How I Get Laptops and Plasma TVs for Free
How many of you get those spam emails with “Your $1000 Home Depot Gift Card is waiting for you” or “Click here to pick up your free 42″ Plasma TV”?
I did, and I got 2 Sony Vaio laptops and a $1000 Visa gift card out of it.
You see, not all of those emails are scams. And this article is going to give you a little insight into how these sites work.
How I got started
Two years ago, a coworker tried out some offers for a free XBox and Apple iPod. He had to complete 4 advertiser offers for each “gift”, but he did the offers and eventually got the Xbox and iPod. I decided to give it a shot too.
I immediately went for the big stuff. My first offer was a Sony Vaio I received in my Hotmail account. I looked at the terms and conditions and I only had to complete 6 offers with no referrals. Looked good to me!
How do these things work?
I’ll try to run down the basics for you. Each promotion site is slightly different:
- Most sites require you to complete a certain number of advertiser offers. I’ve seen them vary from 2 to 20 required offers. You have to pay for these advertiser offers, but they’re usually 7 or 30 day trials, which you can cancel at any time and just pay shipping or for one month of the product. Other offers could require you to complete an auto loan, buy furniture, or sell your first child. I’ll give you some tips on this later.
- In addition to advertiser offers, some sites also require that you refer a certain number of other participants. This means you need to get friends, family or strangers to sign up for the same deal as you. Plus, you have to wait till they complete their offers before yours is finalized. Always avoid offers that require referrals!
- These sites also require you to sign up with your name, address, phone and email, and then “fill out a brief survey”. This survey consists of numerous screens of “Do you want information about Student Loan Consolidation” or “Do you like coupons”. Just click No for everything and get to the good stuff.
- These sites make their money from the advertisers. The advertisers make their money from the shipping on free samples (that cost almost nothing to make), but mostly from people like my sister who signs up for Columbia House and keeps forgetting to cancel the Featured Selection!
How do I pick out the safe sites from the scam sites?
The providers of these “free” offers are getting trickier and more strict, so they’re always changing tactics. However, these few tips should always help make the search a little safer:
- Whether you get an offer via email or browse directly to a site, check the Terms and Conditions FIRST and read it COMPLETELY. The T&C will tell you how many offers you must complete and whether you need to get referrals. Also, it should provide some methods to check your account and maybe how to contact the site owners.
- Google the name of the site. For example, “Product Test Panel” or “Consumer Incentive Promotions”. You’re bound to pull back some listings on Scam.com and other sites. Don’t let this deter you. Read all that you can about the provider and make your best judgment on how reliable and trustworthy they may be.
- Finally, look up the site on the Better Business Bureau’s official site. Most providers have multiple aliases, addresses and phone numbers. Jot down the company’s information and then test out those phone numbers. If you get a live person, great! But, most likely, you’ll just get a voicemail. Leave a message to see if they’ll get back to you. Just tell them “I’m interested in your free promotion, but I want to make sure I can contact you in case there are issues. Could you please call me back or email me at …?”
My methods to beat their system
I’m not the most diligent person with regards to keeping track of information, except when it comes to money. I don’t want to get shafted out of hard-earned money, so here are my methods:
- I verify the site credentials as stated in the above section
- I obtain a screenprint of every web page they give me, except the survey pages. I personally print the pages as PDF files, but you can also accomplish the same task with screen prints. The important pages are the homepage, Terms and Conditions, and each offer page
- I view the offers on ALL the offer pages BEFORE I sign up for anything. That way, I can see whether the offers will be too steep to complete or aren’t worth the promotional product. The sites let you advance through the offer pages and return to prior screens.
- I complete the prescribed numbers of offers presented on each offer page. For a 6 offer promotion, I usually get sent to 3 pages, where I complete 2 offers per page. The first page has the inexpensive offers with free trial periods. Each successive page has more expensive or more difficult to fulfill offers.
- As I complete each offer, I add the offer details into a tracking spreadsheet. You can download a sample spreadsheet here. I completed this spreadsheet for a Plasma TV. However, I decided to take a $1000 Visa Card instead
- I make sure to complete all the offers in one session, and I don’t delete my browser cookies. Many of the promotion sites use cookies to track who you are and what promotions to show you, as well as to display your account. Just try not to delete your cookies until you’ve complete all the offers and made first contact with the promotion team.
- Once the offers are completed, I keep checking my account daily to see when the offers are validated. In all 3 times I did these promotions, some offers didn’t report back to the provider site, so I had to fax proof of the offer completion.
