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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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May 10, 2013 09:52 PM
118,455 Posts
Joined May 2006
implodeMay 10, 2013 09:52 PM
118,455 Posts
Quote from miggy82 :
IMO this is my odds greatest to least: local only (must be present), local (radio), photo + essay (judged), essay (judged), local only daily, local single, state only daily, state only single, photo (judged), single twitter (short run or one day only), instant daily (captcha), photo (random), instant daily, multiple daily (captcha), multiple daily, weekly, monthly, daily, instant single, single, unlimited. I would think recipe would be pretty high up but I wouldn't really know. Other factors can also make greater odds like the amount of prizes or how popular the sweepstakes is. From my experience your bound to win something good $50 or greater value every 3,000 entries. You'll win at least one thing a week if you enter at least 1000 entries a week. At the same rate you'll win one grand prize every one to two months. A really good grand prize every four to six months. I've never had the opportunity of getting those bonus referral entries but I think those might give you better odds if you had a lot of friends but I don't know.
I disagree with that somewhat...

1) I enter ~3,000-3,500 entries per week. I don't think I average a win a week.

2) I may win a $100 item every 3-4..but usually are not called a grand prize. So maybe 3 such prizes a year...

3) I tend to win 1 really decent prize ($1,000 or greater) a year.

Keep in mind I'm talking over the course of 7 years of heavily entering. I'm not realizing much in the way of tripling his entries.

I'm not sure refferal entries help that much, when you are talking a few erxtra entries in a pot of 10,000's.
May 10, 2013 10:07 PM
26,018 Posts
Joined Dec 2010
User1144648May 10, 2013 10:07 PM
26,018 Posts
Quote from halah2272 :
Anyone ever gotten a win from BRITEVISION MEDIA/PROMOTIONS? I just got a FedEx alert that it's coming. Only half a pound so perhaps a GC.
Quote from rachaelm :
Yes, :ita:, I was actually kind of disappointed when I searched here & saw y'all had won too, I was hoping it was an affidavit for something super cool!!

Oh well, maybe it is something super cool. And we all won one. Stick Out Tongue
MYSTERY SOLVED! My FedEx envelope just arrived...3 days early.

Home Depot
Congratulations! You're a winner in our Ultimate Career Assist contest!

A $25 Home Depot gift card was enclosed with the letter.

Congratulations to us all!
May 10, 2013 11:01 PM
5,164 Posts
Joined Sep 2012
robonero954May 10, 2013 11:01 PM
5,164 Posts
I can't sign-up with Fed Ex delivery manager. It says my address can't be verified? Anybody else?
May 10, 2013 11:37 PM
5,164 Posts
Joined Sep 2012
robonero954May 10, 2013 11:37 PM
5,164 Posts
I just got 2 Glamour Magazines (Conde Nast). I had called in before and asked to cancel, they said that they did. Should I be concerned
May 10, 2013 11:40 PM
639 Posts
Joined Mar 2013
credmondMay 10, 2013 11:40 PM
639 Posts
Quote from robonero954 :
I can't sign-up with Fed Ex delivery manager. It says my address can't be verified? Anybody else?
I've had that issue since they started delivery manager the error i get it is
" We were unable to verify you with the information provided. Please verify the information and try again or contact Customer Service with reference code: 1000."
I've made so many phone calls, sent emails, contacted them on every social network and they have no answer for me. Wonderful customer service they have. No fedex delivery alerts for me, i guess. shake head
May 11, 2013 12:15 AM
5,164 Posts
Joined Sep 2012
robonero954May 11, 2013 12:15 AM
5,164 Posts
Quote from credmond :
I've had that issue since they started delivery manager the error i get it is
" We were unable to verify you with the information provided. Please verify the information and try again or contact Customer Service with reference code: 1000."
I've made so many phone calls, sent emails, contacted them on every social network and they have no answer for me. Wonderful customer service they have. No fedex delivery alerts for me, i guess. shake head
I've been getting the same error message since day 1
May 11, 2013 01:32 AM
842 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
JobDDTMay 11, 2013 01:32 AM
842 Posts
I know this has already been asked but I didn't find anything in the original post about it:

I just created an alternate Facebook for contests and giveaways. However, it won't let me add any new friends (not giving me the option) and when I view a contest on a page, it doesn't appear, even after I "Like" the page. What gives?

