There has been a very sad practice among many giveaway entrants lately that needs to be addressed. We have had many giveaways that we have actually had winners turn down the prize because they only entered it for the Additional Entries (bonus entries) on another giveaway they wanted more.
Sadly, while they think it is no big deal, it is actually taking valuable time away from the site owner that has to deal with this BS and even worse, it does not allow someone else who really wants it to win in the first place. You know, the longer we have this site and deal with the every day crap, the more it is apparent that people have less values and moral ethics than I have ever seen in my life. They are ONLY in it to win and the hell with anyone else.
What is going to happen eventually folks, is that the Extra Bonus Entries are going to go away if this practice keeps up on our blog. Just like we Killed Rafflecopter because the cheater entries were Ridiculous, we can and will kill the Bonus entries… so be careful on how you enter our giveaways. You really better want that prize so when you win, we are not getting replies saying no thanks, or you mysteriously go on vacation for 4 days and force a re-draw even though we can see you on other blogs. The giveaway world is a small place.
Thanks for being our valued reader. We do appreciate you all, really! But let’s keep it fair for everyone, please!
You know, I really don’t understand this problem at all. The way I look at things–if you win something, accept it! Even if you can’t use it, maybe you could give it away to someone else. I have won numerous gifts that I gave away for Christmas to friends and family members. Honestly. I spent very little on Christmas except for my daughter–and even some of her stuff was won! From a fellow blogger, I am so sorry that you have to go through this. I can imagine how upset you are. I have never had someone turn down a prize except in one case, and we worked that one out. They were gracious about it, and we found an alternative.
If you have to take away the bonus entries, I fully support your decision. I have used that on occasion on my blog, and so far, so good. I can promise you that I would NEVER turn down something I won on your blog because you honestly have some of the best blog prizes out there.
Paula,
It is really EASY to cheat with Rafflecopter. You can make up numerous email accounts and names and log in & out of Rafflecopter to submit your entries. Yes…bloggers can go over to the Rafflecopter site and log in there to check everyone’s email addys, IPs, etc. but that is way tooooooo time consuming. By using blog comments we can instantly see email addys, IP’s etc. so we can approve legit entries and reject cheater ones without even leaving our own site. (thanks to our WordPress blog back office).
We have always had cheaters but…when we used Rafflecopter for 5 months we saw the cheating increase by 90%. It was terrible. Most bloggers who are using Rafflecopter are not looking at people’s IPs to see how many “names” and “email addys” that particular IP person is using.
You all always have such great contests, and I love the way you run things here. I like how you take the time to figure out if someone has met the requirements, they are ‘real’ etc. I am here to stay.
That is truly sad…. they ‘give up’ a prize. They were lucky enough to have their names drawn against people who really were entering to win because they would love whatever it was.
I see that all the time… mostly towards the ending dates there is page after page of “I also entered…..” and had always wondered of it was just an entry or they were in that many. I had always kind of figured the were in that many because of all the nice things you review and give away.
Heck I would get in on more, but I always think to myself “is this something I would use, is it something I would love?”(or in the case of being around Christmas perhaps is it something Toys for Tots or a relative would love) I guess thats odd, but it is what I do, and I rarely enter for anything that doesnt fit into those categories.
I thank you for all you do, and am grateful for every winning email that has come my way!
Thanks Ellen! There are actually rumors flying around on the web that if you enter just on the last day of a giveaway you improve your odds of winning.
Well, we have been doing this for over 2 years now and Chris and I can both tell you that it’s a FALSE rumor. You improve your odds by entering each & every day. Those who ONLY enter on the last day have much lower odds of winning as compared to those who enter a GA every day.
Yep, I have heard the rumors too re: entering on the last day giving a better chance but I know that isn’t true- it truly is entering daily. There are some of us that do enter some extras later in the contest like G+ follows etc but it is because we forget to earlier 🙂
I think also when folks make the ‘mad dash’ on the last day, they also figure there is less chance of their entries actually being verified on most blogs… and that might be true of some blogs, but for those bloggers who do check it backfires on those grabbing at straws. Thats why I like your blog and those who do take a tad more time to verify winners, and those sticking to non rafflecopter forms where they might grow a tad lax in making sure that people are doing as they should be doing.
It would be sad if you discontinued the extra entries, but it wouldn’t affect me much- I like what/how you do things and appreciate your transparency.
I only enter for things that I personally want or know my family will enjoy, I skip over many giveaways when the product is something I wouldnt use or I dont care about it, you have some great giveaways with wonderful products that really interest me and are things I’ve wanted but could never go out and buy so I enter for those, but if its something that I dont like/need I’m not going to waste my time entering just to get an extra entry thats ridiculous, I’m really surprised that there are people who will do that (only later to turn it down if they win it) just for the extra entries ??? wow, thats just plain being greedy, especially when you give so many entries already for following, subscribing, face book/twitter ect. I would think those are enough and cant imagine entering another giveaway just to gain an extra entry but I guess there are people who try to get away with anything they can, I remember awhile back there was alot of cheating going on with quite a few blogs and that was just crazy, I wonder why are people so dam greedy??? but I guess we’ll never figure that one out. I never dreamed that cheating was/is going on in the rafflecopter giveaways, no wonder I never won on many rafflecopter giveaways I entered LOL, Its not right when you (blog owner) have to constantly monitor every entry and verify everything before choosing a winner (after weeding out all the cheaters) to me, it seems way too much work and I dont blame you for getting pissed about those issues, waste your time & creates more work that you have to put in because of it, I know I wouldnt have the patience to deal with all the BS.
Thanks Linda for the comment. We are seriously considering a few different avenues to try out in the future (not Rafflecopter related) as we do know it’s time consuming to do it via blog comments (although folks were PERFECTLY fine with that until Rafflecopter showed up)…we understand it is time consuming but it’s the ONLY way for now that we can keep cheaters out which in the long run increases the chance of you HONEST people winning.
I can’t believe people actually turn down prizes. If they don’t want them, I’ll take them :). You have some of the most amazing products. I always find a way to use them. Thanks so much. I love the additional entries. Hopefully people can start being honest because I love that there are many opportunities to enter. Also, I keep coming back and reading the reviews over and over again because there is much required to increase your chances!
The more I read about it gladder I get that I don’t use rafflecopter for my own giveaways–and I don’t ask people to sign up for an unrelated giveaway either–that is just asking for trouble!! If they want it–then they can go in and sign up for it themselves!! I am still and will continue to use the old comment method—the only time rafflecopter appears on my blog is if I happen to be a participant in one of the very large giveaways!!
Michele aka MikiHope
wow, who would turn down a prize?!
I only enter ones I am actually interested in winning (example, aerobie megatop doesn’t interest me right now, so I didn’t enter).
How does someone cheat rafflecopter? I have entered giveaways on it before and it seemed pretty secure, but then I’m not very techie with stuff like that…I always enter and assume I have a fair chance.
With Rafflecopter there is a problem with folks making up 10 email addresses and entering the giveaway. They used to do it via cookie but now switched over to no cookie so folks can log into the Rafflecopter form with a gazillion different email addresses and enter. To delete those entries we would have to go over to Rafflecopter, log in and go thru a slew of entries to just delete the cheater entries. We can do that much faster on our own blog and view entries, IP’s and email addys as comments are left.
Oh. Wow. Well I have won a couple giveaways (on other blogs) and am glad I did it fairly! I recon the odds are someday I’ll win one here that I’ve entered and I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing I didn’t cheat. 🙂