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.
Hi,
I successfully completed a Plasma TV offer from Online Reward Center. I learning more about this by going to scam.com and looking at the internet scam forums. Once I fulfilled the requirements, I received the TV as promised. However, I read on scam.com recently that Online Reward Center changed their policies, and now it is much harder to get items at minimal expense.
great walkthrough i only found it because i was so mad at seeing another “free ipod” which isnt in the slightest free and was looking if anythings being done about it. But from the sort of cost you paid out it,s not a bad deal at all. you could of course just sue the company for false advertisement as the item is never free, small claims court all the way and maybe you really then get it free. or not. In regards to blake you are a joker with the meager threats of law and what could happen to cleverdude. To be honest as its never free im guessing that 80% of chatters here would not give a flying monkey whether its unlawful or not. Once again cleverdude thanks for the guide i will see if it,s cost effective and blake. get a life
@Flabbergasted
didn’t know the grammar police were watching this blog.
As for the fraud check the TOS for most/any of these sites DIY or referral you will find
The YourGiftsFree Network does not tolerate “walking through” a referral. If by any means we think a user “walked through” a referral they will be put on hold. Examples of a “walk through” include, but are not limited to, when all of a member’s referrals complete the same offer, all referrals completed offers at one time, etc.
just as an example, this kind of stuff is not permitted.
Take your chances if you want.
I have gotten “gifts” from many of these sites, but instead of breaking their TOS, I did my OWN research by reading the TOS of the site I was interested in completing. There are also many forums that will answer many questions you may have short of “walking you threw” –that one’s for you 😉
Many of the site owners even post answers and are active on the forums.
Again thanks for the grammar lesson, don’t think I could have made it threw life without your help.
sites to check out
yourgiftsfree.com
zeropricetag.com
freepay.com
bigwin.com
forums to check out
forum.freeipodguide.com
anything4free.com
hope this clears things up
here is one point from the TOS of one of the sites that the Clever Dude lists
Consumer incentive products
Posting information on a website, forum, or auction that has to do with “canceling the offers” included, but not limited to, cancellation phone numbers, cancellation time frames, and any encouragement or direction to cancel the offers after signing up with them, is strictly prohibited and constitutes grounds for termination of account and disqualification from receiving any gifts. Users that are found to have fraudulently created orders on advertisers’ sites solely for the purpose of receiving credit towards a gift will be disqualified from receiving a gift. For purposes of participation in this program a user will be deemed to be Fraudulent if the user signs up for advertiser’s offers and subsequently cancels three (3) or more of those offers for which a purchase has been made within a 90 day time period from the date of signing up for the offer. Additionally, any user that is deemed to be Fraudulent will not be given credit for any other offers that were previously completed and will be banned forever from participating in the company’s programs.
Very nice! Congrats. I do this stuff too and people believe it…. it is VERY legit!
Well just to say I am a visual person. let’s see the pics buddy! lol
Ok, to satisfy all of you, I decided to post pictures of the free laptops
I did all the work at RewardsGateway and saw that you need a bleeping LOAN at the end. A LOAN?! What? Nothing I can do about this? The purchases I made prior mean nothing?
Dan, you should have read step #3 in my article:
“I view the offers on ALL the offer pages BEFORE I sign up for anything.”
Your purchases don’t necessarily mean NOTHING. At least you may have gotten a Blockbuster subscription or some weight loss pills out of it :/
Great article. I haven’t read all the other comments in detail so I hope I’m not repeating, but I would add two more tips:
Set up an email dedicated to each program you do because you will get lots of spam.
Always read the TOS on each offer site as well as the TOS for the program itself. That is where participation requirements for the offer will be spelled out.
I also like the idea of setting up a separate credit card just for this that you can cancel.
One new wrinkle that some compaines are putting in now is a cancellation limit. It goes something like this: “you may not cancel more than 2 offer accounts within 60 days of signing up for said offers.” guelah75 referenced that above. But the TOS for such programs refers only to posting information on cancelling offers within their program. They have no control over generic guides on the internet. The limit they place within their own program is their only mechanism to control cancellations.
