Really interested to see the answer to your question about $600.
adam Says:
55
March 31st, 2015 at 3:52 pm
"Hi all,
I wanted to apologize for being so silent personally on any public forums. I have been trying to answer emails personally and do 1:1 calls, but that was clearly not a very effective way to spread information or try to fix some of the errors we had made.
First, and easiest, we were advised to use the affidavits. After not being appropriately prepared during the contest itself, we clearly went overboard in using the affidavits in an effort to have everything properly documented. @Dan is correct that the IRS limit is $600. We are in the process right now of destroying any SSN numbers that have been sent in already. Anyone who has won a prize worth less than $600 is not required to provide a SSN and we will destroy any that we receive in the future from those who have not seen this post. Anyone who won >1 bike will, though, be required to provide a SSN due the IRS tax code. I believe this is correct, but please chime in here if we are still not accurate on tax treatment.
More broadly, we were very unprepared for this contest. The biggest fear when starting a company is that no one will care about what you are doing, your product, or your story. We honestly thought there was a 50 / 50 chance we’d launch and hear only crickets.
Additionally, none of us are couponers or use deal sites often, so we simply had no idea how many people (many on this site) who would faithfully spread the word about us in return for a free bike. That was the intent of the contest and we are genuinely grateful for those who supported us.
We also did not anticipate the level of fraud and how many people would try to enter false email addresses. We naively assumed people would post to FB or Twitter and that would probably be the extent of their promotion. We assumed that because that’s what we have personally done for prior contests. We were wrong, clearly, and we got in over our heads plain and simple.
We’ve been trying to do right by our supporters and have been trying to address everyone individually. We answer every email sent to hello at brilliant dot co.
I will actively monitor this forum now and please let me know if you have any questions.
I realize that many will doubt our intentions, but for those of you that are generous enough to forgive honest (though very real) mistakes, I thank you.
Adam"
