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How are you holding up?

Hope all works out for u all :)

Di_D, so sorry to read this. Take care.

Oh Di_D, that's awful! Hope everything turns around for you.

Hope things turn around quickly for you @Di_D

My daughter's room and the bathroom were gutted and the two other bedrooms are charred and soggy. The rest is black with soot with anything stored up near the ceiling melted into interesting shapes.
Main thing is everyone is fine and our two cats also ... lost one little fish.

Oh no! That's really horrible. So glad you are all safe though, except little fishy dude :(

@Di_D Big hug. Happy you're ok. Do you have a list of things you urgently need? There might be a few compers with spare items that could send/post over to you.

:(

:) thankyou

I don't mind purchase comps except for the ones that then ask for 25 wol, that's just greedy, lol.
Can't enter maccas ones now, my 14 year just started a job there,abit disappointed as a few years ago actually won in the monopoly second chance draw, was mean't to be a blue ray player but by the time the second chance draw came around it wasn't in stock lol, so I got a blue ray surround sound system, even better

Thank you Nicole. It sounds like the "professional" compers are very organised and have a system for everything. I already keep all my receipts & you are right, they do come in handy but keeping the barcodes! Now that is organised.

Some handy tips like keeping the receipts for 2nd chance draws.

For the terms and conditions for purchase competitions they sometimes require separate invoices. That's when you ask your nice checkout person to do then separately :) I tend to do those over a few shopping trips.

Maybe another hint. Check the recycling bin for your building if you can't find your barcodes. lol Just make sure it matches your receipt.

Personally don't do them that often when on a budget. I think the last time I did one involved buying a few bottles of wine, that were also on discount. At least they don't perish. They've come in handy when dropping over to friends for dinner.

@gaseja Common sense that need some method to keep organised. To win you need to enter a "few" competitions. Some methods may work well when only got a handful of competitions running at a time. After a "few" hundred whatever the type of competition it starts becoming too time consuming to manage without some sort of organisation.

If not organised and happen to win you may easily miss out due to misplacing a receipt or not getting the notification that you won. I saw an email today for a great competition that they did a 2nd draw for. It was for $5000 and another $5000 value for holiday etc. When that person realizes they be kicking themselves. I hope I haven't missed an email on that note. I was fortunate to see the email for the Ipad Pro I won, found it in junk emails. Lucky I had finally got around to a massive of a clean up of my emails a couple of days earlier.

Over the last few months been adjusting how I manage online competitions. ie. The bookmarks. I'll post up some screenshots in a couple of weeks how mine look. I do have a bookmark folder for purchases , only the one in there that runs for a quite few months. It's handy to bookmark the entry form and terms and conditions as a reminder.

@bj74 Even better if it's got a two step hurdle for entry.
It even further reduces the likelihood of the number of entries.
For the coffee machine creative photo competition I did, thou it didn't involve a purchase you had to go to their popup stand sample their product, and use the cup as a prop. Most people weren't aware there was a competition for it and the additional hurdle basically weeded it down to a couple of dozen at most. I didn't win, but gave myself a good chance. All you can do maximize the likelihood of winning. It means less competitions to enter between wins. :)

I have been lucky enough to win several puchase comps over the years including a PSP from Arnott's Shapes and $500 eftpos card from Golden Circle. I am on a budget so I only enter the comps that are for products I am actually going to use. I keep an expanding folder to keep my receipts in and keep them in month order so each pocket is a different month. Each month's receipts are kept for 12 months and as that month rolls around again I clear the old ones out and start again. That way I don't need to keep track of ending dates as some only run for a few weeks and some last for months. My biggest gripe with supermarket comps is their advertising. I often find they only put competition leaflets up long after the comp has started and leave old ones up for months after they have closed. Sometimes they advertise in their catalogues. IGA used to be good and list all their comps on their website but in the last year or so they have stopped doing that. It can be hard to find what competitions are actually running. www.thecompetitions.com.au often have a few on their site. I still prefer to enter these then the WOL comps as I think the odds of winning are basically the same for everyone. WOL comps really depend on what they are looking for and I am not a mind reader. Good luck!

@kaybee72 You might want to check netrewards.com.au under Product Purchases. This may assist you when you go shopping.

Great wins! Congrats :-)

I've not had even a tiny win in the last 2 months, hoping that my luck will change soon hehe

Congrats Alittlebitoffun. That's Karma for you. :)

Congrats

Congratulations!!!

Nice prizes. Congrats.

Congrats :) on your lucky week, I've had a lucky week also with another few prizes - woohoo and keep up the winning.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

happy days :)

Congratulations! Sounds like many great times ahead :)

Big Congratulations mate :)

You can set notifications for the page. Recommend don't do the post. I get my notifications emailed. Which helps.

Also bookmark the FB competition to check back on later.
Working on how can use a spreadsheet to automate it with my bookmarks. :)

i write every facebook comp down in a book then go back and actually check the comp once finished! I missed a few where the company didn't tag me...

Bane of my life (arguable - lol) but I diarise in my smartphone's calendar to check back after closing date - FB announcements publicly or privately via direct messaging / newspaper classifieds - some of which you might be lucky to find online...There are at least two competition winner notification feeds to which you can subscribe - one free (on FB), one paid (web-based). I just wish that Promoters/companies contacted the winner/s - they have enough of your personal details anyway!

2016 June Facebook
---> 2016 June Email
---> 2016 June Instagram
etc etc etc

2) Create a bookmark on the entry form/Post
When about to enter a competition I bookmark the entry form before submitting. This serves as I reminder if I attempt to enter again and avoid double entry months later etc also for checking back later on the winner.

3) Label the bookmark with the END DATE at the beginning.
When creating a bookmark I label it with the end date at the beginning of the label, using a consistently date format. Having a consistent method makes it easier to sort later. For my bookmarks I usually do this manually, thou in Chrome you can sort your bookmarks automatically, at your own risk.

