Double passes to 'Loving' and 'Life'. Is the Universe trying to tell me something? Plus a $10 gift card from the Nestl� ALLENS confectionery promotion. Woot. Woot. Gotta love Killer Pythons and Minties. lol
Serendipitous win A couple of weeks ago I won a $50 Coles card and as I do, put the money I saved on groceries towards something else. In this case a secondhand portable airconditioner I saw for sale for my son's room. We get some stinking hot days. Unfortunately it sounded like a freight train and to my suprise was on recall when I searched for the user manual online. I now sit in my living room looking at a brand new 2017 (2016?) replacement model worth well over $900. I just keep staring at it lol! Not bad for $50 and Dimplex couldn't have been better about it. Anyone else save their winnings for something else or save some of the value sometimes, or is it just me? I have a slush fund. Not really a win but some good luck. (And if you have an old air conditioner about 6 -7yrs old lying around......... :)
@Try2win, birthday points are awarded just before midnight of your birth day. Check back around 11 pm or so tonight, if you're able to. You should see the points by about then, and certainly by tomorrow morning. It's an automated allocation. Should have no probs at all/ Happy birthday!
Thanks toxicgherkin, birthday was a few days ago, and still no birthday points. I know they had a bit of a problem last month, saw someone ask similar question, so thought must be having similar problem still.
I see. @admin @zedmin if you're viewing the Forum, can you please review/field test the birthday points allocation system? @Try2win, I'd suggest you correspond via the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of the page. You may not receive a response but hopefully you'll see the resolution. Cheers!
@admin, this might have been communicated to us via the Forum, or an email. Notwithstanding, I still receive birthday points on my birthday - NYE for those not in the know! lol
@Try2win, cheers. I'm not sure how often @admin @Zedmin view the Forum though I do know that if you '@' it, there's more often than not, a response forthcoming! @admin @Zedmin, on that score, a little more interaction with the Forum would be appreciated. What of the changes we suggested at the start of last year? What did you make of all that feedback? Your absence here is sorely noted by more than one...
Thanks @Admin for the reply and info, appreciate it.
Much appreciation @toxicgherkin, I am thankful for all your help. On the '@', written note to one self, ta. I should get onto the forum much more often, honestly. Though I have been a member for sometime, life is a bit less hectic now so have only started to get here more of late, still a lot of learning by the looks of it. I am not sure of the rest, so I best do some reading!
Damn picked this weeks number few weeks ago. Yeh very lucky, would they be one of the Top 50 members on the leader board regularly? Wonder the odds of winning the guessing game comp are roughly? Previously looked around 100-200 "members" just stalking the guessing game.
Thank you :) Can't quite believe it myself! Been away a few days and just returned. Not winning much else lately, so am grateful :) @spyglass- have no idea, as prior to these wins, have never won the guessing game ever and have been a member for many years. I try to remember to enter daily but sometimes forget!
I'm still holding out hope that ONE DAY I will win the guessing game! I've had the right number twice, but another member beat me to it both times! *fingers crossed*
It is a shame they don't have PayPal yet. I have contacted them twice in 12mths asking when they are going to bring this in & they spun me a story about how they have to check that people aren't cheating. Really how?
To all Members of PureProfile, please contact them asking them the same question to make our online purchases easier.
So I won a prize in the MadMex Deadly competition from last year in the second chance prize draw but I am not sure if it is even worth claiming. The prize is a $200 Flight Centre Cruise Travel voucher only valid for redemption towards a 7 day cruise that must be taken before the 7/12/17. I have no intention (or funds) of taking a cruise in the the next 9 mths. Seems like a bit of a non prize really. It is a pity it wasn't just a general Flight Centre voucher. It says on the multiple conditions that it is non-transferrable but if anyone wants to put their hand up I can claim it and pass it on. I am grateful for the win but disappointed it wasn't for something I could have used.
