how do you decide what to do for your giveaways?

I would suggest to make all giveaways lvl 10 only and to add the Option, that only cats with hat can enter.

but as long as this Option dosnt exists (why?), i usualy make them public or private and share it hidden here^^
most often with lower Level restriction, as all People should be able to enter

Usually i just set lvl3+ to avoid the boredom of chasing the winners. But in fact i'm not sure if it works at all, it looks random.
I try not to create something too long to avoid that the winner has forgotten the website in the meantime. But it's not really rational.

So for me levels depend on where its going. Group gas are 0
Public is random around 4ish though but I am trying to make sure that if I win from a lower level I make sure to give back to that level, same with groups I don't really gift too

Public tends to be around an hour or maybe the next day if I can be bothered. It can go on longer but only if I got group gas ending later
While group goes for whatever is closest monday or friday.

You should feel comfortable with what you want, you want to make them a month long go ahead, only 1 hours feel free. You are starting our you will into a groove one day. When I started I only did public for an hour because I guess I just wanted it done with

Well, I wanna at least try to get the games I giveaway played (that is why I make the giveaway in the first place, after all), so I pick groups which encourage playing (Playing Matters, etc) and ones made by people whose judgement of others I trust (so the expectations is that anyone entering from those would at least respect my request to play the win... it doesn't always work). I used to make puzzles a long time ago but... eh... haven't really felt inspired to do anything like that for years due to various reasons.
(I'd imagine this is an "unpopular" way of doing things.)

As for time frame... I dunno, I arbitrarily pick midnight 4-6 days later. Hopefully that's enough for all the people who might be interested to see it. ^_^'

Since a half year i make it for myself very easy and make most of the Ga's for my group ( https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/C3vvd/join-masafors-group-of-friends ), that way i don't have to set a level and don't have the fear that some black sheep gets the game.
It's relaxing, stress free and a pleasure.

As timeframe i choose, in general, 2 or 3 days and only in a few cases a other ammount.

The games I really want winners to play I give to groups like Playing Appreciated + my bluehearts.
Keys that are really old or from sites I don't fully trust I give to LootBoy group.
Generally, if I win a game from any group, that I'm in, I try to make a GA for this group.
I rarely do public GAs, I rather save keys for SGTools protected train or an event. Then I usually set just lvl 1 or 2 requirement, but also require real value of gifts sent to received to be above 50%..
If I don't use SG, I usually require at least lvl 3, because there is just too many folks here who are not giving a damn about sharing any games with others, but care only about winning them themselves.

Do I want lvl 0 folks to win my GAs. I would, if they were really newcomers here, but in wast majority they are not. In 10 test GAs here six seven probably lvl 0-1 winners have following ratios of gifts sent to won: 0/82, 6/71, 4/47, 1/205, 0/37, 0/32, 0/28, so at least 5 of those 7 I would not hesitate to call leechers (and the other 3 winners could enter lvl 2-3 GAs, having then much better odds to win) and that's when many of those 10 GAs were in different ways protected from bots. So lvl 0 public GAs are a no-no to me.

first of all, i just want to say that the rules of the giveaway should be decided by you, since it's your game. you shouldn't be forced to change your rule based on what other thinks if you don't want to do so. that being said, feel free to add rules that you think is good for you, as long as you are not forced to do it.

i usually prefer the games that i give away to be played, so i usually put games, especially with positive reviews, to groups that encourage playing, like Playing Appreciated, Playing Matters, and Play a game you won on SG. the last one requires you to play your wins that fits the monthly theme to join, so although there isn't a set limit on when the game is going to be played, it's bound to be played later, and that's good enough for me.

for games with negative reviews that i have a key for, i don't mind to give them away to public since i don't want to force people who don't like the game to play it. and yes, i know that some people idled game for cards, so at least the game has a use if the game falls in their hands. i still prefer the winner to play their games though.

as for level, i just let them be at level 0. my level isn't that high and i appreciate people who set a lower level limit in their ga. i just consider it as a way of giving back when i was level 0 at some point. i haven't get any bad experience so far, so i'll keep this up for now.

despite my intention of having winners to play their wins, most of the games i gave away remain unplayed though, but it's also because i tried to put the giveaway in several groups that i actively contributes to. i plan to limit it more for games that are truly good in my eye, since it's a pity to let a good game sitting up without being played.

i just wanted to be more sure of what i was doing with my own giveaways

There is no real "good" way of making giveaways, because whatever option you can pick is valid for the site. Though, depending on your goals, they are not equally good at it.
Public giveaways are good to reach a lot of people, invite only lets you manage it for puzzles or events, groups has the best control. Levels narrow down entrants, but level is no guarantee for playing wins, giving to the site and not just for a small group or two, or even being able to say thanks.
There is no real best option.

