Giveaway rules & terms: a ready-to-copy template

Clear rules are the difference between a professional giveaway and one that ends in an argument in the comments. You don't need a twenty-page contract: it's enough to put in writing what's being given away, who can enter, and how the winner is chosen and announced. Here's a template ready to adapt.

Note: this template is a starting point and doesn't replace legal advice. Depending on your country or the prize value, additional requirements may apply.

What good giveaway rules include

• Organizer: who's running it (name or brand, and a contact).
• Prize: what's being won, how many units, and whether shipping is included.
• How to enter: the exact entry rule (for example, commenting on the post) and the deadline.
• Who can enter: minimum age, eligible countries or regions.
• How the winner is picked: draw method, date, number of winners and backups.
• Announcement and delivery: where the result is published and the deadline to claim the prize.
• Instagram disclaimer: the note that Instagram doesn't sponsor the giveaway (the platform's own rules require it).

The template

Copy it, fill in the bracketed fields and publish it wherever works for you (a highlight, a link, or the caption itself):

Rules & terms — [GIVEAWAY NAME]

1. Organizer: [BRAND / NAME], contact: [EMAIL OR DM].
2. Prize: [PRIZE DESCRIPTION] ([NUMBER] winner/s). Shipping [INCLUDED / PAID BY WINNER] within [REGION].
3. Entry: anyone who comments on the post [LINK OR REFERENCE] until [DATE AND TIME, TIMEZONE] can enter. Each person counts [ONCE / ONCE PER COMMENT].
4. Requirements: being over [AGE] and residing in [COUNTRY/REGION].
5. Draw: the winner will be picked on [DATE] through a verifiable random draw with a public seed run on cuki-sorteos.com, among the post's comments. [N] winner/s and [N] backup/s will be drawn.
6. Announcement and delivery: the result will be published on [WHERE] together with the verification proof. The winner must reply within [DEADLINE]; after that, the prize goes to the backup.
7. Data: the winner's contact details will be used only to coordinate prize delivery.
8. This promotion is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram, nor associated with Instagram.

What Instagram actually requires

Instagram's promotion guidelines ask for two basic things: no misleading tagging (for example, asking people to tag others in photos they don't appear in) and including the disclaimer that the platform doesn't sponsor or administer the promotion — item 8 of the template. Keep the entry rule simple and auditable: commenting is easy to verify; sharing to Stories is not.

Item 5 is the one that protects you

Notice the template says "verifiable random draw with a public seed". That detail turns the rules into more than a formality: any participant can verify the result on their own, and you keep the proof forever. If the draw runs on Instagram comments, import the comments in order so participation is beyond doubt too; if it's your own list, the random name picker is free with no sign-up.