Contests & Sweepstakes Tips, Advice, and Questions

Quote from KMA : It depends on the types of sweeps you enter. For me the answer is yes, I'm more often notified than surprised with a package showing up at my door. Since a large majority of my wins come from blogs and Facebook posts (the kind where there's no form to fill - you share and/or like and/or comment in the post), they must let me know so I can provide my mailing info (the ones on Facebook do require me to initiate contact with them via private message or email, so I have to check back to see when the winner's name is announced). There are so few that I've been surprised by - one would have been a surprise had my friend not seen the names announced on Facebook and shared the post with me. Looking at my spreadsheet for this year's wins, of my 44 wins only 2 were complete surprises.

thanks

I received my corrected 1099 form from eprize. I was VERY surprized that it came so quickly

UPS delivery notice from sender NORDSTROM 236 OUTBOUND - does this look familiar to anyone? I remember entering a couple of Nordstrom sweeps (the wedding one on Pinterest with daily entries and one where you review a product on their site), but one didn't require an address and I don't know if the other one did. Does anyone remember another Nordstrom giveaway that might have included a form to input a mailing address?

Sorry if this has been discussed. My last four or five wins have all been from one entry sweeps. I have a friend who has been sweeping for years and he tells me he's never won a one entry sweep. What is everyone else's experience? Do you do better with the daily entries or the one entry ones? I'm about to give up on the daily ones as I'm not winning and don't have the time to enter every day, thus my odds go down and it seems like a waste of time. ESP when so many daily entries give away one prize. (Like women freebies, I must laugh when they make a daily sweep with a $5 GC....but I digress...)

Quote from heyjupiter : Sorry if this has been discussed. My last four or five wins have all been from one entry sweeps. I have a friend who has been sweeping for years and he tells me he's never won a one entry sweep. What is everyone else's experience? Do you do better with the daily entries or the one entry ones? I'm about to give up on the daily ones as I'm not winning and don't have the time to enter every day, thus my odds go down and it seems like a waste of time. ESP when so many daily entries give away one prize. (Like women freebies, I must laugh when they make a daily sweep with a $5 GC....but I digress...)

I've won a lot more single entry sweeps than daily entry sweeps. The best ones are the single entry with a lot of prizes, you have better odds of winning something and you have the same odds as everyone else. I have won plenty of daily entries, but not nearly as many as the single entry. The ones that I hate are the Facebook sweeps that give you one or more additional entries for referrals, you know that there are people out there with multiple Facebook accounts referring themselves and/or posting referral links on this and other sweeps sites, and I've seen some sweeps that give you as many as 20 additional entries for each referral. Every time I enter one of those and see the referral link after entering, I know my odds of winning just went down exponentially.

Quote from heyjupiter : Sorry if this has been discussed. My last four or five wins have all been from one entry sweeps. I have a friend who has been sweeping for years and he tells me he's never won a one entry sweep. What is everyone else's experience? Do you do better with the daily entries or the one entry ones? I'm about to give up on the daily ones as I'm not winning and don't have the time to enter every day, thus my odds go down and it seems like a waste of time. ESP when so many daily entries give away one prize. (Like women freebies, I must laugh when they make a daily sweep with a $5 GC....but I digress...)

Another one of my "it depends" answers. But honestly it depends on a few variables; your best chances with those are:

1. When held on sites, like blogs or Facebook posts, with low-exposure, so fewer entrants with which to compete. For instance, today I won from a blog that was single-entry. One requirement was to like her on FB - she has less than 200 likes.
2. When the entry period is short - that goes without saying: the longer the entry period, the more likely it will have a large number of entrants.
3. When held on less popular (for sweeping) social networks like Pinterest and Instagram and even Twitter. It's only been since November that I've been entering daily and for several hours each day (with the exception of my current hiatus) and of my wins last year (within a 2 month period) I won once from Pinterest and twice from Twitter with single-entries.

Looking at my wins from this year (1/1 through today), of the 45+ I've won (I've recorded only 45, because I skip wins like wallpaper), at least 15 were from single-entries. Here's the breakdown:

Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted 24 hours or less - 5
Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted greater than 24 hours - 8
Single entry from one posted here that lasted less than 24 hours - 1
Single entry from one posted here that lasted a week - 1

Quote from ChrisB65 : I've won a lot more single entry sweeps than daily entry sweeps. The best ones are the single entry with a lot of prizes, you have better odds of winning something and you have the same odds as everyone else. I have won plenty of daily entries, but not nearly as many as the single entry. The ones that I hate are the Facebook sweeps that give you one or more additional entries for referrals, you know that there are people out there with multiple Facebook accounts referring themselves and/or posting referral links on this and other sweeps sites, and I've seen some sweeps that give you as many as 20 additional entries for each referral. Every time I enter one of those and see the referral link after entering, I know my odds of winning just went down exponentially.

