Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacRumors Giveaways... Why are they only open to U.S. residents?
- Thread starter Fabian90
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I considered writing benefits instead of services in my post. They are services offered to advertiser, there's no giveaway without a lengthy slanted product review.... And they are a benefit offered to site readers.
Edit: spelling...
Last edited:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macrumors-giveaway-win-an-ipad-keyboard-from-brydge.1961847/
Another giveaway for US residents only....
Another giveaway for US residents only....
Couple of days and Linus tech will be doing another international giveaway so....
I Heard about a company in the US that specialised in 'remailing'. You can refer to their address in your pourchases or .... and they will mail you back your packages wherever in the world you live. At a fee, of course. But maybe that is one solution for the actual issue. Bad thing... I dont remember the company wherabouts.
They keep doing this don't they. It's a little strange. As in, someone advised them on at least including the UK but it seems nothing changed. Makes you wonder.
REALLY can't be that hard to stick "U.S. Giveaway" in the title. At least that way I don't lose precious seconds visiting the article, all excited, only to find I cannot enter. It's hardly a "MacRumours Giveaway" if a large portion of MacRumours members can't enter it.
Giveaways are just advertising, or slanted reviews... MR reaps the benefits from it while ignoring half of their readership. And who wins those giveaways? I have yet to see them announce winners...
Last edited:
We don't have a solution yet, but I do want to reassure everyone we're still looking into how we can do expand geographic availability for our giveaways while remaining within the respective laws.
One potential solution we're looking at is partnering with StackCommerce to run our giveaways. For those who are unfamiliar with Stack, they run deals and giveaway storefronts for many tech sites, including TouchArcade. Here is an example. Their giveaways are open to most of the world, with only about a dozen countries excluded.
So on the plus side, working with them would allow us to expand giveaways to more of our readers. There are, however, a few downsides, including an additional layer of complexity and the need for our readers to sign up for accounts with Stack in order to enter our giveaways. That means either giving them your email address or logging in with your Facebook account.
We're interested in hearing your thoughts on this as a potential solution. As I said, we're still exploring ways to address this, so we haven't settled either way on Stack, and we're continuing to look at other options.
One potential solution we're looking at is partnering with StackCommerce to run our giveaways. For those who are unfamiliar with Stack, they run deals and giveaway storefronts for many tech sites, including TouchArcade. Here is an example. Their giveaways are open to most of the world, with only about a dozen countries excluded.
So on the plus side, working with them would allow us to expand giveaways to more of our readers. There are, however, a few downsides, including an additional layer of complexity and the need for our readers to sign up for accounts with Stack in order to enter our giveaways. That means either giving them your email address or logging in with your Facebook account.
We're interested in hearing your thoughts on this as a potential solution. As I said, we're still exploring ways to address this, so we haven't settled either way on Stack, and we're continuing to look at other options.
macnn use StackCommerce for their giveaways and there's no need to sign up for an account with StackCommerce. All you need to do is sign in to your macnn account to be entered.
I posted an example of their giveaway rules here a while back...
I posted an example of their giveaway rules here a while back...
How do you enter with a MacNN account?
https://deals.macnn.com/giveaways/1000-to-the-apple-store
All I see there is sign up with email address or use Facebook.
My MacNN sign-in doesn't work there, while my Stack sign-in does, so it seems you must be misremembering. The store/giveaway pages are hosted directly by Stack and they have no access to your credentials from the parent site.
Try the login you use for MacNN giveaways at other Stack-hosted stores including Stack's own site and you should see that it works.
Ahh.... So they host their store and giveaways on stack... That explains why I was able to make purchases and sign up for giveaways with the same credentials.
Ok se we need a separate set of credentials with stack, many of us probably have this already. On the bright side, MR could launch an online store!
Unfortunately the stores aren't great...kind of an odd assortment of gadgets that don't necessarily tie in all that well with us.
I don't know how many people already have Stack accounts, and I imagine those most of those who do would be fine with us using them for our giveaways, but I'm sure the vast majority don't have accounts already and we're not entirely comfortable with requiring our readers to give their contact info to a third party in order to enter our giveaways. But on the flip side, it would open the giveaways to a lot more readers.
So that's a discussion we're having internally and looking for feedback on in here.
I don't know how many people already have Stack accounts, and I imagine those most of those who do would be fine with us using them for our giveaways, but I'm sure the vast majority don't have accounts already and we're not entirely comfortable with requiring our readers to give their contact info to a third party in order to enter our giveaways. But on the flip side, it would open the giveaways to a lot more readers.
So that's a discussion we're having internally and looking for feedback on in here.
Don't we already have to sign up with rafflecopter for the giveaways? They ask for your name and email address at the least and keep it stored in their systems.
So the difference is that with Rafflecopter, it exists only to serve us. You enter your email address, and it's collected for the sole purpose of allowing us to select and contact winners. Yes, Rafflecopter gets your email address, but they have no interest in it other than generating a database for us and randomly popping up winners from that list.
Stack wants your email address so they can market to you. You can turn off marketing emails, but it's a much broader operation where they very much want to make money off of you.
Your email is collected and stored by them and used in accordance with their policies. We never see it.
It may be a subtle distinction to some, but we think it tips the balance of control in a way people may or may not be comfortable with.
Stack wants your email address so they can market to you. You can turn off marketing emails, but it's a much broader operation where they very much want to make money off of you.
Your email is collected and stored by them and used in accordance with their policies. We never see it.It may be a subtle distinction to some, but we think it tips the balance of control in a way people may or may not be comfortable with.
I rarely want to 'win' most of the tat you offer in your 'giveaways' ('giveaway' or 'win'? Hmm...) but your really rather stupid and regular disclaimer as quoted above really does go to show your lackadaisical approach to actually finding out about 'international laws', especially in regards to huge and modern western markets.
The laws in your home country make this really hard to do without a legal team. They want to help vendors give stuff away, not get into legal jeopardy in whatever country that the winner is in.
Is it wrong? Well, how about this: you get with your legislators, and have them make a law that says, "No legal action can be brought against any participating party in any free give away from the United States of America, provided that the value of the highest prize is less than USD $1500, as long as the contest is valid under the laws of the United States of America."