Know What to Look For in Free Offers

Lesson 4 of our free stuff tutorial - How to safely find the exact free offers you want and avoid the junk you don't want.

Once I find a free offer I'm interested in, how will I know if it's really on the up and up…or if I’ll receive it after I apply?

Hey, that's a pretty tuff question kiddo…but I'm up to the task. I’ll cover the "up and up" part in a little bit later on in this lesson.

First, I don't want to burst your bubble, but there are no real guarantees that you will receive any of the free stuff you apply for, even if they are offered by top name companies.

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAIT...HOLD-ON! Don’t get all huffy and leave just yet. It's really not all that bad...let me explain why...

Companies roll out free stuff as part of an overall marketing campaign for a particular product and/or service. Each campaign has a strict budget that must be adhered to. Before the campaign begins, they order or manufacture, what they feel, are adequate stocks of the free item to meet their expected demand. Unfortunately, many companies simply under estimate the response they’ll get for an offer and have to pull it (stop it) long before it’s scheduled end date. In those cases...you may not receive what you've applied for. The exception to the above of course, is information or software freebies that you can download immediately from your browser. These offer immediate access (or at least as fast as your internet connection) and have unlimited supply capacities.

Hold on Professor! I don't mean to stop you in mid stream but...Is all that aggravation worth it just to get some free stuff?

Well, the short answer to that is a resounding YES!

Sure it's a pain when you click a free offer link and discover a notice on the site that informs you that they've pulled the free offer due to demand. Even worse is when you click an offer link on a free stuff site and get the dreaded "404 - Not Found" message because again, the site has pulled the offer without notice. However, trust me when I say these are small inconveniences compared to all the great free stuff you WILL get from working links! Just chalk up the discontinued offers you'll invariably run into as "speed bumps" in your free stuff hunt and move on.

All of the above aside, here are a couple of ways you can increase your odds of receiving the free stuff you're applying for…and at the same time, steer clear of bogus offers.

Subscribe to a couple of "good" free stuff site newsletters. You'll get that sites freshest free offers delivered right to your in-box, in many cases before they're even listed on the site. This gives you a "one up" on other freebie junkies applying for the same offers. Many times it's the edge that will allow you to get in on an offer before it is discontinued.
Look for brand name free stuff offers, e.g., Microsoft, Disney, Major Magazines etc.. In other words, companies that you know and trust. Since these are usually bigger companies, they also have bigger budgets to work with…and…more free stuff to give away.
Scrutinize all offers carefully and steer clear of the ones that don’t sound right to you. Ask yourself these questions about the free offer you’re interested in:

Does it require a shipping and handling (s&h) fee?

Is that fee less than 5% of the total value of the offer?

Does it require you to buy something first?

Do they require a ton of personal information like your home phone, your place of work, your income level etc.? (Personally I steer clear from any free stuff offers that require high s&h fees and/or sensitive personal information. That is unless I know the company very well and I'm absolutely positive that the information they collect will not be sold or rented to a third party. Even then I think twice before I leap at an offer of this type.

Look for and read the sites "Privacy" and/or "Terms of Use" policy pages. eTailers have been bombarded lately with bad press by consumer groups reference the collection and use of visitor information and for installing tracking code on user systems without prior consent. Additionally, the removal of Spyware and Adware on user systems has become a multi-million dollar industry. Any web site worth it’s weight in salt will have a clear cut Privacy Policy that spells out in detail what they will do with the information they collect from visitors, and if they install any software on your computer. Look for paragraphs in the policy that clearly state that they will not rent, sell or divulge your information to third parties and/or install code or software without your consent. If the site does not have a policy, do not apply for offers there. (By the way, here is a link to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use pages if you're interested).
If you really are interested in an offer, don't give bogus shipping information when applying, e. g., an address that is not deliverable. You won't receive anything this way and you'll also be wasting a great deal of time and effort for both you and the site. Also, don't try and circumvent the offering companies policies. If they stipulate "only one sample per customer", "good in the U.S. only", "No P.O. Boxes" or some other requirement that does not affect your privacy, adhere to it. Due to the high cost of marketing products through the use of free offers, many companies have elaborate databases for tracking sample orders. If you try and cheat the system, you may be deleted from their database and blacklisted on any future promotions. If they share this cheaters list with other like companies...you may get banned from applying to other sites offers as well. BTW, there is a very good article on this subject you may be interested in reading. You can read it now if you wish by clicking this link: Killing Free Stuff With Greed. Note: The link will open in a new window so you will not lose your place in this tutorial.
USE COMMON SENSE! This is the most-absolute meaningful advice I can give to you in this tutorial. Should you choose to ignore all the other information in this text...I implore you to at least heed the following: If an offer sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. Don't be fooled by exaggerated claims from get rich quick schemes, outrageous vacation property deals or chain letters asking you for money. Be aware that these hucksters are out there and just waiting for new victims to steal their hard earned money. You wouldn’t fall for these scams in the real world so don’t get trapped by them in cyber space either! To protect yourself even further, pay a visit to this site Internet Scam Busters: http://www.scambusters.org/. They offer an excellent free up to date list of scams and rip-offs on and off the Internet.

OK, now you’ve got me really worried teach! I want to take advantage of all the cool free stuff out there but I’m concerned about my privacy…What can I do to protect myself?

Sorry, didn’t mean to shake you up that much. Follow me to lesson 5 and I’ll tell you exactly what steps to take to make your free stuff hunt a truly safe and enjoyable experience…

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