Just don’t pull another Lumatic, crashing the entire forum then leaving after 999 posts

International shipping from Germany is 16 € (untracked) or 20 € (tracked). For most giveaways this is simply too much and probably more expensive than the flashlight itself.

A possible solution would be to order a light from China and directly ship it to the winner.

Boaz, I’d be down, do people still have that type of attention span nowadays

If you do a GAW or not, that is YOUR decision, and yours only. It’s not mandatory

OTOH, a promise is a promise. A while ago I promised to do a GAW for every GAW I win. And I’m going to stick to that promise. However: seeing (in my case: feeling) is believing, so it will be postponed until the prizes I have won in december land on my doorstep. They are on their way. Tracking shows that atm they are received by Dutch customs (for the 3rd time ?!?).
As SammysHP has stated, the cost of shipping are slowly exceding the cost of prizes. That is why I will combine my upcoming tit-for-tat GAW with the long time overdue GAW for my 4,000th post.

I never even knew that the 1000 post GAW was a thing, looks like im a couple behind  

I would definitely do this. i need help though, i dont know how to do a random number generator thing or anything like that. 

Worldwide shipping ?! EEEEK. that could get scary.. i saw a person trying to sell a flashlight on r/ yesterday and they said "worldwide shipping to anywhere.. $27", they were trying to to sell a KR1 .. LOL. Im pulling for them though

Boaz.. does this have anything to do with your uncanny ability to WIN giveaways haha

Most people use https://www.random.org/ to choose a random winner.

You could make your giveaway just for people in your country, or you could give away cash via PayPal to anyone in the world if you don't want to worry about shipping.

(I think I'm the only one that has done that on BLF.

I gave away something like $7 in an effort to sell some knives.)

...

Some people give away stuff that they can purchase from China that has free or inexpensive worldwide shipping.

Y'know, like ordering from AliExpress or something and shipping from the webshop directly to the winner.

The best way to do a giveaway is to purchase a light from a Chinese website as they have free worldwide delivery and have it sent to the winner.
Giving away a light you own is not cost effective.

My plan is a dollar amount sent by PayPal equal to a common flashlight as people may prefer a non flashlight item.

Bort wrote:

The best way to do a giveaway is to purchase a light from a Chinese website as they have free worldwide delivery and have it sent to the winner.
Giving away a light you own is not cost effective.

My plan is a dollar amount sent by PayPal equal to a common flashlight as people may prefer a non flashlight item.

Great minds think alike! 

Henk4U2 wrote:

If you do a GAW or not, that is YOUR decision, and yours only. It’s not mandatory ………. As SammysHP has stated, the cost of shipping are slowly exceding the cost of prizes. That is why I will combine my upcoming tit-for-tat GAW with the long time overdue GAW for my 4,000th post.

You could postpone the latter to 4,444 posts. And later move the limit to indefinitely.

Boaz, you are the good spirit of this forum

Of course we love GAWs.
Since i turned 500th post i’m thinking on my 1000th post GAW. I know already what’s it gonna be and what would be the rules. It just moves so slowly

Anyway, I can’t wait to announce it. Once I turn 900 I’ll publish it.

Stay tuned (like a tuna fish :UGHH:)

Edit: this is really funny , I’ve already turned 900. So my gaw is eligible to start. Expect it soon

SammysHP wrote:

International shipping from Germany is 16 € (untracked) or 20 € (tracked). For most giveaways this is simply too much and probably more expensive than the flashlight itself.

A possible solution would be to order a light from China and directly ship it to the winner.

These are some great ideas! Thanks all for the suggestions. I definitely like the PayPal funds or Banggood/AliX direct shipment ideas. I will start thinking about this

Boaz wrote:

Does anyone else remember when it was popular to include tasty cultural snacks when sending flashlights across the globe?

The 1000th post is long gone, so I will not be able to do one of those

I try to do a GAW once a year (more or less) when some new lights are launched, but normally they are shipped from the seller directly to the winner of the GAW.
So, the “Does anyone else remember when it was popular to include tasty cultural snacks when sending flashlights across the globe?” is something that I won’t be doing, probably.

However, our friend Henk4U2 did that once when I won his GAW (Tool AA Panda White) and sent a extra tasy gift, the “Fisherman’s Friend”
I found it funny, and kind, and now I know that there was also a “tradition” of doing that! Always learning

For lights I own, I limit them to CONUS shipping. It’s useful to clear out the clutter for things I can’t bear to discard but are otherwise just taking up space

Were I to attempt an international giveaway, I’d probably order from China and ship appropriately.

regarding 1K posts GAW:

1. Amazon Gift Card.
2. pay PayPal.
3. Venmo.

anything other than actually paying
for a flashlight which would then
need to be shipped elsewhere.