EG June 07, 2016 : Competition Details

Note the addition of the "0" to keep the day as two digits. Makes it easier when looking at your bookmarks and also avoids any complications when sorting bookmarks. Also makes it easy if use to import into a spreadsheet etc and extract the date information from the bookmark.

4) Bookmark labeling - Use a consistent separator
If you wish to record additional information within the bookmark description use a consistent separator/s. You can choose your own protocol for a separator as long as it's consistent and unique i.e. unlikely to be used in a description Eg " : " etc etc

You can add what ever information you like eg Checked Winner, Prize , Promoter etc long as helps you remember what the bookmark is for. :)

Note:
I've decided to use XXX as checked for winner

So my bookmarks look like the following:

June 07, 2016 : Bucket of Fish & Chips : Barnacle Bills

After checking back on the bookmark
June 07, 2016 : XXX: Bucket of Fish & Chips : Barnacle Bills

5) Sort your bookmarks can do this manually or automatically
See Bookmark manager ---> Organize, and at the bottom are options to sort your bookmarks. Note once done you loose the order you entered the bookmarks in. You make want to export/save them first. I manually sort them from time to time.

6) Exporting bookmarks into HTML file.
This allows to backup your bookmarks or take them with you to import easily to another browser or PC etc etc.

To export/save bookmarks into a HTML file using Chrome. See Bookmark manager ---> Organize, and at the bottom are options to export your bookmarks.

Note: To find the relevant current month of competition bookmarks easily I've placed the "2016 June" folder as the first bookmark on the Bookmark Bar. This is so in the HTML file it appears right at the top of the page and allows for quick viewing and/or coping into a spreadsheet. I've got a hell of a lot of old bookmarks so saves time searching for the current month :).

To open the page just select the Bookmark HTML file you created and open it with the same browser you create your bookmarks for comping.

I find viewing the bookmarks in HTML format i.e. a webpage a lot easier as can increase the size etc. I view from distance from the couch when comping :). The Bookmark HTML file will display a webpage with all your bookmarks with their descriptions as links, which can click on and will open to the competition link.

You can use this list as a way to check back. If a winner has been announced etc you can update/edit your bookmark with say XXX field. Or delete the bookmark etc.

June 07, 2016 : XXX: Bucket of Fish & Chips : Barnacle Bills

You can then later export the bookmarks again to see the updated results.

Damn there must be a word limit . I hate 25 WOL hehe. Lost the first part of the post.

First part was about organise each month's bookmarks into folders and sub folders :)

The use of a spreadsheet is optional. I find the HTML bookmark file can visual see what competitions are closed if sorted.

The advantage of the spreadsheet I can sort, filter the bookmarks without risking effecting the saved bookmarks. I.e. It's just a VIEW of the links to the competitions and bookmarks, if using the same browser. Note helps having the default browser set to the same one you use for comping.

Having a consistent date format and separators comes in handy when you want to process this file say in a spreadsheet etc automatically. Using TEXT functions to extract the information for End Date, and or Draw Date, Checked etc.

Then can sort and filter to see what competitions are closing or drawn for a particular date and checked if a winner has been announced. Then update the bookmark to show that you have checked it or delete it.

Using a book. hmmm you still have to go back to the site etc to check. If created a bookmark can click its link. Just helps if you label it with the end date and or draw date.

@toxicgherkin Yeh there are a couple of groups. Pity most of the competition wins posted on the free forum are for women products and candles.

The simplest method get some FB comper contacts, which will watch your back for you. Or join one of the FB groups that announce winners. They may tag you if someone has posted the win up. Not guaranteed. It's also not fool proof if friends haven't entered etc. Also if doing under the radar competitions you might not want every man/women and their dog knowing about it. I generally only sharing those only to my friend list. :)

@toxicgherkin You had no luck of the irish this week with the lotto hehe. Wonder if JBHI have announced yet.

Woohoo looks like I won something with the Lotto just now :)
Update June 2016 FB bookmark :)
June 07, 2016 : XXXWON : 2 Pounds : Lottoland UK :)

@Lemond @toxicgherkin Thank you for your valuable feedback. You talk about FB groups that announce winners via subscription, can you name some of them please

@gaseja, hi. The FB group is called 'Competition Winners Australia'. You'll see the 'Join' button when you navigate to that FB page. The other mob is lottos.com.au - you can register as a free or subscribing member though the latter incurs a subscription fee. I believe the members post a monthly winners list though I'm not sure if that content is available to 'guest' accounts. There's also handy search features such as looking up T&C via hyperlinks (useful for past comps that you want to find again for winner notification means etc). Again, you'd have to see what is available to you as a Guest account, otherwise, if you're willing to sign up, there's a whole slather of stuff! Good luck.

@toxicgherkin I though that Lotto only allowed costly subscriptions, will double check

After reading all this I think I will stick to my current method - just hope I get tagged, otherwise, miss out. There's not too many comps that are worth that bother.

@Jrob71 lol Yes I explained in detailed what I do. You can pick and choose what might help. I've been adjusting how I bookmark my competitions the last couple of months, more out of necessity. You would be surprise how many good competitions are out there. Facebook competitions are only one part of it. Same applies checking back for other social media. Gee reminds me maybe I should add a Twitter Folder. I haven't tapped into those. :)

Main thing I would do is add the END DATE in a consistent manner to the description. Helps for sorting the bookmarks and checking back.

From there up to you if want to add any additional information. Maybe like checked. Or just delete the bookmark when done.

If you plan using the bookmark description for any automated use you need to design a protocol for consistent labeling to help extract the information out easily for processing. You could do that regardless if it helps you. EG WOL, CREATIVE, RANDOM classifications. Thou I generally do that by putting into separate bookmark folders each month. Any ones still going at the end of the month I move across into the new month.

