THE "BIDANDWIN" SWEEPSTAKES OFFICIAL RULES
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
MAKING A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID IN PUERTO RICO AND WHERE RESTRICTED OR PROHIBITED BY LAW. PLAYING BID AND WIN IS FREE.
1. OVERVIEW: You are entering a Promotion (defined below) which is set up in the style of an auction, whereby entrants will be invited to place bids (the "Bid") on an item (the "Prize"). The entrant who has the "Lowest Unique Bid", as hereinafter defined, will be named the "Successful Bidder", and, will win the Prize. The Lowest Unique Bid is defined as the lowest bid in U.S. dollars and cents for the Prize that is closest to one cent ($.01), but which has not been selected by another entrant. Bids are used to solely determine the winner, and as a winner, you are not required to purchase or pay shipping charges on the Prize. You also are entering a sweepstakes, in which one contestant will be randomly selected to win a prize ("Grand Prize.")
2. ELIGIBILITY: The "BidandWin" reverse auction and the Grand Prize sweepstakes (collectively, the "Promotion") is open to legal residents of the United States and the District of Columbia who are eighteen years of age older at the time of entry/Bid. Any entrant who is under the age of legal majority in his or her state of residence (a "Minor") must get his or her parent's or legal guardian's permission to enter. Employees, officers and directors of Sponsor, their affiliates, subsidiaries, agents and advertising and promotion agencies involved with this Promotion, as well as their immediate family members (defined as parents, spouse, children, siblings and grandparents) and those living in the same household of each such employee, officer and director are not eligible to enter. In case of dispute as to the identity of any entrant, entry/Bid will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the wireless phone or the email address used to submit a Bid at the time of entry/Bid. Sponsor may ask any Successful Bidder or Chosen Winner to provide Sponsor with proof that such party is the authorized account holder of the wireless phone or email address associated with the Lowest Unique Bid or the Grand Prize contest entry.
3. TIMING: A "month" begins at 12:00:01 AM (PT) on July 1, 2011 and ends at 11:59:59 PM (PT) at the end of that month and all subsequent months through June 30, 2012 ("Promotion Period"). A day begins at 12:00:01 AM (PT) and ends 24 hours later at 11:59:59 PM (PT). The Sponsor's Computer is the official time keeping device for the Promotion.
4. PARTICIPATION: Each Participant must first register at www.bidandwin.com. If you wish to participate in the Promotion via text messaging, then in the "Number" field, you must enter your own actual mobile phone number. If you wish to participate via the Internet only, then you must complete the registration form, including any ten -digit number you choose to put in the "Number" field. Please remember the ten-digit number you have submitted. If you wish to participate using both methods, you must complete the full registration form.
Participation by Text Message: The BidandWin mobile content service is an automatically renewing subscription service entitling you to receive text alerts, ringtones, graphics and other mobile phone content. The monthly service will continue until you cancel it at anytime by texting STOP to short code 21500. Available to users 18 and over for $9.99 per month charged on your wireless account or deducted from your prepaid balance on AT&T, Sprint and Unicel. Subscribers to the BidandWin mobile content service are also able to place bids in the BidandWin reverse auction contest by sending text messages from their mobile phones. Those subscribers are entitled to place up to 20 bids per day via text message from mobile phone. For Bid and Win help, text HELP to 21500, or email to: bidandwinusa@sms-helpdesk.com or call 18002357105 for automated help or call 18002357105 for a live operator. Message and data rates may apply. Product is not compatible with all cell phone models. Your phone must support ringtones, be Internet-enabled, and have text messaging capability. By signing up for this service and by entering your personal PIN Code which will be sent to the cell phone number supplied by you on this website, or by sending a unique keyword to 21500, you acknowledge that you are subscribing to Sponsor's service. You must be the owner of this device, be a legal U.S. resident and at least eighteen years old. This service is subject to the BidandWin Official Rules. Charges will be billed on your wireless phone bill or deducted from your pre-paid balance. If you are not satisfied with the BidandWin mobile content subscription service within the first thirty days, please call us for your money back at 18002357105. Please review the full terms and conditions by clicking here. To enroll in the service, click bestbidtowin.com.
(a) Online Free Method of Bidding: No purchase or BidandWin mobile content subscription is necessary to participate in the BidandWin reverse auction contest. Each participant is entitled to bid online, free-of-charge, at www.bidandwin.com, and no purchase is necessary.
