Why Compers Are Not Always Welcome To Enter Competitions!

Bizarre as it sounds compers aren’t always welcome to enter competitions. This week for example we received emails off Dirt Bike Rider and UK Safety Footwear asking us not to tell you about their prize draws. They join a small number of sites and Essential Publishing who prefer it if compers don’t know that they’re running competitions via Loquax.
Firstly, it’s important to not be too harsh on the sites and publications – it’s their decision, and whilst in some cases their reasoning is a little bit confusing, they obviously think not being on Loquax will solve their issues (it won’t!).
So what are the issues?
Dirt Bike Rider informed us that “People are entering our competitions with no interest to our sport. A few winners have then sold the prizes on eBay. This means that the people who are generally interested in the prizes we are offering are missing out”. We asked their editor for a more detailed explanation – i.e. how they knew the winners weren’t genuine fans and how they knew their prizes ended up on eBay. They declined to reply.
On their listing on Loquax we did include a line stating the comps were aimed at Motocross Enthusiasts. In our experience a lot of compers avoid the sport related competitions and are usually quite selective, so the comments from Dirt Bike Rider, who have been on Loquax for well over a year, are a little bit frustrating.
It is important when you’re entering competitions to be familiar with the site you’re visiting and the prize you’re going for! If you have no need for “Carl Nunn’s British GP Race Kit” then move on and enter something else. That’s common sense comping and we hope that Loquax users agree.
UK Safety Footwear had a slightly different issue. They’re giving away an iPod, but the competition form asked for a “Company Name”. We should have picked up on this and either rejected the competition for listing or made it clear it was aimed at business/company types.
That aside it’s important that you also check entry forms. If a form asks for company name and you’re not a company then perhaps it’s best to leave it alone?
Of course there are solutions to these problems that the siteowners can implement.
For example Dirt Bike Rider could make their competitions open to registered users only or subscribers only, perhaps only promoted via their newsletter or in their magazine, if they are that concerned by who’s winning their prizes and where their prizes end up! Yes they may get fewer entries by not being on Loquax, but they need to stop other sites, forums and of course automated entry services too to solve their “problem”.
When a competition is being run on a business to business level, then the promoter has to make things a lot more clearer when it comes to who their competition is aimed at. This can be done by a line in the rules and/or within the text. Some simple coding so that the competition doesn’t appear in search engines would also be an idea.
Our Point of View!
Complaints from promoters are, thankfully, few and far between. Our aim when starting Loquax was not just to help compers but also help promoters and improve the reputation of the “comper”. By not giving answers and offering help and advice on how you can support promoters we think we do a decent job for them.
It’s not possible to please everyone, so all we can do is continue with our aims. We do, however, ask all users to be considerate and thoughtful towards promoters when they’re comping. Be mindful of the sites and prizes on offer as there’s no need to enter anything and everything.