Recording your comps?

Lucky_Looty

Hi guys and girls,

I joined the Forum today and wondered if there was a facility for recording the competitions that members have entered on the site?

If so could somebody provide a path to it please?

If not - how many of you record your entries in detail and if so has anybody got an excel spreadsheet that they've developed?

All the best,

Lucky Looty

Makeandsave

I do not keep a record of comps i have entered only because i would get hand ache after the first 100 or so, I do however make a note of all comps i have won and received with a good old fashion pen and pad.

mjm3346

You can use the Green Tick on each competition post but you cannot sort the board by them. (if you "thank" posts you can see a list of them but that is limited to 300 posts)

I do not keep any record of what I have entered and do not see any point in doing so - if I wanted to see if it was "worth it" it is the time spent not the number of competitions entered that counts - but in whatever time it takes to keep a record I could be doing something else instead.

Lucky_Looty

Thanks for the info - I can understand why it might seem time consuming! All the same - I might develop a spreadsheet that's quick to fill in with comp, date entered, closing date and prize allocation date, just for my own interest.

Cheers

Ms_Chocaholic

I used to do that years ago but it's very laborious and cuts down massively on comping time.

deb2112

Don't be offended but spending time documenting all of that will take about four times as long as entering the comp in the first place which, unless you have limitless time to throw at it, will mean you get to enter far fewer. The vast majority of competitions you enter will come to nothing anyway so why have a record of what you haven't won? It's been said a fair few times before but entering and then forgetting really is the best advice. Most of us keep a record of what we have won though.

ikkle87

I wouldnt waste your time to trying to keep a record of everything its not an efficient way to comp

Theres a post here about a browser add on though that can help https://glamandgeekymum.com/tracking-competition-entries

Jenjenyeahyeah

Hi, oh dear I’m going to sound like the odd one out kook now, but I do record my comp entries. I guess I don’t enter as many as a lot of people, I mainly just go for holidays/trips/flights. I record them because I worry that I’ll enter the same one twice and my entry will then be voided. I’ve noticed especially with the ‘win a trip’ comps that they can be hosted on multiple sites, the host sites (eg travel magazines or radio stations) will link to the mother page (eg Visit Costa Rica. Com) so it would be very easy to land on the comp page via different routes.
I just have an excel document on my computer and every time I enter a comp I pop in the details - it doesn’t actually take that long as it’s all already set up. I have a few tabs within the document - one for newspapers, one for travel magazines/websites one for supermarkets etc and one I call ‘one-offs’ which is for sites/companies that don’t usually/regularly do comps (eg neutradol trip to Bahamas or LK bennett trip to Maldives). I have columns to say what the prize is, when I entered, closing date and notes If I want to make a note of something. I also highlight ones in red that I haven’t entered yet (for example if they require writing or a video that I need to take time to do and then enter). Then if i find a comp and I’m not sure if I’ve entered I’ll just start typing the company name or the prize name into my document and if it comes up I’ll find it, check the closing date and if it’s the same comp I’ll skip over and not duplicate-enter.
I’ve made myself sound a bit crazy, I’m not, I just like things tidy :rotfl:

pate-ci0

It might be interesting to compare the number of competitions that are entered by folk who DO record every comp against those who do not, and the corresponding number of wins (percentage return) and value of wins (fewer entered but bigger prize?) that are gained? Slightly different slant on previous threads on this area.

I don't record all competitions that I enter, 2000+ a month would take up far too much time whilst still working full time and still talking to the family, but do record wins, averaging about £2000 to £3000 per year over the past few years (it's gone down compared to ten years ago). Probably get some sort of prize for every 1500 comps.