(b) Entrants are limited to placing a total of twenty (20) Bids per day, regardless of method of participation (whether by SMS Bid, Web Bid, or any combination of SMS Bid and Web Bid).
5. BIDDING: Bids may only consist of positive whole numbers, not including 0 (e.g., no fractions, decimals or negative numbers). Spronsor will process all Bids that it receives for each Prize, so that each has a chance to be the Lowest Unique Bid during the timer period specified for that BidandWin reverse auction, providing the bidder with the chance to win that Prize. To place a Bid by cell phone, simply text the word corresponding to the Prize on which you are bidding and the numeral representing your Bid, without punctuation. For example, if the dollar amount of your Bid is $1.68 text "168". To bid online, sign in to your account at www.BidandWin.com, click on the Prize on which you would like to Bid and enter your Bid in the Bid field. To win a prize, the participant must provide the Lowest Unique Bid for that Prize. Odds of winning any Prize depend on the number of bids for that Prize during the timer period specified, and whether an eligible bidder has the Lowest Unique Bid for that Prize durint the timer period specified for bidding.
6. NOTIFICATION FROM SPONSOR: Shortly after you submit a Bid, you normally will receive a notification from Sponsor. The notification will inform you of the status of your Bid in relation to all other Bids that have been received. If you submitted an SMS Bid, your notification will be sent via SMS to your wireless phone from the Sponsor. If you submitted a Web Bid, your notification will happen within a few seconds on the web interface. Regular carrier charges for SMS may apply in connection with notifications from Sponsor. During the Promotion Period, Sponsor, at its discretion, may send participants additional notifications concerning auction status.
7. GRAND PRIZE DRAWING ENTRY: Once you have registered to play the BidandWin reverse auction, by either method of entry (by enrolling in the BidandWin mobile content subscription service, or for bidding online at www.bidandwin.com) you will receive one chance to win the Grand Prize. The winner of the Grand Prize will be chosen at random, by an independent judging organization, from all eligible entries after June 30, 2012. There is a limit of one Grand Prize drawing entry per person/email address/cell phone number (or other ten-digit number). Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.
8. WINNING: To win a Prize, the participant must provide the Lowest Unique Bid for that Prize. Odds of winning any Prize depend on the number of bids for that Prize and whether an eligible bidder has the Lowest Unique Bid for that Prize during the specified time period for bidding. See instructions at bidandwin.com on how to participate without subscribing to the paid service. This Promotion is subject to these Official Rules, which are publicly available at www.bidandwin.com. Void where prohibited. The Successful Bidder shall be identified by Sponsor, at the end of the period specified for the reverse auction of each Prize. In the event that there is no Lowest Unique Bid, and, therefore, no Successful Bidder, Sponsor will choose a winner randomly from among all eligible Bids received, who will become the "Chosen Winner". In that type of case, each bid will be treated as an eligible entry for that "Chosen Winner" drawing. The Successful Bidder, Chosen Winner or Grand Prize Winner (collectively to be referred to as, "Winner"), will be notified by SMS, email, or telephone. The Winner must comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules. The Sponsor reserves the right to request a photograph and testimonial from each Winner before awarding the Prize. The Winner (or, if the Winner is a minor in his or her state of residence, then the minor's parent or guardian) must sign and return to Sponsor, within ten (10) days of first attempted notification, an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release, and except where prohibited, a Publicity Release (collectively, the "Releases"), in order to receive the Prize. If the Winner cannot be contacted within ten (10) days after the first attempt, or if he or she fails to sign and return the Releases and provide a photograph with a testimonial within the allotted time period, an alternate entrant will be selected by identifying the next Lowest Unique Bid, or by a second random drawing. This process will continue until a valid Successful Bidder, Chosen Winner or Grand Prize Winner is found that complies with all required terms and conditions. Odds of winning a Prize depend on the number of eligible Bids received during the applicable period and in the case of the reverse auction, whether an eligible bidder has the Lowest Unique Bid.
9. PRIZES:
GRAND PRIZE (1): $50,000, awarded as a $2,500 check each year for 20 years.
Monthly Prizes: During each month of the Promotion, reverse auction Prizes in the following categories may be offered and are in Sponsor's sole discretion: Electronics, Audio, Cell Phones/PDA's/GPS, Computers, Digital Cameras, MP3 players, Video Gaming and Accessories, Beauty and Health, Home appliances, General Merchandise, Travel, or Gift Cards.