For exporting bookmarks into HTML file I find easy for viewing as can enlarge the page and click away on the links. Handy for all those daily multiple entry gleam comps.
Also you may need to do this if using multiple browsers or devices to transfer your bookmarks across or share them all to friends. I think you can also save them in google or be other extensions to back them up online if so desired to use on other devices.

FB Notifications.
God I need to clean those up. My Facebook notifications sometimes sound like a pokies or pinball machine going wild. I more likely to pick up a notification in the quiet hours.

Facebook Shares
Also could share the competition posts to yourself/friend etc and use that as a bookmark list. I label my shares as well with End Dates etc :) That can be a good option as can add comments etc to your own shares. :) Thou don't can sort then according to End Date automatically. That would be handy.

Simplest method is a few eyes looking out for each other on FB. If organised could split the ones up check back later on.

@Jrob71 @gaseja
Summary
Bookmarks, End Date and sort!

Good Luck :)

@toxicgherkin 'Competition Winners Australia' what a Great site.
Have been accepted into the Group. I was very interested to see how many competitions are out there. I am just literally just scratching the surface and feel like a real amateur since browsing through this fb page. Thank you again!

@gaseja, you're welcome!

@gaseja Welcome to the winners cult. hehe. :)

If you're lucky they will tag you if you win. One of my FB contacts religiously posts a lot of winners there. I think some days that would be depressing.

Also check out FB winner profiles or other compers in that forum for competitions. Quick way to discover FB competitions. Sometimes I pick an random FB competition entry to go competition treking.

Sounds like you're beginning to understand why you need some sort of efficient method of organization competitions entered.

I finding it very handy to bookmark the post as stated above. Usually the popular ones will be posted in that forum and posted to my feed. Then click on it cross off my bookmark or removed it etc.

Just wait until you discover Instagram competitions as well!

Good Luck

Fine here, no problems.

A very wet day here in SA

QLD was pummeled all day yesterday... today is blue sunny skies. Stay safe Sydney people.

Sydney hasn't stopped in days ... left home to get lippy since I've not been able to win one LOL and came back with lippy and new umbrella. My mushroom umbrella broke as I was crossing the road ....

Wasn't joking when I said Sydney is being washed away http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/sydney-wild-weather-homes-at-risk-as-collaroy-narrabeen-battered-by-storm/news-story/9c0047d1bfbfc4099585131b2f1fbafe?sv=655f2b30b83547fa8e91a6de1da77651&utm_source=The%20Telegraph&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial

Still wet here in Tassie.

No but I'm getting overseas call centre calls that ring to test if you are at home.

no its all on my mobile, think it one of these companies on here , but calling from computer

I get those email all the time. They go straight to the junk/spam list. If you read the terms & conditions for that quiz it cost $$$ per minute etc. That sample form looks like the cohort forms.

Just reading the comments. lol one saying no one gives away money . Untrue! I can name plenty of legit competitions that do. :)

@Lemond apparently almost 1200 complained to ACCC this year.

Don't recall entering anything like this

@Annaar I've seen them don't enter them. Reminds me I should bar 1900 numbers on the phone.

@Lemond will go through my list of comps entered ...

Don't recall getting an email like that... Then again I kill off anything that I didn't subscribe to

Congratulations :)

Winning a holiday is on my list too. Preferably a cruise

Doing well, keep it up, congrats.

awesome , $1000 to spend on toys how exciting

Great wins. Good job.

@bop18 Big congratulations. :)

LMAO. Gee rolling in it today :) You just need some champas to go with the wins :) So that's how long it's going to take me to win on the leaderboard. hehe. Still waiting for my welcoming gift.

Good work! I was 1st, 2nd & 3rd all month then dropped to 4th yesterday!

@CeCee14 Had a good run, pipped at the post.

@Annaar how did you end up? Did you stay in the top 20?

Congrats @bops18 You get to hear from the elusive @admin. Can you confirm that they're alive?

Congrats! Hope to be in your position one day too!

Congrats

@Lemond think about #16... How did you go?

@Annaar Not sure I had an early night :). Probably 10ish, knew was safe. Way off the leaders thou lol. Just thought you would be cutting it very close. You were probably saved by none of the people with birthdays doing all the guessing games etc.

Looks like your off to a great start for June :). Good Luck for tomorrow and rest of the month.

@Lemond thanks, you too!!

Seems that some who have not been around for a few days were dropped, so I moved up.

Checked my stAts & I've not won s thing in almost 2 months...

Really late night... Out to dinner & then couldn't sleep as I had 2 appointments today

@Lemond ha ha yes they are alive however I thought I'd be getting double guesses this month and I am still on single guesses, but just read that 4th-20th get double guesses the following month, so at least I know I'm not going nuts.

@bops18 Damn that's nuts. No double guesses. Pfttt!! I must of overlooked that in the terms and conditions.

Awesome :)

Yum! Good haul, I'm sure your family are pretty happy with that too.

Sugar rush! Congrats.

Party time @bops18 That will keep you comping non stop for a few days :)

Warning may contain lots of sugar :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-K6N1CMeA

Congrats :)

Thank you :) Happy Comping ev1

Will read thou when it comes to competitions it's more what the promoters give for prizes is what may get.

:)

Done :) good luck

All done xx Good Luck

Sorry I didn't see this until now! Hope you won!

@CeCee14 No. Thought might have a chance. like/taggin/referral competitions usually stay clear. Just it only needed a couple of referrals to win till the last 1/2 hour. Then the usual gang of FB compers finally worked out the rules. They thought was just tagging.

@Jrob71 Big congratulations.
Reminds me I got to keep an eye on my mail.

Awesome win :)

Ooooh you won that! Congratulations!! Had my eye on it too, but well done you lucky (hard working) thing!

Good to know that competitions I enter are legit and do pick winners. Enjoy your shop.

Congratulations, Jrob. Lovely prize.

Congratulations. :)

great win!

