PLEASE READ - Posts by the MSE Team and BG's - me...

[nash0819]

Interesting read on this thread. If you want to anonymise your links and hide referral information, you can use a website like http://anonym.to

e.g. to link to the BBC News main page, you could do this: http://anonym.to/?http://news.bbc.co.uk

This would stop the referral being shown as MSE. The downside is that the person who clicks on the link sees a short "you are being re-directed to..." webpage before being automatically forwarded to the right place.

[Helpmesave]

Have tried to follow the advice on here by posting description in my own words, plus a link to the site, but someone often comes along and adds the copied terms and conditions in another post. Anybody else found this?

[isitenough]

I think the T&C's are OK as they set out what we're supposed to abide by (so to speak!). I am guilty of adding T&C's (if they're not there) but only for things that require dates/accom/flights like holidays/weekends away etc...

[twotimes]

Originally Posted by kipper

And email address subject headers would have to be posted for those that don't have Outlook/Live Mail etc as they won't get to see them if its automatically done from the competition web site.

I'm not sure if this is true for all browsers, but if you hover over the email link, the necessary information should be displayed at the bottom of the browser in the grey box.


Most competitions I see on here have the email address and subject posted in the thread even when the absence of outlook is not a problem as all details are clearly written out on the website. I'm not sure if this thread means they are not allowed or just the link.:confused:

[MSE Andrea]

Hi everyone

Just a reminder that this board's for comps that don't cost anything to enter. If there's a no purchase necessary route that's fine but other than that we don't want to encourage people to spend money entering something they aren't guaranteed to win.

Thanks!

Andrea

Update:

To clarify, I'm re-iterating what Martin's said when he first set the board up, that where possible competitions should be entirely free to enter, but that some cost, such as a stamp, a postcard or a text are fine as obviously these can be done free eg if you have inclusive texts on your phone.

[princessmoneysaver]

Does that mean the postals/text thread will be deleted? I for one love that thread due to having many wins from it, thanks xx

[sparky61]

Originally Posted by princessmoneysaver

Does that mean the postals/text thread will be deleted? I for one love that thread due to having many wins from it, thanks xx

I hope it's allowed to stay, there are some great comps on that thread, fingers crossed

[xoxlauraxox]

I love the postals thread too & would be really sad to see it go. It is seperate to the others for those who do want to buy stamps (I know a lot of people get stamps free too so not costing anything)

[Flickering Ember]

I think that'll be ok, but it's just recently we've had Doritos, Kit Kat, Magnum, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Kettle Chips, Snack A Jacks and I posted a Diesel one which got deleted.

I guess if, let's say, I went and bought a product that has this offer on and I had a code that was universal, eg anyone could use it, more than once, like we did with Snack A Jacks, that's ok as nobody has to buy stuff. But it's when people have been buying like 50 boxes of Magnum in the hope of winning...mind you, nobody is forcing them to buy anything so if they don't want to spend money they dont have to, and any competition, we know we're not guaranteed to win...

[look after the pennies]

Yes, please don't take the postal and text comp thread away. I enjoy doing those and it's my decision whether I fork out for the cost of stamps or not. Comping is a hobby for me and every hobby costs somethign now and again!!

[Flickering Ember]

Andrea, any chance of making this a sticky so more people can see it and participate?

[Munchkim]

Originally Posted by Flickering Ember

I think that'll be ok, but it's just recently we've had Doritos, Kit Kat, Magnum, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Kettle Chips, Snack A Jacks and I posted a Diesel one which got deleted.

But most of those (when the thing we have to buy is on offer) cost less than the maximum text price Martin states in his rules.

It'll be sad if they have to stop as there are some good ones coming up over the summer for minimum outlay and we are all aware that we have to take personal responsibility for our spending on our comping hobby.

Please don't take this away from us just because of a story about someone spending £1k on icecreams, we're MSE'ers here and proud of our money saving skills but if we are buying something and we're told there is a competition on it from here then we know to look for the products with the codes on we need rather than just take any off the shelf

[Flickering Ember]

Good point Kim. As if you need an excuse to buy some of the stuff that's had competitions on lately anyway?

[keletubbie]

I hope this wasn't prompted by my mention of the mega Magnum muncher!

I think a provision should be made for comps with on-pack codes - very often these are on products we all buy anyway, such as snacks, soft drinks, loo roll, etc. If a user fancies switching brands for a few weeks in the hopes of winning a prize, surely that's ok?

You're not really paying money to enter - even if you don't win, you still have a packet of crisps/ice cream/can of coke...

[look after the pennies]

Also, we are money saving whilst entering the purchase neccesary competitions as we inform each other of the best bargains. For example, a box of magnums for £1 from either Lidl and Morrisons. Big bags of Doritos are on offer for £1 at Asda and Tescos at the moment.

[Munchkim]

Originally Posted by look after the pennies

Also, we are money saving whilst entering the purchase neccesary competitions as we inform each other of the best bargains. For example, a box of magnums for £1 from either Lidl and Morrisons. Big bags of Doritos are on offer for £1 at Asda and Tescos at the moment.

Don't forget the Pepsi is £1.29 for 6 cans or 3 for £3 on the bottles in Sainsbury's at the moment

[chaddy7604]

Originally Posted by Munchkim

Don't forget the Pepsi is £1.29 for 6 cans or 3 for £3 on the bottles in Sainsbury's at the moment

Wrong thread

[Mamzie]

I asked about this ages ago on the comp discussion thread, along with BarnebySue after the Gilette comp was deleted. I hope they can stay maybe with a warning not to go ott on them. I always thought it was lotto type comps that were banned, not the grocery purchase required ones ( as long as the item was reasonable to buy and not £100s). Kinda been guided by the text cost, and these cost a lot less than £1.50, with the bonus of still getting the goods to keep.

I def think the postal & text thread should stay, my dh is hooked on that now, and often its just a stamp.

[Mamzie]

Maybe we could at least have a small purchase required to enter thread???

It really helps when people post the different offers that are in various shops when a comp is running, plus you know to look out for certain brands then as well.

[purplebutterfly]

Surely if you are buying something with the possibility of a win as a bonus, then you are not paying to enter the competition?

You are paying for the product and the competition is just an added extra.

Paying to enter a competition implies that you pay the money and get nothing in return - whereas in the case of the Magnum comp, you get to make yourself sick with ice cream and then swear off Magnums for life (or is that just me?)


Seriously, anyone who goes overboard buying products they don't want in the hope of winning something, is just an idiot.

Please don't take away the phone/text/postal comps either. I think we are all sensible enough to know not to blow the budget on comps