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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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Nov 29, 2012 03:15 AM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMANov 29, 2012 03:15 AM
6,323 Posts
I recently won from a blog - there were three winners. The only reason I knew this, was because I went back to it to see who won (I'd been tweeting it daily, so it was on my radar). When I didn't get an email I went to the Facebook page and saw a post saying the winners had been emailed. Another winner commented that she never received the email. The blogger re-sent the emails to us. So now I'm wondering how many others I may have won, but never received an email.

My question is how do you keep up with finding out if you've won? Do you just trust that you'll be notified? Or do you keep some sort of list? I noticed a few sweeps mention the winner will be posted on the blog/facebook/etc. and that the winner will need to contact them to supply their info. Do you look for that in the rules and keep a file to check back later?
Nov 29, 2012 03:53 AM
1,122 Posts
Joined Apr 2011
SlickPickSlimNov 29, 2012 03:53 AM
1,122 Posts
Quote from KMA :
I recently won from a blog - there were three winners. The only reason I knew this, was because I went back to it to see who won (I'd been tweeting it daily, so it was on my radar). When I didn't get an email I went to the Facebook page and saw a post saying the winners had been emailed. Another winner commented that she never received the email. The blogger re-sent the emails to us. So now I'm wondering how many others I may have won, but never received an email.

My question is how do you keep up with finding out if you've won? Do you just trust that you'll be notified? Or do you keep some sort of list? I noticed a few sweeps mention the winner will be posted on the blog/facebook/etc. and that the winner will need to contact them to supply their info. Do you look for that in the rules and keep a file to check back later?
I have some experience and love blog giveaways so I'll comment. I scan for winner notification details (or lack of) for blog giveaways on the last day and bookmark them into a folder called "Entered - check" But even if they'll email, for the ones I'm really interested in I also file away in that folder.

Then I can launch all tabs in that folder periodically to check until winner announced or enough time has passed. And if I didn't win it, I simply delete or saved under "Entered".

Once there was a giveaway I was following like this worth ARV ~$300 that asked the original winner to respond and they never did. Ended up winning it.
Last edited by SlickPickSlim November 28, 2012 at 08:00 PM.
Nov 29, 2012 04:02 AM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangNov 29, 2012 04:02 AM
1,844 Posts
The one thing I always do with sweeps is check in the rules for how they'll contact me. Lots of times I don't bother entering sweepstakes that make you to check back with them to see if you won.
Nov 29, 2012 04:35 AM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMANov 29, 2012 04:35 AM
6,323 Posts
Quote from SlickPickSlim :
I have some experience and love blog giveaways so I'll comment. I scan for winner notification details (or lack of) for blog giveaways on the last day and bookmark them into a folder called "Entered - check" But even if they'll email, for the ones I'm really interested in I also file away in that folder.

Then I can launch all tabs in that folder periodically to check until winner announced or enough time has passed. And if I didn't win it, I simply delete or saved under "Entered".

Once there was a giveaway I was following like this worth ARV ~$300 that asked the original winner to respond and they never did. Ended up winning it.
Perhaps the winner in your scenario was like me - never received an email that was supposedly sent.

What do you do when blogs don't post the winner's name? I've checked (the original contest blog post, new blog posts, and Facebook posts) - no place ever listed the winner's name. I've also checked the blogs to see if they have winner lists and many don't have a dedicated page. I guess I could ask them who won, but that could get pretty time-consuming; I hate having to chase after the information. For now that's probably the best thing to do for the sweeps I've spent considerable time entering; for the rest I just have to hope the email arrives and not dwell on the "what ifs."