Woohooo well done - what a great prize :)

Di, been meaning to ask, have people been a bit more generous then $200 with the mixer?

I've always been wary of those international lotto schemes, you haven't had an increase in spam mail or any viruses at all? Maybe I am just paranoid, anyway, good luck!

@charissa That was via Facebook little chance of spam from those competitions as my email isn't displayed to the public. I had to privately message them and create an account so can enter. I think only allows one entry into the draw. Not sure until I test it out later.

@charissa You can actually do few Facebook entries each week for Lottoland. They have Australia, UK, Poland, Brasil on Facebook. I went global. How's your Portuguese and Polish? jaja

Reminds me should check my Australian FB entry as well :) No luck there. I haven't done the Brazilian and Polish one for a few weeks. If I won "Meu português é ruim" jaja

Congrats!!

Great win!!

Send some luck my way, not won a thing in 7 weeks lol

@Annaar hehe. Check the junk emails :) Lucky I did a good clean up for my emails last weekend deleting over 2500 emails. Now around 8,900 unread ones in the inbox. Might have to go dumpster diving as I did mass delete a lot of makeusof ones. Might be some more wins in the deleted folder.

First you need to enter in a good number of competitions. I reckon the magic number for random draws be around 200-300 competitions per win assuming average 1/500 per competition. About how many I've done this month. :)

Yeh I'm pushing my luck with that win. 1/3000 that's worth about 6 months of luck entering competitions.

Lot of good cash international comps with fairly good odds. Few keeping fairly quiet. Don't want all the Aussie compers pouncing on them. I've noticed recently how competitions propagate once certain compers get the news with hundreds of friends for tagging comps etc.

@Lemond spam folder gets a clean out prior to reading inbox... Taking out the trash is important lol

Have done at least a dozen surveys & still no iPad lol

My biggest wins have been tix to movies & fee food events.

Sometimes it's all in the name ... number of comps only give prizes to people with Anglo names ...

Wouldn't mind winning a movie tix, DVD or anything to get me excited in comping again :-)

WOW! You've had some great wins lately. Congrats!
We need to start rubbing your belly like Buddha for some luck!

Woohoo - awesome prize - well done

@CeCee14 Lol. Reminds me my Lemond Fitness bike is sitting in the corner.

Ooooh very jealous, congrats on that win! Gives me hope when I see others winning though, so I'll soldier on. Enjoy the iPad, Lemond!

Wow what an awesome prize - congrats - wish there something like that in my junk folder lol

Woot. Woot! Congratulations, Lemond.

@Lemond 500 in one month? I've only done that in the last 5 hehe

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations, great win!

Big thanks everyone. :)
Coincidentally the odds match the first 3 digits of last weeks guessing game number which was so close.

you ripper :) congrats

Do keep a log of what competitions you enter? Usually I keep bookmarks and date them. This makes it a lot easier to check back if won, especially for Facebook competitions.
The generally with FB and Instagram don't end up with a lifetime of spam.

On a note for Facebook. Message requests can easily be overlooked and missed. I just found out missed a market research a couple of weeks ago. :(

@Lemond it's not winning emails, it's spam emails that have gone from 2 to almost 80 today... haven't received a 'YOU'VE WON" email in almost 7 weeks

@Annaar lmao. The point was if the competitions entered are bookmarked/recorded you might be able to work out which competitions might be the cause of your increase in sudden increase in spam emails. Apart from that unless you got a "friend" who has just signed you up for some spam.

@Lemond I run a list, cannot work it out as only sign up with known companies.

This account is not for getting personal emails.

Many years ago, back in the days of chat rooms a 'friend' signed me up for spam... She didn't want to hear the truth about the morons she dated even though she asked 'what do you think?'

Had to kill the account :-)

When you read the T&Cs of some competitions, it says by entering this competition you agree to receive information from that Company as well as their Partners.

@gaseja True, but it's spam... the usual garbage we used to get decades ago... Company's partners will not be trying to send me links to porn sites or asking me to hook up with them via vids

yes a huge increase but it is also my fault as I am aware that I will be getting emails from third party sites with practically each comp I enter. It does take a huge effort to sort through them daily though as there could be an odd "winning" email amongst them which has happened a few times.

@bops18 I took a break from comping in Feb mainly due to how much effort needed to keep up with the emails. :( I got that surprise this morning with a win slipping into the junk emails and sat there for a day or two. I was lucky to spot it.

@bops18 filter them...

@Annaar I used to filter them....have just upgraded puter and been way too busy atm to sort it out, will do it hopefully soon, you're right, it's a great idea to filter them all to a newsletter folder or something like that.

If you see an email offering you meds. usually you'll have plenty of them.. so filter by topic.. that way they'll all be group together.. easier to cull

@Annaar Wow thank goodness I've never had that.

Cheers Nicole,
Always good to remind myself of the dos and don'ts with these competitions.

@LuckyNicky Great blog. It's a good reminder of the dos and don'ts for WOL. Falling into the trap and getting emotional/personal and doing a sob story etc is a good point. Best to treat it can it be used for marketing their brand/product.

I would add DON'T PLAGIARIZE.
If the promoter fails to do a simple check other compers are bound to do their own check as I've experienced. It's a complex topic and a small twist on the original work can be sometimes acceptable. From a legal point a plagiarized answer might not be able to used for marketing purposes.

4. Tie in the product/s, brand and/or the promoter some way. Be creative but don't forget who created the competition.

For this I would add RESEARCH the promoter/brand/product to help for inspiration.
Usually I list the main features of the product to help with the brainstorming/creativity.

If possible if they have held previous WOL competitions look at what style of answer wins.
If know who is judging the competition a quick research on them. Occasional you know who is judging the competitions.

9. Don't over think it
Another good point. "KISS" principle see point 4.

For small value prizes thou I tend to avoid these as not worth spending too much time on it.