General advice would be appreciated. I have the link to the Slickdealers Sweeps page. I would just start sending friend requests, but it isn't letting me.

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May 11, 2013 02:47 AM
363 Posts
Joined May 2008
Kat188May 11, 2013 02:47 AM
363 Posts
Noob-y question. Are youtube contests a thing that gets posted here? One of the tubers that I'm subscribed to is having a video contest, but I don't know if it's something worth posting...or the proper protocol for doing such.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A78QVHDhwDc
May 11, 2013 06:05 AM
9 Posts
Joined Mar 2013
SweepsterCoachMay 11, 2013 06:05 AM
9 Posts
Quote from implode :
I disagree with that somewhat...

1) I enter ~3,000-3,500 entries per week. I don't think I average a win a week.

2) I may win a $100 item every 3-4..but usually are not called a grand prize. So maybe 3 such prizes a year...

3) I tend to win 1 really decent prize ($1,000 or greater) a year.

Keep in mind I'm talking over the course of 7 years of heavily entering. I'm not realizing much in the way of tripling his entries.

I'm not sure refferal entries help that much, when you are talking a few erxtra entries in a pot of 10,000's.
It seems that we all have somewhat different results - maybe due to the type of sweeps we are entering? I enter between 100-200 per day, a mix of dailies, one-time entries and instant wins. I usually avoid blog sweeps and any sweeps where the grand prize is worth less than $25, and I generally don't do referrals.

I won just over 100 prizes last year (about 2 per week), and have won three trips and one big cash prize so far this year.
May 11, 2013 06:28 AM
10,735 Posts
Joined Sep 2006
patrossi2004May 11, 2013 06:28 AM
10,735 Posts
Quote from SweepsterCoach :
It seems that we all have somewhat different results - maybe due to the type of sweeps we are entering? I enter between 100-200 per day, a mix of dailies, one-time entries and instant wins. I usually avoid blog sweeps and any sweeps where the grand prize is worth less than $25, and I generally don't do referrals.

I won just over 100 prizes last year (about 2 per week), and have won three trips and one big cash prize so far this year.
Do you keep a journal of your entries?
May 11, 2013 06:36 AM
976 Posts
Joined Oct 2008
miggy82May 11, 2013 06:36 AM
976 Posts
.....
Last edited by miggy82 February 17, 2016 at 09:03 PM.
May 11, 2013 01:24 PM
23,805 Posts
Joined Jan 2010
countylineMay 11, 2013 01:24 PM
23,805 Posts
Quote from credmond :
I've had that issue since they started delivery manager the error i get it is
" We were unable to verify you with the information provided. Please verify the information and try again or contact Customer Service with reference code: 1000."
I've made so many phone calls, sent emails, contacted them on every social network and they have no answer for me. Wonderful customer service they have. No fedex delivery alerts for me, i guess. shake head
Did you try the live help? I was having problems registering and got live help to get it done.
May 11, 2013 03:02 PM
9 Posts
Joined Mar 2013
SweepsterCoachMay 11, 2013 03:02 PM
9 Posts
Quote from patrossi2004 :
Do you keep a journal of your entries?
I have kept track on several occasions when I wanted to write about it on my blog - my entries vary a bit depending on the time of the year (more around Mother's Day, for example) and more towards the end of each month and on the first of the month. I count my bookmarks of dailies and add in the one-time entries.
May 11, 2013 03:39 PM
639 Posts
Joined Mar 2013
credmondMay 11, 2013 03:39 PM
639 Posts
Quote from countyline :
Did you try the live help? I was having problems registering and got live help to get it done.
Please link me! I was looking for that option on the u.s. site and I can't find it.

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May 11, 2013 07:19 PM
1,216 Posts
Joined Jul 2010
halah2272May 11, 2013 07:19 PM
1,216 Posts
Quote from MLx3 :
MYSTERY SOLVED! My FedEx envelope just arrived...3 days early.

Home Depot
Congratulations! You're a winner in our Ultimate Career Assist contest!

A $25 Home Depot gift card was enclosed with the letter.

Congratulations to us all!
Ditto!

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