This has been quite the learning experience for me. Legal did respond to me within the time frame I requested with the following:

“Thank you for your email and for being a Twitch streamer. While contest rules typically state an approximate retail value of prizes, in this case no retail value could be assigned because home page carousel slots are not sold or marketed to individual broadcasters. “

I wrote back to them stating the following:

“Thank you for your response. However carousel ad space is available for purchase, and can be purchased by an agency or a management company by my understanding. In addition, because it is available for sale and does have a market value, despite it maybe not eligible for an individual for purchase, would still need to have its market value claimed as a prize on taxes.”

crickets

So, I went to file a complaint with the VA Attorney General, and this is where I found out why they didn’t respond to me. Because the “ad” is not available for purchase to an “individual consumer”, and would require the “individual consumer” to be an agency, ie. LLC or INC, or purchased through management, that I could not claim it as a violation of the VA Protection Consumer Act.

However, if I were to win the prize, I could still be in trouble if I was audited, since it is still a product available for purchase.

So I guess I should be grateful I made a stink about it, so I don’t have to worry about the gymnastics I’d have to go through in order to find the market value, since I definitely won’t win. I do sincerely hope the five affiliates or Partners that win, already know the value of the FP time, or have an agent that can find it out. Or just hope they never get audited.