I have am an international student with a candain study-Visa in canada, can I still participate?
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MacRumors Giveaways... Why are they only open to U.S. residents?
- Thread starter Fabian90
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Maybe time to offer all these giveaways to the rest of the world, given the fact that many of the MacRumors readers are not from the US or Canada?
What type of residency should they be, permanent or temporary, or does it not matter what type?
I agree, their excuse of "Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter." does not carry any weight now because there are companies, both large and small, all over the world doing international shipping of products with no problems.
Personally i just feel Macrumours staff are just too lazy to want to get involved in shipping stuff internationally.
Personally i just feel Macrumours staff are just too lazy to want to get involved in shipping stuff internationally.
Seems like it's well beyond shipping, as can be seen in the thread. Also, because some other companies might be doing something, it doesn't necessarily mean they are doing it completely legally as far as complying with all the necessary rules and everything else that comes with it.
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I always check these giveaways for the sole reason of hopefully finding some progress at MacRumors, especially in recognising civilizations outside North America.
Sadly, after a whole decade (maybe even more), they are still lost in their complexities.
Sadly, after a whole decade (maybe even more), they are still lost in their complexities.
This! Some of us already have to suffer paying the same in £ as the $ price across the pond for our Apple products, and we don’t even get a silver lining in the form of a dangling hope of occasionally winning some tangentially-related products either - kick us while we’re down eh!I always check these giveaways for the sole reason of hopefully finding some progress at MacRumors, especially in recognising civilizations outside North America.
Sadly, after a whole decade (maybe even more), they are still lost in their complexities.
I'm not able to submit an entry because I have entered another giveaway previously?
Login to your existing account
[my email address]
has already been used to log in to Gleam.
Please login to your linked account:
Login to your existing account
[my email address]
has already been used to log in to Gleam.
Please login to your linked account:
- Back
This is usually verification step Gleam uses on occasion if your email has previously been used as an entry in association with a social login. There should be one or more social account buttons shown under the "Please login to your linked account" bit...is there nothing there? If not, try turning off any extensions/blockers to see if they might be interfering with displaying them.
Notifications will come from giveaways@macrumors.com.
Thank you, that was the issue, turned off ABP and now there is a social button that allowed me to login!
I haven’t been able to enter one of these giveaways in AGES. I enter my name and email address and it tells me I have already used that email to login?
Edit: there is no login button in the post, so I went to gleam’s website to sign in, came back and it’s telling me the same thing... is there a way to login through the post?
Edit 2: so I figured out that I had previously used Facebook to enter with that email address. gleam is now expecting me to use my Facebook login for this, but I deleted my Facebook almost two years ago... guess I have to use a different email now
Edit: there is no login button in the post, so I went to gleam’s website to sign in, came back and it’s telling me the same thing... is there a way to login through the post?
Edit 2: so I figured out that I had previously used Facebook to enter with that email address. gleam is now expecting me to use my Facebook login for this, but I deleted my Facebook almost two years ago... guess I have to use a different email now
Regarding:
forums.macrumors.com
> Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter.
May I again suggest you get a legal opinion on this one?
Based on the concerns raised in your your pre-fab wording, you're worried about the USA and Canada calling a giveaway a 'national sweepstake' (hence 18+ and oh Canada but not Quebec).
Hint: if your 'giveaway' is a 'sweepstake' then you're doing it wrong.
MacRumors Giveaway: Win a 61W GaN USB-C Power Adapter and USB-C Cable From Choetech
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Choetech to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a 61W USB-C power adapter and accompanying USB-C cable for charging a Mac or an iPad Pro. Choetech's new 61W Wall Charger uses gallium nitride technology, which allows it to be manufactured in a...
forums.macrumors.com
> Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years or older and Canadian residents (excluding Quebec) who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory are eligible to enter.
May I again suggest you get a legal opinion on this one?
Based on the concerns raised in your your pre-fab wording, you're worried about the USA and Canada calling a giveaway a 'national sweepstake' (hence 18+ and oh Canada but not Quebec).
Hint: if your 'giveaway' is a 'sweepstake' then you're doing it wrong.
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I do not think people understand that a sweepstakes or giveaway might not be good in your location by law. In the US, it’s different from state to state. Do not get mad at Mac Rumors for following the law, get mad at the politicians for making the law.
Could it not be a donation? rather than a competition or a gift... but we only have one to give away each month, so it goes to the person you choose/the winner?
So how much do you expect MR to spend on legal fees and liability insurance so that you can get something for free? They're not an international retail outfit, so they don't already have that sort of stuff in place.
Are the relevant laws even consistent across US states? They're certainly not consistent outside the US.
What about local regulations on things you can/cant sell to under-18s?
It's probably an offence to give things away in Quebec if they don't have bilingual labels.
