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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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Jan 18, 2013 05:14 PM
367 Posts
Joined Aug 2008
maggiemoo72Jan 18, 2013 05:14 PM
367 Posts
Quote from implode :
turns out it was Gildan touchdowns for tuition promotion.
Thanks for the update - I won one the gift packs from that.
Pro
Jan 18, 2013 10:43 PM
4,418 Posts
Joined May 2007
slowdive21
Pro
Jan 18, 2013 10:43 PM
4,418 Posts
I won a trip for 4 to Universal Studios (including airfare and hotel). I would rather have the cash, but it is still my biggest win. I don't use auto forms or anything, just the old fashioned typing method.
Global Mod
Jan 20, 2013 07:23 PM
4,819 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
SpaceCallahan
Global Mod
Jan 20, 2013 07:23 PM
4,819 Posts
got an alert from UPS from IRIS USA INC

have no idea what LOL
Jan 21, 2013 03:19 PM
465 Posts
Joined Jun 2004
elloryJan 21, 2013 03:19 PM
465 Posts
re: LastPass
I recently switched over from roboform and really like LastPass

To avoid being flagged as not manually entering the sweepstakes, I am manually typing in the form the first time, and then capturing the data via the "Save All Entered Date feature:"

This works quite well for me, except on Facebook pages, where often only the Facebook search box is captured, so the form data needs to be repopulated each time I visit/enter

Is there a better way? Or is this the best that LastPass can do
Jan 22, 2013 12:54 AM
14,856 Posts
Joined Jan 2012
princess101Jan 22, 2013 12:54 AM
14,856 Posts
is anyone having trouble with twitter?
Jan 22, 2013 01:06 AM
26,018 Posts
Joined Dec 2010
User1144648Jan 22, 2013 01:06 AM
26,018 Posts
Quote from princess101 :
is anyone having trouble with twitter?
Apparently a lot of people are. I just read this: Twitter just tweeted "Some users may be experiencing issues accessing Twitter. Engineers are working to resolve this problem."
Jan 22, 2013 10:16 AM
208 Posts
Joined May 2009
empyreanJan 22, 2013 10:16 AM
208 Posts
Quote from ellory :
re: LastPass
I recently switched over from roboform and really like LastPass

To avoid being flagged as not manually entering the sweepstakes, I am manually typing in the form the first time, and then capturing the data via the "Save All Entered Date feature:"

This works quite well for me, except on Facebook pages, where often only the Facebook search box is captured, so the form data needs to be repopulated each time I visit/enter

Is there a better way? Or is this the best that LastPass can do
I would assume LastPass is doing this because of the numerous frames on the FB sweeps. You can do the same exact thing with Roboform (save all entered data) and it will ask you which frame that you want to save...

I wouldn't even bother with sweeps if I couldn't use Roboform. If using it has cost me a miniscule amount of entries, I really don't care but I know that most sweeps don't give a crap. The only thing I like LastPass for is using it for sweeping on my iPad.

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Jan 23, 2013 05:12 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJan 23, 2013 05:12 PM
118,455 Posts
Any winners from:
http://slickdeals.net/f/5493104-Pepsi-NFL-Gear-Sweepstakes-12-26-12-call-in?v=1

I entered that religiously...even though call in was biggest pain in the butt ever.
Jan 23, 2013 05:29 PM
720 Posts
Joined Sep 2008
tunetokyoJan 23, 2013 05:29 PM
720 Posts
Quote from implode :
Any winners from:
http://slickdeals.net/f/5493104-Pepsi-NFL-Gear-Sweepstakes-12-26-12-call-in?v=1

I entered that religiously...even though call in was biggest pain in the butt ever.
Good question...I did the same..haven't heard anything.....
Jan 23, 2013 05:55 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJan 23, 2013 05:55 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from tunetokyo :
Good question...I did the same..haven't heard anything.....
I have unknown UPS alert for 1lb package from Young America...though I won a free two liter pepsi from IWG earlier, doubt they would send that registered. So either I'm getting an affy or gift card of some sort as far as my best guesses.
Jan 25, 2013 03:31 AM
485 Posts
Joined Oct 2012
erueo139Jan 25, 2013 03:31 AM
485 Posts
Quote from ellory :
re: LastPass
I recently switched over from roboform and really like LastPass

To avoid being flagged as not manually entering the sweepstakes, I am manually typing in the form the first time, and then capturing the data via the "Save All Entered Date feature:"

This works quite well for me, except on Facebook pages, where often only the Facebook search box is captured, so the form data needs to be repopulated each time I visit/enter

Is there a better way? Or is this the best that LastPass can do

I also use LastPass and have never really used the 'Save All Data' feature. When I'm doing the fb ones with longer forms, I just use 'Fill Form', it's only a few extra steps so I don't mind. If you want to be safe, I guess you could make one of the forms have half the information and type the rest...There is also "Hot Keys" which is basically an auto-filling key command.


Idk if that really answered your question but HTH anyways =)
Jan 25, 2013 03:49 PM
36 Posts
Joined Dec 2009
DamianMomJan 25, 2013 03:49 PM
36 Posts
Got a call this morning from UPS as they had our address in correct. I wonder if they called today if it could be delivered today still? Hope so!

Also I was curious, have any of you won from entering magazine sweepstakes, or are they a waste of time? Many have multiple to enter. Thanks!
Jan 25, 2013 03:57 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeJan 25, 2013 03:57 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from DamianMom :
Got a call this morning from UPS as they had our address in correct. I wonder if they called today if it could be delivered today still? Hope so!

Also I was curious, have any of you won from entering magazine sweepstakes, or are they a waste of time? Many have multiple to enter. Thanks!
Only you can make that decision...
1) Magazines generally have high volume of entries.
2) Some Magazines are a pain in the neck and hide opt ins for subs/spam.
3) Some Magazines are creative presentations.
4) Some of these contests run for over a year
Jan 25, 2013 04:22 PM
1,844 Posts
Joined Jun 2009
JangJan 25, 2013 04:22 PM
1,844 Posts
Quote from DamianMom :

Also I was curious, have any of you won from entering magazine sweepstakes, or are they a waste of time? Many have multiple to enter. Thanks!
I haven't won any.

I skip them most of the time. It's possible to accidentally subscribe since there are so many to enter and the "do not subscibe" button is sometimes hard to find/see. They're also a pain to enter as there is always a captcha code. Finally, a lot of them tend to go on for months which gets annoying fast for such a low chance of winning.

I've actually been entering them lately but I don't know how long I'll keep it up.

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Jan 25, 2013 04:25 PM
6,059 Posts
Joined Jul 2012
ChrisB65Jan 25, 2013 04:25 PM
6,059 Posts
Quote from DamianMom :
Got a call this morning from UPS as they had our address in correct. I wonder if they called today if it could be delivered today still? Hope so!

Also I was curious, have any of you won from entering magazine sweepstakes, or are they a waste of time? Many have multiple to enter. Thanks!
I've won several magazine sweepstakes recently, but they have all been single entry sweepstakes.

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