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forum threadFreebiesRGreat posted Jun 03, 2008 02:50 AM
forum threadFreebiesRGreat posted Jun 03, 2008 02:50 AM

Contests & Sweepstakes Tips, Advice, and Questions

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The intent of this thread is for users, both new and not-so-new, to ask questions, and help with tips/advice. This is not by any means the "gospel". Please feel free to add your words of wisdom, and if you have questions, just ask! If you have a tip that will make sweeping easier for folks, please feel free to share. This is a community effort. We all will benefit in some way.


The Basic Advice/Tips for the new-to-sweeping folks.
Enter for the items you want/need. If you have no interest in trips, avoid the sweeps where the only prize is a trip. If you know you can't afford the tax on a new vehicle, avoid entering for those.

Set up folders in your bookmark/favorites. Create a separate one for each month, and file any sweeps you are interested in into the folder corresponding with when it ends. Then, if you have a day where you're pressed for time, enter at least the ones ending that day.

Play the instant win games.

Follow the rules! If a sweep is restricted to only females, a certain age group, certain states, etc, make sure you fit the criteria! If you don't, move on to another sweep that you do qualify for. Do not create a bunch of email addresses so you can enter something more than once, or so you can play an Instant win game more. The Sponsors can tell, and will DQ you. You're better off playing by the rules than cheating and getting disqualified and having NO entries.

Don't immediately dismiss essay required sweeps (or recipes, photos, etc)....well, unless you know you don't want to write something. A lot of people pass on them, so you might have a better shot at winning something.

Don't expect this to be lucrative enough to become a job. Yes, a lot of us win, and often, but not nearly enough to quit a job!

Expect things to go slow at first. It takes a while for the wins to roll in. But once they do...look out!

Expect to occasionally hit a dry spell. It happens to ALL of us.

DEFINITELY USE YOUR REAL INFO! If you use a fake phone number, and a sponsor is calling to notify people of wins, you'll never know what you missed out on. I, and many others, have been doing this for a long time, and we have no problems with sales calls. Also, use your real name. If your name is Robert or Catherine, using Bob or Cathy is ok, as they are known acceptable shorter versions of that name. if your name is Matilda, and you go by Fluffy, don't use Fluffy. Looking at your ID to get an affy notarized, they may reject it because the names don't match. The sponsor may also say "Fluffy won, not Matilda". So stick with using your real name, or something close to it.

Most of all, HAVE FUN! And don't be afraid to ask questions. We were all new to this at one time. Any one of us would be happy to answer questions.


For easy form filling, check out Roboform [roboform.com]. Google Tool bar and the autofill feature on IE also work well.

For Mac users, the best form filler is 1Password: http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password (thanks javaFlower!)

FireFox Form Filler browser extensions: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/...ll&cat=all

To set up the autofill feature in IE: Click on Tools, then internet options, then choose 'content'. When that pops up, click on "Autocomplete", and make sure to check the boxes for forms and passwords on forms. This is not a good idea if you are on a shared/public computer!

February 17, 2009, 3:10 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.

July 12, 2010, 3:23 pm: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
The intent of this thread is for users, both new and not-so-new, to ask questions, and help with tips/advice. This is not by any means the "gospel". Please feel free to add your words of wisdom, and if you have questions, just ask! If you have a tip that will make sweeping easier for folks, please feel free to share. This is a community effort. We all will benefit in some way.


The Basic Advice/Tips for the new-to-sweeping folks.
Enter for the items you want/need. If you have no interest in trips, avoid the sweeps where the only prize is a trip. If you know you can't afford the tax on a new vehicle, avoid entering for those.

Set up folders in your bookmark/favorites. Create a separate one for each month, and file any sweeps you are interested in into the folder corresponding with when it ends. Then, if you have a day where you're pressed for time, enter at least the ones ending that day.

Play the instant win games.

Follow the rules! If a sweep is restricted to only females, a certain age group, certain states, etc, make sure you fit the criteria! If you don't, move on to another sweep that you do qualify for. Do not create a bunch of email addresses so you can enter something more than once, or so you can play an Instant win game more. The Sponsors can tell, and will DQ you. You're better off playing by the rules than cheating and getting disqualified and having NO entries.

Don't immediately dismiss essay required sweeps (or recipes, photos, etc)....well, unless you know you don't want to write something. A lot of people pass on them, so you might have a better shot at winning something.