Some worthy tips Nicole.

:)

Some great comments, however I feel it depends on the judges for the comps. Often a company lets Junior staff pick a winner and this can result in sob stories/emotional entries, whereas someone who is a little more mature looks out for the creative entries. There seem to be a lot more 25 wol comps around now, so good luck everyone, happy comping.

@bops18 Agree thou the advice would get you past a couple of cut-offs hopefully into the mix the judges are genuinely considering. I've seen some badly ran WOL competitions with promoters with egg splattered everywhere. EG the initial winner plagiarized and went way over 30 words, compers kick up a storm, rejudge the competition the person who came 2nd stays 2nd and new winner.

Yeh occasional sob stories win or even plagiarized ones. Warning thou if you plagiarize, especially on Facebook competitions you better put the running shoes on. lol.

It's very subjective thou can avoid basic errors. I like Facebook WOL competitions as can see other responses and can learn what works and doesn't.

Promoters need a "Dummy's guide how to run a competition", they get caught out with WOL thinking its easier to run. I.e. no permit required etc . This can quickly turn sour when compers point out obvious oversights.

Just remember it's all about the promoter. :)

@bops18 If it's small value I generally don't bother. Can be good for fun/practice. Another thing to add PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. The more you do you get a feel what works or just give up on creative WOL competitions. lol I only do a few each month as need to be in the right mood.

One good thing about them the WOL/creative hurdle it tends to scare off a lot, unless it's for electronics/PC gear.

Reminds me there are a few good creative competitions I would like to do in the next few days. I need break from the endless random draws.

@Lemond yep I often don't bother if it's too small, I like to enter comps that I actually want to win the prize for me or family not just cos it's a comp.

I am grateful that I have won a few 25 wol comps and my Dad is good at them too, you're right that it does scare off a lot of ppl, unless it's electronics = everyone and their dog comes out of the woodwork for lol.

You're also right about companies not sticking to their rules, I have been comping for years and so many (big name companies) just don't follow their own rules and that drives me nuts as I'm sure you'd agree that if we went over the limit also we might have written the winning answer.

@gracew15 Welcome

By entering competitions. :) Which competition are you referring to there are many listed?

Read terms & Conditions. If you are under 18 then you cannot enter...

@Annaar Well can't enter most competitions. Sometimes you can depending on the T&C's . Occasional there are children competitions posted. :) Free entertainment to keep the kids busy doing competitions or finding competitions to enter. :) That will keep them busy until 18.

@Lemond I stand corrected :-P

Most comps are for over 18's...

Congrats, Alittlebitoffun.

Congratulations!!!!!!!!! :)

Woohoo - what a great win - enjoy your prize :)

I must admit skincare and makeup are my weakness too! Congrats.

Congratulations,,,,,

Agree for sure! Congratulations

@Alittlebitoffun Congratulations. On that note anyone need a makeup kit I won :)

I think you are like me in that you are fussy in what you enter. I am not going to enter to win a Product or Service that is no use to me.
Some people enter contests to win for the thrill of the win so they can brag about it to their friends on Facebook.

@gaseja Not that much of a thrill if you throw it in the corner and forget about it :-)

I was talking about the daily number allocation .. you are given a random number daily..

@Annaar Argh still way ahead of me this month. 5 5 last couple of days :(.

Hmm roughly what time you being logging in each day? Since I swapped back to my roughly early mornings login they generally haven't been flash random numbers. Thou last months winner looked to log roughly the same time I did. The midnight shift :).

I don't think there is a current issue looking at the rough spread of the leaderboard. The leaders a touch higher then expect it should settle down would expect that to drop down for a couple in the next week. The cutoff for top 20 looks roughly break even which would expect. Overall a bit higher then last month especially the cut-off point for the top 20. It's back to around break even 25.5 average per day. I think this is mainly due a few missing a day at least for the guessing game last month.

Hopefully a random method is being used that can't be exploited!

By the end of the month (31 days) expect roughly for the random daily points as follows:
Top 20 790 to 805 +
Top 3 865 to 900
Top 1 910 to 1000

Notes:
Figures based on the assumptions approximately 50 people doing the Leaderboard everyday etc etc.

Adjust for birthdays what you would require by reducing the amount by 50. A high number of birthdays i.e. more then 4 in a month will effect those figures required slightly.

@Lemond How can you exploit the numbers if you get them when you log in... have been trying around midnight and after 8am .. today was 6.

Doesn't matter that much, since it doesn't make any difference in winning comps, still would be nice to get something higher LOL

If you are correct about times then the bell kicks in.. after all high numbers have been allocated, the rest get lower numbers.

@Annaar Well for the same people at the top @FARMERTYSON would disagree this month. @CeCee14 was helped by a birthday last month. You've had a good run in the Top 20 the last few months odds are due to drop out. This month your currently still just above the break even point. You got few bad days up your sleeve still to make the Top 20.

I haven't noticed many birthdays this month. Ekk bound to be a couple on the leaderboard coming soon. I need a few good days to scrape into the Top 20 again.

@Lemond birthdays last month don't carry into current, do they?

Thought it was Di's birthday this month.

@Lemond Have noticed that sometimes viewed comps don't add on to the current scores.. .. then suddenly there is a jump

@Annaar Well it seemed there was an issue before February 1st. Based on the assumption it was an reoccurring issue, and if was aware of it before that date possibly could of taken advantage of it. One of the reasons I posted the "abnormality" as by checking for the issue was touching on the possibility could take advantage of it. Least making it a "fair" playing field by making all aware. I think the issue was "fixed" that night. Thou I got the raw end by checking early each day lol. It's how I discovered the unusual "abnormality" on that day.

I don't think anyone intentionally took advantage of any "abnormalities" previously would of been more coincidental.

Signs was an issue was the random daily points spread for a number of months didn't fit into the expected binomial distribution. Since then the average has dropped by least 2 per day i.e. from 27.5 to roughly 25.5 as expected.

