Would you mind if I ranted a bit? Well, sorry if you do because this is my blog, so it’s going to happen.
First… disclosure. This is actually not aimed at one particular company, shop, giveaway I’ve hosted, or another blogger. It’s a bit of frustrations that have been building and I feel like I need to share my thoughts and let you know how I feel.
I love giveaways. I love hosting them, I love entering them {which you probably know if you follow me on Twitter}. They’re a fun way to build your cloth diapers stash, find great new Mommy products, and even get some great toys and products for your children that you wouldn’t normally just buy, especially if you’re like us and on a 1 income budget! Blog giveaways are such a great resource for Mama’s who take advantage of them, as well as for companies who take advantage of them. I truly often migrate towards buying from companies who I know are generous with their products. Certain companies who refuse to participate, I steer clear of. Truthfully.
So… why the rant, you may ask? The rant is because of a handful of companies and bloggers who give Blog Giveaways a bad name… or leave a bad taste in your mouth.
I take my job {and I use that term very loosely} as a Giveaway Blogger seriously. If I say I’m going to host a giveaway, I do. If I say the giveaway is going to end on a certain day, it does. If I say that you must do certain things in order to enter, you must. If I pick a Winner of a giveaway, it’s truly the Winner. No favorites, no cheating. I really expect the same out of every other blogger out there {although, emergencies do happen… I’m not talking about a little thing here and there, I’m talking repeatedly}, but it’s not always the case.
If you’re a blogger, finish your giveaways on time. Be prompt on picking winners and be your blog readers friend by urging your companies to respond to the Winner’s in a timely manner.
If you’re a company, if you don’t plan on honoring your Giveaway promise, stay out of blogs. If you don’t plan on sending your Giveaway Prize in a timely fashion {no more than 4 weeks}, take your prizes elsewhere. There’s no reason for it to take so long to get a prize to a Winner. Although, I don’t think Giveaways should take precedence over a Buying Order, the Winner more than likely went above and beyond to connect with you, your company, and would really like to try out your product {and hopefully become a future, repeat customer too!}
Ok, rant over.
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Contest Closed 
6 Days Left 
Last Day! 
I have won at least 5 things that I never received. While none of these prizes were worth more than $30 each, I was still sad when they didn’t show up. For one that I really wanted/needed (a medical bracelet- I have Parkinson’s disease & an AVM in my brain), I contacted the blogger multiple times. She was great and contacted the company several times for me but they just never sent it out. It frustrated me. But I remember what that company was called and I won’t be ordering from them. I don’t think companies should make promises they can’t keep. It always makes me wonder what else they lie about!
BRANDI ELAM recently posted…Jaxon at 7 months
Hi my name is Amanda and I’m a giveaway addict! LOL That being said, with all that I win, I have only had a few companies not follow through. My saddest (yes I know that’s not a word!) was a CD. I win so few CD giveaways that when I do win them I stalk my mailman waiting for it to arrive! With this one in particular, the blogger contact the comany for me several times and the last time was told it was sent out but I never received it! I hate contacting you guys asking about it because I feel it makes me look greedy or something! LOL But on the otherhand I took the time to enter and like/follow, etc this company so they should follow through!
Good rant. I also take my job seriously and I know that I don’t always do it perfect, and you can please everyone, but I try to run a good giveaway blog. I have NEVER not fulfilled EVERY obligation to the company. However, since about February I have had OVER one dozen companies not send prizes!! Now, I have resolved each and every one of these problems, but it is VERY frustrating to me when companies “forget” or wait forever to send, etc. I should NOT have to follow up on that. On the other hand, I LOVE when a company also emails ME the mailing confirmation receipt b/c then I know that prize is going out – now that is the way to handle it!
As far as bloggers cheating/playing favorites – oh gosh, I try to pretend that doesn’t happen, but… I am sure that sadly it does. I just let And the Winner Is, Random.org, or Rafflecopter do their magic and leave it at that. Random is random. Period. Ya don’t mess with random! LOL!
JulieK recently posted…Cloth Diaper Friday :: Glow Bug Diapers ~ Giveaway (4 winners!)
I am right there with you. I am always worried that people are going to think that I am cheating and picking who I want to win. I never do that because then no one will want to enter my giveaways.
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Most of my giveaway experiences have been fabulous! (As far as I know, anyway, I don’t know how I’d even know if there was cheating going on–haha!) There was one that I won where the company never came through and I felt bad about bothering the blogger repeatedly, so I just gave up and never received the prize. As disappointing as it was, it was something I wouldn’t have had anyway and was supposedly being given to me for free…so I can’t really complain…it’s not like I lost anything because of it.
