Giveaway Why are Giveaways US & UK Only?

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jsimenhoff

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Oct 22, 2019
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With the relaunch of the What Hi-Fi? forums, we're going to be running a variety of contests and giveaways. With that in mind we wanted to answer a common question for all of you.

Q. Why on earth, with all the international fans you guys have from around the globe, do you restrict your contests to US & UK residents only?

Please note that we'd absolutely love to be able to provide every member of the community the chance to receive prizes. The devil, unfortunately, is in the details. We consulted with legal counsel to research and rule on the subject, or see if there's any way we can extend our events beyond these two regions. We have in our company a very smart and savvy legal team who has stated (after extensive research and consultations with specialists and outside firms on the matter) that we should not have sweepstakes or contests open to anywhere except the United States & UK.

The reason is, we do not have the capacity to ensure that the sweepstakes and contests we offer are in compliance with all laws that may be applicable outside the United States. Because it is important for us to have events and grow our community, and because we value our users, we felt it best to explain the predicament and hope you understand the why's and wherefore's of the issue so it doesn't feel as unfair. It's unfair, and we hate it, but we have to adhere to the law or we get in the big kind of trouble that jeopardizes not only our ability to run giveaways, but also keep covering all things related to space in the manner we'd like.

But! All those other sites and companies host contests that are open to anyone!

A. True enough. Though, they may have a legal team on staff in other countries who can write up contest rules for every instance of event and ensure compliance with the laws in their country. The cost of acquiring a lawyer on staff in each of the countries represented by our audience would be prohibitive. Lawyers ain't cheap, particularly ones that can parse the nuances between promotional sweepstakes regulations in India as opposed to those in Australia.

It may sound like a cop-out, but essentially our hands are tied. We absolutely would if we could in a heartbeat, but we very much can't. We still love you guys and all our community, and beg you for your understanding on this.
 
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