If there is any patterns for the "random" daily points eg. based say on the login order each day i.e. in an incremental loop, I haven't check closely for a while if that's the case. I was suspecting before February a possible case. It's only easily to see any patterns on the first day of the month early in the day. That also assumes the issue also occurs on that day. If an issue occurs any other day a lot harder to detect apart from using statistics. With enough members logging in during during a period would appear random.

Now for login in the quiet times between midnight and say early morning before 8am so assuming an incremental "random" value based on login order might have similar results. Doubt site be "stupid" enough to use that method.

I'm not sure about time has an effect. Welll not since Feb 1st. Statistics don't show a major shift unless its the early birds are getting a better deal. i.e. significantly less of them . I don't see that for my case lol. You can't look at one case and make an assumption it's why I look at the population of statistics. It should follow a binomial distribution if randomly generated.

lol A good daily random points is a nice kick start for the day thou. :)

@Lemond If I'm awake at 1am, I'll check LOL some days I get really good points and over the last week, I've drown a short straw.

As you said, good start to the day :-)

@Annaar lol of course birthday points don't carry on to the next month.
Point was statistically they got a boost last month on the Leaderboard so a bit biased using them as an example. They got 3rd so that reflects without the birthday bonus only having slightly above the average random points last month, so nothing unusual this month they are currently doing well. I got significantly below the average. Still somehow scraped just into the top 20 with the birthday bonus. I'm due for an above average month. Maybe next month X fingers.

@Annaar Ok got lots of competitions for cash to do on instagram X fingers. Hmm odds around 1/500. So need to do 300 of them to hopefully get at least one win. lol

@Lemond I entered a win 1 lippy, the had 200 to give away.. and still didn't get one... must have been a popular product LOL

Over the last week hardly entered anything.... haven't won a thing in about 6 weeks either.

Last month I had low numbers nearly every single day and I was nowhere near the top of the leaderboard but I'm not worried as I have been near the top of the leaderboard a few times for the entire month but then on the last 2 days of the month I get single digits and then lose my spot, hopefully one day we will all have a chance of winning the monthly top 3.

For some strange reason I'm currently number 1! The last few days I've been getting in the 40s then today I got 5. The last month when I did get a place I got pitted at the post for 2nd because of the daily points :( I doubt I'll be in the top 3 this month. Just been lucky for the last 2 weeks.

Best daily score ever today '2'

Other than the prestige of attaining the top or top 3 rankings for the month, do you get anything for it, e.g. points or the like? Sorry new to the site so trying to get used to it.

@debbras $$$ First $100, 2nd $50, 3rd $25. Also double the number guesses each day for the daily guessing game in the following month i.e. June Everyone in the Top 20 gets the double the number of daily guesses. :)

I was 1st 2nd or 3rd for the whole month again then yesterday I slipped to 4th :( But I got 3rd last month so cant complain! Bought a new camera bag on ebay!

I was going to ask - if you win top 3 (like I just did) do I not get double the guesses as my guesses are still single

@CeCee14 so often am up in top few all month and get pipped last couple of days by getting low numbers, so excited I won.

If they ask more information than you are comfortable giving then don't worry about it.
Keep a record of Facebook competitions as a lot won't message or tag you if you have won so you need to go back a check yourself to claim a prize.

@Di_D I find it handy to bookmark the Facebook competitions and put the End Date at the start of the name of the bookmark. Then I manually sort them every few days so can check back easily.

@charissa Welcome and good luck. :)

First creative a separate email for competition entries. It helps to stop getting spam to your main email account. The disadvantage is having to remember to check it.

Hi @charissa, firstly good luck with comping, most competitions are ok. A lot can be avoided by reading the t&cs. Sometimes there's e-mails from "laura" or "sarah" that go to your spam folder saying you've won an apple iPhone or saying that your name has been selected for a trial but you need to respond straight away. Ignore these and delete -they're rubbish. At the bottom of the e-mail it will tell you where they came from, usually US or Portugal or some foreign country.

Scams are normally picked up by scamwatch https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/ or http://www.hoax-slayer.com/. There was a facebook "like farming" page I picked up a while ago and reported on this site. I also reported this to hoaxslayer straight away,as soon as it hit my e-mail and it was good to see they picked this up and posted the scam to their Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154112200533436&id=69502133435. If in doubt throw in a question here! We're all here to help each other. :)

If it's random draws you're entering try entering about a few hundred to have a chance of a win. Unless you find an off the radar competition or lots of prizes in a draw. :) Amazing how you see 2,000 entries for a garden hose and only a few hundred for $500 sometimes. Also amazing how many don't read the terms the conditions for competitions. Based on some competitions I've seen lately, it would be around 10-30% fail to fulfill basic requirements.

Ah.. cheers for that, I always assumed I could only enter once.

I've noticed that ineligible entries happen often too, I once was given a $250 dining voucher for complaining to Treasury Casino about a daily winner for some competition who actually hadn't tagged their instagram picture correctly. That's a win in my eyes.

Also, the REID Bicycle giveaway has an astounding number of entries over the 25 word count.. it gives me hope.

@charissa Sorry if any confusion point was if each competition the odds are about 1/500 to have a good chance of winning one or more competitions need to enter in a couple hundred at least.

Each competition has it's own various terms and conditions some may allow multiple entries. Most one entry.

Example I was looking was basically had to like several pages etc to be a valid entry for a competition. As a fair percentage didn't read the instructions there is a big difference in the number of likes over the pages around 10-30%. Done a few to many of this type in the last week.

I can definitely recommend Bookmaker Australia Review 2021 https://bestbettingwebsites.com.au/review/bookmaker/ There's a lot of useful information on the site, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for there.

Welcome back !!

Thanks @Annaar

@fourleaf Welcome back :)

Guess will have to hand back the slightly used four leaf clover.

