Is this normal?

J

jackiejanep

New member
I started sweeping the beginning of January. I'm retired so I can sweep for about 3 hours/day ( about 300 posts). Today I won my first prize. A $10.00 Macys gift certificate. I love Macys, they are awesome and I am very grateful. I was wondering however if winning small ( $5, $10 etc) prizes every couple of months is normal for the amount of time I am putting in. I would REALLY appreciate any feadback! Thanks sooooo much...
 
Hi, jackiejanep!

Yes, it is normal as far as anything can be normal in sweeping. So much is random, and there is so much variation with the kinds of sweeps people enter, that it is hard to compare things between one sweeper and another...but, often in the forum, people say it generally takes about 4 months before you start winning. That is based on things like how long it takes to get started (and go through the lists of existing sweeps) how long sweeps run, how long between the end date and winner selection/notification or the time between winning and prizes being sent (often 6-8 weeks after the end date of the sweeps.) As with anything, there are exceptions - a handful of people win something big right away.

Have you read amyshulk's Sweeper's Credo? Or the thread, Not Winning Anything? Tips on Why? I will look for the links and post them here. Main things: don't give up, enter and forget it, be persistent, and if you are not enjoying the hobby, take a break...
 
When I started I won a few small instant prizes in the first 2 months. Then nothing. 5 months in I won a few big prizes. And then I won almost nothing for another 5 months. Part of this hobby is it's randomness. If you are going to enjoy this you need to be able to embrace that, but let's be honest... it can be really tough when you just aren't winning anything. I also think that this is just a bad time. I'm just starting to find more instant wins and good contests and I think there will be more wins for everyone as we come into spring.
 
jackiejanep said:
I started sweeping the beginning of January. I'm retired so I can sweep for about 3 hours/day ( about 300 posts). Today I won my first prize. A $10.00 Macys gift certificate. I love Macys, they are awesome and I am very grateful. I was wondering however if winning small ( $5, $10 etc) prizes every couple of months is normal for the amount of time I am putting in. I would REALLY appreciate any feadback! Thanks sooooo much...
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If there's a contest that only you and one other person enter, then you'd have a 50% chance of winning.

Compare that to a contest for $50,000 cash. The latter contest will generate hundred of thousands of entries and those entries will effect the odds of winning. If you're 1 of 999,999 people who enter then your odds of winning are less than a small fraction of 1%.

The quality of the prize determines how many people will enter and the number of entrants determine the odds of winning.

It's for those reasons that it's far easier to win a $10 prize than it is to win a $100,000 prize.

It's unfortunate, but very few of us will win a car or one of the larger cash sweeps because everyone will enter. The odds for some of these sweeps are right up there with the lottery. You might have only 1 chance in a billion (or more) - - - 'course you don't need to buy a ticket to enter a sweepstakes.
 
Jackie, You might want to enter some of the facebook contests, most of those are short dated ones and most times prizes mailed fairly fast. That give you a few wins while waiting on the larger prizes to start rolling in. Also if you enjoy reading check out Goodreads. They have lots of contests ending daily and again the books ships fast. I've won several times there. Makes the waiting a little easier, when you keep winning a few small prizes.
 
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