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When Commenters Don't Follow The "Rules"

Alrighty, recently I've come across some interesting items I thought I'd throw out for us to discuss.

I have a gal who regularly leaves comments on my giveaways w/out doing either the requirement, or not doing it all the way, or some random thing. I email her each time and explain to her that I have to delete her comments unless x, y, and/or z are done. Sometimes she even comments on reviews that aren't giveaways.

I have people who do their own "extra entry" like: subscribing to my blog when it's not an entry, but they're counting it as one; tweeting when it's not an extra, that sort of thing. Do you contact these people?

What happens when someone wins an item, but doesn't get back to you within several days. Do I need to have a certain time period, such as 48 hours (which I just started doing) or do I not worry about it? I've only had it happen 2x that people haven't emailed me back...until I've given their giveaway to someone else, of course. Both times they were legitimate reasons: 1 gal was out of town for a week and this past week a gal had been sick for several days and hadn't been online. I felt TERRIBLE. Do you have a time period that winners have to get back to you, and why? Is it necessary? Should I care if it's a week later or am I just impatient?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Mimi @ Woven by Words

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Permalink Reply by Stacey Merrill (ArtSnark) on February 19, 2010 at 1:44pm

I've has some winners not respond to an email but respond right away when I've left a note on their blog or etsy convo a few days later.

I give winners about a week to get back - sometimes life happens

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Perez on February 23, 2010 at 6:20pm

Your rules are yours! I used to do the same as you when I first started and moderated comments deleted those that didnt follow rules. Then it dawned on me that it was taking way too much time away from me! I started putting verbiage in my giveaways that stated that all off topic comments would be disqualified and any extras entries would be void. I leave the comments now but if they dont follow the rules their entries are void!

I also only give 48 hours now to respond, no email then I pick another winner.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Jamison on February 24, 2010 at 9:55am

This is great info for me too, I have just recently come across people who are doing some of the same things. I think if the rules are clearly stated then it's ok to delete their comments. I also state they have 48 hours to respond. Sometimes I will send a reminder email on the second day if I haven't heard anything.

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Permalink Reply by Tiffany Merritt on February 25, 2010 at 4:51pm

Sometimes I find it to be too cumbersome to delete entries when they aren't correct. So I just ensure that the entry that gets selected by random.org was a correct entry. If it isn't, I simply draw a new number. But I think that if you can keep up with it, just deleting the incorrect entries on the front end is a good idea. Definitely keep your rules posted clearly, too, and you shouldn't have too many problems. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Natalie on February 26, 2010 at 1:43am

I dont think you are being impatient at all. Do you post those guidelines/rules on the giveaway? If someone really wants the prize they should follow up with you and not make up any excuses about it. Things may happen but you certainly shouldnt have to hound someone down to give them something they WON. I think as long as you state it on the winning announcement that they have a certain amount of time to claim their prize, you are in the clear. Plus, I'm sure the runner up will be delighted to hear from you!!!

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Permalink Reply by Angela Howard on March 12, 2010 at 5:18pm

Rules are Rules and if someone does not follow them, then that is it, it does not count. I recently had a giveaway that the mandatory entry was to pick something that $50 or less. Some choose items that were closer to $100, so that entry did not count.

If I don't hear back from a winner within 48 hours, I send out a quick reminder email and give an additional 48 hours. I usually hear back after the 2nd email.

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Permalink Reply by Lindsey on March 31, 2010 at 3:51pm

When I email prize winners, I ask them to get back to me within 48 hours. That way they'll know right away that they need to get back to me as soon as possible. I don't stick to that 48 hours completely all the time - I might give them an extra day once in awhile, but if they get back to me a week later then I just tell them I'm sorry but I had to re-draw. That way there's no question and nobody can get mad.

Also, I contact people about extra entries sometimes, like when they put them all in one comment I email them and tell them they need to be put in separate comments. I have felt defeated before, though. lol Like when I put down that tweeting is an extra entry but don't mention daily tweets and then I have people tweeting daily anyway and commenting for extra entries. I gave up and made all my giveaways eligible for daily tweets just because I don't want to spend so much time contacting people about it. I am also very clear (extra clear) when putting my rules down, too.

