***How to Spot Fake Freebies***

[Destiny]

OK I know this is probably the wrong place to post this, but I think it should be made a sticky in this section....for all the newbies out there...


The lure of free stuff is a powerful marketing tool and is used to good effect by many savvy marketers. Unfortunately, not every free stuff offer is what it appears to be. There are lots of great free stuff offers out there, but you need to use some healthy skepticism and resist the temptation to fall for free stuff scams. Evaluating free stuff offers is pretty easy if you use a little common sense mixed with some knowledge and a bit of experience. Below are some tips to help you avoid the free stuff boondoggles:

*Too good to be true - Most offers that appear too good to be true usually are. Examine the motivation for the free offer. A free trial size shampoo makes sense because they are trying to sell shampoo. A free vacation is unlikely, unless there are large hidden charges attached.

*Suspicious websites- If a website has tons of Google ads and does not look legit to you, just skip it. Also, if a website has the words "free" (Example: www.freestressball.com) in it's address name, it is not a real freebie and is a scam. If a website looks badly constructed, has lots of spelling and grammatical errors, bombards you with downloads or pop ups you should ask yourself - "Do I trust this website with my information and are they really going to send me a freebie?" The answer could well be no. If a website has enough money to send out thousands of freebies - why haven't they spent the same amount of money developing a profession looking website? The answer could be that they have no freebies to give out and only want your details.

*URL- If the website URL is from a free hosting domain such as yahoo or tripod, don't take a chance. Surely a real company could afford an address without hosts.

*Use an alternative email- when signing up for freebies, it's always good to use a alternative email, not your main one. That way, if you do fall for a scam, it will all go to your other side account and not clog up your main one. I recommend a yahoo or hotmail or gmail account because they have good storage and junk mail filter.

*Win-win?- Usually, when the company give out freebies, they do it so people can sample their products and possibly purchase them in the future. If the website is offering "free samples", look for a link or something back to the company. If there is no link or address, how will customers contact them again to buy products? No company would willing give away thousands of products with no way for contact.

*Owner?- Do you know who owns the site? If they are giving away "free dove samples", is URL www.dove.ca? If it's not the actual company offering the product, it is likey a scam.

*Don't pay for prizes - If you get email or postal mail proclaiming you the winner of a great prize and all you have to do is pay a fee to claim it, don't. It' s a scam and the only winners are the scammers.

*Read the fine print- If the site looks suspicious to you, read their FAQ or Terms of Agreement(if there is one). Does it guarantee that you'll get the freebie or that it is not a scam? If it says it's not affiliated in any way with the product, or anything like that, move on.

*Beware email collection scams - Most of the sites that consist of nothing but a form offering free stuff are there to collect email addresses for spammers. These sometimes have long lists of offers or "newsletters" you can subscribe to. If you are tempted to sign up for these, be sure to use a disposable email address.

*Banners & Pop-Ups- If the freebie comes to you from a banner or pop-up while surfing the Internet, it's probably best to pass. This is especially true if the freebie advertisement takes you to a website other than homepage of the freebie product being offered.

*Survey Scams- Never complete any surveys that state the word "FREE" in the headline. In other words, if the survey states something like "Fill out this survey and you will receive a free $50.00 gift certificate. They are actually trying to find out which products you would be interested in purchasing while you are filling out this long screening process. Do not give them your email address or credit card number. You will receive hundreds of junk mail everyday, and still not receive your $50.00 gift certificate until you purchase at least $400.00 of merchandise!

*And remember: Always research any paid survey site by researching scams and or, place the name of the company in your browser and use the word "scams" beside their name. This should tell you whether or not this company is a scam artist.

*Also if the freebie is from some unheard of company, and the site has no way for you to actaully order their product, its likely a spam site. Companies send out freebies in the hope you will like and later buy their product; if there's no way for you to purchase their stuff should you choose to, odds are you won't be getting a freebie!

