from 100 to 500, request an offset and set your ticket limit to 400: sales will close at the 400th sale, which will be ticket number 500 with the offset.
Step 2: Manual entry
Log every paper ticket sale in Zeffy so all your sales are tracked in one place, each paper sale generates an electronic ticket, and your records stay accurate. There are two ways to get a paper sale into Zeffy: log it as a manual payment from your dashboard, or log cash directly in the Tap to Pay app while you sell.
Log a paper sale as a manual payment (dashboard)
Log into your Zeffy dashboard on a computer.
Click Payments.
At the top of the page, click Add payment, then Log payment.
Select the raffle form you are logging the sale on.
Select the raffle payment rate the buyer purchased.
Select the payment method that applies: Cash, Check, In kind, Stocks, or Other. To give someone a complimentary ticket, select Free instead: the payment value is set to zero and no amount is recorded.
Select the buyer's contact. Search for an existing contact by name or email address, or create a new contact record by entering their name and email address.
Check send email to contact so the buyer receives their confirmation email with their e-tickets. This option only appears once you have entered a valid email address for the buyer.
If you make a mistake, you can delete a manual entry from Payments: open the entry, click more in the top right-hand corner, then delete. Deleting an entry that has an e-ticket automatically cancels that ticket. For details, see Delete a manually entered payment.
Log cash sales in the Tap to Pay app
For in-person sales, the Zeffy Tap to Pay app lets you accept card payments directly on your phone and log cash on the spot, so paper sales land in Zeffy as you sell instead of being entered later from the dashboard. Raffle forms work in the app: the form types that do not appear in Tap to Pay are auction forms, recurring donations, and membership forms.
To log a cash payment in the app:
Open the Zeffy Tap to Pay app on your device.
Select the raffle form you are selling on.
Select the ticket rate as you normally would for a card sale.
At the bottom of the page, tap Log as cash payment, below the Checkout with Tap to Pay button.
Review the details and confirm to log the cash payment.
Cash entries show up in the Payments section of your dashboard like any other manual payment: you can view them, manage them, and delete them if needed. Logging a cash payment does not process a card transaction; it records the payment for tracking and reporting purposes only.
To use Tap to Pay, you need the app set up on a compatible device and a verified Zeffy account connected to your organization's bank account. Full setup steps are in App: Setting Up Zeffy Tap to Pay, and the full cash workflow is in Log a cash / offline payment in the Tap to Pay app.