ETA: I went back to 3 of those blogs and all had the names listed. I questioned if maybe I'd overlooked them or hadn't allowed enough time for the page to load. In your experience have you seen rafflecopter sweeps that didn't have the winners names, at first, but added them later?
Last edited by KMA November 28, 2012 at 09:24 PM.
Nov 29, 2012 05:44 AM
1,145 Posts
Joined Aug 2008
splatteredNov 29, 2012 05:44 AM
1,145 Posts
All the small daily prize contests starting to annoy anyone else? Haha ... my list of contests is starting to pile up and i don't have time to enter so many dailies for a $10 or $25 prize... i'm starting to skip a lot and seeing so many i know i'm NOT entering also bothers me. haha
Nov 29, 2012 04:21 PM
6,859 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
lemonlaurieNov 29, 2012 04:21 PM
6,859 Posts
Quote from splattered :
All the small daily prize contests starting to annoy anyone else? Haha ... my list of contests is starting to pile up and i don't have time to enter so many dailies for a $10 or $25 prize... i'm starting to skip a lot and seeing so many i know i'm NOT entering also bothers me. haha
WinkI don't mind if I win the small daily prizes because even if I would not use them,I would use them for gifts for other people.
Nov 29, 2012 05:22 PM
18 Posts
Joined May 2009
jchenryNov 29, 2012 05:22 PM
18 Posts
Quote from splattered :
All the small daily prize contests starting to annoy anyone else? Haha ... my list of contests is starting to pile up and i don't have time to enter so many dailies for a $10 or $25 prize... i'm starting to skip a lot and seeing so many i know i'm NOT entering also bothers me. haha
I'm in the same boat. I feel almost guilty by skipping contests but if the entry is too time consuming or the prize isn't really worth it to me then I've started skipping them. I already skip most trips because it's not feasible for me to take advantage of but lately I've found myself being much pickier on all sweeps. It looks like the dailies might start to slow down after the end of the year though (heck, I think 30 or so will drop off on Nov 30th alone).

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Nov 29, 2012 09:05 PM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangNov 29, 2012 09:05 PM
1,844 Posts
Quote from DamianMom :
Thank you!
Actually, keep checking @getcrackin (Wonderful Pistachio) because I think they're going to run more sweepstakes.
Nov 30, 2012 06:53 AM
1,268 Posts
Joined Dec 2008
melan26Nov 30, 2012 06:53 AM
1,268 Posts
Quote from KMA :
I recently won from a blog - there were three winners. The only reason I knew this, was because I went back to it to see who won (I'd been tweeting it daily, so it was on my radar). When I didn't get an email I went to the Facebook page and saw a post saying the winners had been emailed. Another winner commented that she never received the email. The blogger re-sent the emails to us. So now I'm wondering how many others I may have won, but never received an email.

My question is how do you keep up with finding out if you've won? Do you just trust that you'll be notified? Or do you keep some sort of list? I noticed a few sweeps mention the winner will be posted on the blog/facebook/etc. and that the winner will need to contact them to supply their info. Do you look for that in the rules and keep a file to check back later?
I usually keep a separate folder for blogs and go back to check for winner(s). Most of the time, they'll email you unless they state to check back. Blogs are, I think, a lot trickier than sweepstakes listed here.

