Originally posted on April 23, 2013.
I frequently post winning tips and tricks on my Contest Queen Facebook Page. Last Saturday I posted the following:
WINNING TIP 4: You can’t win using different names. Trying to beat the system will only get you disqualified.
Christine wanted to know, “So entering on behalf of my cousin will get me disqualified?
No, not if you follow the rules. Many of the best and biggest prizes I have won have been in my ex-husband’s name (when we were still married, I don’t enter him now). I consider them my wins because I did all the finding, organizing and entering. He may have done the winning, but I also shared the prize.
Some may say yes, you will get disqualified as IP addresses can be tracked, but having worked at an ad agency as a Contest Manager, companies don’t have time to sort out who entered who. They are only concerned with disqualifying cheaters.
The tip I posted means: don’t enter yourself 10x with various versions of your name, address, etc. as that will get you disqualified.
I now only enter myself and the occasional friend if I want to share the prize (eg. movie passes) as I don’t have time.
…I usually enter only for myself, but if it’s for a car I will enter my dad or mom because they drive and I don’t (with their permission of course)…The reason I do this is because for some reason most Car Contests stipulate in their rules that you must have a drivers licence…I do not get this…Once you own the car they have no liability to worry about…I could give that to someone (my parents for example) or sell it to pay off some bills etc…Mainly though I only enter for myself.
I enter for myself and occasionally also for my husband. I sometimes would enter for our grown sons (2 live in different states,) but now I just tell them about sweeps I think they’d be interested in, email them the info and leave it up to them to enter if they want. I find that if the person you entered for isn’t into sweeping and didn’t put in the effort themselves, then they’ll disqualify themselves by not knowing to answer the phone from an odd caller ID or they’ll dump the congrats email into spam etc etc so my time would be wasted.
I enter my husband and my grandchildren for contents geared towards their age group.
I’ve heard about contesters cheating by making a number of email addresses then getting lots of points for referrals. Wondering why some of these cheaters aren’t caught?
I only enter for myself and I will occasionally ask my husband if I can enter him on his behalf. I would never enter anyone without their knowledge of it. There are people out there who create different emails or accounts to enter multiple times. They may get a way with it for now but it will eventually catch up to them.
I only enter myself. I will send the odd link to my kids, especially if it is a one entry contest. I have also told hubby about contests on IG that he might like, but 90% of the time he doesn’t enter. After he won headphones I thought he might get hooked, but he didn’t. Lol People entering with multiple names, emails, pets etc. have zapped some of the joy out of this hobby.
I will enter my husband in some other contests & he know it. I send links to my best friend but I never enter her in contests.