Contests, Sweepstakes and Giveaways

• We recommend you only enter at NAME-BRAND sites that you RECOGNIZE AND TRUST. Name-brand sites ave their sweepstakes run by a legitimate agency or promotion company.
  
• Follow the rules for frequency and whether the sweepstakes allows entries by person, email address or household. The sweepstakes sponsor or administrator typically knows your IP address, browser version, and other data that it can easily use to determine if a person has "cheated".
  
• Your choice to opt-in (or not) during a sweepstakes WILL NOT affect your chances of winning. If you don't want to receive lots of follow-up emails, then make sure you select or unselect the checkbox near the opt-in portion of the sweepstakes.
  
• If you win a legitimate sweepstakes you should never have to pay any shipping and/or handling fees. A legitimate sweepstakes sponsor will never ask for money in order to send your prize.
  
• Be careful if asked for your social security number! NEVER give this out by phone. Your social security number is ONLY required for sweepstakes prizes with a value greater than $600 (for tax reporting purposes).
  

When taking part in any sweepstakes, in order to avoid fraud, one must be familiar with all the rules and regulations of any given contest. Know how to differentiate between sweepstakes and other promotional games like the lottery. In games like the lottery, one is obliged to buy a ticket or pay an entry fee in order to win. To enter a sweepstakes, you simply need to register with the sponsoring company and provide information like name, adress and phone number.

If, at any point in the process you feel as though you are being taken advantage of, you can elicit the help of the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act. This does not apply to sweepstakes conducted via telephone or online. These games must comply with the CAN-SPAM ACT that became effective January 1, 2004. This act protects the player and takes action against the participating lawyer should an illegality be discovered.

Another law ensures that everyone who enters a contest has an equal opportunity to win whether they purchase a product or not. Usually a sponsor uses separate response envelopes for "yes" or "no" participants. Make it a point to read all of the rules and regulations of a sweepstakes.

Most sweepstakes ask you to fill out forms and answer poll questions. This helps many advertisers to reach you and market their products and services directly to you. Be prepared to receive a lot of junk mail, spam, and phone calls if you want to enter into a sweepstakes. It's worth it in many cases, however, since the prizes can often be ridiculously grand.

Once you enter the sweepstakes, you have an equal opportunity to win the game irrespective of your demographic qualifications (in most cases, you must be at least 18 years old).

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Max_Bellamy

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