The short answer
Charge on win means fans enter through your Shopify checkout with $0 charged today, and the card is locked for the draw. When you end the draw, winners are charged automatically and their orders are created on the spot. SuperSwipe calls this mode Standard. Pay After drops the card entirely: fans enter with a form, and winners get a private checkout link by email and SMS and pay while supplies last.
The draw itself is the same either way. Filtration, VIP access and the live draw work identically in both release modes. The only thing that changes is how fans commit, and when the money moves. If the mechanic is new to you, start with what a Shopify draw is and come back.
Reach for charge on win when demand is guaranteed and you want revenue locked the second the draw ends. Reach for Pay After when top of funnel matters most, because every field you remove means more entries.
How charge on win works
Fans hit the Enter Draw button on your product page and walk into a Shopify checkout. Before they confirm, the terms are shown in plain English: $0 charged today, full price only if their entry is picked. The payment method is saved and the card is locked before the draw closes. If you charge an entry fee, it is collected up front. The full walkthrough is on the how it works page.
Fans get a native order confirmation page and an entry receipt sent from your store. Their entry sits in their account, so they can check status from their order page, see when the draw closes, and cancel anytime.
When the window closes, filtration sweeps bots, duplicates and risky cards, and winners are drawn from clean entries only. Cards are charged the moment selection runs. No links, no reminders, no chasing. Winning orders land in Shopify like any other sale, ready to fulfill. Everyone else gets a calm, branded email confirming the draw closed and their card was never charged. No refund flow, no card capture.
How Pay After works
Fans see the same button, but it opens a form instead of a checkout. Name, email, phone, shipping address and size, and they are in. No account, no payment method, nothing to abandon. The terms say it plainly: no payment required to enter, a private checkout link if selected, and being selected does not guarantee stock.
When the draw closes, the same filtration wall runs, minus the card checks, because there is no card. Winners then receive a private checkout link by email and SMS that opens your own Shopify checkout. SMS ships on by default, and the text goes to the number from their entry: one transactional message per draw, and Reply STOP always works.
Not everyone who gets a link will pay, so SuperSwipe sends links in payment waves. Each wave sends the stock still unsold multiplied by your oversend factor, which you set from 1.00 to 3.00 when you create the drop. The platform default is 1.30. After a wave, SuperSwipe waits 20 minutes from the last link sent, checks what is still unsold, and sends a fresh wave to the next fans in line. Unpaid links from earlier waves do not reserve a pair, so every wave is a fresh batch sized to the stock left.
Live Shopify inventory is the referee. The moment remaining stock hits zero, link sending stops, and open unpaid links cannot create orders past real inventory. If stock outlasts demand, new waves stop once every eligible fan has had a link, and links already out stay payable while stock lasts. Either way, you never oversell.
Side by side
Same draw, different checkout. This is where the two modes part ways.
| What changes | Charge on win (Standard) | Pay After |
|---|---|---|
| How fans enter | Shopify checkout, terms shown first | A short form: name, email, phone, address and size |
| Card at entry | Required, saved for the win | None |
| When winners pay | Charged automatically the moment selection runs | Through a private checkout link by email and SMS, while supplies last |
| Fans not selected | Never charged | Never charged |
| Unpaid winners | The saved card is charged at selection. No links, no reminders, no chasing | Their link does not reserve a pair. Twenty minutes later, fresh links sized to unsold stock go to the next fans in line |
| Bot filtration | Full wall, including card risk checks | Full wall, minus card checks |
| How stock sells out | The number of winners is limited by your stock | Live Shopify inventory decides who can still pay, and link sending stops when stock hits zero |
| Best for | High heat drops where conversion is everything | Maximum reach and friction free entries |
Fans never pay a SuperSwipe fee in either mode. Stores pay 5% per selected entry, the app is free to install, and there are no contracts. See pricing.
Which one to choose
The trade is friction at entry against certainty of payment. A saved card means every winner is charged the second the draw ends, and revenue is locked before you ship a single order. A form means more fans get through the door, and payment happens link by link while supplies last.
