GottaDeal.com Holiday Giveaway - Win $2,750 in Prizes [Winners Posted!]

[Brad]

GottaDeal.com 2011 Holiday Giveaway!
POST DEALS & WIN GREAT PRIZES!

Introducing our very popular annual GottaDeal.com Holiday Giveaway! We're giving away thousands of dollars in prizes and all you have to do to be eligible to win is to post deals here on the forum - it's that easy!

Over the next few months, we are going to award giveaway entries to forum members who post qualifying deals in the Online Hot Deals forum. You can earn a maximum of 10 entries per day - one for each qualifying deal you post. See below for details about what makes a deal a "qualifying" deal.

At the end of the contest period, we will be giving away the following prizes. All prizes will be awarded either as a gift card to the retailer of your choice or as a PayPal payment - you may choose which you'd prefer.

*NEW* This year, in addition to our usual random prize drawing among all deal posters, we're also going to reward the members who post the most deals as well as those who post the deals that consistently get the most views.

First, the five (5) forum members with the most qualifying deals (max of 10 per day) posted during the contest will automatically win $200 each

Next, the three (3) forum members with the highest average number of thread views for their qualifying deals posted during the contest (minimum 50 total deals) will automatically win the following prizes:

Highest average # of views: $300
2nd highest average # of views: $250
3rd highest average # of views: $200

Note that it is possible for a member to win a prize from each of the previous 2 categories (most deals & highest average views).

We will then randomly choose 10 members from the remaining contest entries. Those members will each receive a $100 prize. Members who already won one of the prizes for most deals or highest average views are not eligible for this drawing.

With this new prize structure, we could have up to 18 total winners and each member has the opportunity to win up to $500.



OFFICIAL RULES

• Promotion period begins on September 25, 2011 at 10:00pm ET and ends on December 15, 2011 at 10:00pm ET.
• All registered GottaDeal.com forum members are eligible to participate in this promotion, including moderators.
• Members found to have created multiple forum accounts to accumulate additional entries will be disqualified.
• You will receive one entry for each qualifying deal posted in the Online Hot Deals forum during the contest.
• List of partner stores may change during contest. Deals will count if the store is on the list when the deal is posted.
• Only your first 10 qualifying deal threads will earn you entries each day, although we appreciate extra deals.
• Each daily period starts at 12:00am and ends at 11:59pm ET, so time when you post your deals accordingly.
• When calculating average views for a member's deals, "master" threads like the Amazon Toy thread will not count.
• Winners will be contacted via private message to claim their prize. Be sure to check your PMs after the contest ends.
• If a prize is not claimed within 30 days, it will be forfeited and used as a prize in a future site contest.

QUALIFYING DEALS

In order for a deal thread to qualify for an entry for this promotion, it must satisfy ALL of the following criteria:

1. The thread's title must include the name of the retailer the deal is for and price of item if applicable.
2. The post must contain a link, even if it's just a link to the retailer's home page. This is very important.
3. The deal must be from one of our partner retailers (see the current complete list here).
4. The deal must must be unique and can not be a repost of a recently posted deal on the forum.

We reserve the right to disqualify any deal for any reason. Besides these mandatory criteria, we also ask that you be as descriptive as possible in your thread title. Where possible, include an image in your post. If there is a specific method to get the deal, provide step-by-step instructions. If a coupon code is needed, be sure to include the code in your post. Please do not directly copy and paste deals from other sites - you may "borrow" the deal, but type the title and post in your own words. Directly copied posts may be disqualified.


MORE HELPFUL HINTS

• Please search before posting a deal. Re-posted deals will be deleted.
• Make sure your deal is a legit deal and not just "filler" to earn an entry.
• Check the list of partner retailers - some major stores are not yet eligible.
• Combine deals if possible. Similar deals from same store may be merged.
• Please take the time to read this entire post - it will save you time.

*** CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE QUALIFYING PARTNER RETAILERS ***

[noehlp]

 

Hmmm... wow... I like the new 'thread views' part of the giveaway!!! Seriously, posting at least 50 awesome deals (w/ highest average views) is NOT that hard to do!

Actually posting deals in general is NOT that hard to do.

 

I want to help encourage ALL of you to get in on this giveaway! If I am reading it right, a person could win as much as $600 (if they win the 'Most qualifying deals posted' & the 'Highest average # of views' portion - w/ a minimum of 50 deals).

A person could post as little as one deal, and have the chance to win at least $100 also!

 

So let's get to it!

 

GottaDeal seems to always have the best giveaways!

[tinkrbel]

max of 500 seems right.....if someone does win that that would be a nice chunk if not ALL of their christmas shopping done:)

[magickallight]

Question about new contest... I know that we have a maximum of 10 entries per day - one for each qualifying deal you post - that count towards the Total Number of Entries submitted - BUT - with the "Highest average # of views" - do these views ONLY count on the 1st 10 each day - or on ALL entries submitted?

[Brad]

It would be the average of all your qualifying deals.

 

Question about new contest... I know that we have a maximum of 10 entries per day - one for each qualifying deal you post - that count towards the Total Number of Entries submitted - BUT - with the "Highest average # of views" - do these views ONLY count on the 1st 10 each day - or on ALL entries submitted?

[magickallight]

It would be the average of all your qualifying deals.

Awesome - thank you! :)

[conj]

I like the new prize categories. Nice innovation Brad!

