Getting Started with Online Sweepstakes - Part 3 - The Rules

You found out the greatest sweepstakes ever ? Prizes are awesome ? And now, you are ready to fill the form in order to participate ? Wait ! Did you read the rules carefully ?

If you didn’t read them, you might just loose your time. The sweepstakes might not be open in your states or maybe you are too old/young to participate. Two simple examples that could disqualified yourself for a sweepstakes. Two simple examples that could make you loose time.

Most of the sweepstakes rules are well written and clear enough to understand exactly who can enter or cannot.
But you still have to read them to be sure you can enter.

There some key points to look for in rules :

1) Eligibility = Says who can or cannot enter the sweepstakes

• Open to which countries/states
• Age
• Void in which countries/states

2) Timing = Says when is the deadline

• When the sweepstakes begins
• When the sweepstakes ends

3) How to Enter = Says the way you can enter the sweepstakes

• Online entry
• Mail
• In-Store

4) Limit = Says how often you can participate

• Once a day
• Once a week
• Once a month
• Once a year
• Unlimited
  *** Be carefully, most of sweepstakes will disqualify you if you don’t respect this rule ***

5) Prizes/ARV and Odds = Says what you can win, the value and what are your chances to win

• Prizes = What you can win
• ARV = Approximative Retail Value
• Odds = Chance of winning a prize

The good news is that many people won’t read the rules. This can just increases your chance of winning !

More informations and tips in books available in our store

Getting Started with Online Sweepstakes - Part 2 - Choosing Sweepstakes

Now that you are ready to get things started with your brand new email account come the time to find sweepstakes to enter. ell, this part is not really hard… thanks to SweepstakesMag !

Many online sweepstakes are available to you. However, they are not all good to enter for several reasons.
To know if a sweepstakes fits you, you can ask yourself some basic questions.

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1) What are the prizes ?

• Sweepstakes offering big prizes are always attracting. However, you are not the only one to think that.
  Big prizes sweepstakes usually get a lot of entries which reduce your chances to win.
  But hey ! They still worth the try
• On the other hand, sweepstakes with smaller prizes get less attention which result in a more realistic chance of winning

2) Do you really want the prizes ?

• Entering sweepstakes just for the fun of winning is not a good idea. You will waste a lot of time that you could use to enter sweepstakes with prizes you really want.
• Keep in mind that sweepstakes winnings can be consider as taxable income. This is an other good reason to only choose the ones you really want

3) Is it free to enter ?

• Most of the sweepstakes are free enter. Some of them may require a UPC code but those sweepstakes usually offer a way to get one for free.
• Be aware of scams. Yes, some people can try to take your money to enter sweepstakes. If you have to buy something or have to pay to get a chance to win, I would recommend not to enter. There are so many free sweepstakes available out there, you shouldn’t pay to enter… never.

4) What are the odds of winning ?

• Well, you can ask the question but usually, you won’t find a clear answer because odds of winning will depend on the number of entries. However, you can estimate them.
• A big sweepstakes with big prizes that is open to the whole country will probably have a huge number of entries that comes with a ridiculous odds of winning.
• A small sweepstakes hold by a local radio will offer a much better odds of winning.
• The number of entries may be affected by the size and number of the prizes, the timing of the sweepstakes (a weekly drawing is better than a monthly drawing), the target audience (like I said, local sweepstakes have better odds than national ones), skills required (video contests will attract less people than a simple “write your email to get a chance to win” sweepstakes) etc.

More informations and tips in books available in our store