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Sears Discounts, Deals and Coupon Codes

Contests & Sweepstakes Tips, Advice, and Questions

58,150 56,135 June 2, 2008 at 07:50 PM in Other (6) Get Sears coupons Coupons
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Last Edited by BostonGirl March 8, 2015 at 07:18 AM
+89 Deal Score
2,106,333 Views
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.
Good Deal?

Community Wiki

Last Edited by JD123 November 1, 2014 at 11:13 AM
Before we had this thread, limpstar posted this site for info on sweeps & taxes in the I Won Thread:
All About Sweepstakes Taxes
http://contests.about.com/od/taxe...gtaxes.htm

Also consider talking to your tax preparer and/or researching further into your tax responsibility.


I have found this page helpful in understanding some of sweep's law - a sweeps law co.'s site:
The Lustigman Firm; Attorneys at Law
http://www.sweepstakeslaw.com/
The Lustigman Firm provides experienced legal counsel that helps protect the business interests
of its advertising and promotional clients around the United States and Canada

What does " age of majority in your state or province " mean?

(sometimes abbreviated as AoM+ )

it's the legal age of that state or province...

The Age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized in law. It is the chronological moment when children legally assume majority control over their persons and their actions and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and legal responsibilities of their parents over and for them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority

there's a list by country and by US State there....

For most purposes, the age of majority in the U.S. is 18,
except for 2 states with the age of 19 (Nebraska,Alabama)
and one state with the age of 21 (Mississippi)
and two (American Samoa and Puerto Rico) that retain 14 as the age of majority.
Occasionally PA is listed under the 19+ or 21+

~javaFlower

Regarding missing prizes
If you were expecting a prize you've never received you can complain 1st to the sweepstakes administrator, then to the sweepstakes sponsor and finally to USPS Postal Inspectors

https://postalinspectors.uspis.go...laint.aspx

-Kotik


ePrize Contacts
[email protected] - Bob Marsh, Senior Vice President, Midwest Region, Phone: 248.543.7522
[email protected] - Darlene Morris, Business Manager, Phone: 248.543.7403
[email protected] - Alesya Opelt, Vice President, Marketing, Phone: 248.543.7440


Occasionally a....less than ethical sweep will get posted.
You might end up finding unauthorized charges on your phone bill. Unauthorized charges on the phone bill are what's called "Cramming". Once you contact the company that's charging you, and you have requested your phone company remove the charge, if you so choose, you can file a complaint with the FCC.

FCC Online complaint form: esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

You can also file your complaint with the FCC's Consumer Center by e-mailing [email protected] or calling 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice or 1-888-TELL-FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY

You can fax your complaint to 1-866-418-0232

Or by snail mail:
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau
Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554.

I also recommend a 3rd party block on your line to prohibit this from happening. 3rd party blocks don't affect your phone in any way, except by not allowing some company outside of your local phone company from adding charges to your bill.


Slickdealers on Twitter
(I don't really know where is best to start this list, but I decided to just start it here. If anyone thinks we should move it somewhere else, please do so.)

SD name Twitter name
kdka421 k8fenner
Starbelly Lunachique
dodgers77449 michael0902
sanaperv @slicksweepberry
blueeyeleo  
Slickdealers on Facebook
(Hopefully, it is allowed to post this here. If anyone thinks this link should be deleted, please do so.)
You can find the facebook slickdeals sweepers in this group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/310504039006252/

Track incoming packages
UPS
http://www.ups.com/mychoice/
FedEx https://www.fedex.com/login/web/j...n.jsp?TYPE
USPS https://www.usps.com/manage/manage-your-mail.htm




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Joined Nov 2008
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mike34
06-18-2016 at 07:01 PM.
06-18-2016 at 07:01 PM.
One thing that I sometimes do instead of just clicking on the link to the contest is highlight the url text, right click and select 'Go to '. This works in Chrome, not sure about other browsers. Also this only works if the URL wasn't automatically abbreviated (e.g., www.contest.com/reallylongURL...endofurl.html) and shows the whole URL. The forum automatically abbreviates long URLs.
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KassieK22
06-19-2016 at 09:41 AM.
06-19-2016 at 09:41 AM.
Quote from implode :
IMO, SD should disable it for Sweeps forum---people don't buy things on clickthroughs. Maybe I'm wrong about that...but would imagine it is far lesser then deals areas of the site.
Are those kinds of 'add ons' the letters you see after the web address? I'm never sure if i'm posting with those. I try to go to the rules and then use the specified link but sometimes they come up with wierd appendages.. So maybe I need instruction on that? THanks.
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njbob49
06-19-2016 at 02:10 PM.
06-19-2016 at 02:10 PM.
As many of you may or not be aware there was a class action suit filed against Ticketmaster over a decade ago. It has finally been settled and Ticketmaster has agreed to pay $386 million to plaintiffs. If you bought tickets from 10/21/99 to 2/27/13 you could be eligible to participate in this. I bought a lot of NJ Devils hockey tickets from their site when they were winning their last 2 Stanley Cups in 2000 and 2003..

