What happens if no one submits?
If your contest's submission deadline passes with zero valid submissions:
The prize unlocks
Money prizes go back to your available wallet balance. No manual action needed — it happens automatically when the contest transitions to its final state.
Item prizes were never held by DareBay in the first place, so there's nothing to unlock; you just keep the item.
Commission is partially refunded
The portion of commission that covered prize handling is refunded. The portion that covered the contest's spot in the feed and its promotion is not — you used that resource whether anyone submitted or not.
Exact amounts are shown in your contest's final summary.
Your rating isn't penalized
Having a contest with no submissions doesn't hurt your organizer rating. It happens for honest reasons — niche topic, short window, prize too small for the ask. The rating only moves when something goes wrong that was within your control (not paying winners, changing rules mid-contest, etc.).
How to prevent it
- Give it enough time. Under 24 hours for non-trivial work is usually too short.
- Make the prize match the effort. A 5-minute selfie contest for $500 will get entries; a 10-hour video edit for $20 won't.
- Be specific in the brief. "Best content" gets you spam; "a 30-second vertical video of X in Y style" gets you real entries.
- Pick the right category. Narrower categories have smaller but more relevant audiences.
→ See also: Create your first contest, how winners are chosen.