Do You Sign Up For Contest And Sweepstakes?

I do join sometimes when I am given the chance. Just this week, I have tried joining a local food product contest by filling up an envelope with their required information and inserting 2 empty sachets of their product in it then dropping it into a drop box. The grand prize is a brand new car but of course I know my chances of winning that is very slim out of the many people who joined. I'm hoping to win at least some of the consolation prizes though.

 

I always sign up for contest, I live in a small town though so I really am not to worried about the span aspect, I am actually really good at those guessing how many ____ are in the jar contests. I have won many of them, also we always do contest for tickets and things, my husband just won ticket to a country music festival last week! So yes we do but I usually only sign up for contest through local businesses.

 

With raffles and contests particularly in department stores and supermarkets, it seems to me that I am only wasting my time in filling up the details of the raffle ticket. For so many years of my joining those raffles in stores, I have never won even a consolation prize that sometimes I feel like the raffle was rigged. So instead of giving me hope, those raffle tickets would just give me a suspicious mind so I avoid them.

But I have to admit that I buy lotto tickets once in a while for who knows when luck would knock on my door.

 

I have yet to win in any of those things, so I never bother. I only buy a raffle ticket if it's being sold by someone, and it's for a good cause. In fact, because I never win anything, I've often wondered if the idea of a prize is just a ruse to get people to buy the tickets. I never win and I never hear of anybody winning so I'm very wary of them. Now if they've started sending people junk e-alerts based on the personal details you give them, I'll steer as clear as possible.

 

I definitely enter contests and sweepstakes, and have won a few things over the years. I tend to stick to the major ones put on by large corporations, where I know they are legitimate, and are overseen by a government agency I can complain to if something bad happens. I used to enter a lot of the local ones like you mentioned. One sort in particular that I would enter was (back when I was able) for gym memberships, and it never failed, after filling out my information, I would be inundated with spam calls and junk mail.

 

I rarely ever sign up for contests and sweepstakes because I never win anything and I always have to deal with the junk mail and phone calls I get as a result of signing up for such things. I have heard that people spend all day signing up for prizes and actually do manage to get free stuff as a result.

 

I never enter anything that requires a phone number or address. I don't enter anything in general lol, but that would be my limit. For the majority, it's an easy way to advertise and/or get personal info to use to force themselves on you later or profit from the info you gave them. Sometimes there is no prize, you're just selling yourself lol.

 

I only enter reputable contests. I do not enter all of the ones hosted by bloggers because some of them are just looking for info to build a subscriber base. I always read the privacy policy and terms and conditions before I enter a sweep because even those big named companies can sell your info. Make sure to uncheck all of those boxes on the magazine sweeps! Some of them try to sign you up for a free trial!

 

Yes, I will enter them at times. I like entering them online because some of them have fantastic prizes. I think it is just one of the things that you can do online that might actually reap you a great benefit. This is one of the ways I am hoping to benefit from being online. It is one of the options that costs nothing, and yet might offer benefits down the road, even if it is a secondary prize.

 

@steph84 Ha, i learned to unclick the boxes the hard way, when i ended up with a few magazine subscriptions that I hadn't planned to sign up for.

The sweepstakes I enter for the most part, only require name and email address. Some don't even require a last name, but only ask for a first name and sometimes last initial. I have entered some of the blogger contests, but I find a lot of those to be irritating, especially the ones that are run by a group of bloggers, rather than just one.

 

Yes, Diane Lane...I still have magazines coming that I never consciously signed up for..I send them back. The last thing I need is a bunch of magazines I don't want cluttering up my house. Yes, be careful when entering contests that you haven't signed up for a subscription to Woodworkers Daily or something by accident.

 

I love to enter at reputable contests and sweeps lite at the supermarkets, Senior Fair, pch.com. A chance to win is better than nothing. I don't have a license any longer, but enter to win cars too because I can sell them for cash!

 

There are legit companies out there that give away prizes. The key is to go with a reliable company. Generally, if the prize is something super big like $100,000, I am leery of it. That being said even when you enter sweeps for a legit company, they still may sell your name. So it's best to use a number and/or e-mail that can be just for the sweepstakes. I don't get phone calls but I do get e-mails sent to me. Some companies want you to be on their mailing list. I later unsubscribe when the contest is over. I have won several prizes over the years. There are too many to name but my biggest prizes were: 3 D T.V (Best Buy delivered it), Milk for a year (in the form of coupons), other snack products for a year via Kraft corporation, iPod, 3-D glasses, $100 gift card from a dog food company and several smaller prizes. I don't play like I use to but need to get back into the game. Super big prizes will require an affidavit to be signed and you will need to give them your SS#. It's a tax right off for the big corporations. When I won the TV I had to do this but I contacted the company to verify that this was legit. I looked up the number myself and they were able to find the person that had contacted me and told me he did work for the company. I also found an archive of the Sweepstake to also confirm.

 

I would only join a raffle if the bet is not that big. Whenever the price on the lottery price goes up to a million USD I always bet. However, when it comes to scratch cards I don't really take chances. I do also sign up to online lottery and sweepstakes but I only sign up with those reputable and well known sites because I don't want to receive tons of spams from companies I'm not familiar with.

 

I really cannot say that I get presented with the opportunity all that much. When I am though, I am probably about fifty percent willing to contribute or enter, and it really just depends on the context and how much and whether the cause is good.

 

I tend to avoid some of the multiple blog ones, because although each action you perform gets you one or more additional entries, that's usually another person or company that gets your email or other identifying information. I only usually enter those if the prize is something I really want or need. I've been playing using a few smartphone apps for a while now, but haven't won anything. If I don't win at least something small after a few more months, I might quit playing those, and use that time for something more valuable.

 

If I see that the is a chance for me to win I sign up for a contest or a sweepstakes, but only if a prize is interesting for me.

I usually don't participate in the contests that hold no interest for me.

Telemarketers are free to call, but I usually don't answer phone calls where a caller is unknown to me.

Once a long time ago my parents made the same mistake like you and telemarketer kept them on their list for years.

Literary they called them for every sales meeting and presentation.

 

Sweepstakes and contests are all the rage in my country especially in the area of sports betting. There are many companies specialising in this and mind you, they are all legit. Others are proposed by mobile phone network companies. So far, I have kept off but feeling the heat due to the success stories all around me. Addiction is one thing to avoid as some have learnt this the hard way after losing a fortune.

 

I would sign-up and join any contest and sweepstakes as long as its free and easy to do. Even it's a game of chance still the possibility of winning is achievable. It's hard to tell if it only wants to scam you since you will only know these later on and not during or the state of joining it. So just be careful and avoid scam offers once you hear bad reviews.