Be a Winner

So, Is it really worth entering competitions to win a few small prizes?

If you want to sit at home and earn some extra cash simply by filling in some forms? If it sounds appealing then maybe you should read this piece in The Telegraph by Rosie Murray-West.

Apparently, people are making 'a small but steady living' by entering competitions, winning goods, and then selling them, presumably through eBay.

Considering how many thousands of competitions there are, this certainly seems possible. Most of these competitions can't have all that many entrants, which means if you're good at targeting competitions with fewer competitors, you're more likely to have a possible win.

All the relevant information you may need is here

I was all prepared to do a lot of intensive research for this article, but it seems many people are years ahead of me on this one. All the work has already been done and you can find all the information you need to give 'comping' your best shot using the Internet.

The Telegraph article I mentioned earlier is a good starting point, as it has all the background information, and some tips on improving your chances and on which competitions to enter.

Next, I'd read the guide to winning at Loquax.co.uk. There are further general tips at Prize-Competitions.com.

Looking at the maths side of things, Winning Competitions explains quite well why it may be best to avoid the major promotions. There are also two pages with original tips on Comper.co.uk, one about doing your research and the other about making multiple entries.

Where to find competitions

There are several websites which list competitions. Type 'enter competitions' into Yahoo!. I looked at about 30 of these. Many of them are very similar, but I liked Prize-Competitions.com and Loquax.co.uk, for a large part because they seem lower profile and therefore you might have a better chance of winning some of the competitions they list.