- Also, and most importantly, I make sure I cancel any and all offers I completed before their trial period ends. Some offers also require you to return the product for credit, so make sure you do, and send it via certified mail.
How much have I spent on these promotions?
- Sony Vaio PCF-V505ECP Laptop = $95 (my daily laptop)
- Sony Vaio VGN-FS790B Laptop = $30 (Clever Dudette’s laptop)
- $1000 Visa Gift Card (was for a Plasma TV) = $300 (Bought a new grill, pressure washer, and curio cabinet)
Total Cost = $425. For about $3600 worth of stuff, not a bad deal. However, these deals count as gift income and you’ll be required to pay income taxes on the retail value. However, not all promotion sites follow through with the paperwork. Read into that as you wish…
When I come across a good offer, I’ll present a walk-through on this site. I thought I had a good one with Product Test Panel, until I viewed the final offer page. They only gave 3 offers, and I had to complete 2. Only one of the offers would have cost me less than $1500. Definitely not worth it!
So, if you follow my tips and methodologies, keep all records, and follow up consistently, then you could score yourself an “almost free” Plasma TV, Gift Card, Laptop, or even a Vespa Scooter!
Have any of you completed these deals? Have you been scammed? Are you like my sister and forget to cancel the offers?
Like Steven Segal? Check this article out.
Well, I can’t speak for all sites, just from my own experience.
With Rewards Gateway (see Blake’s comments above), I was offered a choice of three gifts. A 42″ LCD Panasonic or a Sony, or a $1000 gift card. They emailed me a link to the site where they would order the TV, so I saw how much they would pay, and how much shipping was. I chose the gift card and lost out on $500 extra “value”, but we (i.e. my wife) wanted some stuff other than a TV, so we got some household items (grill, pressure washer, curio cabinet).
Another story: My coworker (who I mentioned in the article) really got 1 Xbox and qualified for a second. However, they ran out of the XBox and offered him $250 cash instead. He took the check.
I’m glad to hear someone made out on these type of offers. I started one once, got all the way to the end and discovered I had to shell out some big bucks so I jumped ship. The only good thing that came of it was I opened an account on eBay and started making money selling there. Thanks for the nice how-to guide, maybe I’ll try it again.
Yo JW, hate to break it to ya but they, the “gift companies”, don’t get to determine what is or is not fraud. Further more I HIGHLY doubt you’ve looked at the TOS of ever one of these offers so such a blanket statement is inaccurate. In addition there are plenty of reasons you could argue against it being fraud. Freed of Speech and Press, contesting the validity of any Internet TOS as a legal document, ect. In addition if the companies don’t make money its really nobody’s fault/problem but there own. Sorry to further any argument on the Internet, I really am, but I hate to see people say they KNOW what the law is or what is morally correct. The law is so subjective and contradictory that in many cases there are legal gray areas and even if JW happens to be a legal professional even lawyers disagree. Sorry again but sometimes you just have to voice your opinion.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, this is a great article. I have been scammed a few times but I will give your way of doing things a shot.
Thanks Again:o)
I have used http://forum.freeipodguide.com/newbie.php to get everything. All of the sites are rated there, and the users discuss which ones are legitimate.
If you decide to pursue refferal-based sites, they have a trading module that allows you to efficiently complete the requirements by finding other people ready and willing to sign up under your links. Some people only complete one or two offers themselves and pay others to sign up under them; they might invest $100, but, like CleverDude, they end up gettting at least a 3x return on that investment.
I personally refuse to do any of these, they’re so ripe with fraudulent claims and most are generally scams. They’ll put you through crap before you even get your item, to the point that it’s not worth it.
does the donation page on the freeipodguide.com thing wokr, i see the site hasnt been updated since like 2006..?
Nice post. Thanks a lot for this.
Wow Clever. This is a bit of a stretch.. lol
You actually have a vaio and flat panel from this?
Hmm how about posting some pics.
I don’t believe it ^_^
I’ve tried the iPod deals as well. The referrals are so frustrating to complete. On my 5th referral, they didn’t give me credit, although it showed on my friends account. I messaged with their slow help center and they said they would investigate. My time ran out, and they gave me an extension, but never completed their ‘investigation’. Bummer.
That’s pretty good, these companies always seem so scammy though, and it’s so easy for them to disappear. Good job getting what was promised!
I may be paranoid, but I think this mea gulpa is too del.icio.us ! Perhaps the blog entry is an ingenious stealth-marketing effort to help smooth-out other paranoids just in time for the mass-mailing roll out of a new “free” offer.