And I have deleted entries, too. If it's a case where the person clearly didn't read the rules (like visiting the website and commenting back with something they like), it's not worth my time.

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Permalink Reply by dimes2vines on April 4, 2010 at 8:28pm

I feel bad about it too - but the rules are there and stated clearly. I do email pple who do not follow the entry requirements just to give them another chance. My problem is both not following the mandatory entry requirement and entering after the deadline which is normally 11:59CST. As Jenny said, it is their loss.

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Permalink Reply by Kailani on April 15, 2010 at 3:25am

As long as you have your rules published somewhere, no one can complain about their entry not being accepted. It really isn't difficult to follow the rules, you know?

As for winner's claiming their prize, you should definitely have a set time frame for people to email you. Otherwise, it will get crazy for you to have to chase down winners or keep track of who still needs to claim their prizes.

IMHO :-)

Aloha
Kailani
An Island Life

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Permalink Reply by jewel33 on May 7, 2010 at 8:57pm

I've been a 'sweeper" for quite some time; ever since I had my own web-based retail store and started running a monthly contest on it. One day, I got a LOT of entries, so I checked my referral log to see where these people came from and it was a sweepstakes forum. I joined the forum and started asking questions and then started entering sweepstakes myself. I even wrote a couple of "how-to" articles with sweepstaking advice. My FIRST piece of advice has always been:

Take the time to read the rules thoroughly. Don't disqualify yourself because you THOUGHT it was a daily entry, but it's only a one-time entry, etc.

I just finished my first blog giveaway. I'm running another right now. My mandatory entry was simple and rather standard: visit the sponsor site, then come back with something else you like and it's URL. Since there were 3 prizes to choose from, I added another step which was to specify which prize they wanted if they won. Two people entered with the URL and name of something they liked on the sponsor site. I wrote to both, saying, "Don't forget to let me know what you would pick if you win! It's OK to leave it on a separate comment, 'cause I'm cool like that!" or something to that effect. I only wrote because they had already done the part that takes the most time.

I had lots of unqualified entries. I didn't delete them, though. I let the randomizer do it's thing, and then when it picked an unqualified comment, I ran it again ... then again ... until on the 3rd try I got a qualified comment. And that's who won!

Most blog giveaways are simple like that for the mandatory entry - go to the sponsor's site; tell me something else you liked. Not that hard to do.

I wouldn't continue to worry about the people who don't follow the rules; they're not going to be able to win, and you'll just waste the precious time you have re-explaining what's already there or deleting comments that don't qualify. BUT this just reminded me - I need to add in that the winner will have 48 hours to contact me to the current giveaway rules!

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Permalink Reply by Show Me MaMa on May 9, 2010 at 12:21am

All I can say is that, you and your sponsor decide on mandatory requirements and you for extra entries, you set the rules. If they cannot follow the basic rules. Well, then you just delete it.

There will be several people out there that want to win but they don't want to do all the giveaway requirement, hey if they really want the giveaway they will do it, so don't change your rules for anyone.

As for the winner not responding back, i usually give them 48 hours to respond (which is place in my giveaway rules) If they don't respond back within the 48 hours, an alternative winner will be selected. Simple as that.

Hope that helps!
Show Me Mama
http://showmemama.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Mimi on May 9, 2010 at 1:17am

I'm pretty sure I'm a glutton for punishment. I have a CSN giveaway going on right now. In the beginning several people didn't leave a link to the product, which was (to me) very clear in the REQUIREMENT. So, what do I do? I GO to CSN and find their item, grab the link and send the commenter and email letting them know what they need to do to enter and paste their old comment with quotes along with the link. That way all they have to do is head back to my comments and leave the quoted info. I never heard back from 2 of them and I emailed them 2x. Maybe my email went in to their Spam folder. Who knows.

I figured since a handful of people seemed to not understand what I was asking for, I went back to my post and made the text in the one sentence that asked for the link red and bold. THEN I enlarged a couple of the words and made them purple so that something stood out. LOL

Waaaaah, didn't know it was sooo hard to follow the ONE requirement. I had a gal tell me she never even reads the rules, she just enters. LOL She had a number of things in the comments that weren't even part of the extras or requirement. I just deleted them. I didn't know what to say to her so I didn't say anything. tee hee hee