P.S.: • I check all of my winners on steam. I will friend all private steam profiles before sending them the key to make sure they do not already have the game. Please accept my friend request or I will ask for a reroll.
• In case of bundles/ packages/ editions: If the winner owns more than half of this bundle/ package/ edition I will ask for a reroll.
• When winning, please tick Received. I will also write a comment on your profile to let you know if you won and did not redeem the game after 2 weeks since the end of the said giveaway. If a month passes by since the day you won said game and you didn't tick Received, I will ask for a reroll.
Thanks for the tips, RaisinCookiesAreGood!
I don't think you're allowed to require the winner to have a public profile, when the site rules do not require it. From the FAQ:
Feel free to ask a mod, though. And thanks for the giveaway!
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Huh, thanks for the citation. I still check people manually, because it happened with me getting to enter into giveaways AFTER I freshly activated that same product. Since then, I became kinda paranoid. Same happened with a DLC, told the giveaway maker to choose someone else.
Not justified, sure. But just how up-to-date could a profile be brought, as in once you switch to public for the whole week or just up to date to that day in that week and then afterwards NOT? Could a loophole be created?
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The site tries to sync with Steam when you start using it (that is, you're loading pages and stuff after some time of being inactive). You can also sync it by hand (which I do after winning a giveaway or buying something); even if you don't, all your giveaway entries with same game are automatically removed when one of them wins, and since the chance to win almost any giveaway is very low and your last sync can't be more than a week ago, you can reasonably expect that you won't win a game that you own already.
There is, however, a problem with SteamGifts not being able to tell that you own some games; still, I doubt that someone already owning the game he won would be that much of an issue. You can always request a reroll of the giveaway, and the only one who really loses when someone already owning a game wins a key for it is the winner himself (as it makes him liable for a ban).
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I bookmarked this giveaway just for this kind of info. Thanks for sharing some knowledge.
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If you have a public profile, SG tries to sync with steam every day. In recent years, if you win a giveaway for game XYZ, it will not let you enter any more giveaways for that game, with it showing up as "previously won." Either immediately or when it next syncs, it kicks you out of all other giveaways for that game and refunds the points.
If you activate the game from somewhere else, this process happens as soon as you sync.
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It did show me as "Previously won" when joining some games. I think there is still one little group of people: those that own the game and all DLCs, but can still enter the giveaway for the whole bundle. (For the instance, this: https://store.steampowered.com/sub/56692/)
One may have all the episodes separately, but not the look of a package. It happened to me with this game when I joined for such a giveaway. I wonder if it will happen with this one too: https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/JcGQm/company-of-heroes, https://store.steampowered.com/sub/403/
I know I must seem like the kind who is nitpicking, I am paranoid. I know it is not a good argument to my point.
What about you? What do you think after reading this?
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You are correct that thosIe who already own them can enter bundles and DLC giveaways. I agree with checking their profile, if possible (I always do.)
Though it might seem like I don't, I do agree with you, mostly. I want my winners to not own the games I giveaway. However, I do not think you need to be as cautious as you have been. Conscientious users will try, if possible, and if they remember to, to sync with steam after activating a non-SG game, and will check on whether or not they already own bundles before proceeding to enter. We have all failed at this, which is why I said "try." :D
Company of Heroes is one of those I will hide on SG if I ever buy it on steam.
On bundles, you have some protection. The TOS allow you to state "if you own X percent [the giver decides what percent] of the bundle I may demand a reroll" (or words to that effect). Many users will ask before entering (1x per giveaway so the giver doesn't need to say it multiple times) if it is a bundle and they already own part of it.
I think that while your motives are wonderful, a support member might take issue with your statement demanding public profiles, and this might lead to warnings or adverse effects for you. Such phrases are not binding according to SG rules.
DLC giveaways are the hardest. To confirm whether or not a user already has a DLC, you must friend them on steam so that you can go through the process of buying them a DLC--without completing the transaction or paying. In this way, you can see if they have the DLC, as steam will not allow you to gift something to someone who already has it. For public profiles, you can also look under "x friends have/want this title" to see if that person owns it.
More common on SG than what you say are words to the effect of "the winner must be a steam friend before I will/so i can send the gift." This DLC-issue is well-known enough that support might grant a reroll of a giveaway where the winner refuses to accept a friend request, at which point you have to decide if the DLC is worth the annoyance. Some are, while some are not.
I hope this helps, somewhat! Again, I do agree with you in principle, just not quite in how you went about phrasing this.
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I only send keys, not gifts. I am not sure if sending gifts is better than keys or vice-versa. I would like to know your experience or opinion on this.
I do have 9 blacklists, though, I do hope it is not because of the whole owning-games-or-not issue.
I am not sure how to encapsulate all scenarios or shorten them to a general note or at least to 4-5 rows. Or up to 10 rows.