Charge on win fits when:
- Demand is guaranteed and you want revenue locked the second the draw ends.
- You charge an entry fee and need it collected up front.
- Fulfillment is on a clock and you cannot wait on checkouts.
Pay After fits when:
- Top of funnel matters most. Every field you remove means more entries.
- Your audience hesitates to save a card just to enter.
- You want the demand signal first and payment second.
The choice is per release, not per brand. You pick a mode when you create the release, and both modes ship with every SuperSwipe plan. Where the mode sits next to stock, timing and fan rewards is covered in the limited release strategy guide.
What real drops chose
Both modes have carried hyped releases on real Shopify stores. The mode and the results below are as each case study reports them.
Charge on win
- Cactus Jack x Nike Pink Pack: the Air Jordan 1 Low SP ran as a Standard draw on shop.travisscott.com at $155. $0 today, $155 if you win, bots and fraud filtered from the pool, and 0 surprise charges, disputes or chargebacks from the draw.
- Victor Victor Air Force 1 '01 University Red: 646 pairs as a Standard draw on victorvictor.com at $150. Cards were authorized at entry, past spend on the store helped decide who qualified, one pair per customer was enforced across the draw, and only winners were charged.
Pay After
- Cactus Jack Phantom 6 Low Elite: entries reached 9.2x available stock, 818% more entries than inventory, because entering cost nothing and asked for no card. Links went out in waves calibrated to live inventory, and the Cleats and IC SE sold through with no queue, no downtime and no waiting room.
- Cactus Jack AF1 Ice Blue: winners got an SMS and an email at the same moment, each with a private checkout link, and paid $150 retail through the store's own checkout while supplies lasted.
- Cactus Jack Zoom Vapor 12 HC: ran the same day as the Ice Blue on the same storefront at $170, two draws side by side with no queues and no downtime.
- VIRGINIA Jellyfish Triple White: fans entered with a size, an email and shipping, winners paid $300 through the store's own checkout from a private link, and because every entry carried a size, the draw mapped the true size curve for the silhouette.
- VIRGINIA Jellyfish Crystal Sand: sold out on blackyachtrock.com five days before the wider adidas CONFIRMED release, 100% sell through with every allocated pair paid for by a verified fan.
VIP access works with both
Picking a mode does not change how you look after loyal customers. VIP access runs in either release mode and ships with every SuperSwipe plan. It comes two ways, and you can run either or both on the same release.
- Silent wins: paste your VIP emails, no variant needed. VIPs still enter the draw like everyone else and clear the same bot and filtration wall. During selection their matching entries are prioritized, then they go through the normal winner flow with the regular winner email. Nothing public signals the edge.
- Draft order links: add an email and a variant for each VIP. SuperSwipe creates a private Shopify draft order, reserves that inventory for 72 hours, and emails the VIP a private winner email with the checkout link. No draw entry required.
You choose Silent wins, Draft order links, or Both when you set up the drop. The VIP mode locks after links go out or winners exist, so a drop never changes its rules mid flight.
Questions brands ask
Are fans who are not selected ever charged?
No, in either mode. In charge on win the card is only authorized at entry, and losing entries are released and never charged. In Pay After there is no card at all. The only checkout that exists is the winner's private link.
What happens when a Pay After winner does not pay?
Their link does not reserve a pair. Twenty minutes after that wave's last link, SuperSwipe checks what is still unsold and sends a fresh wave, sized to that stock, to the next fans in line. Links already out stay payable while stock lasts, but being selected does not guarantee a pair. Fans who get there first check out.
Can I charge an entry fee?
SuperSwipe never charges fans anything in either mode: the store pays 5% per selected entry. Charge on win also supports an optional entry fee you set, collected up front at checkout. If you need it collected before the draw ends, pick charge on win.
Is the bot wall weaker in Pay After?
The same filtration wall runs in both modes. Charge on win adds card risk checks because there is a card to check. Pay After runs the full wall minus those checks, and the Phantom 6 drop above ran it at 9.2x demand.