Thanks for keeping it in great condition :)

@fourleaf Let me know when you want it back. Hopefully no time too soon :)

Thank you for thinking of us SA compers @Lemond

@Alittlebitoffun Well I was born in SA. Good luck. :)

Whats wrong with my current pc only works as a boat ancor and use this one for help finding fish. :) or

My old laptop is only good for attracting flies and need one that simply flys etc. :)

@Alittlebitoffun I see it's now listed on the competitions list. That's a coincidence! I wonder if the admins check the forums :).

@Alittlebitoffun I see it's now listed on the competitions list. That's a coincidence! I wonder if the admins check the forums :).

Done, good luck!!

Voted. Good luck Angela.

Done

THank you

Done! :)

Done :)

Done

Done

Thanks everyone

Hope you had a good one @Di_D!!

Was very busy - at a Bunnings BBQ most of the day but it was fun and time spent with good people

Happy Birthday!

@MammaPigga84 What's happened? You haven't missed out on the guessing game points again?

You got 750 points awarded for the guessing game for the month, so that all adds up. :)

Or you mean once for the current week of the guessing game which started today :)

@Lemond im confused, when i look up the guessing game I saw my name with only one guess. maybe I was wrong . where do i see the 750?

@Lemond all good just saw the 750. whoops my bad.

@MammaPigga84 lmao. Yeh I guessed as much you were still waking up with the early post. hehe

@Lemond lol long draining weekend :( brain bit slow

Is it possibly a former member who rejoined under another ID?

Agreed, Lemond. Does look sus. It's well and truly time for @admin @Zedmin to investigate recent 'anomalies', and inform (Forum) members what they've done to rectify/remedy the situation so it's a level playing field again...

@gaseja Well might expect some natural curiosity for a "new" member to explore the site. It could be just a comper who's not interested in the the competitions displayed on this site. Maybe the site gets a good number of new users each week quickly trialing the site.

Spider sense of probability and past mentioned issues of duplicate accounts would warrant a closer look into it.

If it is an existing member with duplicate accounts there should be a variety of ways they could detect it.

Some T&C's like some activity or only one account per household might be in order. Think way it currently stands its tempting for abuse.

@toxicgherkin Morning :) I have a great competition for you to go with the suit :)

@toxicgherkin Yeh it be nice to hear from the @admins once in a blue moon, else there might be conspiracy theory's that they have been taken over by bots.

One glaring thing missing are some clear TERMS & CONDITIONS for the Leadboard and guessing game competitions.

@Lemond I didn't play the guessing game nor checked the points for ages after I joined... only entered few comps now and again... now I'm entering more and haven't won a thing in ages ... not even one out of 200 that was being given away...

@Annaar Well is this weeks case curious enough to do the guessing game at least once and a couple of older competitions. For this weeks case would warrant a closer look. It's not impossible just highly improbably/extremely lucky.

To identify abnormalities statistics usually highlights most issues. From how members use the site etc. The guessing game is highly visible at the top of the page so I can see how new members would be attracted to that and ignore the rest of the site.

One major point is the lack of terms of conditions which can lead to exploitation of the fairness and integrity of a competition.

Overall there is only a brief mention about "Any members found cheating at the end of the month will be disqualified.", for the Leaderboard competition. A very broad term and always wondered what incident that was referring to and what that exactly means.
I assume it was in reference of members using multiple accounts.

@Lemond multiple accounts to chase guessing game and/or positions on the leader board? YAWN lol

@Annaar Compers go through natural droughts. Obviously, If it random draws it depends on how many entries for each competition.

Now lets assume in your case each competition you entered had approximately 1/500 chance of winning. Question is how many competitions would you have to enter to have a good chance of winning one or more times. ie. 50% chance of winning 1 or more times.

Probability of win for a competition = 1/500
Probability of no wins = (1-(1/500))^number_of_comps_entered
Probability of one or more wins = (1 - Probability of no wins)

Given entered 200 competitions
(1- (1-1/500)^200) = 33% chance of winning one or more times.

For 50 % chance to win one or more times is approx 350 competitions. :)
For 75% chance etc is approx 700 competitions.

You can use binomial distribution probability to solve it.
http://stattrek.com/online-calculator/binomial.aspx

This month rough count according to my booksmarks (125+) OMG.
I guess in the last month done hmmmmm 300 at least won three times. Thou one probable had very high probability with a massive "giveaway" of hair products.

So lets assume 300 comps entered. So odds of winning 2 or more times approx 12%

On that note I should practice a lot more skill based ones. :)

@Annaar lol. Well rumored the was a previous issue with it. Well the odds are fairly good with one account approx 4/50 per month to win either competition. Need about 8-9 accounts to have a 50% chance of winning each month. lol

@Lemond I'm back to drought days :-)

Haven't entered many comps either, been about lazy & only used a few sites.

Playing numbers game with job ads

@Lemond top of leader board is hard unless you get high 30's & 40's for at least 20 days

Further to the potentially suss issue, I think that maybe the site doesn't record the history accurately? e.g. for instance the winner of this weeks guessing game Juanita T, has last seen April 18 when clicking on her profile. Now if she guessed in this weeks game then wouldn't that be impossible? Or maybe the site doesn't record visits for people who just go in the guessing game and do not view comps which I think is more likely.

@spyglass you need to view a comp in order for the site to record you visiting

@Annaar, thanks that was what I was thinking had to be the case

@spyglass This weeks winner is a comper I've seen on Facebook. I think they won a couple of competitions this last week on FB. I'm guessing they don't check out the competitions here as they have other sources they use. :)

From looking at a couple of recent new members this month, there seems to be around 500-600 people at least logged in this month and viewed one recent comp etc. About 50 do the leaderboard competition religiously, viewing most of the competitions and doing the daily guessing game.

