FAQ - Donating contest prizes

Would you like to sponsor a photo contest?
From an e-mail sent by Gary Cole to the list November 2003

There are very good reasons for this as there are quite a number of issues that need to be addressed. Do not send these suggestions to anyone else because no one else can approve these. We want to make sure all of the "I's" are dotted and the "T's" crossed. For example... if you offer prizes for the contests are you willing to ship these prizes ANYWHERE in the world? One might offer a $15 prize and it just so happens that the winner of the prize lives in Malaysia. The shipping, duty and customs clearance COULD cost MANY TIMES the cost of the goods. SNAZAROO will not be responsible to pay for shipping of other's prizes. If you wish to offer a prize you must be willing to ship it anywhere or at the very least you must be very particular on what you are willing to do. For example... it could be handled like SNAZAROO does for the prizes in the Summer free-for-all. SNAZAROO UK agrees to provide AND ship the product IF THE WINNER lives in the UK. SNAZAROO Belgium agrees to provide the prize and shipping if the winner is in his territory. SNAZAROO USA agrees to provide the prizes and shipping if the winner lives in the USA or Canada. Otherwise SNAZAROO USA agrees to provide the goods but it is understood that the winner is responsible for any and all shipping and/or tariff.

Each prize must be approved. There could be some prizes that might be considered as a conflict of interest. For example... we would not want to offer a price such as a product that is not compliant as safe for use on the skin as a cosmetic good. We would not want to offer something that is not appropriate for all ages (adult items). We would not want to offer a prize that has no value in general to the broad range of those that are members of the list.

We encourage prizes but please submit all such contributions or ideas through the proper channels. We do not want you offering prizes via the list and then find out that your prize is rejected and feel embarrassed. We might also have a number of suggestions like have your own specific contest or a slightly different prize.

We also want the giving of prizes to be a positive experience for the giver as well as the winner. It is a poor experience when the winner has to pay a large sum for something that they thought was a reward or it is a poor experience when the giver has negative exposure, trying to do a good thing, only to get negative feed back.

So... please send your suggestions directly to me at gary@snazaroo.com and we can discuss this off the list. Once we agree on all of the specifics then we will announce it to the list and post the prize on the actual contest page. Any questions should also go to gary@snazaroo.com