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MacinTommy · Jul 12, 2007, 08:19 AM

Has anyone ever tried to get a free gift (ipod/iphone/laptop/game system/ etc) from those stupid pop-ups? If you went through with any of those special offers did you in fact get your "free" gift? I just want to know if any of those sites are legit... when I was 16 or 17 I tried doing one to get a PS2 and I went through with signing up for some DVD club and a CD club... It said my gift was on its way. Did it ever arrive? No.

Ghoser777 · Jul 12, 2007, 08:29 AM

I remember doing the FreePC thing where they run ads on the bottom of your screen - that actually panned out well when the company went under after a couple years and you were able to keep the machine sans the ads.

Sherman Homan · Jul 12, 2007, 08:39 AM

If you are lonely, it is a very good way to get lots and lots and lots of spam.

MacinTommy · Jul 12, 2007, 08:42 AM

thats very true... BUT, that was like five email addresses ago so right now the only spam I get is from.... well... naughty america

but Ive TRIED and TRIED to tell them to stop sending me the emails... but they just keep doing it. Dont do the three day trial. thats all I have to say.

shifuimam · Jul 12, 2007, 08:44 AM

Yes. The ones from Gratis (ipods.freëpay.com and others) and OfferCentric (mp3players4free.com and others) are legitimate. I got a 17" Samsung 710n LCD, a 20GB 4G iPod, and a 1GB white shuffle from Gratis programs.

The programs work like this:

You complete an advertising offer. For example, sign up for NetFlix for $5/mo for two months. Once you complete the offer and its conditions, you get a credit on whatever free stuff site you signed up for. Then, you have to get a certain number of people to complete advertising offers using your referral URL. For iPods, it's usually 5 referrals. For a free MacBook or other laptop, it's 15 referrals. Once all that is complete, you can submit your account, they'll review it for fraud, and you'll get your free stuff.

The problem now is that these sites have been out for awhile. I got my free iPod three years ago, when the sites had only been around for maybe six months. At this point, too many people who are willing to sign up for this stuff have done so, and you can only ever sign up on a free stuff site once - you can sign up for multiple free stuff sites, but you can only sign up on each one once. So, since most people have already signed up for someone else, you're going to be hard pressed to find people willing to complete offers for you. Not only that, but the offers have gotten increasingly more difficult - you have to keep whatever account or service you sign up for, sometimes for more than a month. Many offers require some money - $5 to $20 or maybe more.

When I did it, I was able to sign up for infone.com, get a $10 amazon.com certificate for signing up, and I didn't even have to give out my credit card information. Now it's a little more complex, because of how many people were frauding the companies that had advertising offers, as well as people who signed up just for the free stuff, as opposed to genuinely wanting to try a service or account or product. The other thing to keep in mind is that Gratis now expires your account after 90 days if you can't complete the offers. Once your account is expired, you can never sign up to get that free product again.

The only sites that I know for a fact are legit are the OfferCentric and Gratis sites. Ones that require you to complete one thing (like your previous experience) to get a free product usually are scams, as are sites that require you to complete "tiers" of offers to get a free product.

Dakarʒ · Jul 12, 2007, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by MacinTommy

right now the only spam I get is from.... well... naughty america

Dont do the three day trial. thats all I have to say.

Fantastic. You never get to hear people actually admit to these things.

PEPPERRULES · Jul 16, 2007, 08:05 PM

Supposedly some people have received their gifts, but you need to fight for them. There are also dozens of hoops you need to jump through.

shifuimam · Jul 17, 2007, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by PEPPERRULES

Supposedly some people have received their gifts, but you need to fight for them. There are also dozens of hoops you need to jump through.

So negative...

I completed the requirements for the free iPod within 24 hours after I signed up. I had my iPod, in hand, two weeks later. It's not that difficult if you just follow the rules. Like I said, stay with the OfferCentric and Gratis sites, and you'll be fine. If you try a different provider or site, you might end up getting screwed.

Have you ever done one of these things, or are you just saying this based on irate posts in forums around the Internet?

- - e r i k - - · Jul 18, 2007, 02:49 AM

As with all pyramid schemes they only work if you hate your friends.

MacinTommy · Jul 18, 2007, 10:25 AM

thats so true... what you need to do is go to a forum like this and look at tons of email addresses and use those instead of your friends...

Railroader · Jul 18, 2007, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

As with all pyramid schemes they only work if you hate your friends.

This thread is a perfect example of how men and women operate at both ends of the "marketing" spectrum. How many of you men have been to a "social party" where the host tried to sell you something? Or sold your name to a person so they could get a free gift? Women have candle parties, avon, mary-kay, chef's pantry, and other "parties" to sell each other something.