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When is a freebie offer really free? |
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Free when you bait friends (aka referrals)
These sites require registrants to get other people to sign up with the Web site before they release the reward. These sites may also require both registrants and referred friends to complete product offers.
The problem: Unless you
have plenty of friends willing to pay money for you to get free merchandise, you
may have to pay strangers to make timely purchases in your name. Then again, that
would mean paying for your "free" product. At your own risk, you can
buy and trade referrals with other freebie hunters on referral-swapping sites
such as anything4free.com and referralswapper.com. Check to
make sure that by trading referrals you are not violating the terms and conditions
of the freebie site. Many place restrictions on how referrals are achieved.
Example: Freeipods.com
-- Users must sign up using a valid e-mail address, shipping address and age.
They then must complete one of 10 offers. Then must also refer five friends who
sign up and do the same within 90 days or no free iPod gets shipped.
Freehandbags.com
-- After completing one product offer, users must refer 10 people who must also
complete one offer, all within 90 days to get the free designer purse.
If you're going to answer an ad for free money or merchandise, it's best
to play smart about which sites you respond to. Here are some tips to steer clear
of the bad guys. Before you sign up
- Go with names you recognize. "The best way
(to tell the scams from the legitimate sites) is to go with a site you've
heard of before, says Naternicola. He says that if you haven't heard of the company,
type the name of the Web site and the word "scam" into an Internet search
and see what turns up in the search results. If it's a scam, you'll likely see
message board entries or even news articles written about the company.
- Get a reliability report on the company. Uncover
any complaints that have been filed against the company by getting a reliability
report from the Better Business Bureau. If one isn't available, ask the BBB to
create a report
for you.
- Check for contact information. Beyond
an e-mail address or contact form, look for a physical address
and a telephone number that works. Try calling it to see if anyone
answers. If there isn't one, ask yourself if you want to do business
with a company that doesn't want you contacting it.
- Read the terms and conditions and the privacy
policy. Somewhere buried among boring details could be
language that ultimately says the company reserves the right to
spam you through telemarketing and e-mail solicitations. Or that
they reserve the sell your personal information to third parties.
Your information may be resold and repackaged in any number of
ways, says Cox, so it's important to find out what they will do
with your personal data.
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