@kaybee72, same thing happened to me last year. It is disappointing. I won a $500 travel voucher last year through a local newspaper. Here I was thinking of a nice weekend getaway but when I went to the travel agent's website, the cheapest getaway was a trip to NZ worth over $2000. It was more a 25% discount, ok , but I didn't want to spend the extra. I couldn't even spend it on airfares. I politely declined. Hope life is treating you well :)
Most travel giveaways are pretty sly and more of a "discount" if that. If your lucky you might find someone sympathetic to the wriggle around T&C's. Generally travel giveaways are a con, aimed not at those who can't afford travelling and baiting those who can. (Unless they are also throwing in substantial cash to cover any expenses)
I wouldn't be surprised if the travel "giveaways" actually costs them a cent. They may be getting commissions from airlines and/or resorts you organize the voucher with.
Pleased to announce one of my stories has been included in a new publication: Twisted Tax Tales I do not get anything from the proceeds of sale BUT money from each sale goes toward the Tassie Devil Appeal so please consider buying a copy.
Sorry, not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. I sometimes enter competitions that have a box showing several ways to enter (like in the image I have attached) but even after I like them on Facebook, subscribe to newsletters or YouTube channels etc, most of the them show no indication of my entry in the box marked "Your Entries". Even if I refresh the page or return to it later. Does this mean that my entries are not actually registering for some reason.
@Patloveswinning, are any of your social media accounts set to private? Perhaps the entry is not showing (and perhaps not 'entered' as such) if the account/s not set to public. Just a thought. Is there a pattern to those entry tasks that do show each time, and those that don't? For example, when you click on subscribe to the promoter's YouTube channel, do you then click on 'Subscribe' on the channel and confirm the subscription? Hoping someone else here has a solution for you. @admin @Zedmin any thoughts?
Delete your cookies and click on that edit thing and un link everything and then log out and then log in and then re link everything There you go! Then have a few slices of pizza Thank you I know I'm supreme
You need to click on the blue +1 sections etc for each entry. They turn from green to blue when you've clicked on them and validated each. See my photo for an example :)
Oh a Gleam comp. :) I've been having lots of fun automatically extracting Gleam comp details for my database to store when it starts, ends, has daily bonus, referral, comp title etc etc.
Gleam giveaways are one common entry management system used by promoters there are many others. The appearance is what you will usually see displayed for the pic you posted.
Notes regarding Gleam giveaways ONCE a social media account is used for entry of a gleam comp it can be difficult to change later on. They store all your social media accounts used for entry for ALL previously entered gleam run giveaways. If a social media account becomes banned/disabled/deleted you won't be able to use that entry method until rectified. I think there's a process of emailing gleam.io to change a social media account used if you require changing a social media account. (it's not something you want to do often if at all)
What @Bel7861 mentioned entry actions are performed by selecting the options on the right. They may also require a confirmation selection provided. ie. next to the Cancel Option that pops up below the entry method. The confirmation is usually grayed out and can't selected until you have selected the entry method on the right.
Entry methods may load up a webpage to visit and/or complete a task. Once done switch back to the Gleam entry form to confirm that entry method. NOTE don't refresh the Gleam entry page in the meanwhile before selecting the confirm entry option which now should be highlighted and available for clicking on.
Some actions are done automatically like sending a tweet entry, following on Twitter/Instagram thou not always. Sometimes presented with I've already tweeted to confirm the action etc.
Sometimes I double check to make sure the action was performed correctly. Say if clicked on an entry method and it's awarded before actually completing it. YouTube subscriptions I find this happens sometimes. To check either hover the mouse just above the entry method description to bring up the link and select or copy into a new page. If a link isn't provided you either need to check your internet history or dive into the Gleam page source to find the link. i.e. search the page for say "Youtube" etc until you recognize what it maybe. (that's not for the faint hearted thou not too hard)
Apart from not being awarded an entry method being disqualified for being awarded entries for tasks not completed properly can be just as frustrating.
Your issue may be one of the following:
*Social media account hasn't set authorization for the Gleam App The first time you use a Gleam comp with a social media account authorization may be required by that social media eg Twitter. You can see the list of authorized apps in twitter settings. Sometimes authorization is requested again. For other giveaway management systems eg Raftercopter forms same applies. Twitter must allow it to access your account details.
*Social media account set to private. -Gleam confirms entry for most entry actions performed -I don't think it checks YouTube subscriptions thou when they draw they will check action is completed for a valid entry.
*Social media is temporary suspended/banned Will need to reactivate the account according to their procedures. Grr twitter disabling me couple of weeks ago for "automatic" tweets then delaying the SMS code for reactivation. Lesson stagger your gleam comps/tweets throughout the day.
