Free iPod is no free lunch

Free product solicitations on the Internet are as pervasive as spam. The question is whether they're believable.

Surprisingly, some offers are not rip-offs, and can land you a slew of free stuff. Unsurprisingly, others are dubious propositions. As with anything else, the general rule is that buyers should be wary, and that "free" is never as free as you think.

Still, there are sites out there offering free merchandise that actually deliver what they promise. If you have patience, perseverance and some willing friends, you can eventually load up on cool tech goodies including iPods, digital cameras and flat-screen TVs.

The two highest profile companies offering this service are Gratis, which has been in operation since 2000, and Offercentric, which started up last year, but has established credibility quickly. Other companies, such as Coobro, GiftFiesta and PrizeGalleria, offer a similar bounty.

These companies secure customers in many ways, including referrals, word of mouth and Internet advertising. E-mail is not their primary marketing method, so when you receive an e-mail offering you a free iPod and think it's spam, you may be right.

There are some quick signs to tell you if an e-mail offer is shady.

The lack of an unsubscribe link in an e-mail is a bad sign, says Jalali Hartman, senior analyst at the online marketing research company MarketingExperiments.com. He says there should always be some method of securing assistance. "See if there is some way to contact the company," says Hartman. "If not, then even if they are legit, if your order gets messed up, you're out of luck."

Matt Blumberg, CEO of the e-mail performance management company Return Path, notes that if you click through to a site and are inundated with pop-up ads, that's also foreboding. While it doesn't necessarily make the company shady, says Blumberg, who was bombed by nine pop-up ads after checking out one free prize site, there's "more of a chance that the company is likely to abuse your name in your interaction with them," meaning lots of spam in your future.

The best way to determine if an offer is legitimate is by researching the company on the Internet. A quick Google search will uncover negative feedback, and there are also numerous sites on the Internet dedicated to free offers, such as forums.gratisoffersguide.com, freebieauthority.com, thefreebieguide.proboards28.com and ratetheoffers.com. These sites can keep you informed about new free offers, which sites are experiencing customer service issues, such as delays in product delivery and slow crediting of referrals, and which sites go under (such as PrizeCube, which recently announced on its Web site that it is "unable to sustain itself financially.")

That being said, the companies that have been around for awhile are giving away lots of merchandise, all for the taking if you're willing to put in the time and effort.