Ontario Only Contests and Giveaways

This post is coming mostly out of frustration, but apparently it's needed. When it comes to entering contests patience is a must!

My frustration comes from a giveaway of a Mystery Box I gave away. It ended at 6 pm EST, and by 9 PM I had over 14 messages and then in the middle of the night 9 people messaged my personal Facebook account!?? Can you imagine? I am not sure where the self entitlement comes from but yuck!!

How Long Does a Contest or Giveaway Have to Announce Winners?

As long as they need or want within reason! Or they could choose not too, and that's okay too! They could just reach out to a winner privately and that's the end of their obligation.

Now that's the easy answer. The more in-depth answer is...

Each giveaway or contest sponsor or blogger who is having a giveaway makes their own terms. Most times you can read the rules to see exactly when winners or draws will be done. The issue is people don't read the rules in their entirety! Rules will usually tell you when winners will be drawn and even when they will be contacted and how. It pays to read them in FULL.

There is no law in Canada's competition act that clearly states how long a sponsor has to pick winners. Many contests wait up to 2 months after the contest end to even do a draw of winners.

When it comes to bloggers running giveaways you need more patience. They not only have their own lives, but most times the prize is coming out of their pocket. I know personally for me I don't do sponsored giveaways, I provide all my own prizes.

Don't ever message or email a contest holder the next day after a contest ends. It's tacky and quite ignorant. If after 30 days you haven't seen a winner announced you could shoot a friendly email asking who the lucky winner was. But remember they don't have to tell you.

In fact contests and giveaways are not always required to disclose who won. Many contests tell you right in the rules, if you want a list of winners you can mail a letter requesting it. Doesn't mean you will get it, but you can ask.

With this hobby comes a lot of hurry up and wait moments. Just be patient, don't harass and bug contest holders! You want good karma coming your way, and being a bug isn't the way to get it.