International Freebies & Blog Contests

“Order our complete CD/DVD manufacturing catalog!
It comes fast to your mailbox and it’s beautiful.“

CD/DVD manufacturing catalog.

5 Minutes For Mom are hosting a giveaway of a $200 gift certificate at True Jeans.
This is my very late entry, as the lucky winner will be announced today. More than 700 comments are there as I am writing this post. My chances are slim *sigh*, but I am still trying. :)

I recently won a Bop-A-Lots DVD at Momsational, and while I was exchanging emails with Erika to claim my prize, it turned out that I am not eligible for it. They have a rule about the winners being legal US residents [Open to legal residents of the United States 18 years of age and older"], while that’s not my case. Now, I am not a US legal resident -I live in an exotic kingdom by the sea, far far away [poetic, huh? :)]-, but I somehow have a second home in the US. So I usually have my prizes shipped there, because I am used to contests with the condition of “US shipping addresses only“-which I have- to obviously avoid high shipping costs.

I never pretended to be a US legal resident -this blog would be enough of a hint, I suppose-. I even ask for my prize “to be shipped to…”, and never say “I received my prize”, but “my prize was safely received”. So I felt like if I were misleading others, or like cheating. I felt like if I had violated the rules of all the contests I won prizes at, so I got back to each one of them to ask if I were eligible for what I won or not [thank you for opening my eyes, Erika :)].

1) BAYB contest: I won a review, so there are no residency issues here.
2) Clutter Control Freak’s creativity contest: I told Eva back then that I was not from the US and would just have my prize shipped to someone, which was done. I just double-checked anyways and they didn’t have any rules for their contest [I have no idea why CCF's links never work on my blog].
3) Dad Balance contest: I won the traditions book -that was safely received-, but I just realized this blog belongs to the same network of Momsational, so the same rules apply. I am waiting for Derek’s answer about this.
4) Pj Mommy contest: I looked everywhere around, and I didn’t see any rules. I’ll still write to her for my own peace of mind.
5) Goji Capital contest: They said in their blog entry that their contest was open worldwide. Cool contest!
6) SEOlogs MBL contest: Their contest pages disappeared, but I won a hosting package. That’s a worldwide prize by default. Or not?
7) Mamanista contest: I looked everywhere for any rules, but I found none. However, Mamanista replied to my email promptly to assure me that I hadn’t violated any rules at her contest. Phew!
8) JoeTech’s contest: Joe didn’t have any rules either, and the prize was cash via PayPal anyways, but I’ll still double check with him.
9) The Domestic Diva’s contest: No rules here either, but I still emailed the Diva about this, you never know.

I guess that’s pretty much it! Next time I enter a contest I’ll make sure to ask if they require legal US residency or just a US shipping address.
And if you are running a contest on you blog, please underline any rules you might have.

“As a special bonus, we are now offering our loyal melt Online readers a FREE subscription to melt Magazine. To make sure you get your FREE copy - twice a year - of this full colour, glossy publication directly to your home, please update your address information by using the form below”.

Melt magazine.

FileLime are running an iPod contest for bloggers only. The revolutionary multi-touch interface brand-new iPod touch is of a retail value of $299, plus free engraving!

This contest began on December 2, 2007 and ends on December 18, 2007.
The winner will be randomly drawn on December 18, 2007 at 8PM EST and posted on this page.

FileLime is a rapid file sharing online, that offers 150MB of free space, 5 multiple upload, progress bar uploader, and a direct link to your upload - all for free. All file types are allowed.
Once on the homepage, you can’t spot what FileLime is all about at first sight. The ads make it hard to figure out the bottom line is an introduction about FileLime’s features. The design is too simple, and should be improved. I’d rather have the upload box in the middle, and the ads on both left and right bars.