How to run a fair giveaway

A fair giveaway comes down to three things: clear rules written before you start, a clean list of valid entries, and a draw people can see. This guide walks through each step. It is general guidance, not legal advice: rules for prize promotions differ by country and by platform, so check the ones that apply to you.

1. Write the rules before you post

Decide everything up front and publish it with the giveaway post (or link to it). Changing rules mid-way is the fastest way to lose trust.

Your rules should answer:

• Who can enter: age limit, countries, and whether employees, family or previous winners are excluded.
• How to enter: the exact steps (for example "comment on this post") and whether multiple entries are allowed.
• Start and end date and time, with the time zone.
• The prize: what it is, how many winners, and whether there is a cash alternative.
• How winners are chosen: for example "drawn at random using an online wheel, live on our Instagram story".
• How and when winners are contacted, and how long they have to reply before a new winner is drawn.
• That entry is free if no purchase is required, which many countries expect for prize draws.

2. Check the platform's promotion rules

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and other platforms publish their own rules for running promotions, for example what you must disclose and what you may ask entrants to do. Read the current version before you post. Instagram's are in its Help Center.

3. Collect and clean the entries

When the giveaway closes, build your entry list:

1. Export or copy the entries. For comment giveaways, copy the usernames from the comments. For form entries, export responses to a spreadsheet (Google Forms can send them to Google Sheets).
2. Remove duplicates if your rules say one entry per person. In Google Sheets, select the column and use Data → Data clean-up → Remove duplicates.
3. Remove ineligible entries: your own accounts, people outside the allowed countries, and entries after the closing time.
4. Decide entries vs tickets. If people can earn extra entries (for example by sharing), give each entry its own line or ticket number. Someone with three entries should appear three times.
5. Count and save the final list. Note the total ("212 valid entries") and save a copy before the draw.

4. Draw the winner live

1. Paste the final list into the Raffle Wheel, one entry per line.
2. Keep Remove winner after each spin on, so nobody wins twice.
3. Announce the numbers before you spin: "212 valid entries, 3 prizes, drawn in order: third, second, first."
4. Spin on camera, live or recorded with screen recording. Press F for full-screen so viewers can read the names.
5. Spin once per prize. The Results list keeps the order of winners.
6. Draw one or two reserve winners in case a winner doesn't reply or turns out to be ineligible.

5. Contact and announce

• Check eligibility first: confirm the winner meets the rules before announcing.
• Contact winners the way your rules said, for example by direct message from your official account. Never ask winners to pay a fee or share passwords or bank logins: scammers impersonate giveaway accounts this way, so warn your followers too.
• Announce publicly once the winner accepts, and keep your recording, the entry list and the results for a few weeks in case anyone asks.

Giveaway rules template

Copy, fill in the brackets and adapt it to your situation. Have it checked locally if your prize is valuable.

[Giveaway name] — Official rules

Organiser: [Your name or business], [contact email].

Eligibility: Open to [residents of countries] aged [18]+. Employees and family members of [organiser] are not eligible.

Entry period: Starts [date, time, time zone] and ends [date, time, time zone]. Late entries will not count.

How to enter: [Exact steps]. Limit [one] entry per person. Entry is free; no purchase is necessary.

Prize: [Number] winner(s) will receive [prize description, approximate value]. No cash alternative [unless stated].

Winner selection: Winners will be drawn at random from all valid entries using an online random wheel on [date], [live on platform / recorded].

Notification: Winners will be contacted by [method] within [X] days and must reply within [X] days, or a new winner will be drawn.

Platform: This promotion is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by [platform].

Privacy: Entrants' details will be used only to run this giveaway.

Common questions

Can I let people enter more than once? Yes, if your rules say so. Give each entry its own line so the odds stay proportional.

What if the winner doesn't reply? Follow your rules: after the deadline, draw a reserve winner and say so publicly.

Is a random wheel fair enough for a giveaway? The draw is fair: Wheelova uses a cryptographically secure random source, and we tested it with 1,000,000 spins per wheel in our fairness study. What makes a giveaway fair overall is clean entries and transparent rules, which is what this guide covers.