Thursday, October 22, 2009

Contests

It is not hard to find contests on the internet. Lots of bloggers run contests every day. They give away everything from books and cleaning products, to gift cards and, ahem, s e x toys. That last one always surprises me, because there is no way I would ever talk about stuff like that on my blog, let alone do a giveaway. Maybe I am just a prude.

I have, in the past, hosted my own contests. I have given away books and a couple of crafts I have made. I also participate in a lot of "pay it forward" type things. Those are always fun.

Some contests, though, have restrictions, and the biggest one I have found is that bloggers don't want to ship prizes overseas. I include myself in this. I have had Canadian winners, and the shipping costs were comparable to what I paid for my American winners. I wish I could afford to send things overseas. I know it's not the same as paying sea freight shipping costs, but I am sure it is still pretty expensive. Excluding a huge portion of bloggers from participating in contests stinks, so I am thinking that the next time I host a contest, I will leave it open to everyone, but if the winner lives overseas, they will have to pay shipping.

I think that is fair enough.

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