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forum threadFreebiesRGreat posted Jun 03, 2008 02:50 AM
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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 17, 2012 08:04 PM
458 Posts
Joined May 2007
trips4meJul 17, 2012 08:04 PM
458 Posts
Just got a UPS My Choice notification of a shipment coming from: GSI COMMERCE INC Can anyone shed any light on whether this is a sweeps company?
Jul 17, 2012 08:53 PM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangJul 17, 2012 08:53 PM
1,844 Posts
Won screening passes for the dark knight rises...then today got an email to hurry up and claim more passes from another website (not a sweepstakes, just first come first serve). So now I have 2 passes for tomorrow and 2 for thursday.
Jul 18, 2012 01:22 AM
1,026 Posts
Joined Apr 2012
karachay40Jul 18, 2012 01:22 AM
1,026 Posts
Do you guys know if some companies give you a tax form for wins under $500 (or was it $600?).
Jul 18, 2012 01:50 AM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJul 18, 2012 01:50 AM
118,455 Posts
Quote from karachay40 :
Do you guys know if some companies give you a tax form for wins under $500 (or was it $600?).
They won't send you forms from my experience, because they have to have your social sec #...so if you provide that they are then able to do so regardless of being required to do so. Then again all wins are taxable income, so it shouldn't matter. You should be reporting everything.
Jul 19, 2012 05:32 AM
3,592 Posts
Joined Sep 2007
shopgurl101Jul 19, 2012 05:32 AM
3,592 Posts
I have gotten tax forms for $100 wins, hell I even got one for a $20 win.Also I have won from Starpulse before
Quote from karachay40 :
Do you guys know if some companies give you a tax form for wins under $500 (or was it $600?).
Jul 20, 2012 12:53 PM
2,300 Posts
Joined Jun 2008
DavefromIndianaJul 20, 2012 12:53 PM
2,300 Posts
Had a good laugh about this when it popped up.

It's a captcha from the Hershey's Cash for Gas instant win game. It's real. I didn't photoshop it. I just snapped a screenshot to show my Wife but thought I'd share it here too.

Anyone ever get a weird or funny captcha before? I assume someone actually creates these. I'm thinking Hershey wouldn't appreciate this being associated with their chocolate lol.

[ATTACH]1375638[/ATTACH]

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Jul 20, 2012 12:59 PM
465 Posts
Joined Jun 2004
elloryJul 20, 2012 12:59 PM
465 Posts
Quote from implode :
Of those sites I have won 2:
leites culinaria (in 2010)
celebrity cafe (in 2009)

I think the following are outright scams:
Pastures
DecoGalore
Gastro
GluttenFee
WinaSweep
SteamyKitchen
UrbanSherp
ZoomX

I think Starpulse and Pazsaz may or may not be legit based on the wins of other people. Intouch and Womansworld also fall into this category.
Thanks
Global Mod
Jul 20, 2012 01:02 PM
4,817 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
SpaceCallahan
Global Mod
Jul 20, 2012 01:02 PM
4,817 Posts
Quote from DavefromIndiana :
Had a good laugh about this when it popped up.

It's a captcha from the Hershey's Cash for Gas instant win game. It's real. I didn't photoshop it. I just snapped a screenshot to show my Wife but thought I'd share it here too.

Anyone ever get a weird or funny captcha before? I assume someone actually creates these. I'm thinking Hershey wouldn't appreciate this being associated with their chocolate lol.

[ATTACH]1375638[/ATTACH]

I dont really pay atention to them all i know is they seem to get harder to read by the day LOL
i guess im getting old Cool
Jul 20, 2012 01:29 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJul 20, 2012 01:29 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from spooerman :
I dont really pay atention to them all i know is they seem to get harder to read by the day LOL
i guess im getting old Cool
I did a screen capture of a odd one, but probably shouldn't post it...considering it was a derogatory word for African Americans slaves. Totally inappropriate.
Jul 20, 2012 04:17 PM
720 Posts
Joined Sep 2008
tunetokyoJul 20, 2012 04:17 PM
720 Posts
I won a Hangover prize package from Starpulse a few years ago when he first movie was out....
Jul 20, 2012 08:50 PM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangJul 20, 2012 08:50 PM
1,844 Posts
Got this email. Hopefully legitimate. I remember the sweepstakes.

We're happy to let you know that you're a winner in Macy's Scan for a Grand! Due to a technical issue, not all of the prizes were awarded so we conducted a second chance drawing. As a result, you have won a $100 Macy's E-Gift Card.

Before we send you your E-Gift Card, we need to collect you home address in order to comply with promotional laws which require a physical address for any prizes greater than $25. Please visit the web site below and respond within 10 days with an updated physical address. If you do not respond within 10 days, you will forfeit your prize.


Anyone else get this message?
Last edited by Jang July 20, 2012 at 06:12 PM.
Jul 21, 2012 02:03 AM
200 Posts
Joined Dec 2011
wc0904Jul 21, 2012 02:03 AM
200 Posts
Quote from Jang :
Got this email. Hopefully legitimate. I remember the sweepstakes.

We're happy to let you know that you're a winner in Macy's Scan for a Grand! Due to a technical issue, not all of the prizes were awarded so we conducted a second chance drawing. As a result, you have won a $100 Macy's E-Gift Card.

Before we send you your E-Gift Card, we need to collect you home address in order to comply with promotional laws which require a physical address for any prizes greater than $25. Please visit the web site below and respond within 10 days with an updated physical address. If you do not respond within 10 days, you will forfeit your prize.


Anyone else get this message?
I didn't but this is pretty standard for Macy's contests, they always require full info for GCs over 25.00. They've held those two QR code games this year and both required info for anything over the 25.00 wins.
Jul 21, 2012 02:05 AM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangJul 21, 2012 02:05 AM
1,844 Posts
Quote from mynameskatie :
I didn't but this is pretty standard for Macy's contests, they always require full info for GCs over 25.00. They've held those two QR code games this year and both required info for anything over the 25.00 wins.
Thank you!

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Jul 21, 2012 05:42 AM
22,126 Posts
Joined Nov 2010
BoydSchidttJul 21, 2012 05:42 AM
22,126 Posts
Quote from DavefromIndiana :
Had a good laugh about this when it popped up.

It's a captcha from the Hershey's Cash for Gas instant win game. It's real. I didn't photoshop it. I just snapped a screenshot to show my Wife but thought I'd share it here too.

Anyone ever get a weird or funny captcha before? I assume someone actually creates these. I'm thinking Hershey wouldn't appreciate this being associated with their chocolate lol.

[ATTACH]1375638[/ATTACH]
laugh out loud
Quote from spooerman :
I dont really pay atention to them all i know is they seem to get harder to read by the day LOL
i guess im getting old Cool

@ 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/

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