Wishpond: voting controls, terms and company facts for contest organisers
Wishpond is marketing software from Wishpond Technologies Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, and its contest tools can require an email address for votes. Its video-contest page lists CAPTCHA voting and limits on voter participation as further settings. Its terms make the account holder responsible for a promotion's rules and do not expressly address paid, incentivised or automated votes in a contest.
Prepared by ContestsOnline editorial desk — Revised
Voting controls on a Wishpond contest: email, CAPTCHA and limits
The video-contest page lists three controls an organiser can set for votes: require email addresses, enable CAPTCHA voting and limit voter participation. It adds that video entries go into a gallery automatically, and that the gallery shows video captions, entrants and votes.
The templates guide describes the email step from the voter's side: friends who vote have to submit their email address as well. One U.S. contest hosted on the platform went further and required a valid email address that the voter had to verify before a vote counted.
Frequency limits appear in two hosted promotions, and they differ. The U.S. one let anyone vote for a favorite photo up to once per minute until it ended. A pet contest counted only one vote per pet, per email address, per day. Each is quoted from that promotion's own published rules.
An email requirement makes every voter's address a lead, which is how a voting campaign doubles as lead generation. It also fixes the unit a limit counts: an address, not a person. The New Ventures BC rules ban multiple email addresses for finalists and voters for exactly that reason.
Platform rules and disqualification: what sits with the account holder
Wishpond's terms put promotion compliance on the account holder: the company states that it is not responsible or liable if the account holder's customers, or any third party, fail to comply with the rules, terms, policies and laws governing a promotion.
The same terms say that violating their conditions ends the account. They name no vote-related violation and do not expressly address paid, incentivised or automated votes in a contest, so the terms alone do not say what an entrant forfeits for manipulating a count.
The organiser's rules fill what the terms leave open. The vendor's winner-selection guide advises including a clause that reserves the right to disqualify any entrant suspected of manipulating the vote or paying for votes in the contest. The guide presents that as advice, and the terms name no vote-related violation, so the clause has to come from the organiser.
New Ventures BC's contest rules show such a clause in use: finalists and voters cannot use bots, pay for votes, use multiple email addresses or any other method to cheat the vote.
Fake votes and the two warning signs a winner-selection guide names
A count that shows one entry far ahead of every other, or one entry drawing votes from people in different countries, is what the vendor's guide tells an organiser to examine first. Neither pattern proves anything alone. A clear favourite is ordinary, and an international audience casts votes from abroad.
The signs say where to look: the email addresses behind the votes, their timing against the limit the rules published, and whether CAPTCHA voting was switched on. A vote detected as fake at that stage is one the organiser found, because the listed video voting controls act at the moment of voting and are not an audit afterwards.
Beyond those checks an organiser has to rely on review, which is why the disqualification clause belongs in the rules before the first vote.
- The counter: the running total for each entry.
- The gallery: entrants, captions and votes, as the video voting page describes it.
- The email addresses behind votes, where the rules required them.
- The platform checks documented for voting: CAPTCHA where enabled and email verification where required.
A Vancouver base and the events hosted elsewhere
Wishpond Technologies Ltd. is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada: the terms list a Vancouver mailing address, and the SMS terms name the company at the same Vancouver address with Canada after it.
Promotions hosted on the platform are not all in one place. One is a U.S. contest, and another is run by New Ventures BC, so the vendor's location says nothing about where a given event operates.
A vendor's base tells an organiser where formal notices go. It does not tell the organiser which laws apply to a promotion. Those follow the promotion's location, its prize and its entrants.
Sending to the voters you collect: the email marketing side
Wishpond's email marketing page says the software helps users send targeted messages, boost engagement and convert subscribers into customers, and that it is designed for marketers of all experience levels.
The page lists a drag-and-drop email builder, pre-built templates and step-by-step guides, and describes tools to send emails and nurture leads into sales.
For an organiser the link is the address list. A voting campaign that requires email addresses collects the contacts these tools send to, and whether an entrant agreed to receive marketing is a question the rules have to answer before any follow-up goes out.
Wishpond Technologies Ltd.: the company and its two terms documents
The terms and conditions give the company's legal name, Wishpond Technologies Ltd., with a mailing address, and the separate SMS terms say a Customer Care Text Messaging Program is operated by the same company.
The two documents cover different services. The terms and conditions are the agreement that binds an organiser's account. The SMS terms describe a customer-care text-messaging program, which is a separate service from the voting tools.
Where AI appears: tutorials in the email marketing support
Wishpond's email marketing page lists intelligent documentation, AI-powered tutorials and a dedicated support team among its support resources for email marketing users.
The voting controls listed for video galleries (email addresses, CAPTCHA voting and participation limits) name no AI feature, so the AI named here belongs to the support material. Tutorials written for email marketing users teach the email tools. The rules still come from the organiser and, where needed, a lawyer.
Plans on the pricing page: Starting Out and Everything You Need
Wishpond's pricing page names a Starting Out plan and an Everything You Need plan, and shows each with a monthly rate.
The Starting Out plan carries a maximum number of leads, so an organiser who expects a large voting audience compares the contacts the promotion will collect with that cap before choosing a plan.
Amounts are the vendor's to set and change, so none appear here. The templates guide is titled as seven free templates, and what that free covers is the templates; the plans that run a promotion are the ones on the pricing page.
Which postal address the two terms pages list
The terms and conditions and the SMS terms list the same postal address, 422 Richards Street, Suite 170, Vancouver, and the SMS terms add Canada after the postal code.
