Glossary

Compers collect slang the way other hobbies collect abbreviations. You do not need all of it. These are the words that actually change what you do next.

Comper

Someone who enters competitions often enough to have opinions about postcards. You can be one without announcing it.

Comping

The hobby of entering those competitions. Also, loosely, the admin around them.

Free draw

A promotion where the winner is chosen by chance, and entry is free, or a paid route sits beside a genuine free route. The legal outline is on the law page.

Prize competition

In the legal sense, a contest decided by skill, knowledge or judgement that is real enough to matter. In everyday speech, people use it for almost anything with a prize. The gap between those meanings causes a lot of muddle.

Tie-break or tie-breaker

A sentence, caption or other judged bit, often used to separate people who got a factual question right, and sometimes used as the whole contest. Craft notes live on the tie-break page.

Instant win

A promotion that tells you quickly whether that entry won. Odds are often printed. The screen may pretend you have skill.

Postal entry or free entry route

The postcard or ordinary-post route that lets you enter a paid draw without buying a ticket. It should be an equal chance, not a better one.

Promoter

The person or company running the competition. Not always the brand on the prize. Check who you are actually giving your details to.

Claim window

The time you have to reply when you win. Miss it and the prize can be redrawn. This is why the tracker exists.

One per household

A rule that means what it says. Two adults at the same address are still one household if the terms say so.

Skill question

Sometimes a real test. Often a token question — a simple sum, a colour on the pack — that almost everyone passes before a random draw. Token questions do not make a raffle into a craft contest.

Unsold tickets

On paid draw sites, the entries that were not bought. The terms should say whether the draw still happens, is extended, or is refunded. If they do not say, do not pay.

Spotlight or winner’s post

A public note of who won. Useful as a reality check, incomplete as a picture of the hobby, because silence does not post itself.