Thanks for your reply. I had (key word HAD) a lot of sweeping buddies on FB that I sent referrals to, but never won any of those referral sweeps. (Yes i need to changd my siggy... i dont do the referral thing on fb anymore). Somehow I think that all my referring was doing was getting a lot more people to enter and not really helping my odds overall (yes these were sweeps posted here on SD but most of my sweeping buddies were found elsewhere and weren't SD regulars, and based on who liked what FB page, my guess was that a lot of the sweeps posted here arent getting posted on other sweeping sites.). I think at the very least I need to cut my daily entries waay down. I love sweeping, it's just that it becomes a drag when I must enter every day and if I don't, whoops there go my odds... Plus I got hooked when I had a lot of downtime.... Now, not so much lol

Quote from KMA : Another one of my "it depends" answers. But honestly it depends on a few variables; your best chances with those are: 1. When held on sites, like blogs or Facebook posts, with low-exposure, so fewer entrants with which to compete. For instance, today I won from a blog that was single-entry. One requirement was to like her on FB - she has less than 200 likes. 2. When the entry period is short - that goes without saying: the longer the entry period, the more likely it will have a large number of entrants. 3. When held on less popular (for sweeping) social networks like Pinterest and Instagram and even Twitter. It's only been since November that I've been entering daily and for several hours each day (with the exception of my current hiatus) and of my wins last year (within a 2 month period) I won once from Pinterest and twice from Twitter with single-entries. Looking at my wins from this year (1/1 through today), of the 45+ I've won (I've recorded only 45, because I skip wins like wallpaper), at least 15 were from single-entries. Here's the breakdown: Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted 24 hours or less - 5 Single entry from blogs/Facebook posts that lasted greater than 24 hours - 8 Single entry from one posted here that lasted less than 24 hours - 1 Single entry from one posted here that lasted a week - 1

How do you go about finding decent blog contests? I refuse to enter the rafflecopter ones that give you a ton of entries because its not worth my time when there are over 200k entries for one prize. (And it seems that a lot of blogs use rafflecopter)

Quote from heyjupiter : How do you go about finding decent blog contests? I refuse to enter the rafflecopter ones that give you a ton of entries because its not worth my time when there are over 200k entries for one prize. (And it seems that a lot of blogs use rafflecopter)

I don't even bother with the ones that require too much for one-item giveaways. I don't mind rafflecopter as long as you don't have to like/follow 10 different Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest accounts. In fact, I like that I can tweet daily (tweeting, pinning, etc.), because my belief is that the average blog-reader doesn't remember to enter again.

A good way to find blogs is to follow your favorite companies on FB and/or Twitter. When they partner with a blogger to do a giveaway, they often post about it. I now follow some pretty interesting bloggers who offer posts that appeal to me. One of my recent wins came from a blog I'd followed as a result of such a giveaway. While I didn't win that initial giveaway, I was interested enough to keep the blog in my feed and I ended up winning another giveaway from there.

You can also do searches of items you'd like to win. For example, I came across a line of skincare that I wanted to try; it was being given away on a blog. I went to Twitter and did a keyword search of that line and found other bloggers doing giveaways of this same line. I ended up winning one of those giveaways - it had a lower number of entries than the one that I'd first encountered (the one that led me to seek out other such giveaways). The value of that was $530.

ETA: beware of blogs that are review-based. Those are in the business reviewing products and then giving away those products; they're highly advertised, have lots of entrants, require a lot of actions (liking/following, etc.), and often partner with other such bloggers. You don't have a snowball's chance in hell for those. The best blogs are ones that have the occasional giveaway, but giveaways aren't their main reason for blogging; those have fewer entrants and less "professional sweepers" following them.

Quote from KMA : I don't even bother with the ones that require too much for one-item giveaways. I don't mind rafflecopter as long as you don't have to like/follow 10 different Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest accounts. In fact, I like that I can tweet daily (tweeting, pinning, etc.), because my belief is that the average blog-reader doesn't remember to enter again. A good way to find blogs is to follow your favorite companies on FB and/or Twitter. When they partner with a blogger to do a giveaway, they often post about it. I now follow some pretty interesting bloggers who offer posts that appeal to me. One of my recent wins came from a blog I'd followed as a result of such a giveaway. While I didn't win that initial giveaway, I was interested enough to keep the blog in my feed and I ended up winning another giveaway from there. You can also do searches of items you'd like to win. For example, I came across a line of skincare that I wanted to try; it was being given away on a blog. I went to Twitter and did a keyword search of that line and found other bloggers doing giveaways of this same line. I ended up winning of those those - it had a lower number of entries than the one that I'd first encountered (the one that led me to seek out other such giveaways). The value of that was $530.

Thanks for the tips.

Back from College Gameday in Lexington (spent 14+ hours on the road)...you might think that is unrelated to contests. For the most part that is true. However, I did spend the two $50 shell gas cards I won from facebook sweeps. Also, I spend my choice rewards points from the Holiday Inn promo for a FREE nights stay. Saving $250 really helped make things happen.

Quote from angelsolo3 : Does anyone believe in good karma for posting contests? I have not won anything yet this year. I did pretty well last year and the year before. I have really increased posting sweeps (mostly for things that I really want!). Many of these are somewhat obscure that maybe people would not find without my posting it. Sometimes I want to keep them to myself but I never do because I hope the contest karma will pay off. Is it common to see smaller sweeps and not post them if you want to win them badly yourself? I'm not planning on doing that because I still hope it will pay off... Happy sweeping!

I don't have to worry about that usually because I'm always amazed at how fast sweeps go up on here..sometimes I find one that's just started and get excited to post it only to come on here and find someone posted it days or weeks before I try (haha) They must have psychic sweeps ability or something!

Quote from halah2272 : I don't have to worry about that usually because I'm always amazed at how fast sweeps go up on here..sometimes I find one that's just started and get excited to post it only to come on here and find someone posted it days or weeks before I try (haha) They must have psychic sweeps ability or something!

I agree! I always feel like I have found a great one and it has been up for hours already.

Quote from robonero954 : Has anybody won a MyCokeRewards Sweepstakes? (not instant win). If so, how long did it take for you to receive your prize?

Pretty sure you can track your MCR prizes on the web site. Click on your account and look under "Current Sweepstakes" or "Wheres My". I don't have that option, but I have not won anything lately. When I was expecting something, it was there. You have to bring up the month and year it was won as it is listed monthly.