Would you be so kind as to help me here? I am not sure if to shorten all the scenarios to a list or resort to sending gifts through Friend Requests. I made like 20 giveaways, so I am not sure what route to go for.
If you have some examples of phrasings you saw or ideas of phrasings and wish to share, I'm all eyes. I would appreciate it.
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I do not send gifts via steam myself. I only send keys or giftlinks. I have received a gift via steam before, but it is a hassle vs. a key.
Regarding blacklists, I hope not, but you can be blacklisted for anything and or everything, so I wouldn't worry about it unless someone commented and told you why they were blacklisting you. Then you have a starting point to work out what you did to offend and try and get things right if you care. Also, please read this for more on being BL'd.
What I meant was that if you friend someone on steam and then attempt to purchase a gift for them of whatever game you are going to give them a key for, it will let you know if this friend can accept the gift or if they already have the title. Of course you would not actually buy them the game, but merely use this as a way of seeing if they already have it on their account.
You only need to do this--if you care--for private Steam accounts, not public ones.
What you could say is something along the lines of (feel free to quote me if you wish, as it is a compilation of what I recall seeing several people say):
Note that you might not be given a reroll, but the winner must sync at least once a week or face a suspension, and as a result the number of private profiles connected with this site is very low. You also have a week to send the key, so if you wait a few days they have probably synced after winning this but before you give the keys, at which point--if I recall correctly--they will be kicked out of the giveaway and another winner assigned.
When you give bundles away feel free to decide a percent of the bundle and then add
and SG will reroll that type of request.
Also note that SG support are rumored to allow rerolls of people who fail SGTools check, but you don't need to say this.
So, I guess my overall advice is that you probably will run into far fewer private profiles than you might expect, and to not be so concerned about it. Don't worry until you face it.
i wouldn't necessarily spell out all the rules for all scenarios, especially as there is the thing in the Guidelines about "any valid entry at time of the end of the giveaway is valid (unless they left the group or were proven to have been leaked the link)", but merely something along the lines of what I said above in the quotes. Also, "extra rules that require them to do extra actions like a FB page, follow you on steam etc" are i think currently not supported by support and might not be allowed, but this might change.
I hope this was a help to you!
Peace to you!
PS: if worst comes to worst and you give something they already have, so long as they mark it as received, you do not lose anything, other than the kowledge that the game went to someone who didn't have it. You still get your reward in the way of CV & "total gifts given." This is not as ideal as if the game goes to someone who does not own it, but is not a horrible situation, all things considered.
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Heya!
I finally found out how to hyperlink your name because I wish to thank you for writing and structuring your ideas in such a patient and chill manner, trying to explain how things are going and giving even the deets. Is it okay with you, if I tag for helping me in all giveaways? Would you mind it?
Also, I would like an opinion about the description, I used your example and added an option of mine.
Peace out and many thanks!
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Hiya!
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. You are very welcome--I was happy to help! 😁
I don't mind if you tag me, but as I wasn't the original source for all of it--I was more passing on what tips I've picked up over the last 2 years-- I don't know that I ought to be, or maybe not solely (If you do wish to tag me perhaps it would be better to add something along the lines of
and also those who gave him the tips he passed forward to mejust so i'm not hogging the credit that others deserve. After all, if they had never typed it where I read it, I might never have learned those things so that I could use and share them.)In any event, whether you tag/credit me or not or not--and how you choose to do so if you choose to do so--is totally up to you, not me.😁
I do like what you have said on your Wurm giveaway. It is all both perfectly reasonable and inside the rules, so that any resulting support tickets would not be rejected by support as "a waste of time because the ticket wasn't backed up by enforceable rules or showing violation of those rules."
Two things I might adjust ever so slightly differently--and this is totally up to your wishes--are
I have seen some people also say (In the bit about "i'm going to friend you to make sure you don't own it") something about "feel free to unfriend me after you have received the gift." However, this is up to you, and of course you can always unfriend them if you wish to do so! 😉
Another thing I very recently thought of that you might say on the line
is add something to the extent of (reword it to fit your style, of course)
If you know you already own over[insert your limit]of the bundle, please do not waste the time of both of us/both of our time (times?)[not sure of the best grammar choice--if any--here,]by entering, unless you are helping the giveaway reach 5 entries.This might prevent some from entering, rather than you having to reroll a bunch of people who saw the guideline and entered anyway.
On the other hand, others might consider this rude, so maybe it is better as is.
Again, I am not trying to tell you what to say and I'm not trying to bore you. I hope this was of help.
Grace Mercy and Peace to you and yours!
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This comment was deleted 4 years ago.
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Thank you!
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Wow, thanks a lot for the giveaway!
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Thanks~
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Thank you! :)
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