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/...river_home Click the link for the official settlement site in the 7th paragraph for much more info.

I checked my account and there are numerous small discounts there and also 17 codes redeemable for 2 general admission tickets for concert events at Live Nation owned venues. The list of eligible events has not been published yet. There will also be a limited amount of tickets that can be purchased using these codes of each event. The list of events is under the control of Live Nation so they could put the screws to people by listing small unknown people having concerts.

Go to your Ticketmaster account if you have one, log in, and then click the link for active vouchers as they should have been posted to your account on 6/18/16.

Only time will tell if I, and a lot of other people hit the JACKPOT, or will be really p**sed after we see who and what we can use the tickets for. They should have made this a CASH settlement in my opinion.
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Last edited by njbob49 June 19, 2016 at 02:15 PM.
Joined Jun 2007
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dgleeson
06-23-2016 at 12:48 AM.
Joined May 2006
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implode
06-23-2016 at 06:37 AM.
06-23-2016 at 06:37 AM.
Someone dislikes you so they are acting catty...people do it with my threads too. I hate that our hardest working members often get little credit. Frown
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Joined Jul 2012
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ChrisB65
06-23-2016 at 07:24 AM.
06-23-2016 at 07:24 AM.
Quote from implode :
Someone dislikes you so they are acting catty...people do it with my threads too. I hate that our hardest working members often get little credit. Frown
They might not like that you are are hiding your urls(I know I don't, but I wasn't one of the down thumbers), I've caught you hiding referral links in the past.
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KassieK22
06-23-2016 at 05:24 PM.
06-23-2016 at 05:24 PM.
I've gotten down votes on gun giveaways DG. I went and upvoted those because I enter them. Thanks for listing them . Smilie
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Joined Sep 2006
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KMA
06-23-2016 at 06:49 PM.
06-23-2016 at 06:49 PM.
Does anyone know how to report a fraudulent giveaway on Facebook? All I've seen are the usual spam, etc. options. Thanks.
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implode
06-23-2016 at 07:36 PM.
06-23-2016 at 07:36 PM.
Quote from KMA :
Does anyone know how to report a fraudulent giveaway on Facebook? All I've seen are the usual spam, etc. options. Thanks.
I've previously used the options you just mentioned...
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KMA
06-23-2016 at 07:56 PM.
06-23-2016 at 07:56 PM.
Quote from implode :
I've previously used the options you just mentioned...
What was the outcome? I've only used it for people, not pages, but nobody ever got back to me except with canned replies.
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implode
06-23-2016 at 08:52 PM.
06-23-2016 at 08:52 PM.
Quote from KMA :
What was the outcome? I've only used it for people, not pages, but nobody ever got back to me except with canned replies.
Varies, had them do nothing and remove posts/pages.
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playit4ward
06-24-2016 at 09:47 PM.
06-24-2016 at 09:47 PM.
Has anyone gotten anything from the last Grizzly contest?
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Joined Jun 2007
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dgleeson
06-26-2016 at 10:11 AM.
06-26-2016 at 10:11 AM.
A heads up, if anyone is interested:

https://www.facebook.com/luckboxtv/

had daily cash giveaways on their wal ending at 9pm ET dailyl, its usually one of two $125 cash prizes, but today they switched it up with one of TWENTY $25 cash prizes, based on user feedback:

Quote :
$500 $500? $500! Like AND Comment this post before 9 PM EST on 6/26/16 for your chance to win one of TWENTY cash prizes !!! (U.S. only, 21+) ‪#‎luckbox‬
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RabidPanda
07-08-2016 at 10:22 AM.
07-08-2016 at 10:22 AM.
Is there an App or site that can send free text to short codes?
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implode
07-08-2016 at 10:28 AM.
07-08-2016 at 10:28 AM.
Quote from matt247 :
Is there an App or site that can send free text to short codes?
This purportedly does so:
https://www.google.com/googlevoic...texts.html

But, you want to make sure the number doing the texting is actively monitored, as they call back the number used to send the text for awarding the prizes. They call back the number and get a voicemail you likely just missed out on a prize. Would hate for you to miss out on prizes. Its best to use your current cell phone if you have one. I find the amount of hassle/spam calls from text to wins is currently very very low (never happened to me). Plus most cells now easily blocklist problem numbers from calling you again.
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