No substitution or transfer of Prize is permitted, and no cash equivalent for any Prize is offered, except at the sole discretion of the Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to issue a Gift Card to a retailer of Sponsor's choice for any auction item. Sponsor may also substitute a prize of equal or greater value (except for Grand Prize), due to unavailability or circumstances beyond Sponsor's reasonable control. There is a limit of one Auction Prize per person, household, family, cell phone number, email address or Account within each consecutive 30-day period.
10. GENERAL CONDITIONS: All federal, state, and local taxes on the auction Prizes won and Grand Prize is the sole responsibility of the Winner, and Winner acknowledges that the value of the Prize may be considered taxable income. Winners of prizes valued at $600 or more will receive an IRS Form 1099. Participation in the Promotion and acceptance of the Prize constitutes Winner's permission for Sponsor to use his/her name, address (city and state), likeness, photograph, picture, portrait, voice, biographical information and/or any statements made by Winner regarding the Promotion or Sponsor for advertising and promotional purposes without notice or additional compensation, in any media now known or hereafter developed (including posting Winner's name on the Internet), except where prohibited by law. By participating, all entrants and Winners agree to release and hold harmless the Sponsor, its advertising and promotion agencies and their respective parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, representatives, agents, successors, assigns, employees, officers and directors, from any and all liability, for loss, harm, damage, injury, cost or expense whatsoever including without limitation, property damage, personal injury and/or death which may occur in connection with participation in the Promotion, or possession, acceptance and/or use or misuse of any Prize offered, or for any claims based on publicity rights, defamation, invasion of privacy or merchandise delivery. Entrants who do not comply with these Official Rules or attempt to interfere with the Promotion in any way shall be disqualified. Sponsor is not responsible for any printing, typographical, mechanical, human or other errors in these Official Rules, in the administration of the Promotion, in the announcement of the Prizes, and/or in any advertising or other associated promotional materials in connection with the Promotion. None of Sponsor's suppliers, including messaging or billing aggregators or public mobile network operators including without limitation, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA, Sprint PCSor any of their respective subsidiaries, affiliates, shareholders, officers, directors, agents, representatives and employees are sponsors of this Promotion, and none of those companies will have any liability or responsibility for any claim arising in connection with participation in this Promotion or any Prize awarded.
All entrants acknowledge the acceptance of and compliance with these Official Rules including all eligibility requirements included herein. Sponsor is not responsible for entries that are incomplete, lost, delayed, and/or misdirected, or for typographical errors in these Official Rules or any problems or technical malfunctions, human error, lost/delayed data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, line failures of any telephone network, cellular telephone related or otherwise, computer on-line systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or any combination thereof, including injury or damage to Entrant's or to any other person's computer or telephone related to or resulting from participating or downloading materials contained in the Promotion. If for any reason the Promotion is not capable of running as planned, including, without limitation, infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other cause beyond the control of the Sponsor which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the Promotion, Sponsor may choose, in its sole discretion to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Promotion. Should the Promotion be terminated or cancelled prior to the stated expiration date, notice will be posted on the Sponsor's Website, and any entries received prior to the termination or cancellation will be included in each of the stated drawings. Sponsor reserve the right at their sole discretion to disqualify any individual they find to be tampering with the entry/bidding process or the operation of the Promotion (or any website associated therewith), or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. Further, the use of any robotic system, agent, automated entry/bidding devices, and/or other programs and/or software to submit entries in connection with this Promotion is prohibited and will result in disqualification.
CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY AN ENTRANT OR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROMOTION IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAW AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, SPONSOR AND THEIR DESIGNEES RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH ENTRANT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
11. WINNERS LIST/OFFICIAL RULES: For the names of winners or a hard copy of these Official Rules, email bidandwin@mrichi.com or call 888-300-9724. You can also mail your request to MRI Inc., ATTN: BidandWin US, 945 Oaklawn Ave. Elmhurst IL, 60126. Please indicate Rules Request or Winner Confirmation on the outside of envelope.
SPONSOR: Mobile Messenger Bid and Win US Inc. , 6601 Center Drive West Suite 700, Los Angeles CA 90045.
None of the manufacturers of prizes are participants in or Sponsors of this Promotion.
Virgin Mobile USA, AT&T, Cincinnati Bell, Alltel, Boost and Cricket are not participants in or Sponsors of this promotion.
Privacy Policy
Sponsor: Mobile Messenger Bid and Win US Inc.
