Queen and me are delighted to be helping out by finding competitions, posting them, enjoying a chat about what we've won or what other exciting things have gone on. If you want to add a competition yourself, please use the format "E: 19/11 Win a Lunchbox" or whatever. This helps other users to find competitions that are ending on a specific day, or competitions for items they want to win.
Finding competitions
As mentioned, you can search for competitions by name or end date. Many competitions include the business also, so these would also show up in a search.
Winning prizes
Comping is a hobby more than a way of guaranteeing substantial prize wins, but the wins do come.
For the matched betters around us, it's similar to RTP. If you enter 1,000 competitions a week and on average, 1,000 people enter them, with only one winner, then you are pretty much expected to win one prize per week. However, this depends on what you enter. Some competitions have far fewer entrants, some have more than one prize, and yeah, some have hundreds of thousands of entries. But the more you enter, the more you will win. It's as simple as that.
Different types of competitions
There are several different mediums by which competitions come. Social media competitions might be a good way to start out, if you’re new to comping, as there is less involved and most people already have a social media account.
Social media competitions
Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, among others, are an easy way for companies to get their competition, and thus their business, out to many people. Many groups of people already use social media, so they don’t mind clicking through to a page. A competition via this medium usually requires that you like, comment or share a specific competition post (or all three) and also like the company’s page, for Facebook, or for Twitter you may be asked to follow and retweet the competition. These generally take a few seconds to enter, so it’s not surprising that they are quite a popular entry method for people entering competitions, and even for a small prize, such as a hamper of shower gels, there will be around 1,500 entrants, rising to as many as 8,000 or more for more expensive or luxury prizes such as a holiday or cash.
Website entry
These types of competitions can be hosted by large companies such as ITV.com or smaller, personal webpages. The format is usually a form to fill in, often with an answer to give (the answer can be found by reading the competition itself, or reading around the site, but we will try to give the answers here if we know them). Sometimes you must register/log in to the website to be able to enter.
Blog entry
These tend to be smaller competitions, hosted by beauty bloggers or cooking bloggers, for example, and tend to be for prizes hosted by outside companies. E.g. a beauty blogger may host a competition for 1 of 5 Benefit Mascaras. They then require a comment, a visit to the host’s website, or any mixture of elements, in order for you to enter. Many of these types of competitions use Rafflecopter or suchlike, to enable you to have multiple methods of entry. They tend to be less popular than social media or website entry, because there is slightly more effort, and the prizes may be slightly smaller, e.g. for a blusher brush or a mug. But bear in mind that people can have more than one entry, so 200 people could have 2,000 entries, or something.
Email entry
Of all the free-to-enter comping routes, the email is probably the least popular. This type of entry usually involves you emailing a specific address with your answer to a question, your name and address and telephone number, and typing all of that does take a few more minutes than merely liking a page, so they are less popular. This is good news if you choose to enter these types though, as less entrants mean more chances of winning a prize. To save a little time, you could include your name and address as a signature in your email, and to prevent clogging up your main email, you could set up another that is exlusively for comping.
Some tips on winning!
We all like to win, and that’s why we’re doing this. It can be disheartening to see thousands of entrants for a prize, and you might think it will never be you, but if you enter the competitions, your turn will come. You will win!
1. So the number one tip is: enter as many competitions as you can!
2. Find the competitions you want to enter, by searching. And if you prefer to enter competitions on Facebook, for example, enter those first.
3. If you enter email competitions, consider having a signature with your name and address, etc. But if you do this, remember to delete it when you send a personal email, or one where you don’t want to give out your details.
4. Read the rules! If you have to be over 60 to enter, you are just wasting your time by entering.
5. It might be a good idea to get a separate email address, unless you’re prepared to receive a lot of ‘promotion’ emails. If you do this, remember to periodically check it.
6. Periodically and randomly google your own name, to check for any winnings.
7. Stay motivated by reading the “what have you won” threads.
8. Only enter competitions for things you would really like to win, or could make use of! If you don't know anyone with a baby, you're not going to benefit from winning a baby sling, and your "luck" could have won you something you might have really wanted instead.
9. Last but not least, have a go at the advent competitions. There are LOTS of prizes to be won, and almost everyone will win something.