One of the things I love about your blog is you always lists winners so quickly! I hate when it takes weeks…I keep checking the blogs because I get worried I miss an email.
Extending the deadlines also bothers me, especially if there is a daily entry like tweeting…drives me crazy.
I did have one win (not from you obviously!) where I never got the product. I emailed the blogger after a month and she said she had contacted the company. Two months after that I emailed again, just to say that I had never gotten it, not to worry about it, but I just wanted her to know in case she worked with the company again in the future. I didn’t hear back that time…and I don’t expect her to do anything about it, the company providing the product should be responsible!
*side note, not Not like I typed
I will be the first to admit I have sometimes (quite often) not realized that one of my contests has ended, I need to make notes about when something ends and follow up more closely. It would be nice if RC notified us a contest was over.
On the other end of it, it is sometimes a serious pain to draw winners, I have SO many people that don’t do the mandatory or leave the correct information and I have to hunt them down-it is just disrespectful. I mean to be honest I have better things to do~like spending time with my family!
As an avid blog reader and giveaway enterer I don’t see HALF the prizes I ‘win’. I follow up with the blogger, when that doesn’t work I might contact the company (maybe) but you are right it it just plain old ridiculous the amount of work as a ‘winner’ the time I have had to put into getting my prizes. And to be quite honest I am exactly like you stated in your post-a single income family that enters giveaways to be able to have things that if I didn’t win I wouldn’t have the opportunity to own. I too really value a company that gives back and when they offer a great product and great customer service I will purchase from them when I am able.
And just a side not because I am not sure if I ever told you or not, the recent prize I won from you was in my mailbox within a couple of days!!
)
I’ve been entering giveaways for a while now and I usually give the sponsor about a month to get me the product. If I never hear from them, then I email the the blogger where I won the prize! Obviously things happen, and it may truly be a mistake…
One blog I enter giveaways at always, ALWAYS, takes about a month or more to announce winners after the date is over. This drives me absolutely nuts, but since I win something everytime she announces about 12 winners, I stay and enter. BUT I don’t know how long I will stay because in all this time, no winner that wins once out of 12 doesn’t win a second time (there are always 12 different winners) which out of 80-120 entries (and really there are not more than 15 people entering) those odds seem really off that nobody would win 2 or 3 times every time she announces winners. It seems that she wants to make sure people stay around cause they are winning…
Anyways, that, I guess, is my rant
Brittney Minor recently posted…Summer Fun!
I hear you!! I have won a few prizes in the past few months since I started entering giveaways. I can tell which of the bloggers take it to heart and the ones who don’t care. Example, I won a prize and the blogger notified me. Of course I responded within 3 hours of the original email with address and other info, they said they would get back to me about the shipping since I had to pay for it. That was over a month ago. I have emailed 2 times since and they won’t even email me back!
So I hear your rant!!!! If only other people did tooooo! lol
Good rant! I’ve tken a break from entering many giveaways, but did a lot last year when we were unemployed and trying to outfit a newborn. It is so disappointing when you don’t get something thwt you won. (I.e., a set of nursery blocks that were going to be dd’s Christmas gift last year.) I think I’ve not gotten 3 prizes at this point. Not from your blog! One of those, the blog owner was so sweet about it and persued it with the merchant, but the merchant never complied. I appreciated the effort though, for sure.
I love giveaways too for the reasons you listed above and am slightly addicted
I’ve had good luck so far and have only been in it for a few months. Most blogs I’ve found are good about closing giveawys on time but I have found a few that extend them and it irks me too. I also like when blogs annouce the winner, it gives it some sort of closure I guess, sounds weird but I like knowing someone was selected.
I’ve had two winnings that I haven’t received. The one was on facebook and that prize was small so I didn’t really bother to follow up on it. The other was pretty big and I was really excited to win but it’s been 2 months since I was notified as a winner and still no prize. I’ve sent 3 emails to the blog owner and left a comment on their FB page and still no answer. So I’m not sure if it’s the company not honoring the prize or poor follow through with the blog owner. Needless to say, I don’t enter her giveaways any longer or visit her blog.
I haven’t won anything from a blog giveaway, but I am watching two contests that have ended in the past few days. They have yet to list a winner. One is understandable because she’s still trying to get her blog fixed, but the other doesn’t seem to be having any issues with her blog. It’s kind of weird.
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