5 Things Every Freebie Hunter Must Know

June 22nd, 2009

Sometimes the best things in life are free, and very often they end up on Buxr. But sometimes things are not as “free” as they seem, or even worse they may cost you real money. Which brings me to the topic of this blog post, what we consider “free” and what we consider being a smart freebie hunter.

1. What is a freebie?

In my opinion a freebie is something that you get without paying any money upfront or later on. This means there is no shipping, rebate, cash back, subscription, or credit card required to get the freebie. A real freebie has no monetary cost attached to it. But as we all know, nothing in life is really free, there is always a cost. That cost may be your time, your email address, the email addresses of 5 friends, etc.

2. So what are some good freebie offers?

I’ve personally had fantastic results with manufacturer’s coupons at the grocery store, free magazine offers, offers from major brands like Walmart and Sam’s Club, and some clothing freebies. Samples also seem like a good bet, because it’s mutually beneficial for the advertiser and the recipient. The range of freebies offered across the net is much broader than what I’ve described, but these are the kinds of offers I’ve had success with in the past.

3. Are some freebies better than others?

Yes, not all freebies are created equal. Some freebies are very limited offers available in just a few states. Then there are freebies that are more like sweepstakes, where only the first 500 to sign-up receive a freebie and the rest just end up giving up some personal information. If you are a Buxr regular, you may have noticed we try to reject most of these offers during moderation.

4. What are some signs of scam freebie offers?

For me the biggest sign of a scam offer is site design. If the site design looks very simple and basic, almost like it was a template and somebody filled in the blanks, that is a major vote of no confidence. The second big indicator is advertising next to the freebie offer. Legitimate freebies are given away usually because they want you as a future customer or subscriber. Scammer sites are just trying to make a quick buck, hoping you’ll click on one of their ads. Finally, I think an “about page” and contact information are extremely important. If they want your information, and will not disclose their own… run for the hills. If you are pro-freebie hunter, you can always check the domain name registration using a service like whois. If they just registered the domain name for the site the day before, hit the back button on your browser.

5. How do I protect myself from spam offers?

If you are a real freebie fan you’ll want to get yourself a junk email address. This is a special email address you create solely for the purpose of signing up for freebies. If they ask for a phone number you can give them a free Google Voice number. Never give your Paypal address, social security number, credit card number, banking account or vital personal information under any circumstance. Your email, postal address, and phone number is all that you will ever need to score a great freebie.

Now that I’ve struck fear into the core of your freebie hunting soul, I want to say that finding freebies has been a real joy. To keep things simple I always stick to the motto “if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is..”. and that’s worked well for me thus far. With the right expectations and precautions, you too can score some great free stuff!

If you have any freebie hunting tips, please share them in the comments.

Photo credit to kimberlybrimhall at flickr

Entry Filed under: General