Yes, Pakyaw is the real deal!

Around the second week of January, I stumbled upon Pakyaw. The website was kind of mysterious back then. But from what I gathered, it was going to be a groupon-type (group coupon?) site which would feature deals of the day. Like for example, if it costs something like P1,000 to partake of a buffet at a certain establishment, the site would offer it for P500 (50% off) for anywhere from 24-48 hours -- usually depending on the demand and availability. There's usually a limit to the number of vouchers you can buy so if the target is reached early, the deal may not even last 24 hours.

Anyhow, in order to gain a significant subscriber base even before the first deal went live, Pakyaw held a daily raffle from January 10 - 31, 2011. All you had to do was register and then refer your friends... and so that was what I did. I posted about it on my social networking sites -- Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, and even Multiply. I noticed that the raffle promo had a DTI permit and so I was pretty sure it was okay.

I really have rotten luck when it comes to raffles and so I was not expecting to win. On January 26, 2011, I was surprised by a PM I received. A total stranger told me he saw my name on the Pakyaw website declared as the winner of an Apple iPad 16GB. I quickly took a peek and indeed there it was. After that initial PM, I received several more from people -- all of whom I did not know. They were all asking if the prize was real, how many entries I had, etc.

For the record, I had 97 entries -- 1 by my own registration and 96 by referrals. It's not a lot compared to others who had 300+ and even 800+ -- but they didn't win. Meanwhile, there were several people with only 1 entry and not a single referral who won prizes like Macbooks and Nintendo Wii's aside from the Apple iPads. It's really all by chance.

I received a notification email from Pakyaw shortly after. I was advised to proceed to their office in Manila on January 31, 2011 any time from 8am to 5pm. I decided to go first thing in the morning. I got my prize after presenting my valid government-issued ID (driver's license in my case) as per the requirement. It was all very hassle-free. I got to meet some of the people behind Pakyaw too and they were all very nice... so yes, the raffle and the site are both very real. I've seen all sorts of ridiculous allegations on their FB site, some even claiming that the winners were Photoshopped. No, I assure you I was not Photoshopped, I was actually there. It's all 100% legit.

Last February 2, 2011, Pakyaw came out with its first deal -- a trip to Corregidor with all the works (cruise, buffet lunch, tour, etc.). That screencap above is actually the second deal to go live, which is 40% off a buffet meal at Manila Hotel's Cafe Ilang Ilang. It's going to expire in a few hours so better log on to Pakyaw ASAP if you want to avail of it.

I'm already looking forward to the next deals. :)

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