Looks like roughly a few hundred do the daily guessing game regularly, so a lot don't view competitions or barely use the site. I'm sure the admins would be aware of the exact stats for this.

The question that should be asked, what's the purpose of having the guessing game? I.e. to attract new members and for members to visit sponsored/featured competitions. If this is the purpose maybe some terms and conditions that encourage members to be more active to qualify as valid entries into the guessing game. Eg some sort of minimal activity level. Eg. Visited a sponsored competition recently etc.

To activate the monthly score you must view at least one competition that was posted that month. So for next month the first thing you do is view a new competition posted. On the first day of the month this is roughly around 6-7am. After that the points should show up for the guessing game and random daily points etc.

Some reasons compers may not view competitions here.
1) Time they are posted here usually they have already entered. Especially the Facebook competitions. It's annoying when gleam/multiple entries competitions are posted very late and you miss a lot of bonus entries.

2) Quite a few Australian competition sites some have more features thou most lack a nice social forum. :)

@spyglass I still don't understand daily point allocation.. some are always at the top.. others always at the bottom... cc @lemond

@Annaar @spyglass
1) view a competition posted that month to activate the points system
2) Visit the homepage : http://www.competitions.com.au/ each day to get your random dose of daily points from (1-50) points each day
3) Do daily guessing game for 50 points
4) View the new competitions posted for month by clicking on enter button for each competition for 1 point each before they EXPIRE.
5) Birthday month bonus (50 points)
6) Other bonus worth 50 points for each month

Notes:
First log in. Mine is automatic as saved in the browser. :)

Point 1
Confuses members, thanks to @toxicgherkin pointing this out when I first joined. To avoid this confusion I tend to log in later on the first day of the month after 7:00 AM.

Point 2
I think must visit the homepage for the random daily points to register. See point 1 for first day of the month. I find it best to click on a new competition for the month then refresh the homepage to get the first daily random points for the month.

"Allegedly" there appeared to be an issue with the daily random points before February. Possibly having an influence on the monthly leaderboard. If there was an issue it has most likely been attended to. Can only hope. @ann

Point 3
Guessing game select explanatory, pick a numbers (1-999) each day according to the number of guesses allocated. I don't think 0 is a valid option. Hmm. You can't do a previously selected number in the same week (Sun-Sat) an error message will be displayed and have to reenter the days guesses.
There have be alleged issues with points not allocated for the guessing game @mammapiggy84. I'm not sure what would cause this. I do things in order each day, log in, visit the homepage then do the guessing game. This excludes day 1 routine see point 1.

Point 4.
The "Enter" button is slightly confusing, you don't need to actually enter the competition, just click on that button to view it before it EXPIRES for the point to be allocated.

Occasionally competitions are posted extremely late i.e. on the same day as they expire. I usually do a check before midnight for those. There was one this month that was posted a couple of hours before expiring. Argh it was voting competition, useless if you wanted to enter it.

Handy hint use the advance filtering options
First make sure on page 1 of the competitions as results may be confusing after setting the filters. Set the filter to "Hide entered/not interested" to find any missed competitions and set the order to new or closing competitions. New members may have a lot of competitions not "Entered" from previous months so best to set the order to new.

On that note reminds me never to set the "not interested" option unless I've already "VIEWED" it. Probably best never to set it. I just realized this could cause me to miss points.

Afterwards make sure filters aren't set and the order is set to new competitions to avoid confusion.

Occasionally competition points aren't allocated for a competition. I haven't had this happen for a while. If this happens try toggling the options "saved for later" or "not interested" for each competition. This tends to reset the button back to "Enter" from "Viewed" if the points have NOT been allocated. This process can be tedious if not spotted early.

I also wouldn't recommend clicking on competitions that are displayed as EXPIRED that were posted in the current month. There was a previous issue with subtracting the point for the competition "Viewed"/"Entered".

Point 5.
Just before midnight on the day of your birthday 50 points are awarded. This has a great bonus for your birthday month statistically roughly doubling your odds for winning or making the Top 20 for that month. :)

Point 6.
50 points each for profile pic and completed profile. Once these have been done you will automatically get those points each month.

Probability of winning
Approx 3/50 for top 3
Roughly 50 people doing the leaderboard competition religiously each month.
For about every 4 competitions missed will put you down a position on the leaderboard by the end of the month. You probably can afford to miss about 10-15 competitions and still win. Missing a day of the guessing game makes it unlikely, not impossible thou.

Currently not bad odds for a competition, thou takes a month of routinely logging in each day etc. It only takes only couple of minutes each day ticking off the new competitions etc.

Overall
Recommend do things in order, log in, visit the home page then do the guessing game to avoid any possible issues with point allocation for the leaderboard.

To get a breakdown of the points allocated for the month
Click on the leaderboard tab, your point allocation breakdown is displayed on the right hand side of the screen.

EG
ActionPoints
Competitions Viewed 337
Guessing Game 1500
Profile Pic 50
Completed Profile 50
Daily Visit 784

Hints to avoid missing competition points
Viewing other member profiles who most likely tick off most of the competitions and compare this score to the Competition Viewed. Using filters to find any missed competitions.

Regarding the random daily points I look at how I'm tracking to the average 25.5 to give myself a realistic indication where I'll end up on the leaderboard. Eg for the month of 31 days to make the Top 20 need roughly 790. So tomorrow I need 6 or more points to scrape in, probably 16 to be sure. Some members "hide" down the list and tick of any competitions on the last day. Making Top 20 gives you double the daily guesses for the next month. :)

Regarding previous alleged issues of the daily "random" points I use this static as a rough guide to highlight any issue. Currently position 20 should roughly be 25.5 per day the"break even" of 790 for 31 days. Roughly position 1 130 points, 2 110 points , 3 80 points above average. It varies slightly the top 2 positions up to roughly 200 points for 1st. I wouldn't expect groups of scores for a month's random daily points over 1,000 which was consistent over months before "Febtober".