The poster’s story and presentation is way too professional, too articulate, too smart. The only thing that will change my mind is an uploaded video diary complete with all those faxes, screen shots, pdf’s and a photo with the UPS driver delivering the laptop. Even then, I’d need his badge number and tracking # for the item.
Sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but the internet made me this way.
Alison, I can assure you I am not a marketer. Look through my content and see I’m just a regular personal finance blogger. If you want the marketer, see Blake’s responses above. He works for the company I got the $1000 gift card from.
But I really do thank you for the compliments on my writing. I wrote this article in about 2 hours, and I was actually going to post some PDFs I captured of the offer screens, but it has my personal data included. Plus, I don’t know if Product Test Panel would be too happy with that.
I can take a picture of the laptops. Heck, I can take a picture of the grill, pressure washer, and curio cabinet, but what will that tell you?
Great article, thanks but I think my time is more valuable than the freebies, also one slip and no gift. I have done many, many rebate offers and have still slipped up on a couple which can be very annoying.
There are many forums that are dedicated to these offers, and thousands of people doing this. If you look around, you’ll probably find them. I’ve seen plenty of folks posting pictures of visa cards and products, etc.
I’ve thought about doing them myself, but I am the kind of person to forget to cancel offers and I can’t afford that! lol.
You must be really lucky to get a plasma tv for free from such promotional offers. But in my opinion, a majority of them are scams and not worth the effort pursuing.
It’s funny because I do referral sites and have always thought the type of sites your talking about were the scams, lol. I’ve been doing referral sites for 1 month now and have gotten $599, $250 and $350 in PayPal. I also just submitted a site for approval to get a 20.1″ Dell UltraSharp LCD. And I need 1 more ref for a free iPod Nano. It’s easy to get the referrals if you know how and where to get them.
I can verify that this does work, although I have not had as much success as you have, I have received smaller checks, and am currently working on 10 referral sites. I am almost done with two!
Quote; Walking people threw this process is considered fraud if I am not mistaken.
So thanks for screwing everyone else.
Just for the record I can also verify that these sites do send out gifts
thanks for nothing
guelah75/quote
Im confused with you Guelah75
Exactly how is this concidered fraudulent ? Do you understand the meaning I mean, I could probably assume that you dont because of
the fact that, you can’t even use the correct word THROUGH (since you know, you said THREW .. I didnt even know you could Walk THREW anything!). And then you throw the whole comment into a different direction saying you could vouch for these sites that do give free gifts..
AND THEN in another turn of events, you say “Thanks for nothing”
I mean really …
WHAT?
What! How I Get Laptops and Plasma TVs for Free YOU said “Total Cost = $425. For about $3600 worth of stuff, not a bad deal. However, these deals count as gift income and you’ll be required to pay income taxes on the retail value. However, not all promotion sites follow through with the paperwork. Read into that as you wish…”
For $425.00 Dollars in not free, plus your going to report income. Only thing that is free in this world is the air we breathe. SUCKER! Show us some pic’s or video of the stuff and maybe you can say it was good deal.
Punk, yes I did pay taxes on the gifts. As someone mentioned before (or on the Digg comments), these gifts can be considered free because I paid $425 on the offers. One of those offers was a case of wine. I paid for that, not the laptop. You can either say I paid $425 for the gifts and got the offers for free or vice versa.
And no, I wouldn’t have completed these offers (except Blockbuster online) had I not been trying to get the offer.
And as for taxes, you’re right that nothing is allowed to be free by US tax law. But what do you say to people who win money on game shows? Are they fools for being on the game show because now they have to pay taxes on their winnings? Would you forgo a $340,000,000 prize because you have to pay 30-40% or more in taxes?
These deals aren’t for everyone, and this article is to show my own experiences. I had my own hassles to overcome with the promotional sites, and I did have to pay some taxes, but I got a sweet laptop for my wife when she needed a new one (I gave her the bigger one since I needed a portable one), and even after taxes, I paid half what the laptop could be purchased for online.
I don’t go for little prizes like iPods because they’re not worth my time. I go for the big ones like TVs, laptops, and Vespa Scooters (I thought about it, but didn’t do it) because if I’m going to spend my time doing these deals, I want to get something worthwhile for my time.
Thanks for replying about it though. I accept all points of views (unless they’re abusive or include swear words). By the way, you owe 50 cents to the Clever Dude swear jar for your original name (Punk***, not Punk). I had to edit it.
very nice article thank you. I posted a similar article, from my similar experiences. I was not as thorough as you, but did use a spreadsheet.
cancelling the offers is key!
thx