Freebie lovers rejoice! Amazon centralises online giveaways

11 Feb 2015

Companies give away freebies on a daily basis online, but this is often difficult to track. Now, however, Amazon is attempting to centralise the entire process on its site.

Known simply as Amazon Giveaway, the microsite allows a company to set up a giveaway for a particular time that Amazon hopes will create a hub where people looking for giveaways can go to hunt out a freebie, in the US at least.

When the creator of the giveaway has decided what campaign he or she wants to run, Amazon emails him or her a link that can be shared on social media with #AmazonGiveaway.

Of course, Amazon has designed it in such a way that the products that are used in the giveaway must come from the Amazon store, but with the upside being delivery is left in the hands of easily one of the busiest shipping companies in the world.

There are some limitations, however. Amazon confirmed the number of products that can be part of a giveaway in one bundle is limited to 50 and must not exceed a value of US$5,000.

“The idea of running giveaway promotions is easy. They are a really effective way to attract attention and build engagement, but giveaways often come with hidden costs and complexities, which makes the reality of running one hard,” said Steve Shure, Amazon’s VP for consumer marketing.

“Amazon Giveaway is the first self-service tool that takes care of all the hard work of a giveaway, from setting up all of the rules to shipping prizes directly to winners.”

Freebies image via Shutterstock

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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