Do coupons count as prizes?

Do coupons count as prizes?  In a word, "no".

Legally speaking, they certainly don't.  Win.ly follows the same guidelines and for the same reason.

It's not really anything of value unless you buy something from them, which is a pretty big condition.

So when calculating chances of winning prizes, Win.ly ignores coupons and other things that have no legal ARV (average resale value).

A good example is the Shop, Play & Save Instant Win (click to take a shot at winning their prizes) promotion.  It's a great promotion, with a very respectable 2,057 instant win prizes to be given away.

But Win.ly ranks it as having only 257 prizes.  Why?  The rest are all coupons with no inherent resale value.  So it won't rank nearly as high as it would have had all 2,057 been pries of actual retail value.

But it's still a good game.  And it's still giving away prizes worth over a half million in resale value so give it a shot and let's see how it ends up in the ratings.

Edit:
Keep in mind we are talking about "coupons" meaning a partial reduction in price.  Like the kind you get in the Sunday Paper.

"Coupons" that are redeemable for completely free products (often referred to as "vouchers") are in fact acceptable as prizes and do contain value.

Some Quick Stats on Sweepstakes and Instant Wins That You Actually Have a Chance to Win a Prize On

Wondering what percentage of major sweepstakes, instant wins and contests out there really provide a decent chance to win a prize?

We just ran some quick summary stats.  Based on the Win.ly ranking groups:

Green on fire (best chances to win a prize):  less than 3%
Green (good chances to win a prize, worth playing): 6%
Yellow (probably not worth playing): 35%
Red (don't waste your time): 56%

(Numbers don't add up to 100 due to rounding).

Wow.  Goes to show how crucial it is to know the odds.

Also kind of makes you feel bad for the poor folks who are wasting their time on games that that they'll never win a prize from.  Knowledge is power.

Why does Win.ly have a "Purchase Component' marking when it's illegal to require purchase?

It's because of something generally referred to as "Alternate Means of Entry" or AMOE.

What this means is, someone can run a sweepstakes or instant win that effectively requires purchase (requiring you to enter a code that is printed inside a label on the product, for example) as long as they also provide an AMOE.

But the kicker is that these AMOEs vary quite a bit.  Some games are nice and allow you to email in for a code, or even just "click here" to get one.

Others require you to fill out an entry and mail it in, often with detailed constraints on how it must be filled in and what must be included, in order to get a code back by mail.

So, although technically you can't be barred from any of these games by not purchasing, you may have to go through some extra hurdles beyond the usual "register and go" sort of entry.

And that's why on Win.ly we call it "Purchase Component" instead of "Purchase Required".  It's just a helpful marking so you can better assess the games you wish to play.

(If you haven't seen it, it's the little "dollar sign" symbol next to the promotion name.  That along with a "21" (for age requirement over 21), a black and yellow striped sign (for "other restrictions) or a globe (for foreign language or other international elements) help you to quickly gain additional information about the game.)

Q&A: Should I decorate my mail in sweepstakes entries to get a better chance of winning a prize?

I've seen advice blogs out that there that advise all these silly methods of getting your mail in entry selected in a sweepstakes--like using a big envelope, stuffing it to make it heavy, decorating it, even putting oragami in it.

Well, I hate to tell you but this is a giant waste of time.  The firms that run these sweepstakes do not look at each envelope individually, nor do they throw them into a vat and physically select winners.

Winners are always selected by computerized random number generators that are matched to the entries by id number.  So the only thing you can do to increase your chances is to follow the rules to the letter so you don't get disqualified.

(Note that we are talking about sweepstakes.  Contest submissions are a totally different story.)

Please visit Win.ly for the best chance to win prizes on online games.

Q&A: How often do I need to play to win?

Obviously we can't tell you how often you will win, that will vary based on what games are out there, how diligent you are in playing them, and how lucky you are.

But during an average period of time, if you play the top ten to twenty ranked promotions as often as you can (usually every day, but they vary) you should be seeing a prize at least every couple months if not every month.

The key is that you have to keep at it.  Just because http://Win.ly can tell you which are the best, doesn't mean the best win every time you play. 

It means if you play every day over a period of time you have a decent chance of winning a prize.


We recommend playing the top ten or twenty every day (or as much as possible) for the first month (right now you get a free month of premium for registering, so take advantage of it).  If you had no luck winning a prize, let us know and we'll extend you a free month to see if your luck gets any better.

We love hearing from you.  Reply to this blog, send us an email at feedback@win.ly or send us a direct message on Twitter at WinlyPlaySmartr.

Good luck!

Why not use an automatic form filling service to enter sweepstakes?

Automated form filling services claim to be able to use an automated process to submit your information to hundreds, maybe thousands of promotions a day.  By shear number this should increase your odds of winning a prize, right?

You'd think so, but there's a lot more to it.

Look at the rules for nearly any promotion and there will be a clause in there that says

Use of any automated program to enter will result in disqualification. 

So first and foremost, you're breaking the rules.


But what if you're not concerned about that?  What if you'll take the prize and not feel guilty about it?


Well, it's not that simple.  Nearly every promotional agency worth its salt has many layers of very sophisticated ways to detect and automatically disqualify entries from automated entry methods.


So in the end you're paying a service to submit "hundreds or thousands" of registrations (Do you really know how many they really are submitting and to what promotions?) most of which will never even count.


The registration service gets their money -- they win.  You don't.


There are only two ways to consistently win prizes from these games.  One is by becoming an expert, reading blogs and posting on message boards and spending a lot of time each day on your hobby.  The other is by using Win.ly, which will allow you to spend just a few minutes a day and quickly enter just the games worth entering.  


Of course the experts could also benefit from Win.ly.  :-)

Q&A: What's the difference between a sweepstakes, an instant win and a contest?

A lot of people use the term "contest" (or sometimes "sweepstakes") as a catch-all for any online, rules governed promotion that is giving away prizes.  But there are really three main types of these promotions.  And knowing the differences is very important for knowing which ones to play.

Note we are excluding things like "giveaways" and coupon offers in which everybody who registers and meets the requirements gets something.  We are concentrating on the "many will enter, few will win" type promotions.

Contest

The game is a "contest" when it is based on some sort of skill rather than random chance.  These games usually have you submit something like an essay, a photograph, a video, etc. and then judges select the best entry or entries and they receive the prize or prizes.

These tend to allow one entry during the game.

Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes collect entries during a period of time, then perform a random drawing to determine the winner or winners.

These can vary in their entry frequencies, from "unlimited" to "daily" to "once" to even "once per period".

Instant Win

Instant wins, as the name implies, let you know whether you won immediately after playing.

Most instant wins "seed" winning times evenly throughout the period the game is running and generally the first person to play after that time wins.

Most instant wins tend to be daily entry although other variations exist.

Summary

As you can see, contests can be tough unless a) you are extremely good at the subject matter of the contest or b) you happen to know that there aren't very many entries (because you use Win.ly).

But keep your eye open for contests that might be tough to enter due to the complexity of the subject matter.  They often get very few entries and can be worth the effort.

Sweepstakes are tough for two reasons.  They tend to have more people vying for a small number of prizes, and you're totally at the mercy of who comes in after you.  You might find a sweepstakes that no one knows about and get your entry in without much competition, and then two days before the drawing, word gets out and an avalanche of entries comes in and buries yours.

That's the great thing about instant wins.  If you identify one that has good prizes and few people playing, you can cash in immediately.  Win.ly consistently has instant wins among the highest rated for this very reason.