Run a Giveaway during a show Run a Giveaway during a show
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Run a Giveaway during a show

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You can start a Giveaway during your show to offer an item for free to viewers. Giveaways let you thank your viewers and encourage them to stay engaged in your show

You can start a Giveaway while hosting a show in the Whatnot app or on whatnot.com.

On this page: 

How Giveaways work

  • Giveaways run for 5 minutes to give viewers time to enter.
  • You can draw a winner early or wait for the timer to finish.
  • To win, anyone who enters must be in your show at the time the winner is drawn.
  • Winners are selected by a randomizer and announced publicly in your show.
  • After a Giveaway starts, you can’t pause or cancel it.
  • You can run one Giveaway at a time. 

Tip: Only sellers can see the Giveaway countdown timer. Viewers won’t see it.

For details about Giveaway types, guidelines, and common questions, check out Giveaways Overview. 

How to run a Giveaway 

Run a Giveaway on the app

  1. From your show, tap the Shop icon in the bottom-right corner.
  2. From your show's inventory, tap the Giveaway tab.
  3. (Optional) Create a Giveaway listing if you don’t already have one.
  4. Next to your listing, tap Run Giveaway. 
  5. Choose to: 
    • Wait for the 5-minute timer to finish; a winner is drawn automatically.
    • Tap the Giveaway box > End Giveaway to draw a winner early.

Run a Giveaway on web

  1. From whatnot.com, open your Shows page in Seller Hub. 
  2. Open your active show.
  3. In the left panel, click the Giveaways tab.
  4. (Optional) Create a Giveaway listing if you don’t already have one.
  5. Next to your listing, click Start Giveaway.
  6. Choose to:
    • Wait for the 5-minute timer to finish; a winner is drawn automatically. 
    • Click End Giveaway in the right panel to draw a winner early.

After the giveaway

After the Giveaway ends, an order is created for the winner. They'll see it in their Activity tab, and you’ll see it in your Shipments page in Seller Hub—either as its own shipment or bundled with the buyer’s other unshipped items. 

Make sure to ship the Giveaway item within the 2-business-day window.

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