I was going to do similar on my channel for the people watching. First I was thinking about giving away unneeded hot rod parts, maybe going as far as giving away my '69 nova once it hit X amount of views. They told me the legalities of that type of giveaway are too complicated. Who knows, maybe one day.
That originally scared me, too. But if you look on YouTube there are COUNTLESS giveaways (thousands, maybe millions) on there every day across the globe and unless you're really doing something wrong it's generally no problem.
I was going to have this giveaway a few months ago but then I stumbled across a video discussing "giveaways" and "contests" on youtube. At that point I put my giveaway on hold until I could fully research the topic. It seems a "giveaway" is much less complicated. (than a contest) As long as it's free to enter and the winner is picked by absolute random, not "skill" then it's usually okay. Plus, you need to include "official rules" in the video description that outlines all the fine details of the drawing. You need to state in the rules that you are not sponsored by any corporate companies (if that's the case) and that YouTube itself is not sponsoring or connected with the giveaway. If you collect ANY personal information, you need to disclose a privacy policy, and what you will do with that personal information. Also, if you're going to have a giveaway, make sure you actually follow through with it!!! And lastly, if you include "void where prohibited by law" in the official rules than you're technically not intentionally breaking any obscure local laws that may exist against giveaways.
My giveaway is free to enter, I collect no personal info, I am not sponsored by any corporate companies, or YouTube. I'm just a private guy who decided to give one of my personal tools to a random stranger, free of charge.
YouTube has a giveaway policy that needs to be followed and it's not too complicated to understand, even for an average guy like myself.
Thanks for the comment!