My experience – 2 laptops received, 1 substitute of $1000 for a laptop which we turned around and bought a laptop for $400 on ebay with, and 2 more laptops in process. All through separate programs so as not to break the 1 per household/email/ip address rules. Average cost for these 5 total laptops was under $150 with plenty of product to show for our outlay of cash.
I generally look for programs with 10 offers or less required and which have lots of variety. I generally do not do health product offers because of the high monthly cost if we need to hang on for an extra month and the relatively low need/desire we have for the products. Conversely, we have lots of coffe in the house (lol). We give away a lot to family as gifts.
My final tip would be to try and always find programs that are just starting out. The requirements are lower and the response quicker because of the flood of participants they are getting. As the flow starts to trickle, you will see the requirements ramp up, the approval for offers drag out, and delays in receiving the gift lengthen. Our first program is a good example (I won’t mention any names here though). When we did it, the requirement was only 6 offers and we had our laptop about 45 days after starting. Now they require 10 offers, their page 3 is limited, and they have that pesky cancellation limitation. They are still a legitimate and good program, but newer ones are generally better and there are plenty out there to choose from. Just remember to be patient and do your research.
(Note – ofree mentioned and linked to above is a listing of free offers. You can find a similar listing at all-freebie.com. Good luck to all)
I used to work on one of these rewards company.
Yes, we were legit. The problem was that a lot of the tracking wasn’t dont properly. There are a lot of data exchanged between sites. One of the ways of doing this, is by firing “tracking pixels”. The problem is that, by the very nature of tracking pixels, there’s a percentage of them that don’t fire properly.
So yes, they do work, but is imperative that you do your own tracking, and follow up with these companies.
I’m not saying all of these companies are legit, but they are not all scams. There are technical issues with them, but if you read their disclaimer, they state that the users are the main responsible party when tracking conversions, registrations and purchases.
Those sites really do work. I’ve gotten a fair share of free stuff but you have to watch out for scams
Edwin is right, there are lot of scam sites out there that take advantage of the popularity of legit sites. Just research the sites before you signup (or ask me lol).
These kind of sites WORK!! They aren’t scam because there are a lot of testimonials available on each site. Moreover, these sites benefit more than the gift receiver for many reasons. So, there
is no doubt that these sites really work.
Butlimous – I wouldn’t necessarily trust “testimonials” for ANY product, whether it’s a free laptop, or a laptop direct from Sony. The best way to trust anyone is to perform due diligence, and then do some more. Oh, and you can’t trust anyone 🙂
When I decided to try out the “freebie world”, I researched a lot of sites, found out how the system worked exactly, and why companies were able to give away “free” stuff. Testimonials can easily be fabricated, but when you speak to people around the net (ie. multiple sources randomly), it looked more real. When it came on news sites, I just felt I had to try it out.
Glad I did…. it felt very, very good to get so much stuff free/cheap! 😀
Been laptop crazy lately but I’ve learned something: the DIY forum at freeipodguide (referenced several times in other posts here) is absolutely crucial to understanding the do’s and don’ts of different “free whatever” systems. We would not have 2 of the 3 laptops we are currently working on if it had not been for the insight gained there. Anyone who is thinking of getting a free laptop or other electronics should make joining those forums a must.
Hey Clever Dude,
I’ve thought about trying this before, but have been hesitant cause I don’t what the offers I have to complete are going to be. Is there any way of knowing what they are before you register for the program? Also, how long does it take from register till you have your prize? I image a couple months right?
thanks.
Eric:
If the site allows you to view the offers, they would usually link to it from the main page. If not, you could try and find someone who signed to the site and ask them what offers are currently on there.
About the other question, it depends on a couple of variables:
– how fast the offers credit
– the company’s policies (some may take a week to verify and perhaps 2 weeks to ship
– the availability of the reward (some, I heard, let you take a gift certificate, others you gotta wait
I would say, all in all, perhaps 1-2 months overall.
this is a great post!
Could you please post a link to the $1000 visa card please.