You're confused with the difference between eligible and entitled.
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MacRumors Giveaways... Why are they only open to U.S. residents?
- Thread starter Fabian90
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Not confused at all. In your original post, you used the word "entitled." But if that's the word you're using to describe non-US residents, let's just stick with the same vocabulary to describe US residents as well.
Also, I think it's fairly derisory to take issue with non-US residents' dissatisfaction when you're not personally affected by the restrictions.
Agreed. There's clearly enough international users saying 'this is stupid' every time there's a giveaway that they've given us a room to vent about it.
What weirds me out is that Americans then come in and dominate this room with rants about how they don't think people should complain about it (quite literally in a room created for people to complain about it).
I dunno what to say to such people. One reason I'm using Reddit rather than MR most of the time these days is that I can block such people on the basis that their content is irrelevant.
I've just read all 18 pages of these posts and it seems it can be summed up a few sentences.
1. The owner of the site has determined it is not worth the time and effort required to make the contests available to the rest of the world. His site, his choice.
2. Giveaways are so the product makers generate more interest in their product, so putting 'US RESIDENTS ONLY' in the title would not achieve their expected market penetration, even though in many cases the product they are giving away won't be available outside the US anyway, particularly electrical equipment. If it is available elsewhere then presumably they can ship it there!
3. The site owner has decided it is better to keep his advertisers happy than his subscribers so he won't put the 'US RESIDENTS ONLY' message in the giveaway title. Again, his site, his choice.
4. Subscribers (who pay nothing to subscribe) are free to unsubscribe if they disagree with the owner's decisions.
Note that I am in Australia so not eligible to enter any competitions but have made the judgement that I get sufficient useful information from the site to remain a subscriber even though I don't like being excluded from the giveaways.
Have a nice day!
The current giveaway is quite funny. British company, located in the UK, files financials in the UK, ships to the UK, promo copy prices provided in GBP, competition only open to US residents.
www.macrumors.com
MacRumors Giveaway: Win an Everyday Briefcase and Magnetic Sleeve for Mac From Harber London
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Harber London to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win an Everyday Leather Briefcase and a...
www.macrumors.com
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LOLz... yes but Quebec requires instructions in French, so it's too complicated to include anybody outside the USAThe current giveaway is quite funny. British company, located in the UK, files financials in the UK, ships to the UK, promo copy prices provided in GBP, competition only open to US residents.
MacRumors Giveaway: Win an Everyday Briefcase and Magnetic Sleeve for Mac From Harber London
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Harber London to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win an Everyday Leather Briefcase and a...
[Hears the sosumi sound in the background somewhere]
If companies other than MacRumors shared the same opinion about how giveaways work (hint: they don't, lotsa companies do international giveaways), I'd see a business opportunity here. I mean, I could run the giveaways in my jurisdiction, charge companies like MR a fee and remove any perceived legal risks by doing so (and they're totally perceived - there is zero real risk of being sued for giving stuff away online).
Hey Arnold if you're reading, maybe we can talk business? ;D
It never ends. How about NOT showing these giveaways in the front page for readers who are not allowed to participate ? And please, correct the "Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways" text with "Due to the complexities of US laws regarding running giveaways internationally".
But it has nothing to do with US law and everything to due with the laws in other countries.
To quote another user who summed this up well "France requires you file sweepstake rules with a French bailiff to make them legal in France. Mexican giveaways require a permit from the Federal Consumer Protection Agency. Spain just flat out prohibits international giveaways. Italy requires local officials pick the winners. And the list goes on."
There's a lot to criticize MR for, but this simply isn't one of them.
Does anyone know if this is actually true? What’s the origin of the information? It could be 100% accurate, but likewise it’s just the sort of thing somebody reads and reproduces with no original source (it becomes it’s own reference).
Restrictions and red tape from international laws, most likely. MR and the company giving away the products just don't have time for those hassles.
It's actually nearly the same reasons why people question "WHY doesn't AppleTV+ or ApplePay allowed in my XXXXXXXXX country!?"
