Blog owners please post rules for entering your giveaways

Post rules for giveaways

I obviously enter not only sweepstakes, but blog giveaways as well. Entering a giveaway on a blog is normally far more work than an ordinary sweepstakes entry. I have also hosted a couple of giveaways on my own blog and hope to do more. Hosting a giveaway also takes a good amount of time and effort.

It is my opinion that if a blog is hosting a sponsored giveaway, they should post rules. More specifically, whether entries are limited to "one per household".

I entered a giveaway recently on one blog where the only rule there was "no cheating" phrase stuck in with the rules. How do I know what she means by "no cheating" if no rules it is not posted. Do I think I know what she meant, yes, but that is beside the point. I never received a reply, when I asked in my entry exactly what she meant. I am not a mind reader, be specific.

Often I have heard blog owners mention entries from the same IP and they feel that it is cheating. I realize that that when they say that, they are usually looking at a slew of entries one after the other using different names/email addresses. In those cases, I would agree that the entries are not valid, but only if it is posted in the rules. Many times, the blog owner will state in other posts that they ignore those entries. However, I have noticed that in most cases, nowhere on their blog is there a link to a rules post, or is it written in the rules on the giveaway post itself, a one entry per person/household/IP restriction. Doesn't just ignoring those posts, without having an explicate rule posted, make them like the person who posted all the entries in the first place?

IP restrictions. Although extremely unlikely, but, because IP addresses once released are reassigned, there is an remote chance of someone disqualifying you if they were to enter the same sweeps if there is an IP restriction. In cases of using a public computer, like at a library, many people share the same IP.

There's a situation that I recently read about where family members, living in three separate houses located on the same property, had a shared mailing address and shared an internet connection. Three separate households in a sticky situation as far as sweeps and giveaways go.

I have a roommate and we both enter sweepstakes and giveaways, in fact, I'm the one who got her started. We are two totally different households living under one roof, which normally puts us under the "one per household rule". Since she uses my computer and internet connection we often have the same IP. If it's an item that both of us would like, and there is not a one entry per household/IP listed we will sometimes enter the same giveaway. Are we being disqualified because of the same IP, even though no rule is posted? I most normally enter in the mornings, she in the evenings. Sometimes it gets a bit stickier than that, Junie is also a stroke victim and has a problem with words, so I usually help her a bit. I keep things short out of choice, she asks me for help because she is afraid of being made fun of. Although not written in my rules, she is not allowed to enter any giveaway hosted by me.

I also have set up my disabled neighbor (we live in a duplex) to use my wireless connection, giving him the same IP. Although the likelihood of him entering blog giveaways at this point are rare, I did have to let him know that he is not allowed to enter any sweepstakes/giveaways without first checking out the rules for IP restriction and seeing if it is something I am entering.

Kind of puts all of us in a sticky situation as well.