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Community Raffles

How Raffles Work

Put up a prize. The community buys tickets. One lucky ticket wins. No fees. Ever.

For the Organizer

  1. 1

    List your prize

    Add photos, a description, and a story. What are you raffling? A painting? A cake? Old Lego sets?

  2. 2

    Set the ticket price

    EUR 0.50? EUR 2? EUR 5? Keep it low — everyone should be able to play.

  3. 3

    Set the rules

    How many tickets? When is the draw? Max tickets per person?

  4. 4

    Write payment instructions

    "Pay me cash at the bar" or "Send to my PayPal" — La Piazza never touches your money.

  5. 5

    Publish

    Your raffle goes live. People can see it, share it, buy tickets.

  6. 6

    Confirm payments

    When someone pays, click Confirm next to their ticket. Now they are in the draw.

  7. 7

    Draw the winner

    Click "Draw Winner." The system picks one ticket at random — provably fair.

  8. 8

    Deliver the prize

    Contact the winner, arrange pickup or shipping.

  9. 9

    Earn trust

    Participants verify it was fair. You earn points. Next time, you can raffle something bigger.

For Ticket Buyers

  1. 1

    Find a raffle you like

    Browse the Raffles page or find one shared by a neighbor.

  2. 2

    Reserve tickets

    Pick how many. You have 48 hours to pay.

  3. 3

    Pay the organizer

    Cash, PayPal, bank transfer — whatever they listed.

  4. 4

    Wait for confirmation

    The organizer marks your payment as received.

  5. 5

    Watch the countdown

    When the draw happens, you will be notified.

  6. 6

    Win or lose gracefully

    Win? Congratulations! Lose? You supported your community for the price of a coffee.

  7. 7

    Verify the raffle

    Tell everyone if it was fair. Your vote builds community trust.

Trust Tiers

Every honest raffle unlocks higher limits. A scammer would have to run 5 legitimate raffles before they could try anything — the math doesn't work for them.

Completed Raffles Max Total Value
First time € 10
1 € 20
2 € 40
3 € 80
4 € 160
5 € 320

Reputation Points

Action Points
Ticket confirmed (buyer) +3
Win a raffle +10
Submit a verification +5
Complete a raffle (organizer) +25
80%+ say fair (organizer bonus) +15

Provably Fair Draw

When the organizer clicks "Draw Winner":

  1. The system generates a random secret code (seed)
  2. Lists all confirmed tickets in order
  3. Combines seed + list and runs SHA-256 (a math function)
  4. The result determines the winning ticket

Why it matters:

After the draw, the seed is published. Anyone can verify the winner was chosen fairly. If the organizer had tried to cheat, the math wouldn't match.

FAQ

No. Zero. Nothing. La Piazza does not touch your money. Payments happen directly between you and the ticket buyers.
Anything legal. A painting, a cake, old Lego sets, a guitar lesson, a basket of local wine.
Cancel anytime before the draw. No tickets sold = nothing to refund.
No. The draw uses provably fair cryptography. After the draw, a seed is published that anyone can verify. The math doesn't lie.
Leave a negative verification. This blocks the organizer from running bigger raffles. Other buyers will see the warning before buying tickets.
La Piazza is a listing platform. We don't organize or profit from raffles. Whether a specific raffle is "gambling" depends on your local laws. Our EUR 320 max keeps everything at community scale.
In an auction, the richest person wins. In a raffle, a EUR 2 ticket gives everyone the same chance.
If no action is taken within 6 days of the draw date, the raffle auto-cancels and everyone is notified.

Quick Reference

Min ticket price EUR 0.10
Max raffle value EUR 320
Min duration 24h
Max duration 30 days
Ticket hold 48h
Verification threshold 80%
Platform fee EUR 0.00 ♾️

"Instead of buying lottery tickets and losing to a company, buy raffle tickets and support your community."

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