Google Chromecast[Update: The Chromecast giveaway has ended, as all three prizes have been awarded. Thanks for testing this out with us, everyone. Let us know what you think.]

Amazon rolled out its new Amazon Giveaway system this morning, a new self-serve platform for promotional contests, and GeekWire has decided to become an early adopter — testing the system to better understand how it works, and offering our followers a chance to win a great prize: a Google Chromecast!

Yes, we were going to offer a Fire TV Stick, this being an Amazon service and all, but it’s out of stock, and one of the nice things about the service is that you can give away a wide range of products from Amazon.com, not just those made by Amazon. So what better way to demonstrate that fact than by giving away a competing product?

First things first: Go here for a chance to win a Chromecast. We’re giving three of them away, and to be eligible for a chance to win, you need to make sure that you follow @geekwire on Twitter. (You can do that automatically via the contest link — which is one of the more helpful features of the new Amazon platform.)

The process was simple. Logged into our Amazon account, we searched through the products until we found an eligible item that we wanted to give away. Amazon says most of the millions of items shipped and sold by Amazon are eligible, and more are being added. The best way is to search for items or categories you want, and then choose “Amazon.com” as seller in the left column.

On the product page, you can find the Amazon Giveaway module on eligible products below the customer reviews and comments. It looks like this.

giveawaynew

From there, it takes you to the setup page, where you can set the details such as the type of contest (first-come, first served vs. “lucky number), and the number of products you want to give away. This is where you can connect your Twitter account, and require entrants to follow it to be eligible to win.

giveaway2

From there, you configure the text and messages that your followers will see.

 

giveaway4

And then you finalize your order, buying the prizes and paying estimated shipping charges and taxes, which will vary depending on who wins.

giveaway5We had to agree to these terms of service to be able to conduct the giveaway.

giveaway6

And once it’s set up, you can monitor and manage your giveaways via your Giveaways dashboard. For us this morning, the status was ‘pending’ for about an hour before it went live. The contest is set up to run for about 10 days one week. [Update/Correction: It’s actually one week or until the prizes are gone. Sorry for the confusion on my part.]

screenshot_27

Looking at this purely from an economic standpoint, we’ve spent an estimated $104 and change, with the expectation that 150 people will participate (every 50 will win a prize, and we’re giving away three prizes.) The financial return on investment will depend on how many of the contestants new Twitter followers.

screenshot_28Of course, just think of the ROI in terms of customer goodwill! All three of those Chromecast winners will love GeekWire forever … right?

Seriously, there is plenty of room to play with the underlying financials by choosing different products. Continuing our test, here’s another Amazon Giveaway that we set up, offering a chance to win Duck Brand duct tape with Seattle Seahawks logo. Enter here for a chance to win and be ready for next year’s Super Bowl run!

All in all, it’s a straightforward, simple service that integrates nicely with the Amazon e-commerce fulfillment backend. We’ve run contests for years as part of our weekly GeekWire radio show, so I can confirm what a pain in the butt it can be to do this manually, particularly the fulfillment part. Amazon handles all of that for the contest “host” with this new system, and also manages the income tax documentation for prizes over a certain value.

As Amazon develops the Giveaway service, our feature requests would include the ability to embed the contest entry page on a site like ours, and also the ability to integrate with other social networks to grow followers there.

But now it’s your turn to help us finish the test. Enter for a chance to win a Chromecast or roll of Seahawks Duck Tape.

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