I wonder why it is that so many people think people running competitions using Rafflecopter won't actually check the entries? I know lots of bloggers find that same thing - that lots of people will click on "I commented" or "I tweeted" without actually bothering to comment or tweet.
Well, if you are guilty of this, you simply won't win! Do you know that at the end of the competition, Rafflecopter provides the person who ran it with a detailed Excel spreadsheet giving the full details of every entry, so that it is easy to see at a glance EXACTLY what every entrant did? And that it also gives the IP address of every entry, so that people who cheat with multiple IDs are easy to spot?
When I drew a winner for my recent hamper competition, the first name drawn was from somebody who said they had commented. But there was no comment from anyone of that name. So, trying to be completely fair, I thought they may have commented anonymously or even using a different name. Their entry had been made at a rather odd time, 1.30 in the morning - and on the day in question, I didn't have a single comment between 9.30 the previous night and 7.30 that morning. So no comment..... NO PRIZE.
I drew a second name. This person said that they had tweeted. But instead of pasting the URL of the tweet into the space provided for it, they had typed a begging letter telling me how much they loved breakfast cereal but couldn't afford to buy it!!!! No tweet..... NO PRIZE.
But third time lucky - the next name I drew was Nikki Kay Reynolds who had commented, followed and Tweeted and had done all three correctly and verifiably, so the prize goes to her. Many congratulations Nikki - I have sent your details on to Mornflake who will be sending your hamper.
And many thanks to all of you who entered, especially for the delicious sounding cereal toppings you suggested. I'm going to give lots of them a try - until now my imagination has only extended to bananas and blueberries! Some of them are going to be a bit of a challenge though..... I'm still trying to work out how to spread Nutella on my cornflakes.....
Thanks for the info Jane!
ReplyDeleteinteresting - thanks Jane!
ReplyDeleteThis is just so true Jane, the Hampton Court Tickets giveaway I ran this month was exactly the same no tweet, no FB like for the first two winners selected, luckily the third winner followed the rules.
ReplyDeleteAngela
Third time lucky for you too then! I'm starting to hope that when I enter Rafflecopter comps myself, my name comes out third!!!
DeleteWell Jane, you know I get this all the time with my comps. The GLEAM app I use does the same, tells me what people do and when they said they did it so I can check easily. I had a few comps over Christmas where I had to redraw at least 6 times because every winner drawn had not carried out the requirements. Many also think if they comment saying 'great prize' they are entered when there is always a question to be answered. Glad you are bringing this to peoples attention, I only hope the repeat offenders read it because they have no chance of winning.
ReplyDeleteWhat's with all the "Great prize" comments? Don't they see all the other comments and realise theirs doesn't fit in? Or do they see them and think that everybody else has got it wrong?
DeleteThe last giveaway I ran, when checking the data, I saw that 131 people claimed to have left a comment, while the actual number of comments left was 113. Quite a discrepancy! Like you, I also check at the time stamp on the blog to see if there might be a comment as Anon. And I always check the tweet as well, as some people just paste smth to fill in the space. Why? It takes the same amount of time, so it's not like they're gaining anything.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there's an element of thinking they are somehow "beating the system"? As an analogy, I have a quite wealthy friend who really doesn't need to scrimp, yet one of her great challenges in life is to get supermarkets to accept money off coupons for products she hasn't bought - even if she was actually going to buy that product on her next shopping trip. She feels she's beaten the system, and it gives her a buzz. Maybe there are compers who think the same way and don't realise that they have actually NOT beaten it! I just hope some of them see this post and the comments on it.
DeleteI would love to know from the horse's mouth, why they do it. :) If they ever dare to confess, that is.
DeleteI think to an extent I can understand that if you have to buy a qualifier for EVERY entry you might make to a big corporation (I don't say I do it just I can understand it more, I would never take the risk) but an individual who is running a small competition the mind boggles. Sometimes with the widget I have clicked before I have done the step, but it would be only on one of the options and an occasional accident. The begging stuff is just grim, the thing is lots of us have a back story, but turning it on to get some free cereal. I stopped doing free-cycle because I got so stressed about all that kind of thing!
ReplyDeleteThat was one of the reasons I stopped doing Freecycle too - you'd give something to a person you thought really NEEDED it - and then see it for sale at the local car boot sale the next weekend!
DeleteHi Jane, great info thanks. I do a lot of rafflecopter (and now gleam too) comps and I assume I enter everything correctly. But have a question maybe you could answer. On the entry that says "follow on Twitter" it gives a button to click that leads to their twitter page. The button has the blue twitter bird on it, but when you click to follow the bird changes to grey (then you know you have followed them). Recently though the bird doesn't change to grey if I'm already following only if I'm a new follower. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say. My question is if I'm already a follower and the button doesn't change to grey am i still entered on that entry? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteIt's been happening to me too, but as long as you are following them (and still are when they check after the competition closes) then your entry is counted. You can check that you actually ARE still following them, and haven't been hit by the Twitter unfollow bug, by clicking on the button so that a pop up open s up with their Twitter info on it. It will tell you in the top tight whether or not you are following them
DeleteThanks Jane, that's good as i was thinking I might be one of those who has done it right but it appears to the competition holder that i haven't.
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