A prize account holds a prize pool for a competition, such as a golf club's Saturday morning competition. Members contribute money to the prize account through a sale at your Lightspeed Retail R-Series register, and you pay the prize money to winners as Wrapped gift cards, from the register or the dashboard. Wrapped tracks the balance, every participant's contributions and payouts, and every transaction.
Prize accounts work with Lightspeed Retail R-Series only. Gift cards › Prize accounts appears in the sidebar once prize accounts are turned on for an R-Series sales channel.
How it works
- You create a prize account for a competition and link it to a Lightspeed product (for example "Prize Account Top-up") and a shop location.
- When a member pays their entry into the prize pool, staff add the contribution to the member's sale in Lightspeed. When the sale is completed, the amount is added to the prize account balance and the member becomes a participant.
- When the competition is decided, you choose the winner and an amount. Wrapped creates a gift card for that amount, sends it to the winner, takes the amount off the prize account balance, and marks the participant as a Winner.
- The winner spends the gift card like any other Wrapped gift card.
Step 1: Set up Lightspeed
- In Lightspeed Retail R-Series, create a tax class called Prize Account (Settings > Taxes).
- Create an item called Prize Account Top-up. Turn off "Discounts allowed" and "Taxable", and set its tax class to Prize Account.
- Copy the item ID from the address bar.
Step 2: Turn on prize accounts in Wrapped
- Go to Settings › Sales channels and open the settings for your Lightspeed Retail R-Series channel.
- Tick Turn on prize accounts.
- Paste the item ID into Default prize account top-up product ID.
- Save.
Gift cards › Prize accounts now appears in the sidebar.
To contribute and pay out from the register, staff use Wrapped's Prize Accounts screen in Lightspeed. Contact the Wrapped team to have it added to your R-Series register. See also Connect R-Series using the web extension.
Step 3: Create a prize account
- Go to Gift cards › Prize accounts and select Create prize account.
- Enter a Name, for example "Saturday Morning Competition".
- Choose the Sales channel and Location or shop. These can't be changed later.
- Check the Product ID. It's filled in from your default product; each prize account can use its own.
- Optionally set a Default contribution (pre-fills the amount at the register and in the dashboard) and Prize gift card expiry in days. Leave the expiry blank so prize gift cards never expire.
- Turn on Allow fund distribution at the POS if staff should be able to pay out prizes from the register.
- Select Create prize account.
New prize accounts start Active.
Take contributions at the register
- Start a sale in Lightspeed and attach the member as the customer. Wrapped won't add a contribution without a customer on the sale.
- Open Wrapped's Prize Accounts screen. It lists the active prize accounts for this shop with their balance and participant count.
- Select the prize account, then Contribute to Prize Account.
- Check the amount and confirm. The prize account product is added to the sale.
- Complete the sale as normal.
The prize account balance updates once the sale is completed and Wrapped has processed it. If the sale is voided, the contribution is taken back off the prize account balance.
Pay out prize money
From the dashboard:
- Go to Gift cards › Prize accounts and open the prize account.
- On the Participants tab, find the winner and select Distribute prize.
- Enter the Amount, or select Use the full balance.
- Select Create gift card.
Wrapped shows the new Gift card code with View gift card. The amount can't be more than the prize account's balance.
From the register (when Allow fund distribution at the POS is on): open Wrapped's Prize Accounts screen, select the prize account, choose Distribute Prize Money, pick the winner under Select Winner, enter the amount and confirm. The gift card code is shown on screen, and the staff member is recorded in the transaction.
Either way, the gift card is created in your connected sales channels, marked promotional, and emailed to the winner's email address using your standard gift card email (if your gift card emails are turned on). If the prize account has a Prize gift card expiry, the card expires that many days after it's issued.
Add participants and contributions by hand
On the prize account's page:
- Add participant: enter a name and email address for someone who hasn't contributed at the register (for example an entry paid another way).
- Contribute next to a participant: enter an amount and select Record contribution. This adds to the balance without a Lightspeed sale, so only use it for money you've collected another way.
The prize account page
- Balance (available to distribute), Contributions, Prize money distributed and Participants.
- Participants tab: each participant's Contributed and Distributed amounts, with winners listed first.
- Transactions tab: every contribution and payout with the date, type, customer, amount, Order ref, notes, Distributed by and a link to the gift card. Select Export CSV to download it.
- Settings: shop, Lightspeed product ID, default contribution, prize gift card expiry and whether distribution at the POS is allowed. Select Edit to change them.
Archiving
When a competition is over, open the menu on its row in Gift cards › Prize accounts and select Archive. An archived prize account keeps its balance, participants and transactions, and no longer shows at the register. Select Unarchive to make it active again.
Common questions
Why don't I see Prize accounts in the sidebar?
Prize accounts only appear when Turn on prize accounts is ticked on an active Lightspeed Retail R-Series sales channel.
A member contributed but the balance didn't change. Why?
The balance updates after the sale is completed. Check the sale was completed (not left open or voided) and that the prize account is Active.
Do prize gift cards count toward my gift card allowance?
Prize money is paid out as new Wrapped gift cards, and new gift cards count toward your monthly allowance. Contact the Wrapped team if you run large competitions.
Can I use prize accounts with Lightspeed Restaurant or another POS?
No. Prize accounts work with Lightspeed Retail R-Series only.
Does the winner need an email address?
It's needed for Wrapped to email the gift card. Without one, give the winner the code shown after you distribute the prize.
Can I undo a payout?
Not from the prize account. Void the prize gift card from its page if it was issued by mistake; the prize account balance isn't restored automatically. Contact the Wrapped team if you need the balance corrected.