Paid for competitions

[nicksthename]

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Quick question for those people who dabble in competitions sites, or anyone who could run competitions on their site:

- do you think visitors would pay to enter competitions?

Thinking of setting up a competitions site, but rather than have affiliates get paid relatively little like current sites (around 25-50p I believe), affiliates could be paid £1-£1.50 per entry. The user would, however, have to be charged per entry (nothing too steep though), in order to be passed onto affiliates.

Anyone think this would work, or is the online competitions industry more of a 'free' thing?

I see bestofthebest charges per entry, but they're aiming at the luxury end i.e can win a sports car rather than a plasma TV or something.

Any input would be great.

[loquax]

do you think visitors would pay to enter competitions?

No is my answer.

Paid entry competitions require different rules than free to enter competitions - and if you're going to be paying affiliates £1 per entry, assuming you're wanting to make some cash you're probably looking at charging £3/£4 minimum to cover costs and prizes.

I've seen countless examples of "pay to enter" style competitions along the lines of "best of the best" (raffle based skill competitions where users pay and the entry limits are restricted) - but aimed at other ends of the market.

As yet i can't think of one that has worked or been successful.

People will pay sometimes (e.g. 25p SMS - maybe 50p, maybe a £1 for a decent prize (e.g. a car)... but anything more and it puts people off.

But that's just my view.

Jason

[nicksthename]

was hoping you would chime in Jason (as a guy in the know ) thanks for the input.

Anyone else care to offer an opinion?

[hellywin]

I would definitely have to agree with Jason - particularly if you were offering competitions which were available free elsewhere.

Plus - many users are sceptical enough as it is what with all the competition scams out there. We often have prizes which are never claimed because people refuse to believe they've won something with no catches, so adding a 'pay to play' element to it might make them even less inclined to participate (unless you were going in a gambling direction)

If you need any more input, feel free to drop me an email

Cheers,