Some handy tools and add-ons:
Roboform – this enables forms to be filled in at the touch of a button. If you use Chrome, though, this may be done for you also. There are other form fillers too, and they save a lot of time.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
Finding competitions
As mentioned, you can search for competitions by name or end date. Many competitions include the business also, so these would also show up in a search.
Winning prizes
Comping is a hobby more than a way of guaranteeing substantial prize wins, but the wins do come.
For the matched betters around us, it's similar to RTP. If you enter 1,000 competitions a week and on average, 1,000 people enter them, with only one winner, then you are pretty much expected to win one prize per week. However, this depends on what you enter. Some competitions have far fewer entrants, some have more than one prize, and yeah, some have hundreds of thousands of entries. But the more you enter, the more you will win. It's as simple as that.
Different types of competitions
There are several different mediums by which competitions come. Social media competitions might be a good way to start out, if you’re new to comping, as there is less involved and most people already have a social media account.
Social media competitions
Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, among others, are an easy way for companies to get their competition, and thus their business, out to many people. Many groups of people already use social media, so they don’t mind clicking through to a page. A competition via this medium usually requires that you like, comment or share a specific competition post (or all three) and also like the company’s page, for Facebook, or for Twitter you may be asked to follow and retweet the competition. These generally take a few seconds to enter, so it’s not surprising that they are quite a popular entry method for people entering competitions, and even for a small prize, such as a hamper of shower gels, there will be around 1,500 entrants, rising to as many as 8,000 or more for more expensive or luxury prizes such as a holiday or cash.
Website entry
These types of competitions can be hosted by large companies such as ITV.com or smaller, personal webpages. The format is usually a form to fill in, often with an answer to give (the answer can be found by reading the competition itself, or reading around the site, but we will try to give the answers here if we know them). Sometimes you must register/log in to the website to be able to enter.
Blog entry
These tend to be smaller competitions, hosted by beauty bloggers or cooking bloggers, for example, and tend to be for prizes hosted by outside companies. E.g. a beauty blogger may host a competition for 1 of 5 Benefit Mascaras. They then require a comment, a visit to the host’s website, or any mixture of elements, in order for you to enter. Many of these types of competitions use Rafflecopter or suchlike, to enable you to have multiple methods of entry. They tend to be less popular than social media or website entry, because there is slightly more effort, and the prizes may be slightly smaller, e.g. for a blusher brush or a mug. But bear in mind that people can have more than one entry, so 200 people could have 2,000 entries, or something.
Email entry
Of all the free-to-enter comping routes, the email is probably the least popular. This type of entry usually involves you emailing a specific address with your answer to a question, your name and address and telephone number, and typing all of that does take a few more minutes than merely liking a page, so they are less popular. This is good news if you choose to enter these types though, as less entrants mean more chances of winning a prize. To save a little time, you could include your name and address as a signature in your email, and to prevent clogging up your main email, you could set up another that is exlusively for comping.
Some tips on winning!
We all like to win, and that’s why we’re doing this. It can be disheartening to see thousands of entrants for a prize, and you might think it will never be you, but if you enter the competitions, your turn will come. You will win!
1. So the number one tip is: enter as many competitions as you can!
2. Find the competitions you want to enter, by searching. And if you prefer to enter competitions on Facebook, for example, enter those first.
3. If you enter email competitions, consider having a signature with your name and address, etc. But if you do this, remember to delete it when you send a personal email, or one where you don’t want to give out your details.
4. Read the rules! If you have to be over 60 to enter, you are just wasting your time by entering.
5. It might be a good idea to get a separate email address, unless you’re prepared to receive a lot of ‘promotion’ emails. If you do this, remember to periodically check it.
6. Periodically and randomly google your own name, to check for any winnings.
7. Stay motivated by reading the “what have you won” threads.
8. Only enter competitions for things you would really like to win, or could make use of! If you don't know anyone with a baby, you're not going to benefit from winning a baby sling, and your "luck" could have won you something you might have really wanted instead.
9. Last but not least, have a go at the advent competitions. There are LOTS of prizes to be won, and almost everyone will win something.
Some handy tools and add-ons:
Roboform – this enables forms to be filled in at the touch of a button. If you use Chrome, though, this may be done for you also. There are other form fillers too, and they save a lot of time.
Thanks for reading and good luck!