*Gleam has suspended/banned your account They may flag users as banned for any suspicious activity. i.e. Attempts to cheat the system. eg automatic scripts for entry have caused users to be sin binned for a period. Also covers fake social media accounts etc they detect.
I can't confirm regarding if clearing cookies may help your issue. I haven't checked what they store in the form of cookies. Easiest way try entry on another device. Gleam store all your social media accounts used for previously entered Gleam run giveaways.
I find that information handy for other entry forms used eg Raftercopter ones that want you to type/paste in your social media details and can't remember what the EXACT details are. Your social media account details used can be found in the source code of any Gleam comp. Thou you may not necessarily want to use the same ones.
One hint to find your issue may be to open any gleam comp and open the source code to check what social media is registered with them. *Right click on a gleam page select view source and search for "initContestant" the following data is all the details for your entry methods registered with them, including things like is your account with Gleam banned.
PS if anyone knows if the setting for what timezone/region a gleam giveaway is hosted in the source page it would be appreciated. I think that information isn't provided. The timezone_offset setting reflects when a giveaway ends. I.e. it doesn't allow of changes for Daylight Savings since it started. I.e. Need to work out the current UTC time for where it's hosted and compare to my pc settings in UTC time. Then use all that for calculating when the daily bonus is due.
I know ONCE entered you get a confirmation email which displays the host timezone/region. Hoping to find some indication before entering so can do that automatically. What I've done works it out with a discrepancy when giveaways start and end either side of Daylight Saving where it's hosted. Later on will work on that "feature".
Got ideas to narrow it down eg if timezone is UTC -5 hours for a given date would give list of timezone/regions that fit. i.e. Maybe northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere timezone/regions.
If obtained a list of gleam comps and their details in batches then can prioritize for entry if interested in the giveaway of course.
It would be handy for what I've done for a rolling 24 hour countdown timer for daily bonus entries. :)
So for the database developing, apart from managing what I've entered, including daily bonuses I'm setting up automatic retrieval of giveaways, starting with the Gleam ones :)
So far implement data entry form and adhoc retrieval of Gleam comps details given it's URL which does all the data entry. Like bookmarking copy the link in hit get details and presto! Tagged and bagged. Lets me know in my local date/time when it ends and when daily bonus are due.
Currently working on summary lists in order or daily bonus expiry at the time of request. Working fairly well excluding the discrepancy of Daylight Saving at the host timezone region allocated.
One major reason for doing a database was help manage these pesky daily entries. So far this month I'm managing around 70 per day to do over numerous timezone/regions. Oh the fun . lmao. Well it is now that got then presented a ordered summary list. :)
Lemond for President!! Mate you should seriously have your own blog for trouble shooting! Your information is accurate and helpful although I cheated and had a disprin before I read the comments lol
@Trevsta lol. Yeh been delving into the inner workings lately for the Gleam comps. Automatically extracting their details to save on data entry. Aiming to have the database do the leg work finding comps and have their details downloaded while sleeping :) A lot faster having the info local the having to struggle manually waiting for web pages to load etc. Then it helps organise/prioriste which to do first for the day, I.e how long I got to do the daily bonus etc. Same applies to other entry methods. Booking while helps doesn't remind you to check back automatically.
Some note worthy things regarding Gleams comps are more then just a simple entry form! I.e system for promoters to manage giveaways with checks in place.
Their major disadvantage you can be locked into that social media account. So apart from first get yourself a separate email for comping the same might apply for your personal social media accounts.
Thanks for all your help guys. I contacted Gleam directly and they were a bit bewildered by it themselves, but were very helpful. It seems to be a glitch with Firefox. I disable my plugins but still no luck, so I just installed Chrome and it seems to work fine using another browser.
@Patloveswinning :) Yeh first thing I would tried switch browsers and/or devices. Did you try reinstall Firefox?
I'm not sure regarding Firefox if it has compatibility modes like MS Explorer. Webpages have instructions which browsers and versions are compatible for best viewing a webpage properly.