I had one incident where I received an email that is connected to my Facebook account asking for my shipping address and I was super excited about it. I responded with all my info. I've got crazy OCD/paranoia with wins that I really want so I never deleted the site until I have had the product with me. Maybe weeks later, they announced the winners and my name was not listed at all! I was having a panic attack, so I left a message under the winners post. The person who sent me the email said that he never received the reply I had sent and I was certain I sent it; he checked his spam and nothing so he told me to forward the message and this time he received it and that I would still get my prize! Lesson is, when responding/sending an email ALWAYS ask that they reply that they've received yours to confirm. I'm still scratching my head about the chances of my reply getting "lost." I think this is a first. Anyone else have had an experience like mine?
Nov 30, 2012 07:18 AM
1,268 Posts
Joined Dec 2008
melan26Nov 30, 2012 07:18 AM
1,268 Posts
Quote from roma2009 :
You guys have great advice! I am going to copy and paste it into a document. I was feeling so overwhelmed just trying to decide how to start, how to price, shipping etc. But all of you answered so much for me. Thanks so much and hope you win lots Big Grin! Tried to multiquote you all but don't know how; Thank you MOSCHUNO, ChrisB65, Implode and EPR!
Quote from Soinlove01 :
Thank you, I will definitely PM you on how to cancel one, that's a huge worry. I'm going to try to sell it local for a week and see how that goes but will go to eBay if that doesn't work. The only thing I do not like about eBay is that Paypal can hold your money while the buyer has the item for up to a month. That just infuriates me that they can do that. I do have a 41/100% feedback rating on eBay though so hopefully that would work in my favor. I dunno. Has the paypal holding your money thing gotten any better? They held it for almost 2 weeks last time I sold on eBay last year with my xperia smartphone and I did the delivery confirmation and all of that jazz as well.
One more thing about Ebay, if you want to block off bidders from certain countries or only want to ship to US, you can.
1. Click on "My Ebay" on top of page,
2. under your user name there's "Account" and the drop down will come up, select "Site Preferences,"
3. click "Show" that is across "Shipping Preferences,"
4. click "edit" across "Exclude shipping locations from your listings,"
5. Tick the countries/state you want excluded
6. And apply!
Look at the "Site Preference" to fine tune your account and elsewhere.

That's precaution only; that doesn't mean you're clear. Just be on the lookout, there will always be ways for them to get around into tricking you. Happy selling or bidding, lol.

Also once in a while, Ebay may send an email about listing one or a few items that doesn't have an insertion fee or a final value fee, take advantage of that because that will save you a ton of money, less the shipping as well as having to pay a shipping fee, I know they're ridiculous. You will still pay the Paypal fee, but better considering they take 15% or so from you. This is using their mobile app though.
Nov 30, 2012 06:03 PM
43,372 Posts
Joined Mar 2006
DeegeedeegeeNov 30, 2012 06:03 PM
43,372 Posts
Just did my 2nd twitter party today. I don't really understand and didn't win anything. Just curious if anyone here has luck with them as it looks like the odds are a bit better. And also I didn't use the tweet grid? Is that easier?
Nov 30, 2012 06:34 PM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMANov 30, 2012 06:34 PM
6,323 Posts
Retweeting the SAME post over and over again. Can someone explain this one to me? I untweet then retweet it. Seems pretty stupid, but here's what the sweeps says:

Every retweet, you automatically get an entry for that day into the daily drawing. One retweet of this tweet per day is allowed...

The link to that tweet never changes.

Is this a normal practice? Do they somehow discard all the previous days retweets?
Nov 30, 2012 07:40 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeNov 30, 2012 07:40 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from KMA :
Retweeting the SAME post over and over again. Can someone explain this one to me? I untweet then retweet it. Seems pretty stupid, but here's what the sweeps says:

Every retweet, you automatically get an entry for that day into the daily drawing. One retweet of this tweet per day is allowed...

The link to that tweet never changes.

Is this a normal practice? Do they somehow discard all the previous days retweets?
I don't think undoing it counts...you can only retweet once?! So you have to retweet each daily message, not the same one repeatedly. Or at least that was my understanding of it.
Nov 30, 2012 07:44 PM
6,323 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
KMANov 30, 2012 07:44 PM
6,323 Posts
Quote from implode :
I don't think undoing it counts...you can only retweet once?! So you have to retweet each daily message, not the same one repeatedly. Or at least that was my understanding of it.
Usually that's the case - there's a new message each day. But not for this sweeps - it says to retweet "this" tweet daily. Each retweet counts for that day's giveaway. They also allow you to use a hashtag for additional daily entries, so I've been doing that, as well.

This is the sweeps in question http://shakefire.com/contests/mov...y-giveaway,

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Nov 30, 2012 09:46 PM
1,089 Posts
Joined Oct 2011
FunkoramaNov 30, 2012 09:46 PM
1,089 Posts
Do you guys enter a daily sweepstakes once or more than once?
Also... any spam calls to your phone numbers or weird advertisements showing up at your adressess?

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