I consider myself a very very lucky person. I have awesome friends and family, an amazing boyfriend, a job I love, and have had some amazing opportunities and experiences in my life. But when it comes to competitions I probably win so many because I enter so many, so the odds are pretty high. People say "Oh you're so lucky I never win anything" but if they entered hundreds of competitions a month like I do (yes hundreds!) then they'd probably win things too.
People have asked me a lot of questions about comping (definition: the practice of entering competitions, especially those promoting consumer products.) so I thought I would answer some FAQs.
How long have you been comping for?
I started comping around 12 years ago when I got bought a subscription to Cosmo Girl magazine (those were the days!) Every month they ran competitions, and in the days before the internet was a big thing I would jot my details down on a stuck down envelope and my dad would kindly post them for me. I won quite a lot from there. My name must have been very familiar in the Cosmo Girl office! I then got back in to it seriously last year.
How do you find all the competitions?
I use a website called The Prize Finder. It's free to join and is a great way to find and track competitions. You can search for competitions based on prize or closing date. You can mark competitions you want to ignore or save for later and can mark them as entered which then gives you a nice total of how many you've entered that day/week/month. Also for competitions that require an answer to a question it provides that too which saves a lot of googling. How I usually do it is go to the Top Prizes link on the left and work my way down the list. (the comps advertised on the homepage are paid for adverts and may result in spam!) Next to the competition promotor name it says "more competitions" when you click that you get any other competitions from that website too. You get to know the websites that are user friendly and don't require registering.
Does it cost anything to enter?
Some competitions require you to text/phone/post your entries and although the £1.50 text charge or 54p stamp may not seem like a lot it can soon add up. These prizes are often a lot bigger though so it can be tempting every now and again but I try and stick to the free online entry or email competitions.
Do you have to do anything in particular?
90% of the time it's just a case of filling in a form. If you set up autofill for your web browser you can just type the first letter of your name and it will fill in the entire form for you. Sometimes you have to give an answer to a question too and fill in the Captcha thing that makes sure you're not a robot. Some websites require you to register and create a log in. If you do this once and always use the same password you'll know for next time, and you can unsubscribe from any newsletters you get.
Some competitions involve sharing things on Facebook or retweeting things on Twitter and I don't usually like to do that but if you have an account with no one following you you could enter that way without annoying too many people! There are also other ways of entering such as on Pinterest which involves creating a board and pinning certain things which doesn't take very long but generally have fewer entries than form competitions.
How many competitions do you enter a week?
It depends on if i'm having a busy week or not, it can range from 20-200!
How do you find the time?
I can enter around 10 competitions in 10 minutes using Prize Finder and autofill. I enter them in the morning when i'm having my breakfast and when i'm having lunch. I also sometimes sit on the train and enter them but I find it easier to use the websites on a PC. The more you do it the faster you get and the easier it is to work out the ones you want to enter.
But don't you end up with loads of spam?
It's not as bad as you would think. The key is to only enter your details on to websites that have another purpose ie. a magazine or shops website. Websites that are purely a page saying "Win a Mini" or "Win £3000" are probably just trying to get your details. I only enter my details on websites of companies I have heard of.
If there is a box that says something along the lines of tick here if you do not want to receive emails/phone calls etc then tick it. If you dont have a choice then you will probably get a newsletter which you can unsubscribe from. Some people choose to make a separate email address for comping which is a good idea if you hate getting spam mail. In most cases your address and phone number are only used if you win a prize. Read the small print though!
How many competitions have you won?
When I was younger, (ie. the Cosmo Girl days) from what I remember I won 8 competitions. My prizes were:
- A denim goodybag including designer jeans, handbag, purse, shoes and perfume worth over £250 from Cosmo Girl magazine
- Golden circle tickets for Party In the Park 2004 (remember that!) from Bliss Magazine
- Another pair of tickets for Party in the Park 2004 from River Island which I sold
- A huge box of So! perfume and body spray from Cosmo Girl
- Book vouchers through a Teletext page
- DVDs from Cosmo Girl
- Trainers from Cosmo Girl
- Jewellery from Cosmo Girl
In the last year I have won 7 competitions with some much bigger prizes including:
- THIS trip to the Grammy's in LA courtesy of Beaverbrooks and Gucci
- A £250 voucher to spend on NotontheHighStreet.com (one of my favourite websites) courtesy of Period Living Magazine and Churchill Insurance
- A £75 Lipsy voucher through the O2 Moments App
- A full years Tastecard+ membership worth £105 from Sainsbury's Magazine
It is safe to say i'm addicted to comping, but I have gone months at times without winning anything at all despite entering hundreds of competitions. The key is patience and persistence, and the moment you win your first prize it will make all that time and typing completely worthwhile.
Good luck and don't give up!
Abbie x
