Iâm feeling a bit disappointed and wanted to share my experience I had with our first giveaway baby.
I started reborning with my daughter who has additional needs. Shes 9 and loves reborns! She spends all her free time watching YouTube box opening and giveawayâs
We have a Facebook page, she was desperate for us to do a giveaway so we did. But he lady that won the reborn has been very un-excited,.she said thank you but we are used to our customers leaving us the most amazing reviews and comments on our page, we were so excited for the winner, but the whole thing was very disappointing. We did a beautiful box opening. We just expected more of a response thatâs all!
I had to messag her today to ask if sheâs relieved the doll as weâve had the most wonderful reviews from customers who had their dolls posted on the same day, so I was getting concerned she hadnât received it. The message I got back said quite simply âyes xxâ
Its put me off doing giveaways but my daughter is already planning a Christmas giveaway, she even bought Christmas tissue paper and stickers with her own money 
People who receive things for free are often less grateful than people whoâve worked for those same things. Value of the item comes from how hard one has to work to earn the item. Sad, but it happens a lot - just like others here who say their lowest price point buyers tend to be the most demanding. 
Some people, for whatever reasons, just arenât able to be effusive with their thanks. That doesnât mean that they donât like or appreciate it. I ask for feedback. Iâve only had one person not respond but she didnât complain so I assumed she was happy with her purchase. Iâd go ahead and do the Christmas giveaway.
Both of you have some very good points that I hadnât thought of. Thank you
Iâve also had to deal with a fake screen shot of âproof of paymentâ this week. I nearly posted the baby but something told me to check the bank! So I think my customer service is a bit shot 
Perhaps only give dolls away to people that you know. Someone youâve spoken to that you know will be grateful. Perhaps a person that likes reborns, but isnât able to buy one themselves due to the cost.
Maybe do a give away to a local nursing home. I am sure the would appreciate it a lot.
It was a giveaway through our page for reaching 200 likes. People entered and we put all the names in a hat.
Some great ideas, thank you 
I think itâs a great thing to do to build and reward your followers.
But
Do it because it makes you feel good and expect nothing in return.
I sold my first doll not that long ago and have heard nothing from my buyer. No confirmation that it arrived etc. but⌠I donât message everyone or leave reviews etc every time I buy something. Sometimes Iâm just really just busy and then I forget or Iâm waiting to have the time to really express how I feel.
Give because it feels good to give, not because you are looking for credit, gratitude or affirmation.
This is why I stopped volunteering⌠I was giving so much of myself 60 hours a week and was just asked to do more until there wasnât anything left of me. I gave so much that I needed that affirmation from others to fill me back up again because I was empty because the act of giving alone was no longer filling me up, but was draining me instead
Had I known about it and won, you probably still would have heard from me!
.
Thereâs an artist on this forum that is very generous with her time and ability-a very kind woman-and made my last doll for meâŚand Iâm still thanking her!
I guess it can go both waysâŚfrom almost nothing to overly effusive.
Iâm pretty sure I understand what you are saying @Honeypie. Iâm thinking I do anyway⌠There was a time when I used to do volunteer work to feed people who were in need. I was the head chef and cooked just like I would cook for my own family. Seasoned, marinated, whatever it took to turn out something that I would be proud to serve. I loved to peek out as people were eating. The smiles of appreciation and comments of that being the best meal they had in a long time made me happy⌠So if itâs something like that, I can definitely understand why you and your daughter would feel a bit deflated. You werenât looking for a trophy, you were looking to share someoneâs happiness with them.
Yes exactly that! We wanted to share the joy reborning brings to us, especially my daughter who has additional needs, it calms her in way that amazes me, and she is the so generous and wants to people please all the time
thank you everyone, you have really but this into perspective for me. I have never left a review on amazon! And I only leave one on ebay so they do the same and it gets my points up but buying a work of art that someone has taken hours to do, and put so much into it is different. More personal. But having said that, I have never bought a reborn, only sold. Maybe I would get lost in the excitement and forget about the review, im not sure!! 
Iâm going to put it behind me and move on, but I will have a think about how to structure the next giveaway, I might do a raffle instead?
I see folks doing the raffles but that is actually illegal. We know someone who got shut down by FB for raffling off stuff. I have never understood how that some get away with it.
I think everyone here has already pretty much said this but my take on it is when you give something away you do wish to be acknowledged. Overall though, it is supposed to be for the joy of giving that we give things away and not to receive kudos for doing so. Sounds like your daughter has the best and right attitude about it. Not everyone is as enamored with a reborn doll as we who spend many hours making them are. It could be that the winner entered to win it to give to a family member and really has no fascination with them herself. You just never know.
I am an artist and a few years ago, I was asked to donate a work to the local foster care program to celebrate another year of foster parents. Not only did I donate a work but I created a special work, âGod Bless the Childâ especially themes to foster care parents. I delivered the piece to the lady at the agency and never heard a peep afterwards. No-âthey loved itââ
Or âit went wellââ nada
I also gift porcelain dolls to people in remembrance of my mother. Beautiful, limited addition porcelains. I chose one for a lady who requested one. I chose it for her special because it had a similar feature to her own. She wears a long braid and this doll had the same. Her husband (not her) came to pick it up and I have never heard one word from her and itâs been months. Some people are just ungrateful.
Just keep planting seeds of love, joy, kindness, and giving. You are making the world a better place by sharing your talent 