Don't expect this to be lucrative enough to become a job. Yes, a lot of us win, and often, but not nearly enough to quit a job!

Expect things to go slow at first. It takes a while for the wins to roll in. But once they do...look out!

Expect to occasionally hit a dry spell. It happens to ALL of us.

DEFINITELY USE YOUR REAL INFO! If you use a fake phone number, and a sponsor is calling to notify people of wins, you'll never know what you missed out on. I, and many others, have been doing this for a long time, and we have no problems with sales calls. Also, use your real name. If your name is Robert or Catherine, using Bob or Cathy is ok, as they are known acceptable shorter versions of that name. if your name is Matilda, and you go by Fluffy, don't use Fluffy. Looking at your ID to get an affy notarized, they may reject it because the names don't match. The sponsor may also say "Fluffy won, not Matilda". So stick with using your real name, or something close to it.

Most of all, HAVE FUN! And don't be afraid to ask questions. We were all new to this at one time. Any one of us would be happy to answer questions.


For easy form filling, check out Roboform [roboform.com]. Google Tool bar and the autofill feature on IE also work well.

For Mac users, the best form filler is 1Password: http://agilewebsolutions.com/products/1Password (thanks javaFlower!)

FireFox Form Filler browser extensions: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/...ll&cat=all

To set up the autofill feature in IE: Click on Tools, then internet options, then choose 'content'. When that pops up, click on "Autocomplete", and make sure to check the boxes for forms and passwords on forms. This is not a good idea if you are on a shared/public computer!

February 17, 2009, 3:10 am: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.

July 12, 2010, 3:23 pm: System Notice: This thread has been automatically renewed after reaching a post limit. Most of its content has been moved to this thread for reference purposes.

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Jul 21, 2012 01:24 PM
1,122 Posts
Joined Aug 2010
DreOranJul 21, 2012 01:24 PM
1,122 Posts
Does anyone else ever get sucked into wanting to win the game rather than the prize? For example, I can't even remember what the Irish Spring Sweeps prizes were but I can remember how much I wanted that little coin to fall down into the right spot.
Jul 21, 2012 02:22 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJul 21, 2012 02:22 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from DreOran :
Does anyone else ever get sucked into wanting to win the game rather than the prize? For example, I can't even remember what the Irish Spring Sweeps prizes were but I can remember how much I wanted that little coin to fall down into the right spot.
Honestly as a matter of time saving (the primary secret to maximizing entries) I don't play the games. I click immediately to see win or loss message.
Jul 21, 2012 02:58 PM
208 Posts
Joined May 2009
empyreanJul 21, 2012 02:58 PM
208 Posts
Quote from implode :
Honestly as a matter of time saving (the primary secret to maximizing entries) I don't play the games. I click immediately to see win or loss message.
Same. I never play the game unless I have to. I don't need to waste my time on anything else and I use flashblock so I rarely see them anyway. laugh out loud

And about the captchas, only typing the first word doesn't work for all captchas for me. They don't have security levels that you can choose for them - so the user would have to type both words? Some I've only been a letter or two off of both words and it wouldn't submit recently. No one creates the Recaptcha ones, they're taken randomly from books and newspapers. Gotten weird, funny ones about a million times.
Jul 21, 2012 09:35 PM
807 Posts
Joined Mar 2009
futurezombieJul 21, 2012 09:35 PM
807 Posts
Out of curiosity, if you win something like a $400 xbox console thats specially branded making it worth "$1200" and you resell it on ebay for $400, can you then only pay taxes on the price you sold it for or do you have to pay the tax on the price they say its worth?
Jul 21, 2012 09:56 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJul 21, 2012 09:56 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from zongo47 :
Out of curiosity, if you win something like a $400 xbox console thats specially branded making it worth "$1200" and you resell it on ebay for $400, can you then only pay taxes on the price you sold it for or do you have to pay the tax on the price they say its worth?
No.

Ex: What if you won a sports car. A really nice Mustang (thats the one I would love). Then had an auction. You sold it for one dollar. The auction was rigged so only your friend knew the time/place it was to be auctioned.

While the above example has a lot of extremes, it does illustrate why auctions don't demonstrate fair market value (necessarily).

You really need to demonstrate the following:
1) The item is the same exact one as you are getting.
2) The item is on/from a well established store, or better yet stores.
3) To get the price you don't have to have special circumstances (such as belong to a club, buy other things, etc etc).

