Hey guys,

I have been giving some thought to this idea for the past couple days and just wanted to get some feedback. I initially wanted to set up a for profit raffle but discovered too many legal issues involved. To get around these issues, I decided to set up a sweepstakes instead. Here is what I've come up with so far.

I picked a product that is both costly and essential to a persons day to day life. I will sell bumper stickers with my domain on them for $3.00. The purchase of a bumper sticker will enter you in a chance to win a years supply of the product via gift cards. The drawing will occur on a monthly basis and all non winning entries will be voided. I will offer one winner for every X amount of entries. (still working out the fine details) The point is not to sell bumper stickers, people will be paying to get into the drawing, the bumper stickers are just a way to get around the raffle/lottery laws.

My numbers are just rough estimates for now. I sourced a local shop that will make 10,000 stickers for $750, so...

10,000 stickers @ $3 = $30,000 monthly gross

Expenses = $800 for stickers
$2,000 for gift cards
$4,500 for postage to mail stickers
$x for other biz expenses (web hosting, envelopes, etc..)

Even if I rack up 10k in monthly expenses I will still walk away with 20k.

The way I figure is that people would jump at the chance to win a years supply of any necessary product for a meager amount of money. I would be helping someone out and make a nice profit for myself in the process. If by chance they put my sticker on their car or a wall somewhere that would be free advertising.

Like I said, this is a new idea so everything is just roughly estimated for now. I am looking for any feedback. Has an idea like this been tried before? Am I missing anything of importance here? Any big expenses that might come up?

Thanks a ton

Ok, my first question is do you think you can sell 10K bumber stickers in a month? If the answer is yes then my next question is how? Lets say you can sell 10K bumber stickers. Will the same people now want to buy another bumber sticker next month. I know you are not really selling bumber stickers but lets face it, these people are going to do something with the bumber stickers after they buy from you. I am guessing most likly throwing them in the garbage. $2000.00 for gift cards. Will that be enough for a yr's supply of X. And what will X be? Lets say it's water. The cost will be different if it's a single winner vs a family of 5.

I am not concerned with what happens to the bumper stickers. They can toss them for all I care. I have to sell something, and what is more inexpensive to buy in bulk than a bumper sticker that could also potentially serve as advertisement? Its not like I am trying to get people to buy a bumper sticker for display purposes, I'm getting them to buy into my sweepstakes. 2k in gift cards is enough for a years supply. The product is along the lines of food/clothing/shelter. It is required in order for a majority of people to function in day to day society.

I am sure with the right kind of marketing approach I could easily get 10k people interested in this sweepstakes on a monthly basis. Like I said, the product I am offering is something that everyone needs and buys on a regular basis. Most people would easily spend 3 bucks if it meant a 1 in 10k shot at getting a years supply for free. Look how many people play the lotto where the odds are near impossible.

I've even thought of offering a larger bumper sticker for say $25 that would automatically enter the person in the monthly drawing for a year and save them $11 over buying a new sticker every month. I could also offer a referral type program where people would get a share of profit for getting more people registered into my sweepstakes. They could advertise for me on their social networking page. I could also donate a % of profit to a different charity each month so that the whole thing will be more worth while for everyone involved.

I'll also look into selling ad space on my site since I will be generating some traffic.

It appears that I can not hold a sweepstakes if I require purchase to enter. I will have to find a way to turn this idea into a contest of some sort...

It is an interesting idea for sure. I used to think about paid entry poetry/creative writing contests etc.

The problem I kept running into was that there was no way to guarantee enough participants to cover the payout, let alone make a profit.