I don't use firefox with the Gleam comps. I usually use Chrome one major reason that's where I've got all the passwords saved for the social media accounts. I have about 6 different internet browsers installed and usually switch between Chrome and MS Internet Explorer 11/Edge. It can be handy in a crunch to just switch browsers. Come across some stubborn entry forms where submit buttons wouldn't display etc. It's a lot easier to just switch browsers and try again, then to work out the issue. Could be anything from incompatible browsers to a plug-in causing issues.
I did encounter a similar problem last week with not being able to display a Gleam giveaway properly. I wouldn't show past the top half of the entry form. This occurred when I was using a webcontrol I've embedded in a form using MS Access for the database managing my comps . That issue occurred when I attempted to force the webcontrol to use the MS Edge browser engine via registry settings. Gleam comps displayed fine in a external MS Edge browser. It could of been I've used the incorrect registry setting to force it to use the MS edge browser engine. I reverted to using Internet Explorer 11. Slight pain as opening another browser consumes my valuable 2 GB of PC memory.
Anyone attempting to use webcontrols within an application you will need to know how to change the default MS setting of using the Internet Explorer 7 engine. God like that's compatible with most sites theses days. Not!
Note: With the webcontrol that's provided with MS Access and other MS software development environments, it only allows you to use Edge/Internet Explorer engines. So I've had to add social media accounts and various website like this one into the password lists for Internet Explorer. Grr had to reset my password. Who can ever remember them all for the zillion different sites.
Anyone curious may notice some applications installed with their own registry settings in those locations to force which MS browser engine to use by default. Must be set correctly to use what version of Internet Explorer you have installed to work!
***Warning don't go playing around changing registry settings unless know exactly what you're doing. :) ****
Anyone that prefers using say MS Excel to manage their competitions might find a webcontrol handy. The reason I embedded one on a form in MS Access was to save on flicking between it and a webpage when selecting daily bonus entries. I.e. I've set up click on a competitions description and display the webpage. I've also provided the option to display in external webpage for some giveaways which have videos to watch. :)
Selling. Oasis DVD. $25 DVD commemorating the 10th anniversary of the release of Oasis' debut album. Features : entire original album audio + track only available on vinyl One hour doco All the Oasis videos for the original album Live videos for all tracks Read less
I have now passed the correct amount of Combucks but do not have or wish for a paypal account, due to the fact that I had one at one time but got my visa account hacked so closed it and do not want another. However, I sent the Competitions.com.au an email asking if it was possible if I could get my reward some other way, I got a reply back asking me which comp? I replied and that was about 4 or 5 days ago and still no reply? I am very very disappointed as I have been a member of this site for quite some time now and even won the guessing game twice (no problems then I got a cheque) As I am an aged pensioner this money would come in very handy. Any ideas folks?
I won one of the comps as well (the guessing game). I don't have a Paypal account either as mine got hacked too. I asked if I could get my payment some other way and alas...no reply :( would be good if I could have received a cheque as well (seeing you did) Good Luck
@gemini69 Thanks but it was a few years ago now and I dont think it will happen again, seems they make a habit of ignoring their emails now too. I will just have to not bother with their site any longer and try others there are plenty available.
Well I have still not heard from this site about my rewards, so rude and so careless of their clients too. As I dont seem to be the only one they do this to I am too fed p so am going to resign from the site. As all the competitions they put up are available online anyway I will not be missing much. Sites such as Mindfood and Beautyheaven all have loads of competitions so I will just go there. All I can say to people is if they do this to you too then do as I am doing and leave them .
@shaper I gave up on Mindfood and Beautyheaven a long time ago. Never won anything from Mindfood and BeautyHeaven it seems to give the 'wins' to long standing loyal members all the time. So pfft.
@gemini69 Really? I love both of these sites. Just received a delivery from Beautyheaven today in fact. I've one twice with Mindfood in two years. I wouldn't give up. Stick with my favourite say "Pain & Persistence lessens Resistance".
@gaseja that's O.K, I'm not into pain, so I'll let you have that. I have so many beauty products that I have won over the years that I need to use them up before their expiry dates anyway.
I haven't won a 2nd Chance Draw but I did create one last year or maybe even a 3rd Chance Draw when Cosmo magazine rang me asking for a copy of my receipt for a purchase of a product. It was 3 months after the draw should have taken place. I had to admit I couldn't find it and they should contact someone else.
