As we mentioned in our previous blog post, pay to enter prize draws are still popping out the woodwork. Like mushrooms growing in the dark there doesn’t seem to be an end to the increasing numbers. We do try and check out anything new that comes along, mainly to see if there are any free to enter prize draws and if there’s any kind of affiliate scheme (we are a business, we do need to make money). Usually there are a few free prize draws but very few of these sites actually run any kind of affiliate scheme. Anyway we digress. Occasionally amongst the noise we see something that’s a little different to the norm. Usually we forget about it but as our aim in 2024 is try and add more content to Loquax then we’re going to put together some blog posts. One such site is uWin which we’ll cover another day but in this blog we’re featuring Quid Squad. Whilst most pay to enter prize draw sites want to charge you an arm and a leg for the chance to win cash, consoles and cars, Quid Squad only want to charge a quid. And that quid apparently gets you into every prize draw that they’ll run over 12 months.
Who Are QuidSquad?
Quid Squad is owned by QuidSquad Ltd, a company founded by Kevin Mackay in December 2023. Companies House indicate three other businesses owned by the same person. The About Us details on the website however are quite limited but there is an interesting blog post about the journey to Quid Squad. The idea of the site stems from Kevin’s “passion for philanthropy and a desire to do good in 2024”. This is all very noble and is backed up by the site’s support of Great Ormond Street Hospital. Every £1 prize draw entry helps raise money for the site’s choice of charity. Dig into the FAQs and the charitable donation comprises of “10% of all profits raised through our prize draws”. At a guess that will mean whatever’s left in the pot after prizes, admin, marketing etc has been paid for. As this is a very new site we’d also guess that it’s going to require some hefty outlay in order to generate the required interest to become a viable business and therefore be able to contribute significant charitable donations.
So How Does It Work?
If you’re familiar with Good Life Plus then Quid Squad is very similar. Instead of paying to enter each prize draw you simply pay a one off fee. In the former’s case you get a 7 day free trial and then have to pay £11.99 per month for the chance to win life changing prizes every month. With Quid Squad just £1 will get entries into every one of their prize draws for an entire year. You can opt to pay more. For example £5 gets you five entries and “early access to newly launched flash prize draws”. For £100 you get some VIP status, 100 entries and £25 of your fee donated directly to charity. Early access to newly launched prize draws is a little bit confusing because £1 gets you entry “into EVERY Quid Squad prize draw for 12 months” so the timing of the draw either launch or end date would seem irrelevant. Anyway the terms of the site say that they’ll be at least 52 prize draws over the year so that equates to less than 2p an entry. The site does suggest that you could win an Audi Q8 TFSi e worth over £80,000 but current prizes include an Xbox Series, X, Asus Laptop, Dyson Hair Dryer and Apple iPad. In fact you can toggle through the weekly prize list until at least May! No sign of a car though but there have been winners. The same person won weeks 1 and 2.
Can It Work?
If your aim is to giveaway prizes every week including an £80,000 Audi then you can quickly figure out that you’re going to need a lot of quids to cover the cost of prizes and fulfillment. Quid Squad do say that the site is open to entrants worldwide so cost of delivery could get pricey in some areas. In addition there are marketing costs, admin costs etc. Lots of quids means this site needs lot of users but getting lots of users is a costly exercise. Win A House platforms spend fortunes to attract entrants whilst Good Life Plus are similar in their approach. Whilst Omaze, Good Life Plus etc are churning prizes monthly, thereby creating ongoing income, Quid Squad only want £1 off you every 12 months. It’s a bold approach. Whether that approach can work remains to be seen. The pay to enter prize draw market is growing and successful sites adopt – in our view – two approaches: spend a fortune on advertising or build a huge engaged social media following. The latter for example works well for McKinney Competitions who can churn their pay to enter prize draws with regular success. Obviously Quidsquad is new so they’ve still got a long long way to go to to reach follower levels on the same scale as McKinney. But McKinney only have 259,000 followers. If they all paid £1 would that be enough to fund prizes etc over a period of a year?
Should You Enter?
In our view it’s actually not a bad time to risk a quid. Quid Squad is new and therefore the number of subscribers is initially going to be low. That means you’ll have a good chance of winning the early draws. It may well explain why the winner of the first two draws is the same person. Furthermore the site is looking to develop goodwill so dishing out prizes early doors means good publicity. Good publicity means the word gets around and more people sign up. So on that basis it might be worth spending your £1. Of course there are pitfalls here. As it’s new we’d not suggest opting for any of the other tiers, especially the £100 one. Medium to long terms, Quid Squad may not attract enough interest and therefore won’t be able afford to deliver it’s promises. We’re also always a tad sceptical about charity donations on profit. Hopefully Quid Squad make big profits so that GOSH truly benefits but as we’ve seen with win a house competitions profit can actually be losses due to admin and marketing costs. We wish Kevin all the best with his venture and if you do join up then let us know how you get on.