*Just put these tips together with your own common sense and you can enjoy the legitimate offers and avoid the free stuff scams.
Happy freebie hunting! =)

*ALSO* http://www.60-seconds.com/articles/130a.htmlTen tips you're about to be ripped off. Lots of helpful tips that also apply to registering for freebies.
*ALSO* www.whois.net A good site to find out who is the owner or the host of the website!

[cheetah]

Wow, this is great. This must of taken you some time to write. Thank-you. As a newbie I really, really appreciate these guidelines. It all makes sense but to have it all laid out like this is wonderful. Great Job! and Thanks again.

[romylin]

Originally Posted by itzzaangel

Ok so lets get started!!

This is for all freebie hunters hint and tips..a place to get started.



1. Never use your home/personal email address. Sign up for Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo, any of the free ones.

2. Never use your phone number. Lie. Some of them DO CALL, and you may get hounded if your not careful.

3. Don't be in a hurry. Some freebies take months to get to you. With overwelming demand, it can a lot of time for them to get to your name to send out the parcel.


How to avoid spam

There are alot of sites out there that are spam, You will NEVER recieve an freebie from them. All you will recieve is SPAM. Here are a few tips on how to avoid and recognize these sites.

1. Click on "HOME"......Most sites dont have the request form on their home page like that..( its just one way to check because alot of people will link you directly to the request form page)

2. Click on "CONTACT"....webpage unavailable..(enough said)

3. All the pages you can access from here have alot of "GOOGLE" Ads.

These are just a few of the things to watch out for while freebie hunting...the people that run these sites are trying to get "HITS" on thier sites and are hoping to make money through the google ads..You wont recieve a freebie cause there isnt any and there never was ....all you will probably get is alot of spam..UGH

Another big thing to remember is...if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is!!


Ok Now lets talk about fudging

Fudging is a way to fill out forms that are based for US residents. Please note that this wont work for all US Freebies but there are some that will come even though it looks for US only.

1. You can add your Province and Postal code and Counrty in the address line.

2. In the Zip code you can enter "00000" or "99999"

3. In the drop down menu for State, what I do is select the closest one to my own province. I live in Alberta so I select "AL" ( Alamaba).

Want to fill our request forms faster?

You may want to try roboform..it is easy to use and will save you tons of time. When you go to a request form page it will fill in all the info for you. Remember not to put in your real phone number when setting it up, but if you enter a contest you will have to change that on the form before summiting it.

Automated Password Manager & Form Filler

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions..everything helps. I will update this regularly as more suggestions arise.

It's wonderful that you typed that all out... but if you look under Freebie Hunting 101 this is the sticky posted there.... titled This is the place to start There is also other help topics in the FAQ Suggestions & Help section. There are all sorts of help in both topics.... Hope this helps even more

[Shanese21]

thank you sooo much!

[Trista22]

than you very much!

[chantel]

Good information,thanks

[sierrawind26]

wow, THANKS A LOT FOR THIS INFO Destiny!! It's sad but true... there are too many sites out there that aren't legit!

[pwwbear]

If you want to check out a website got to

http://www.dnsstuff.com/

and place the website under WHOIS LOOKUP

if there is little information, or the information looks fishy (an Ontario address with a Manitoba province and a BC postal code) or the email address shows *****@yahoo or gmail

If it has been created within the last couple of days,

[Dolphindreams]

Good information!!! Thanks ... Although not on this site, I have been "taken" before by bogus offerings (not necessarily free either) :( I always check out the "WhoIs" before committing to anything!! WB

[kclou]

It's too bad that these "sites" mislead people and do damage.

[cope]

Great tips, thanks!

[chicky82]

Wow, so much to learn I'm glad I read this, I need to make up a phone number so I don't get hounded.:o

[belfast56]

thanks for the tips! wish Id read this yesterday when I went a bit wild on the freebie search.I wonder why so many sites ask for your date of birth?