My birthday was back on the 7th and I haven't been given my birthday points. Anyone know how to contact the admin about this sort of thing other than using the 'contact us' form? I've tried that twice since then and haven't received any response. Thanks in advance.
Thanks. I tried messaging and still got no response whatsoever. It's really sad, because unless my daily points tomorrow are really terrible I'm pretty sure based on the leaderboard that I would finish the month in the top 3 if I could just get my birthday points.
@admin x fingers will look into it for you by tomorrow and fix that up :)
sorry I've distracted adding in features for my database to save on data entry. Ie just completed extact from a gleam comp link its details into a database. No more copy and pasting those. Now to do that on mass automatically while I sleep. Save me trawling for those each day. It's painful on my pc using a browser search for dozen comps to enter to have it crash and forget what comps was about to enter. Then have it sort list by priority ie what time daily bonus or ending. That already done for managing daily bonus entries. On that note must check Aussie comps with daily entry before midnight. One button shows me comps entered daily entries to do. :)
Birthday points will be awarded tonight.. there have been issues during the month and we are looking to fix the problem for next month. Updates to come.
Thank you for getting back to me. I just really wasn't sure what was going on after I didn't hear back, especially as we got so close to the end of the month. I appreciate you looking into it.
I've finally got around to designing a database to help manage comping instead of using a bookmarking system which has it limitations. Apart from my bookmarks are an organised chaos after a year of comping. It's an ambitious project slowly working on aiming to help automate managing giveaways to enter and check back on when drawn.
What challenges does everyone have with managing their comping and what methods/tools/sites do you use to help manage them?
The biggest challenges I find apart from my slow PC grrr are the following: -Facebook giveaways for checking back when it's drawn -Daily bonus for all those numerous time zones. -Remembering to do creative competitions which I normally file away as bookmarks to the to do later list/forget. -Checking emails for winning notifications among the tsunami of daily emails.
For Facebook giveaways I send notifications to email folder to search via common filters eg win/congrat etc. Keeping up with notifications can be a challenge. Thou it's not foolproof if they decided to post the winning notification using a pic etc. God I wish they would tag winners or at least post a comment in the original giveaway post.
Daily bonuses I use bookmarks for each month split into time zones. This works fairly well as can switch between devices. The issue comes for new months remembering to transfer still running giveaways to the new month.
I'm aiming to just paste in the giveaway link and exact automatically from the site the important details such as end date etc. Then do various forms/reports for items such as ending soon, daily entries to do etc etc.
So far storing the basic details of end date, giveaway link, prize details and classifications of giveaway type eg random, creative, prize categories eg technology and added a notes section and what site type it's hosted on eg Facebook, Instagram etc. Also entered, completed and drawn checks.
The first step I've just completed is handling the major issue of time conversion. As I do numerous international giveaways it gets confusing converting mentally ending date/time especially when Daylight Saving in various regions occurs. It becomes an issue for those daily bonuses.
To solve this I've automatically converted end dates to a common timezone Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) allowing for Daylight Saving for the timezone of the giveaway. This will help with sorting/filtering by ending date/time.
Also done a form for displaying giveaways in order of expiration.
From there want to do: -Daily entry report grouped according to the major time zones for those daily bonuses EG Australasia, Europe, USA. That way can stagger during the day those daily bonuses. -Check back report for social media sites for draws. -Reminders for giveaways to complete/enter eg creative comps. -List of giveaways sites for new comps -Reminders for reoccurring giveaways
-Extract giveaway info from the webpage. - Gleam run comps will be the first be looking at.
Future ideas a giveaway crawler -From emails, promoters etc. -Automatically import details from bookmarks
With a bit of thinking and discussion of what works or doesn't for managing the entry of giveaways, easier ways of doing things maybe found. Then with a touch of "hard work" easier solutions can be developed or existing solutions found.
It's fine if doing the occasional giveaway once in a blue-moon to use a pieces of paper as reminders. Facebook notifications/emails work to a point but who wants to be constantly checking. You've can also have twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc notifications of drawn results.
What if could be done automatically and condensed and the notifications highlighted that are directly relevant to the giveaway entered. Then presented in an organised manner to save time for more fun things. :)
What I'm investigating is combining notifications on various social media and emails into a database to condense and present in an organised manner to help make things simpler and easier. From storing your creative responses to reminders when giveaways have ended or drawn.