A support email is listed on the terms page as well. Those contact lines are the vendor's own. Entrants and voters deal with the organiser, so the organiser's contact line, whether a phone number or an email address, belongs in the published rules.
| Source | Voting rule | Limit or check |
|---|---|---|
| Video-contest page | Email addresses can be required for votes | CAPTCHA voting and participation limits are options |
| Templates guide | Voting friends submit an email address | No limit described |
| U.S. hosted contest | Valid email address, verified before voting | Up to once per minute until voting ends |
| Pet hosted contest | Email address identifies the voter | One counted vote per pet, per email address, per day |
| New Ventures BC rules | Finalists and voters are bound | Contest rules bar bots, paid votes and multiple email addresses |
Procedure
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Set the voter check and try it
In the video voting settings, decide whether to require email addresses for votes, then try the gallery as a voter so the email step, and any verification, is the one entrants will meet.
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Enable CAPTCHA voting and a participation limit
Switch on CAPTCHA voting and limit voter participation, the two other controls listed for video galleries, then write the limit into the rules in the organiser's own wording, as the per-minute and per-day promotions did.
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Write the disqualification clause
Put a clause in the contest rules reserving the right to disqualify any entrant suspected of manipulating the vote or paying for votes, which the vendor's winner-selection guide advises.
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Watch for the two warning signs
Compare each entry's count with the others and look at where votes come from: one entry far ahead of the rest, or many votes from people in different countries, is what the guide tells organisers to examine.
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Confirm who answers for the rules
Read the terms and conditions before launch: they put compliance with the rules and laws governing a promotion on the account holder, and they name no vote-related violation.
Readers ask
How much does Wishpond cost, and what do its plans cap?
Wishpond's pricing page names a Starting Out plan and an Everything You Need plan, each shown with a monthly rate, and gives the Starting Out plan a cap on leads. The amounts change at the vendor's discretion, so the pricing page is the place to read them.
Is Wishpond legit as a company?
Yes. The vendor behind the tools, Wishpond Technologies Ltd., publishes terms and conditions with a Vancouver mailing address and separate SMS terms. A legitimate vendor does not make a promotion lawful: the organiser answers for its rules and local law, and a lawyer, not a vendor page, gives that advice.
Is Wishpond any good for a contest with public voting?
Yes. For voting, the video-contest page documents email-required votes, CAPTCHA voting and participation limits. The terms do not expressly address paid, incentivised or automated votes in a contest, so the organiser's own rules carry that protection.
Where is Wishpond located?
Wishpond Technologies Ltd. is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, at a Richards Street address that both its terms and its SMS terms list.
When does a Wishpond contest ask voters for an email address?
A hosted promotion asks voters for an email address when the organiser turns that setting on. The video voting page lists requiring email addresses for votes as a setting, and one U.S. contest hosted there required a valid email address, verified, before a vote counted.
How often can one person vote in a Wishpond contest?
The organiser sets the rule, and two hosted promotions show how far it can differ. One let anyone vote for a favorite photo up to once per minute until it ended, while a pet contest counted only one vote per pet, per email address, per day.
What do Wishpond's terms say about votes that break the rules?
Wishpond's terms make the account holder responsible for complying with the rules governing a promotion and do not expressly address paid, incentivised or automated votes in a contest. Violating the terms ends the account, and they name no vote-related violation.
Notes and sources
- wishpond.com. wishpond.com/v2/video-contest/.
- dowfurniture.wishpond.com. dowfurniture.wishpond.com/sea-dogs-upgrade-promotion-rules-19/reference.
- wishpond.com. wishpond.com/lp/2309503/.
- wishpond.com. wishpond.com/terms-conditions/.
- wishpond.com. wishpond.com/blog/7-ways-to-choose-a-contest-winner/.
This page is not legal advice, and a lawyer who knows the organiser's jurisdiction is the person to give it. The vendor's pages document tools and terms, so they cannot decide whether a contest is lawful, who wins or how a dispute ends. A CAPTCHA, an email check or a participation limit narrows casual repeats without removing them, and the organiser still reviews the count. No amounts are quoted here.
Woobox's user terms require entrants to agree to the organiser's official rules, so any limit on bought or incentivised votes depends on the particular contest. Walmart's Associate Talent Search rules prohibit paying for votes and let Walmart void fraudulent votes or disqualify the entrant. The platform's terms and the organiser's rules are two documents, and a disqualification is decided under the second.
Woobox lists three warning signs of bought votes: many votes from one IP address, votes from people in different countries and regular voting intervals. Award Force says its platform detects and blocks automated or scripted voting and rate-limits rapid voting. Ordinary participation is uneven in time and independent in origin, so it shows none of those patterns; this describes how checks read a count and is not a method for passing one.
In the United States, the FTC says a sweepstakes cannot require a purchase to enter, and California says a sweepstakes must offer a way to enter without cost. Those rules concern sweepstakes entry, not votes: whether a contest allows paid votes is written in its own rules, and ViralSweep even lets organisers configure Pay to Vote. Contests whose rules bar outside votes are refused, and so are political ballots.
Once voting closes, a refund applies where votes ordered for a contest never appear in the count the contest itself displays. ViralSweep says its protections may silently flag and block a vote, and Woobox says votes from IP addresses it has flagged as fraudulent do not count even when the voter appears to have succeeded, so the displayed count is the test. An organiser's ruling or a disqualification is never refunded, and neither is an account ban such as the permanent one Gleam says a breach of its terms may bring.