[drozee78]

looks like a great opportunity to win. now to start deal hunting in earnest

[leefamily23]

I absolutely love this site. I check in randomly throughout the year, but I am only pretty much several times a day around the holidays ever since I found you in 2005. If I may offer for suggestion, I don't like the part of your new contest for posting the "most" online deals. I am seeing so many things that are not deals but just people trying to beat each other out for the most posts. The other day, I ended up posting to a few of them where the same item was on Amazon for less (and elig. for super saver shipping which brought it down more). I think there are so many great things here, I am just frustrated that people are losing sight of the concept of posting a great deal rather than just any item they can find (even at full price) just to get the highest post count.

 

Thanks for at least listening.

[Brad]

Thanks for the feedback. We added the "most views" component to encourage better deals to be posted but we'll definitely be re-evaluating the way future contests are run.

[Stowasser]

I absolutely love this site. I check in randomly throughout the year, but I am only pretty much several times a day around the holidays ever since I found you in 2005. If I may offer for suggestion, I don't like the part of your new contest for posting the "most" online deals. I am seeing so many things that are not deals but just people trying to beat each other out for the most posts. The other day, I ended up posting to a few of them where the same item was on Amazon for less (and elig. for super saver shipping which brought it down more). I think there are so many great things here, I am just frustrated that people are losing sight of the concept of posting a great deal rather than just any item they can find (even at full price) just to get the highest post count.

 

Thanks for at least listening.

 

 

Do remember that only 10 deals are counted daily from the qualifying retailers for one of the contest, the other contest is an average of your deals that are posted for that day so it actually behooves someone to only post the 10 deals but make those the best 10 deals they can post for that day (barring an exceptional deal that comes along later in the day). Often I find that you might find something but a store later competes with that deal so yes, a better deal might come along. I must admit, some days its hard to come up with solid deals but more should be forthcoming in the next 7 weeks

[Brad]

Due to a lot of confusion with the contest and how the rules were worded, we're going to slightly change part of it:

 

Instead of the 3 members with the most deals winning "tiered" prizes, we're going to give a $200 prize to each of the 5 members with the most deals.

 

This increases the overall prize pool from $2,500 to $2,750 and allows up to 18 possible winners compared to 16 under the previous plan.

[Illinoismom]

sounds good Brad

[AmyNay]

Okay - now I understand why the same few people are posting every day's 1 sale a day and woot deals... I've been like really??? we can look it up ourselves and these really aren't good but I get it! I can post A LOT! too bad i didn't seen this a while back! LOL

[elite2058]

AmyNay you can still win:

Follow Brads Guidlines above and make sure they are Qualifying Deals and Sites as stated in the Contest rules.

 

"The three (3) forum members with the highest average number of thread views for their qualifying deals posted during the contest (minimum 50 total deals) will automatically win"

 

This could occur at any time with BlackFriday coming up, so post away. The posters have been creating wonderful deals so far and just wait until Blackfriday nears.

You never know which site or deal that someone may like so post it if you think its a great deal! If you like the item or deal, chances are that someone else will too.

[Brad]

There also 10 winners that will be picked at random, so even posting one deal makes you eligible for those ten $100 prizes.

[elite2058]

There also 10 winners that will be picked at random, so even posting one deal makes you eligible for those ten $100 prizes.

Thats Right! So many chances to win with this contest. Everybody has a chance, but you have to post to get in it.

 

If you know of a poplular item, keep your eyes out for the sale to hit and then post it. If its a great deal you will see the view numbers going up and we will see this happening even more in the next few weeks. This will also make you eligible for the random drawing. :)

[berkmonster]

Thanks for explaining this elite!

[wyvonne337]

Thanks for listing this site it is a great way for people to shop when they are not home . As a person not in the country at this time i appreciate this site. Thanks so much.:)

[cmcgilvery]

Love this site. Thanks for staying on top of it all!!

[Cookie531966]

hey!!!

[chuckbolster]

thank you!

[albie]

So ready to start another savings season...thanks for all you do!

[Rockfordmom]

Last day

[Brad]

Contest is closed. Winners should be posted tonight once the numbers are tabulated.

[Brad]

OK, here are the winners:

 

First, the 5 forum members with the most qualifying deals (max of 10 per day) posted during the contest were:

 

elite2058

magickallight

Illinoismom

Stowasser

bluesky225

 

Next, the 3 members with the highest average thread views for their qualifying deals (minimum 50 deals) were:

 

sweetdiggity

elite2058

hack2222

 

Finally, the 10 winners randomly selected from all the remaining entries were:

 

noehlp

Fishboysmom

AmyNay

revecca

leefamily23

bpr

Rockfordmom

tinkrbel

sherril

simplydivine

 

Congrats to everyone and look for a PM from me soon with details on how to claim your prize.

 

Also, for anyone interested in the numbers, here were the exact average views per thread among everyone with at least 50 deals posted:

 

sweetdiggity 353.3

elite2058 263.7

hack2222 242.7

noehlp 207.8

tinkrbel 196.5

Fishboysmom 158.3

magickallight 154.5

Stowasser 153.7

Rockfordmom 150.2

bluesky225 135.1

Illinoismom 118.3

[tokanm]

Congrats and thanks to all the winners

 

 

ps

I am holding out for my 1st win, The HP Touchpad

[noehlp]

Congratulations to EVERYONE! What a great contest, Thanks Brad!

[sweetdiggity]

Thanks so much Brad! Congratulations to all winners and thanks for all the awesome deals! :)

[beccasbank]

Wow Guys-- Congrats on your win and helping the rest of us score some major deals!! No better place to get help finding deals than the GD community! Enjoy your Christmas bonus (it's better than a frozen ham any day)!