Competitions sites makes finding them a lot easier but most don't manage well what competitions you have entered for checking back. I.e. your most likely using multiple sources and entry methods for giveaways. If doing a half a dozen comps each day by the end of the month you got 180 giveaways to check back on. If only 1 minute manually spent checking back to each link that's three hours per month!
I don't a have problem finding giveaways, it's sorting through numerous sources then checking back. Why bother wasting time entering if not organised for checking back etc.
There are many ways to save time from auto entry of your details and clever email filters to put into separate folders. Even storing your creative responses for later use.
A database just brings it all together with more powerful tools to organise to make things simpler. Eg this site runs on a database to present giveaways in a "simpler" format which probably take for granted.
What if could cross check what you had entered with your emails to help identify wins verses what is spam! Or automatically remind you a Facebook giveaway has been drawn and a winner announced without having to trawl through Facebook notifications, which are only display for the last couple of days.
Part of the design phase is to analyse and anticipate what tools/features might be useful, combined with feedback what issue compers have to find easier methods for doing things. :)
@sann-oh Checking emails and notifications is fine until you get a flood of them from all social media, like during the Christmas period. I noticed a lot of compers seemed "frustrated" during that period with the overwhelming notifications. Also some promoters can be slow at drawing a winner.
Generally I don't bother with checking notifications on various social media and send then all to a separate email folders. Then just filter for keywords eg win/winner/won/congrat etc. It's not a foolproof method if they post using a picture.
Notifications can be easily missed and lost. I also use bookmarks for checking back thou that relies on labeling them end dates for sorting and checking back manually. One of the many ideas will look into is combining with a database notifications of giveaways entered and cross checking with the emailed notifications. Which will notify that the promoter has posted and expecting a winner to have been announced.
Possible could automatically the winner details from their post excluding if winner is notified using a video/pic.
@gemini69 And the discussion was to get members thinking how to make comping easier. If got something constructive to discuss regarding that feel free to contribute. :)
You never know the admin might take up some of the ideas for this site.
I wonder if anyone has noticed their recent hard work adding a notes section under each giveaway on the main page.
SCAM ALERT - I received an SMS last night allegedly from Woolworths saying I had won a $500 Woolworths Gift Voucher. Underneath was the following: http://bit.ly/Woolworths-Giftcards I did not open it as I am suspicious about it but I tried to open it on my computer because I have Norton Security. It came up with a STOP do not open. Has anyone else received one of these yet?
@gaseja, my inbox is flooded with this type of offer. From what I've read about these promotions, they have nothing to do with Woolworths, Coles, Aldi or any grocery outlet. It's all about getting you to confirm your details. Once you give your mobile phone number ( so they can 'contact' you - yeah, right), you end up subscribed to a SMS service where they spam your mobile phone, and you pay for that! Upwards of $5 per SMS received. You have to opt out if you want to avoid further charges. Absolute rort. Thankful that your ... computer said no!
You can always tell the real competitions from the scam ones. I try to unsubscribe from them, but does not always work. Least they go to the junk folder. I think there is one going around from Qantas and Virgin as well. As if Qantas and Virgin would be giving away travel vouchers.
@gemini69 Like Comp_chick mentioned if it's a scam unsubscribing can be act like confirmation of your email. Why keeping track of competitions entered either mentally or various methods can help. If you don't recognize the promoter advice to bin it. Thou I have received emails for legit wins that confused me as they didn't match the giveaway and didn't explain exactly what it was for etc. In that case you can generally tell when it's a mass scam/spam emails as usually have that generic feel about them.
Regarding what ends up in the junk folder, argh it's not consistent I've got a tug of war between what things I'd like to keep and what goes to the junk. It's more likely wins go to the Junk folder and spam ends up in the inbox. I'm wishing I kept list of who exactly I've subscribed to etc . I should add that to the database functionality I'm developing for comping.
UPDATE: I have discovered it you type in the bit.ly address and then add x+ to it, it shows you the fully URL. It turns out this one is from SweepOn. Go glad I didn't press on it. @Comp_chick Yes I agree it does make it worse, that is why I have set up Rules in my email so that these go straight to my Junk box.
New Zealand
United Kingdom