As for international stuff, if you're outside the US, gabling/contest laws aside, expect your freebie to arrive with a hefty bill for tax and import duty attached (if it makes it through customs). That might not technically be MR's problem, but it's kinda defeating the object of what is ultimately a PR exercise.
NB: I'm in the UK so I should be moaning - but I can also spot a seething can of worms when I see one.
We have indeed consulted with our lawyers about this, and the effort required even to draft up rules to make sure we were in compliance with Canadian laws was not insignificant, and unfortunately it's just not feasible to do the same for every other country.
Yes, Quebec is excluded because it has a number of rules related to giveaways that just aren't possible to meet...register the rules and all relevant information at least 30 days in advance, pay fee of up to 10% of the prize value, file a security bond equal to the prize value until delivery to the winner has been confirmed, provide all information in both English and French, and file a written report at the conclusion of the contest, among other requirements. There's no way we could afford or even be able to do that on a weekly basis for what are rather low-value prizes in total.
Yes, Quebec is excluded because it has a number of rules related to giveaways that just aren't possible to meet...register the rules and all relevant information at least 30 days in advance, pay fee of up to 10% of the prize value, file a security bond equal to the prize value until delivery to the winner has been confirmed, provide all information in both English and French, and file a written report at the conclusion of the contest, among other requirements. There's no way we could afford or even be able to do that on a weekly basis for what are rather low-value prizes in total.
1. They are big enough to be able to spend a few grand nutting this one out. MR's owner is a qualified medical doctor and gave up his career in medicine because he made significantly more money running MR. He's not poor and a legal opinion isn't necessarily all that expensive.
2. This is no can of worms. I'm just saying that they could do better. Frankly, I don't see a lot of other sites using this line of reasoning...
So when Android Authority does a worldwide giveaway, are you saying they've drafted the necessary legal documents in every single country?
Or maybe, just maybe, it turns out you can do this stuff internationally as easily as you like. Like basically anyone on YouTube does as well. Nobody going to come storming down your door because you gave away something on the internet.
They've elected to not follow the relevant laws, and that's up to them. We're not willing to do that. If you even look at much larger media companies than we are, with all of the legal resources at their disposal, they typically have similar geographic restrictions.
- Engadget/Verizon:
- CNET/CBS:
(Some of their giveaways are even restricted to U.S. only.)
- The Verge:
- Macworld/IDG:
We don't hate our international readers; we'd love to include them, and the actual administration of the giveaways wouldn't really be any more difficult for us if we just accepted entries from everyone without regard to the laws covering giveaways. But we don't feel comfortable with the potential ramifications of doing that.
To all that continue to complain about this topic even though a perfectly reasonable response and reason have been given:
If you are unhappy with the way these people choose to run their site please go and start your own. I am very sure you will come up with great content, including worldwide giveaways, that will attract thousands of users leading to the demise of MR and all the "lazy" folks running it.
If you are unhappy with the way these people choose to run their site please go and start your own. I am very sure you will come up with great content, including worldwide giveaways, that will attract thousands of users leading to the demise of MR and all the "lazy" folks running it.
Shhhhh quit speaking common sense.
Based on their current wording, MR are just being sheep and using a stock phrase that they grabbed from Google after getting a notice about running a national sweepstake outside the USA. Long story short if they give away stuff valued more than $600 and some low level customs fool picks it up they will probably ask 'have you paid export duties on this?!?!? Why not?!?? OOOOH YOU ARE RUNNING AN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY?!?!? THAT IS SOOOO ILLEGAL!!! A NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKE CAN ONLY BE HELD IN THE U-S OF A AND CANADA, EXCLUDING QUEBEC!!! YOU MUST PAY A FINE OF $1 MILLION RIGHT AWAY!!!!'
What they need is a lawyer who can say 'NO YOU IDIOT!!! THEY ARE FRIGGING GIVING THIS AWAY!!! FOR FREE!!! NO TICKETS SOLD!!! A NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKE REQUIRES CONSIDERATION!!! THIS IS A FRIGGING GIFT TO SOMEBODY... YES IT'S EXPENSIVE BUT THE MANUFACTURER GAVE IT TO MY CLIENT FOR FREE AS A PROMO!!! SO YEAH... PROMO GOODS AND NO CONSIDERATION... THEREFORE NO EXPORT DUTIES AND NO FRIGGING NATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES CRIME YOU IMBECILE!!! NOW GIMME YOUR EMPLOYEE ID SO I CAN LODGE A COMPLAINT...'
Why don't you ask them - maybe they're just keeping their fingers crossed and hoping? Maybe they've just higher rollers and can afford the lawyers, since they mainly seem to be giving away high-end smartphones worth the thick end of $1000.
Maybe if MacRumors had the opportunity to give away an iPhone 11 or a MacBook Pro every month they'd find a way of making it international.