|
|
|
There are many ways to get free stuff and freebies on the internet but it is important to understand the principles of freebie hunting so you don’t get your fingers burnt. In general freebies come in the following categories.
A free to enter quiz or competition can be a great way to get something for free, but remember that it is a competition so you’re not guaranteed to win. Usually it will involve a registration where you give your name, email address and information about yourself. Once you have registered expect to receive lots of offers in your email as this is the way the company makes its money. This is not always a bad thing as sometimes these offers can be pretty good and you get to hear about stuff you hadn’t heard of before. We suggest setting up an email account with a free email service like Hotmail or Google mail and using this address for the registration. You can then look at these offer emails at your leisure and keep them separate from your main email address.
Many companies want you to try their products as a sample in the hope that you will like them and go on to buy them next time you are out shopping. These product samples are usually quite small but will give you chance to try before you buy. As with almost all freebies, obtaining them will usually involve a registration as the company giving you the freebie will want to keep you informed of new products and offers they have. Remember it is much cheaper for a company to use email as a marketing tool than almost every other option, especially when advertising costs are so high.
Free trials usually do exactly what they say, you sign up to a service and you get a free trial period. There are two ways to approach these trials. Firstly you can just sign up to the trial and then cancel your account before the trial ends, making the most of the freebie. Secondly you may actually find the service is pretty good. Take the Napster trial for example, 7 days free access to over 7 million tracks, for about the cost of purchasing 1 CD from a shop a month. No matter which way you do it expect to add some kind of payment details when you register, and if you are going to cancel before the trial ends.. make a note in your diary and don’t forget to cancel the freebie.
A number of games and casino sites out there will offer you the chance to try them without using real money. This is a great way to practice playing without risking your hard earned cash, although remember if you’re playing for free then you’re not going to win anything although some do offer points which can be exchanged for prizes. Remember if all their customers played for free they wouldn’t make any money, so their objective is to get you to deposit and play for real stakes. Once again this is not always a bad thing as practice makes perfect and if you can win on the freeplay basis then you may be a winner for real cash.
Specifically FREE money welcome bonuses are offered in the gaming industry as a way to get you on board with their site. They are usually based on a matched money basis where you get an additional proportion of your deposit as a freebie. For example, if a site is offering 100% match bonus then if you deposit 50 quid then you have 100 quid to play with. Usually there will be a maximum amount for the match bonus and sometimes you will have to play for a period of time or on certain games to release your free money. In addition you usually can’t withdraw this free money, you have to play with it. One school of thought, and a way of maximising on these types of freebies is to join, deposit to the maximum bonus and then play the games with the lowest risk. Once you have bet the free money you then withdraw it. For example, let’s say you deposit £50 and get £50 free. You play the whole £100 on a game that you have a 95% payback on. So once you have played all your money you have £95 in you account. You can now withdraw this money and your 45 quid up. Not bad for spending a little time online. But remember, gaming should be fun and enjoyable so stop and get help if you think you have a problem.
Occasionally you get a real true freebie. While they are rare they can be quite good. Usually the company offering the freebie will be doing so in the hope they can make some money from you or via you in the future. Take for example the Flirt Divert 4u freebie, it really is a real freebie for you and won’t cost you a penny, however the company will be making a few pence everytime someone calls your voicemail number. Again this isn’t a problem for you as it is not you paying the bill but this is a good example of a real freebie.
|
|
|
|
|