Honestly, if Apple could, it would gladly stake sales revenue, provide services, market presence, and generate profit from every single country on the planet. But there are many countries where the laws and regulations (international or otherwise), or the political climate, make it painful and a headache for a company like Apple to do business in.
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Me. I found it from somewhere else. Given the specificity defined I had little doubt as to its veracity.
Edit: I think this was my original source for my post that @bpeeps quoted: https://nationalsweepstakescompany.com/blog/international-sweepstakes-contest-laws/
Yes it's true, you can look up a majority of countries here. I populated the search with France and Italy requirements as an example. You can use the tab on the left to look at country's specific requirements, prizes, judges, and governing law.
FYI, Quebec residents should no longer be excluded as of June 2nd, 2021 as per RACJ
Would a guy from Romania, Italy or Korea really sue macrumors over a $40 giveaway? To me, it sounds hilarious.
That's a good first step, but unfortunately, it looks like other Quebec-specific rules still apply...such as all rules, forms, and advertising must still be provided in French. At least that's my reading of things.
It's not about a "guy from Romania" suing us directly. It's about the regulatory agencies in these countries that govern giveaways. It's unfortunate, but we simply don't have the resources to ensure we comply with the laws in each country for something we're doing as a favor to our readers without any return.
The point point is that you're not in their jurisdiction, you're just sending a gift to their country. Thus, there's very little they could do even if sending somebody a gift was a crime (hint: it isn't and they don't care about US law, which is your real concern... US gambling law to be precise, which is an inaccurate characterisation of what you're doing IMO).
YouTube and Facebook do 'giveaways' (i.e. unconditional 'gifts') all the time and I think it's fair to say the US regulators would be after them if they had an issue (rather than MR doing little $40 giveaways each month). I just don't think that tiny little gifts (with no consideration from the user's end) meet the threshold to be classified as gambling.
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I just assume they can't ship me these goods as a customer either... wouldn't wanna get convicted under 'international law'
Magically no other company/individual seems to have this issue though. As their reasoning is so specific, I'm guessing they offended some grunt from Qubec's customs by not having everything in French. Through confusion, MR accepted that it was 'too hard' to send stuff outside the US and Canada (excluding Qubec) and that's been their rule ever since. IMO they're using a flamethrower to cook a lettuce leaf and it's pretty silly. However, MR is run by an American (Arnold Kim... one dude) who is not interested in trying to open this up, so whatever. His blog, his call if that makes it simpler.
As a lawyer it frustrates me seeing such a stupid representation of how 'international law' works (calling 'international law' too complex is a cop-out rather than a sincere attempt to open this up to all readers IMO). IMO the crux is that Arnold Kim doesn't care enough about international readers to find a way forward. That's his call and his call to make. IMO he should own it instead of blaming 'international law' though...
MacRumors never say "international law". They say "international laws"; which means, the various laws of specific nation that are not the US. That "s" makes all the difference,
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Wrong. I'm a lawyer and 'international laws' means just that... foreign treaties and the like.
I am repeating myself but we're purely talking about US national sweepstakes here (which a blog giving away a $40 toy to its readers with zero buy-in or other rewards scheme going on is not).
so you're saying it's ok to break the laws in other countries if you're comfortably far enough away the laws aren't enforceable or the crime isn't big enough for the country to use its resources to try and enforce the laws.
Somebody's said this and I've answered.
Firstly... no law is being broken! It's a ridiculous argument that you can't do anything internationally because domestic laws elsewhere might have obscure provisions that ban the unauthorised usage of oxygen.
Secondly... this is a 'gift' scenario (not gambling). MR is mischaracterising how it should be treated in the USA and Canada (which is the root of this problem, not what other countries think). The root of the issue is that Quebec requested instructions in French... so MR banned them... and everybody else! This is only relevant because Quebec's mentioned in US law though (not because Quebec law applies in the USA... or other parts of Canada for that matter).
Lastly... Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh!!! See what I just did there? Right. So if MR don't care about me saying that, why care about sending a gift to your mates in Australia? Why? Coz they're afraid of the boogie man rather than an actual law that says 'you cannot send gifts to people around the world'. As noted, nobody's going after Facebook and YouTube for this, so why would they bully a random blog?