Who could have known that a free lottery would come with so many misconceptions? Not us!

But don’t fret, we’re here to debunk some of the most common myths surrounding Pick My Postcode. Comment below if you’ve ever believed any of these!

We’re a Scam

Did you know that we’re a scam? Neither did we, but apparently that’s one of the most popular myths surrounding us! If Chris’s money isn’t being paid to members I wonder where it’s going? This is most commonly seen posted in our comment section or on our social medias, by people don’t believe we pay out to our lucky winners. Thankfully, this is often disproven by our amazing members who reply to the comment, leave positive trust pilot reviews or record video messages when they win.

We Charge to be Registered

Despite what people say, we are completely free. We won’t ever charge you to be entered into the draws. Adverts and Find Out Now (our sister survey site) fund the draws so you don’t have to.  We don’t take any bank details when you sign up, and we pay through PayPal if you are lucky enough to win, so you don’t need to hand over any of your information to yet another site. If you take up an external offer to boost your bonus then you might have to give them some banking information, so please always read the terms and conditions for each offer.

Linked to this, we are sometimes confused with other lotteries, who do charge you to be a member. Why pay to join them, when you could save hundreds of pounds a year and be in with a chance with us for free!

We Rig the Prize Draws

If you are an avid user of Pick My Postcode, then you will definitely seen this misconception floating about. Our draws are definitely not rigged. There is no geographical bias in the selection procedure. The computer doesn’t know (or care) where anyone lives! You will frequently see us Admins telling people to remember that Pick My Postcode is a lottery and that you’re best to hope you’ll win, not expect to! We try to give as much information about how our draws work as we can without revealing so much it can be abused. 

Each member’s entry has the exact same chance of being selected in a draw. If one postcode is entered more than once it is more likely to be selected (like names in a hat). If a certain postcode area (eg. BA1) appears to not win often that is because there aren’t many entries for that area. If a postcode area seems to win more often it must mean that there are more entries from that postcode area. To try give as much transparency as possible, you can do the following:
You can look up how many  entries there are on Pick My Postcode from a certain postcode.
You can also look up past winning postcodes on Pick My Postcode (or partial postcodes).
And you can check for Pick My Postcode winners in your area.

The system completes the draws from a database of active account ID numbers using a random number generator and the parameters of the smallest ID number to the largest. It then displays the postcode on the chosen account number as the winner of the draw. All it ‘sees’ is the account numbers of active members, it is not influenced by any other data or outside factors and is as random as a computer can be.

We Play Favourites with our Members

This one is often used in correlation with disagreements in our comment sections, especially about jokes and humour as that is so subjective. As admins we have to make tough calls about removing any comments that might break guidelines even if they come from a well-meaning place (like with jokes). The decision is always ours alone and our decision is final, we are not influenced by who is commenting, only if the comment breaks the rules. Luckily this one hasn’t been said often recently, and our forum has been a really welcoming and positive place in recent months.

We send Spam Emails

This is a common misconception because we do send daily emails which often contain an offer. However, we never pass on email addresses nor do we send anything except the daily email reminders and the occasional related correspondence from pickmypostcode.com. And you can amend your notification preferences via your Account page if you decide you don’t want to receive them anymore.  So we definitely do not spam email.

While some of the above was written in a somewhat tongue and cheek manner, we do have a lot of people on site who believe these things, or non-member who do too so hopefully this post will help clear the air and dispel at least 5 of the most common myths we see about Pick My Postcode.

Hope you all have a lovely week and good luck in future draws!