Auctions are a bad idea for determining fair market value, instead use store prices.
Global Mod
Jul 21, 2012 11:30 PM
4,819 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
SpaceCallahan
Global Mod
Jul 21, 2012 11:30 PM
4,819 Posts
Quote from DreOran :
Does anyone else ever get sucked into wanting to win the game rather than the prize? For example, I can't even remember what the Irish Spring Sweeps prizes were but I can remember how much I wanted that little coin to fall down into the right spot.
I play the games sometimes as long as its not too long ..
Jul 22, 2012 12:14 PM
108 Posts
Joined Apr 2010
GerryatricsJul 22, 2012 12:14 PM
108 Posts
Quote from empyrean :
Same. I never play the game unless I have to. I don't need to waste my time on anything else and I use flashblock so I rarely see them anyway. laugh out loud

And about the captchas, only typing the first word doesn't work for all captchas for me. They don't have security levels that you can choose for them - so the user would have to type both words? Some I've only been a letter or two off of both words and it wouldn't submit recently. No one creates the Recaptcha ones, they're taken randomly from books and newspapers. Gotten weird, funny ones about a million times.
One of the words is a known word and you have to type it in correctly, the other is digitized (from a book or newspaper) and it doesn't really matter what you type. That's why you'll get numbers, words with mashed together and overlapping letters and indecipherable symbols. The control word isn't always the first one.

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Jul 23, 2012 04:46 AM
2,985 Posts
Joined Oct 2007
lusesitaJul 23, 2012 04:46 AM
2,985 Posts
Quote from Jang :
Thank you!
Jang do you have two slick deals accounts? Just being nosy Big Grin Is that you again?
http://slickdeals.net/forums/member.php?u=16739
Jul 23, 2012 05:37 AM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangJul 23, 2012 05:37 AM
1,844 Posts
Quote from lusesita :
Jang do you have two slick deals accounts? Just being nosy Big Grin Is that you again?
http://slickdeals.net/forums/member.php?u=16739
Nope, that's not me. Lol,
Jul 25, 2012 02:39 AM
200 Posts
Joined Dec 2011
wc0904Jul 25, 2012 02:39 AM
200 Posts
Speaking of ridiculous captchas...c'mon now how the heck am I supposed to do this?
Pro
QA
Jul 25, 2012 12:31 PM
3,567 Posts
Joined Feb 2009
rachaelm
Pro
QA
Jul 25, 2012 12:31 PM
3,567 Posts
Quote from mynameskatie :
Speaking of ridiculous captchas...c'mon now how the heck am I supposed to do this?
Oh my, this made me laugh first thing this morning! That was a good one! Stick Out Tongue
Jul 25, 2012 04:54 PM
2,432 Posts
Joined May 2006
TBotzonJul 25, 2012 04:54 PM
2,432 Posts
Quote from BoydSchidtt :
laugh out loud



@ Dave, I noticed you filling out both words in the form: did you know that you only have to spell out the first captcha word and it will accept it. Also you can omit any punctuations or numbers as the program ignores them.

Typing in only the first word saves a lot of time and I agree with spooerman, my eyesight ain't as good as it used to be nod

http://www.tipsfolder.com/tips/in...tcha-tips/
THANK YOU! That is going to save me so much grief!!!!!!!wavewootOMG
Jul 25, 2012 04:58 PM
22,133 Posts
Joined Nov 2010
BoydSchidttJul 25, 2012 04:58 PM
22,133 Posts
Quote from mynameskatie :
Speaking of ridiculous captchas...c'mon now how the heck am I supposed to do this?
That is a perfect example. If you would have hit enter with the one word, it would accept it. nod
Jul 25, 2012 05:10 PM
2,432 Posts
Joined May 2006
TBotzonJul 25, 2012 05:10 PM
2,432 Posts
Quote from BoydSchidtt :
That is a perfect example. If you would have hit enter with the one word, it would accept it. nod
Is not working for the uniball instant win Frown
I have tried three times to just enter the first word.

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Jul 26, 2012 08:19 AM
22,133 Posts
Joined Nov 2010
BoydSchidttJul 26, 2012 08:19 AM
22,133 Posts
Quote from TBotzon :
Is not working for the uniball instant win Frown
I have tried three times to just enter the first word.
You have to realize that it is not always the first word - it can be the second word. It is an automated script, and it will generally be the word without punctions and numbers -

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