WILMINGTON, Del.-February 17, 2009-The Roberts family of Lexington, Ky., has been named the grand prize winner of eBillme’s Shopping Confession Contest. Four-and-a-half-year-old Ashley, and three-year-old triplets, Benjamin, Casey, and Danielle, told the tale of their dad’s online auction purchase gone wrong. The video confession was one of 189 submissions competing for the debt-relief prize from eBillme(TM), thepayment option that enables consumers and small businesses to use online banking to pay now, pay securely, and use available funds.
The eBillme team surprised the Roberts family at their home on Friday to announce the news and present a giant check for $15,000. Their winning video can be seen here: http://www.shopandconfess.com/index.php/contest/viewthread/237/.
“We were just finishing breakfast when we heard the doorbell ring,“ says Phil Roberts. “I was in disbelief when I opened the door. So much for Friday the 13th being unlucky! Entering the contest was a lot of fun for everybody, and winning the grand prize was thrilling, especially since it helped atone for a really bad shopping experience. We plan to use the money for the kids’ college funds and a family trip to Orlando, although we’re still understandably a little leery about a van in Florida.“
eBillme also recognized Joel Levinson from Los Angeles with a $1,000 second place prize for his video confession about shopping recklessly. Joel’s video can be seen here: http://www.shopandconfess.com/index.php/contest/viewthread/244/.
iJustine, new media star, connoisseur of all things Internet, and one of the first
“lifecasters;“ Gary Vaynerchuk, Host of WineLibraryTV.com; Bill Rancic, entrepreneur, Apprentice winner, and currently the host of “We Mean Business” onA&E Network; and Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, joined Marwan Forzley, President and CEO of eBillme, as this year’s contest judges. They narrowed down the field to the top five finalists, and selected the Roberts family as the grand prize winner. Submissions were judged on a number of criteria, including creativity, originality, and entertainment.
“Our judging team had a difficult job selecting among the top five finalists, but in the end, the four Roberts children won us over,“ says Marwan Forzley, President and CEO of eBillme. “We were thrilled to surprise the family and award them the $15,000. They are truly deserving of the grand prize, and we hope that it helps them pay off any remaining debt from their minivan disaster. As a company that promotes the use of cash, we wanted to raise awareness for the eBillme credit card alternative, and to give one lucky shopper some financial support towards their debt-free goals. Throughout the year, consumers revealed their heartwarming, humorous, and even some bizarre shopping confessions. We thank all the participants for sharing their stories and coming clean about their secret purchases.“
The contest, which ran throughout all of 2008, invited consumers to reveal purchases they made and hid from friends, family, or loved ones by submitting a video or written confession. Each month, eBillme awarded $1,000 for the best video confession and $500 for the best written submission. Select months introduced themes such as tax refund confessions during the month of April, Valentine’s Day confessions in February, and most recently, credit card debt confessions throughout December. All submissions were eligible for the $15,000 grand prize. eBillme awarded a total of $33,000 throughout the year. A full listing of contest winners can be seen by visiting http://www.ShopAndConfess.com.
To qualify, participants were asked to upload their entries to eBillme’s YouTube Shopping Confessions channel and complete the contest entry form at the Shop and Confess Web site. Short stories and photos were submitted electronically to http://www.ShopAndConfess.com.
To learn more about the contest, please visit http://www.ShopAndConfess.com.
ABOUT eBillme
eBillme(TM) is the only online payment solution that extends the convenience of online banking to the merchant's checkout, reducing the security risks of shopping online for both consumers and retailers. No financial data is exposed to the retailer, and the payment transaction is securely transferred from the customer's bank to the retailer's bank. Consumers can shop online, by catalog or through call centers, and pay cash for their purchases at their bank, credit union, or bill pay portal, with the security and convenience of online banking. eBillme allows retailers to access the over 110 million Americans who use online banking. For more information, please visit us online at www.eBillme.com or at our blog, http://blog.ebillme.com/.
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