Giveaways FAQ
Yes
No, but you can bay for premium shipping if you'd like. See below.
Yes. If you win a physical prize, we will give you a digital prize instead.
Yes! Most of our giveaways include a staff pick winner. A panel of judges will pick a winner based on effort, creativity, originality and passion. Do your best, you can do it~
Yes, but you'll only get one prize if you win.
Yes, but only if you didn't use it in a Circles contest before.
For images, follow this guide. For anything else, include an external link.
No, any language is fine.
We always appreciate sweet comments under the giveaway details, and if you want to push it a little further, we have a Patreon open for donations ❤️
Our community entertainers organize giveaways and other contests to keep the community active and happy. Check the about page to read our staff team's introductions!
Yes, you're allowed to organize your own giveaway on our website, as long as you follow our general rules.
If you want to organize an "official" giveaway, get help from our staff, get reimbursed shipping or be generally more involved, please consider joining the staff team as a community entertainer.
Depends on the giveaway, but we generally have 2 types of winners:
- Popularity These winners are picked by the community via likes (or equivalent if organized outside of activities, such as retweets).
- Staff picks We have a judge panel fully dedicated to vote for winners. We recruit our judges based on their ability to be fair, unbiased, as well as their knowledge of the license and communication skills. Other Circles staff members and contributors are also allowed to vote.
If you think you have what it takes, apply to become a judge now!
Yes, any staff member from any Circles team is allowed to enter.
However, the organizers of the giveaway (generally the community entertainers) are not allowed to win prizes. If they win, they will only appear in honorable mentions and the next winners will get prizes instead.
Members of the judges panel are allowed to enter and win prizes, but they are not allowed to vote for themselves or ask others to vote for them. We pick our judges carefully to be able to trust them.
We try as much as possible to get the prizes from volunteers, because we want our giveaways to be by the community and for the community.
However, our finances manager (db0 at the moment) receives donations from Patreon and some of the donations go towards buying prizes and buying supplies to make hand-made prizes.
Donated prizes are always listed as "by XXX" under the prize. If not specified, it means it's our finances manager who bought the prize.
We have an amazing team of artists and editors.
Whenever someone wins a custom drawing or custom edit, the giveaway organizers ask the winner to describe what they would like. They can ask for specific art styles, characters, poses, outfits, texts, etc.
The giveaway organizers then ask the team of artists and editors. Artists and editors who feel inspired by the winner's request are commissioned to make the prize.
Sometimes, artists and editors end up not being able to make the prize anymore. If they tell the organizers or if the winner contacts the organizers, another artist or editor will be commissioned right away.
Check your private messages. You may have to wait up to 24 hours after announcement.
No, but you can bay for premium shipping if you'd like. See (below)(#regular-vs-premium-shipping).
Sorry :( Regardless, the staff and the community loved your entry so your efforts didn't go to waste at all <3 Please join our next giveaway to try again!
It depends on the artist or editor who makes the prize, but it generally takes between 2 weeks and 3 months.
Contact the organizers. They'll be able to tell you:
- the artist or editor assigned to your prize (or that we're still looking for one)
- the estimated date when the artist or editor think they will be able to finish
If the artist or editor is not answering or is not able to make the prize anymore, we will assign another artist or editor!
We have many ways to be contacted. Check the about page.
[For prizes shipped by db0]
If you can't wait to see what you get, you can check my Instagram stories (not posts) where I share the progress of each drawing + prize:
→ https://www.instagram.com/debydraws/ ←
★ Staff picks have to be announced first (1-2 weeks after the giveaway ends to allow judges to vote) ★ ALL winners must fill the form first ★ The drawing on the letter takes 1-3 weeks to make, depending on how busy IRL + how many other drawings to make ★ Prizes are shipped in batches at the end of each month
In other words, please be patient! I'm doing my best to ship your prize as soon as possible, but it will take some time I can't avoid. Thanks for understanding
ℹ️ (Starting November 2018) I will message you when your prize has been shipped!
It can take between 2 weeks and 4 months.
During peak seasons (July-August and December-January), it can take up to 6 months.
The finances manager covers the shipping costs of giveaways thanks to Patreon donations (http://patreon.com/db0company).
We can only pay for the cheapest shipping option (regular), which doesn't include tracking, is slow, and can sometimes be unreliable.
If you would like to get your prize sooner and in a more reliable way, your prize can be shipped with premium shipping, but you will have to pay for difference.
Shipping price is different for all packages, but to give you a rough estimate:
- Keychains, rubber straps, pins, small prizes:
- Regular shipping: $4.70
- Premium shipping ~$20
- Figures, bags, bulky items:
- Regular shipping: ~$30
- Premium shipping: ~$75
If you pick premium shipping, you will be messaged privately with the final price and a PayPal email address for payment transfer. The prize will only be shipped after the payment is received.
Contact the organizers. They'll be able to tell you:
- if your prize has been shipped yet or not
- the exact date it was shipped or an approximated date when it will be shipped
- if it has been shipped, provide a photo of the content of the package
- if it has been more than 6 months:
- we will discuss an alternative prize to ship to you instead
- we may ask for a different, more reliable shipping address with more details
We have many ways to be contacted. Check the about page.