Survey Red Packets
A survey red packet gives respondents a small cash reward for finishing your survey. It is the usual way to lift completion rates when you share a survey through your own WeChat groups, Moments, or partner channels.
Note
Red packet funds are topped up per survey. Topping up means you ask us to collect and pay out on your behalf; any unused balance can only be refunded to the original payment account.
1. How the money moves (collect and pay)
The money always stays inside the WeChat Pay channel. We only pass it on; we never mix it with our own funds:
- You top up the red packet principal for one survey;
- The money goes into a dedicated red packet balance under our WeChat Pay merchant account;
- The packet is created via WeChat “Merchant Transfer” and lands in the WeChat balance as soon as the respondent confirms it;
- Packets that are not sent, or created but not confirmed for 24 hours, stay in that survey’s balance and go to later respondents;
- When you no longer need the red packets, the unused balance is refunded to the original payment account, together with the proportional channel fee; if packets are still under review or waiting for respondents to confirm, refunding starts after those are settled.
There is only one cost:
- WeChat Pay charges a channel fee per transaction (currently 0.9%, 1% from 2027-10-01 by merchant platform terms), listed separately on the payment page and paid by you;
- Sending the packets costs nothing extra (per WeChat’s own FAQ, Merchant Transfer has no fee);
- WeJot charges no service fee. The full principal goes to respondents.
2. What you configure
Turn on Survey Red Packet in the survey settings, then configure:
| Setting | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable red packets | When off, the claim entry is hidden; unused money stays in the balance | Off |
| Packet type | Lucky packet (random amount) or Fixed packet (even split) | Lucky packet |
| Total amount and count | 1–200 CNY per packet (WeChat rule) | — |
| Win rate | 100% means every submission wins | 100% |
| Sender nickname | The name respondents see | Your account nickname (editable) |
| Eligibility | Valid responses only, invalid ones get nothing | On |
| Question filters | Only responses that pick given options can win | No filter |
| Review before sending | Winners are paid after you approve them | On |
| Auto-release timeout | Unreviewed winners are approved automatically | 48 hours |
Question filters support several questions, combined with all conditions must match or any condition matches.
Funding limit per survey
The limit accumulates per survey, so an account cannot push unlimited money through the channel:
| Account type | Limit per survey |
|---|---|
| Free | 10 CNY |
| Monthly | 200 CNY |
| Yearly | 20,000 CNY |
| Enterprise | 50,000 CNY |
When you exceed the limit, the payment page shows the remaining amount and an upgrade entry.
3. How respondents claim
- After submitting, the result page shows a red packet card (it states how many packets the survey holds); the respondent taps Claim on it;
- The first claim asks for WeChat authorization, used only to make sure one WeChat account claims once per survey;
- A winning packet then needs to be confirmed by the respondent inside WeChat: Merchant Transfer is a “recipient confirms” flow, so the money lands in the WeChat balance right after the confirmation page;
- With review enabled, the transfer is created only after approval, and the respondent then confirms it;
- One WeChat account can claim once per survey;
- If the packet is not confirmed within 24 hours it returns to the survey balance and goes to the next respondent.
Respondent did not see the card?
First check the response itself is eligible: the card only appears when the survey has red packets enabled, still has a balance, and the response passes eligibility rules such as question filters. Once the transfer is created, WeChat notifies the recipient. The respondent can also reopen the survey: the page detects a pending packet and offers a “Claim now” button that opens the confirmation page.
4. Review and reconciliation
- Where to review: inline in the statistics table, with a countdown;
- Rejecting means no packet is sent for that response;
- Auto-release approves and pays pending winners when the timeout is reached;
- Suspicious claims go to review: if the network used to claim looks different from the one used to submit the response, the packet goes to review before payout. Response IDs are enumerable, so this guards against claiming a packet that is not yours; it applies even when review is turned off;
- Where the money is: open an order card on the Red Packet Management page to see its principal, how many packets have been sent, and the remaining balance. For the whole picture, go to Account → Payment history → Red packet funds, which summarises paid-in amount, channel fee, sent, claimed, sent but unclaimed, waiting to claim, expired and returned, and the remaining balance, plus a line-by-line order breakdown. The WeChat Pay bill is exported from our merchant account and is not available to creators, so there is no bill import.
5. Invoicing and tax
Invoicing
The red packet principal is escrow money passed to respondents, not our service revenue, so no invoice is issued for it (same practice as mainstream survey platforms). Paid WeJot services (plans, panel distribution) are invoiced as usual.
Tax
Cash red packets paid by a company to individuals are taxable income. We do not withhold tax: the reward is funded by you and we only pass it on. Recipients who need to settle tax should file it themselves. For large amounts or company-funded campaigns, talk to a tax advisor first.
6. Payment safety and anti-fraud
Topping up is a payment, not a claim. The payment page states the purpose in all three steps:
- the confirmation step lists the purpose and the amount due;
- the payment-code step is labelled this is a payment page, not a claim page;
- the success step confirms the purpose and the amount received.
Before paying you must accept the Collection and Payment Service Agreement and the Payment Notice. The acceptance is stored with the full agreement snapshot, a SHA-256 hash, IP and timestamp, and can be reviewed at any time under Agreement Records on the management page.
If someone uses your payment code to trick others into “claiming a red packet”, contact us immediately.