What is it with these Car Sweepstakes on FB?

I figure it is a scam, because obviously, but what is the real story here?

Basically, I avoid FB.  I go on there to check my gym workout, like pictures my wife has tagged me in, and very minimal else.  Also with the toxic nature of this political season, I've taken to removing most people who aren't close friends or family (and there are a few of those I want to remove, but can't).  What I'm left with on FB is non-stop ads for rando car merch sellers who are offering entries into sweepstakes to win cars.  Some of these cars are cool, but what's the real story?

Here's a few:

Yeah, I see these. Figure its a raffle, maybe?

Also note that to fool Facebook's automated search engines, completely unauthorized raffles are sometimes called "waffles."

I don't think they are raffles.  I think they are sweepstakes, and you can enter for free by jumping through 3 rings of fire while chugging shots of vinegar and handwriting a 3x5 card.

If you get 100k people to buy a $1 entry for a $60k car, it is a basic win-win. Most of these that I've seen usually also have a minium number of total bids required so it can't flop, kinda like a reserve. Not sure if refunds are issued or not if it doesn't meet the min. You also get more internet traffic which can have added value beyond that for these social media sites. Same business model as ebids 

A lot of Youtube channels are doing them. Hoonigans have been using them to drum up merchandise sales. If you buy from their merchandise store or their parts supply site, you get an amount of entries equal to the amount of dollars you spend. I hate it because they have raffled off two vehicles that they showed their buildups over quite a stretch of time and then they finished them and are immediately getting rid of them. Zac's C10 was a badass rig and he said he put less than 4k miles on it, and then raffled it off. Vin built a gorgeous 1JZ-swapped Kouki S14 and I don't think they made a single video of him drifting it and now its getting raffled off. Holley is also raffling off David Freiburger's '66 Buick Special convertible that was used for a proto-Roadkill video. I made sure to enter that one.

One of the guys in my companies channels has won three cars off of those raffles. He said he paid $400 for the three cars but he wouldn't say how much he laid down on other raffles he didn't win. They are all really cool cars; a 69 c10,  a bagged beetle and a wicked RX7. 

I have never seen any of those.

So out of an abundance of optimism and hope... or just shear boredom on a Sunday night while my wife was watching the Crown, I decided to revolt against the capitalistic advertising machine that is Facebook and enter as many of these sweepstakes as possible without spending money.  I'm sure my odds of winning are just slightly better than that of the lottery, but let's call it an experiment.

The process was pretty easy.  See ad, click link, scroll to bottom of page and find the "Official Rules" link, find the "How to Enter" section, and fill out a 3x5 index card.  Most of them were the same: name, address, email, etc. Then all but a few would have a word problem on it: "In 25 words or more describe how this would change your life".  My favorite was the number was always moving.  Sometimes it was >25, others was <25, then >26, and then <20.  I was pretty diligent to make sure I followed the instructions correctly, I didn't want to have the entry thrown out because I listed my emails address above my phone number or something.  Maybe I'm just being skeptical, but it feels that's how these things are staged anyway.

I believe I've entered to win: 3 GT-Rs (2 new ones, and 1 R-34), a Rx-7, a Bentley, a new Supra, a Evo9, a BMW 335, and a 1200hp Mustang.  There was a Lambo one as well, but the ad decided to not show up and I wasn't going to go looking.  And I entered a few from Omaze as well.  The Omaze ones you can enter online without purchase so those go quicker, and I paid less attention to them because of autofill.

So there is your experiment.  You'll be able to track the results by watching this thread.  If there are no updates, then predictably I didn't win.  If you see a picture of me with a big dumb smile on my face then the sweepstakes are legit.

.... Now, where is the link to Publisher's Clearing House ...