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I just won a small prize in a community art contest, and the organizers are asking me to pay a "processing and handling fee" before they'll ship it. It's only $15, but it feels a bit off to me. Has anyone else run into this with smaller online contests? I'm not sure if this is a normal practice or if I should be cautious.

I ran into a processing and handling fee once with a tiny community prize. It was only $12 and they wanted me to pay before they’d ship. I paid it, got the mail eventually, and the item was fine but the packaging looked standard, nothing fancy, and the receipt wasn’t very professional.

Another time they asked for a similar fee and then disappeared when I asked for a proper receipt.

To me that fee feels like a red flag. If a prize is real, shipping is usually included or at least explained clearly up front.

I did try to push back once, asked what the fee covered, and the reply was vague and defensive.

Sometimes I wonder if the problem is the contest itself not being legitimate, not just the fee. The vibe in messages was off, like form emails and no direct contact.

Has anyone actually had a legitimate reason for those fees, or did it ever feel like a scam?

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