Virgin Mobile USA, AT&T, Cincinnati Bell, Alltel, Boost and Cricket are not participants in or sponsors of this Service.
This privacy statement covers the site bidandwin.com ("Site"). All capitalized terms have the meanings ascribed to them in the Site's terms & conditions.
If you have questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy, please bidandwinusa@sms-helpdesk.com.
INFORMATION COLLECTION & USE
By participating in the Service, you will receive regular messages which include content and service information. In order to participate, you must first enter your cell number and opt-in with the personal identification number sent to your cell phone. During registration, you are required to give your contact information (such as cell phone and/or email). We only use this information to contact you about the services on our site in which you have expressed interest. We also from time to time use this information in order to identify and present other products and services to you that we believe may interest you. We do not share, sell, rent, or trade your personal information with third parties for promotional purposes unless expressly stated.
SURVEYS
From time-to-time we may provide you the opportunity to participate in surveys on our site. If you participate, we will request certain demographic information from you. Participation in these surveys is completely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes demographic information (such as age and gender). We use this information to rate our performance and help enhance user experience for our targeted audience.
We may use a third party service provider to conduct these surveys; that company is prohibited from using our users' personally identifiable information for any other purpose. We will not share the personally identifiable information you provide through the survey with other third parties unless we give you prior notice and choice.
THIRD PARTIES
We provide you the opportunity to participate in surveys and promotions through the Site and the Service. If you participate, we will request certain personally identifiable information from you. Participation in these surveys or auctions is completely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as postal code).
We use this information to notify contest winners and award prizes, to monitor site traffic, personalize the site, to send participants an email newsletter.
We use third party service providers to conduct these surveys and prize fulfillment; those companies are prohibited from using our users' personally identifiable information for any other purpose.
SERVICE-RELATED ANNOUNCEMENTS
We will send you strictly service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send you an email.
Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to deactivate your account.
We and our subscriptions servicing provider are the sole custodians of the information collected on our website. All of our employees who have access to personally identifiable information are obliged to respect the confidentiality of that information.
SECURITY
The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as your cell number) to register, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL). [To learn more about SSL, follow this link.
We follow generally-accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If you have any questions about security on our Web site, you can <bidandwinusa@sms-helpdesk.com.
COOKIES
A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer for record-keeping purposes. We use cookies on this site. We do not link the information we store in cookies to any personally identifiable information you submit while on our site. We use cookies and other similar interfaces that the standard internet software installed on your computer makes available to website proprietors such as ourselves for monitoring and tracking the identity of the websites you browse.
We use both session ID cookies and persistent cookies. We use session cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our site. A session ID cookie expires when you close your browser. A persistent cookie remains on your hard drive for an extended period of time. You can remove persistent cookies by following directions provided in your Internet browser or client software's "help" file.
We set a persistent cookie to store your passwords, so you don't have to enter it more than once. Persistent cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site. We also use cookies and these other interface methods to collect information about your browsing history that lets us identify and present further products or services that we believe may be of interest to you. In our databases, your browsing history is maintained anonymously, and we do not relate your browsing history to any personally identifiable information, such as your cell phone number.
If you reject cookies, you may still use our site, but your ability to use some areas of our site, such as surveys, will be limited.
Some of our business partners (e.g., advertisers) use cookies on our site. We have no access to or control over these cookies. See "Third Party Advertisers."
This privacy statement covers only our own use of cookies, and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers. See the "Third Party Advertisers" section.
CLEAR GIFS (WEB BEACONS / WEB BUGS)
We employ a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that help us better manage content on our site by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on Web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. We do not tie the information gathered by clear gifs to our customers' personally identifiable information.
THIRD PARTY ADVERTISERS
The ads appearing on this Web site are delivered to users by a third party advertising network, such as Google or Yahoo. We share Web site usage information about users for the purpose of targeting our Internet banner advertisements on this site.
Advertising networks use cookies and clear GIFs on this site, which allow it to recognize a user's cookie when a user visits this site. The information that they collect and share through this technology is not personally identifiable.
CHANGES IN THIS PRIVACY STATEMENT
If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the page, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
We reserve the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Web site. We are the only ones responsible to you for complying with this Privacy Statement. You have no right, and waive any right you may otherwise have, to pursue any of our service providers or your cell phone carrier for any violation of this Privacy Statement. These Official Rules and this Privacy Statement are governed by New York law, notwithstanding the conflicts of law rules of that state or any other jurisdiction.
