Should each preference be its own spot in line?

Most waitlists let a customer pick more than one thing they'd be happy with. A boater might take a 30-foot slip or a 40-foot slip, whichever opens first. A camper might want a full-hookup site or a water-and-electric site. The question this setting answers is: when someone picks two options, are they one entry that wants either, or two separate entries — one in each line?

It sounds like a small toggle. It isn't. It changes how the queue is ranked, how you work it, and what the customer sees. Get it right up front, because changing it after a list has real entries is awkward.

The two models

One combined entry (the default). The customer picks 30-foot and 40-foot, and they hold a single place in line that covers both. You have one row to work. When you offer them a spot — of either size — and they take it, they're done and they come off the list entirely.

One entry per preference (this setting, turned on). The same customer now holds two places in line: one in the 30-foot queue and one in the 40-foot queue. They might be #2 for a 30-foot slip and #40 for a 40-foot slip, because those are different lines with different demand. If a 30-foot slip opens and they take it, their 40-foot spot stays in line — they're still waiting for the bigger slip, exactly as they asked.

When you'd turn it on

Demand differs sharply between options. If your 30-foot slips turn over constantly but 40-foot slips almost never free up, a combined entry hides that. Splitting shows each customer their honest position in each line.
People genuinely want to stay in line for the better option. A boater who'd settle for a 30-foot slip but really wants the 40-foot one shouldn't be dropped from the 40-foot line just because they took the smaller slip to get on the water now. Splitting keeps them in the running.
You charge a fee to hold a place in each line. If joining costs money per option (a common marina practice), one entry per preference makes the billing match reality — they're paying to hold two places, and they should be ranked in both.
You work the queue one option at a time. "Who's next for a 40-foot slip?" is a question you can answer instantly when each preference is its own ranked line.

When to leave it off

A pick is a pick. If you treat "I'll take anything that opens" as a single request and the customer comes off the list the moment they get something, the combined entry is simpler and correct.
You don't charge per option, and you don't care which specific thing they end up with.
Your options aren't really separate queues — e.g., they're add-ons rather than mutually-exclusive things people line up for.

How it works once it's on

You turn it on per list, in the list builder, with the Separate entry per preference switch. From then on, for that list:

One sign-up, one payment, one confirmation number. The customer fills out the form once, picks their options, and (if you charge) pays a single invoice that covers all of them. They get one confirmation number to track everything — you don't make them juggle several.
Each preference is ranked on its own. Position is calculated within each option, so the same person can sit at very different spots in two lines. That's the point.
Getting picked for one leaves the others alone. Approve someone for their 30-foot slip and their 40-foot entry keeps waiting at its own position. Nothing else moves.
The queue view groups by preference. Instead of one long mixed list, staff see a ranked section per option — "30-foot slips (12 in line)", "40-foot slips (3 in line)" — and can filter down to the one option they're trying to fill. The CSV export gets a Preference column so you can sort the same way in a spreadsheet.
The customer's status page shows everything they're waiting on. When they check any of their confirmation numbers, they see all the spots that email holds on the list — each option, its status, and its position — even spots added in a later, separate sign-up. Adding more is additive: a second sign-up never replaces or hides the first.

Capping how many spots one email can hold

Once each preference is its own entry, one person can rack up a lot of spots — pick five options and they're in five lines. Sometimes that's fine. Often it isn't: a single email quietly holding ten of the top spots across your queues is exactly the kind of thing that makes the next customer give up.

The Max entries per email setting on the list controls this. Leave it at -1 for no limit. Set it to 1 to allow a single spot per person. Set it to 3 and one email can hold up to three live spots on the list — they can pick three preferences in one checkout, or come back later and add more until they reach three.

A few things worth knowing about how the count works:

Only live spots count — ones that are paid (in line) or sitting on an unpaid invoice. A sign-up someone abandoned before confirming their email doesn't count, and neither does an entry you've already served, rejected, or removed. The number reflects what they're actually holding right now.
It's enforced in two places. If an email is already at its limit, the sign-up form turns it away at the email step and tells the customer to call you. If they're partway — say the limit is 3 and they already hold 2 — checkout only lets them add one more, and the extra options stop being selectable.
"Call us to cancel" is deliberate. Rather than letting a maxed-out customer quietly drop one of their own spots (and lose their place in that line), the form points them to you. That keeps you in control of who comes off which queue. There's a Cancel Instructions box on the list where you put the exact wording the customer sees — usually a phone number, like "To cancel an existing entry, please call 555-444-4444." It's shown right alongside the limit message. Leave it blank and they just get a generic "please give us a call."

Set it to match how you actually run the list. A marina that charges per slip and wants to spread availability around might cap it at 2 or 3; a list where holding several spots is harmless can stay unlimited.

Letting someone hold the same option more than once

By default, each option can be held once per person — if a customer is already in line for a 30ft slip, the sign-up form greys that option out for them and they can't take a second 30ft spot. That's usually what you want: it keeps one person from quietly occupying three of the top spots in the same line.

Sometimes, though, holding several spots for the same option is legitimate — a customer who genuinely wants three 30ft slips (for three boats, for friends, for a club). The Allow multiple entries per preference setting turns that on. When it's on:

Each option on the sign-up form gets a quantity box instead of a checkbox. The customer sets "30ft slip = 3" and gets three separate spots in that line, in one checkout.
They can also come back later and add more of the same option in a fresh sign-up.
The per-email cap (above) still applies to the total — if the limit is 5 and they already hold 2, they can add 3 more, in any mix.

Leave it off unless you have a real reason to let one person stack the same option. It only applies to lists where each preference is its own spot in line (the setting above).

Common mistakes

Turning it on for a list where a pick is really "any of these." If the customer should disappear from the list the instant they get anything, splitting just creates orphaned entries you have to clean up by hand. Only split when staying in line for the other options is the behavior you actually want.
Forgetting that approving one preference doesn't remove the others. That's the feature, not a bug — but it means you should remove the entries the customer no longer wants when they tell you "I'm happy with the 30-foot, take me off the 40-foot list." Don't assume taking one spot clears the rest.
Switching the setting on a list that already has entries. Existing sign-ups were created under the old model and won't retroactively split. Decide before you publish, not after people have lined up. (Older entries that predate the switch show up under a "No specific preference" group in the queue so nothing gets hidden.)
Charging per preference without saying so on the form. If picking three options means three line-item charges on one invoice, make the prices visible next to each option so the total isn't a surprise at checkout.
Treating the per-option position as a promise. "#2 for a 30-foot slip" is honest about the line, but you may still offer based on flexibility or fit. Word your "a spot is open" outreach the same careful way you would on any waitlist.
Leaving the per-email limit unlimited when you charge per spot. If every preference is a real place in line you have to honor, one person grabbing a dozen of them can choke the queue. Decide early whether to cap it (see Capping how many spots one email can hold above) — it's much easier than untangling it later.