Why nobody ever wins the car at the mall (2018)

Post by sschueller » Mon, Jul 04, 2022, 7:45 AM UTC

shon wrote: post #98

I actually gave away a Porsche 911. This was not a mall giveaway but a marketing experiment for my new startup: Flat 6 Club. Yes, we wanted something in return, in this case, we wanted you to buy a t-shirt or start a subscription (merch+content+events), which gives us essentially all the same info, which would enter you in a sweepstakes to win the car. We also wanted to promote the club, which we did. We researched i…

Post by fortran77 » Mon, Jul 04, 2022, 7:48 AM UTC

vkou wrote: post #135

winternett wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry, they've mostly moved on to selling crypto and NFTs for the most part... I haven't seen a car parked in my local mall for ages, there's a bitcoin ATM parked in that space now. There's a certain breed of huckster that even if they designated a prize winner, it would be one of their family members. The most important part of managing scams is to expose them, and cite the names involved so that they need to…

> The most important part of managing scams is to expose them, Yes, because their targets will be reading Hacker News. The Nigerian Prince scam still works , and every person in the world has heard of it by now. > and cite the names involved so that they need to pick a different line of work. I don't think they value their public image half as much as you seem to think. But you're on to something. What if the alterna…

Post by tayo42 » Mon, Jul 04, 2022, 8:07 AM UTC

onion2k wrote: post #154

chiph wrote: post #64

> There are other types of car giveaways run by more legitimate parties (charity raffles, event promotions) that do deliver the goods — but if you win, you’re liable to pay a hefty gift tax. I don't think it's a gift tax, but ordinary income tax. A coworker won a living room sofa set on a game show, and the staff were waiting with a 1099 for her as soon as she stepped off the stage. The IRS says you need to pay tax b…

Oprah's famous "You get a car! And you get a car! And everyone gets a car! " show landed each audience member who got a 'free' car with a $6000 tax bill. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/oprah-gives-away...

Post by theodric » Mon, Jul 04, 2022, 8:19 AM UTC

sschueller wrote: post #172

shon wrote: post #98

I actually gave away a Porsche 911. This was not a mall giveaway but a marketing experiment for my new startup: Flat 6 Club. Yes, we wanted something in return, in this case, we wanted you to buy a t-shirt or start a subscription (merch+content+events), which gives us essentially all the same info, which would enter you in a sweepstakes to win the car. We also wanted to promote the club, which we did. We researched i…

Did you offer a way to enter without requiring a purchase since you are not a charity? If you did not I am quite surer you violated lottery laws. [1] [1] https://gleam.io/guides/no-purchase-necessary

Post by lbriner » Mon, Jul 04, 2022, 8:22 AM UTC

josephg wrote: post #151

themitigating wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost of a police investigation, prosecution, and then housing them in jail for what? 2 years ? Public shaming is much cheaper

Still orders of magnitude cheaper than the amount of money scammers con out of the public every year.