With that in mind I like to make my giveaways 2 go days minimum. Public usually level 2+, rarely 0. Invite only trains 1-2+, puzzles always (usually?) level 0. For groups I like to give the ones where wins actually count for something - playing appreciated and unlucky 7.

And while I have people on my whitelist, I don't even know the last time I made giveaways for them. I'm horrible at managing that list. So many people are on it who have a LOT more games than I do, as I whitelist usually based on sympathy, not if I can gift them games. I'll need to rethink that list, but it requires a lot more time, energy and insight than I have right now.

Like others have said, do the giveaways the way that works best for you.

When I started doing giveaways again this year, it felt kinda stressful. Especially when it was clear to me that there were bots entering my giveaways.

I'm less concerned about the bots/leechers now, as i see there are so many awesome people on this site!

I like doing a mixture of giveaways. I'm itching to do a train. I can do a short one. Maybe this weekend I'll put something fun together choo-choo-wise :D.

For me it depends, sometimes I give away games that I'm not really a big fan of the genre, or games that I already have and have an extra key, or sometimes I pick the best (from my criteria) from a build your own bundle site etc c:

I saw recently roughly 85% of SG users never made a giveaway which I think is pathetic. So I tend to require level 3 or 4 for public GAs using some kind of bot protection. For groups I make GAs either level 0 or 1.

I mostly do giveaways level 5+ if public, from groups I prefer ones for people that play their wins, cause I have serious allergy on idlers. These are usually on lower level. And if I buy good game just to giveaway it to someone to make his day better, it goes to whitelist without level need.

Lvl 6 for public cuz i dont like to give anything to bots or leechers (lvl 0 or 1 etc) and honestly i dont like it. "I cant afford to give anythying" is just excuse when nowadays u can get games for cents...
Since i dont go any "social" here or am not part of any active groups i dont do those giveaways.
When it comes to time i do 1-24h ones. I hate myself so long giveaways so i dont do em

Even though I was absent from this site for 5 years, I remember back then I mostly made 1 hour giveaways without level restriction. I like to believe that when someone wins, they are prompted to give something away. So, the more 0 level people win, the more level 1 people there will eventually be and the more giveaways there will be for me to enter. That's also why after some time I switched away from bundled games and gave away something on sale that hasn't been bundled. I did so recently too. If people win these more valuable games, I think that will influence them even more to give away. Or maybe I should just create more giveaways in discussions, since then it's less likely someone will enter who forgets about the giveaway and I have to hunt them down.

Well, I sometimes host random public giveaways (which I usually do for my current level but sometimes I lower to level 2 for cheap games).

I tend to hoard keys to make trains/puzzles or themed giveaways, and those ones, since they are private are level 1 or more (I always precise the minimum level on my post to not deceive people).

For the duration it depends. I do giveaways when I feel to, so, even in the middle of the week sometimes. So I tend to end giveaways for the end of the week, or at a time I am available so the winners don't have to wait for me.

For me it's quite random. I can do big giveaways when i have a bit more money and little giveaways when money is short. I tend to check in the new section of steam games and see if there is anything interesting i want to share with my favourite groups whitelist but also popular games if they are cheaper than normal. sometimes i give to high levels and majority of times i give too lvl 0 ëventhough i am aware of many bots and leechers which can be found on all lvls in my opinion but in my vision we all started at level 0 and if i was on this site and didn't have likeminded gifters i wouldn't have won so many great giveaways like cs go and city skylines years ago. However i do understand that if people get scammed out of their keys they are less tempted to gift for lower levels . If i got scammed out of my keys or gifts i would probably stop gifting for lower levels too most likely. but thats where support comes in to ban those people :). In the end people can gift their keys /gifts any way they want since it's their money spent it can be 1 h giveaways or 1 month. The fact your willing to gift 1 game already is good my book :)

i always set them to start immediately and end exactly at noon after anywhere from like 2-10 days, depending on whether it's group or public/invite and the size of the group, but usually it's right about a week.. public giveaways i make at lvl 4 as i found that's a good sweet spot and i haven't had much trouble with winners claiming their game. also lvl 4 is $100 minimum cv which i think is pretty fair. for deciding which group i give to is pretty easy.. i make sure to keep a positive ratio and (try to remember to) do my monthly giveaways for the certain groups that require it. keeping a positive ratio is simple enough also. i just make a few giveaways after joining and make one (or more) every time i win a game.

sometimes i give away games on discussion threads

bump because i made a random giveaway above and nobody has entered it yet