Thursday, April 10, 2008

Welcome to Zero Dollar Deals

Welcome to Zero Dollar Deals. I am going to try and supply you with everything you need to get your "gadget" fix for less. As they become available, there will be more links to free items, so keep checking back. For now, you have the option of getting free iPods, iPhones, or even cash delivered directly to your PayPal account. All you need is an email address and a little time. I have several posts devoted to helping you achieve your goal. There are FAQs, definitions, handy tips, and links to places that offer additional help. So, don't waste anymore time. Get that hot item now.

Common Freebie Terms and their Definitions

IFW Incentivized Freebie Website. A website that offers you free rewards for trying out their partners' services.

Green/Gone Green: This refers to the fact that you have signed up for the IFW referred, and have completed and been credited for your offer(s)

Yellow/Gone Yellow: This refers to the fact that you have signed up for the IFW referred, but have not yet completed and/or not yet been credited for your offer(s)

Red/Gone Red: This refers to the fact that you have signed up for the IFW referred, gone green, then on approval have been placed on hold. This happens because you have violated one or more of the IFW's Terms of Service.

TOS: Terms of Service (also referred to as Terms & Conditions or Terms of Use)

Ref Link: This refers to the link that you used to sign up for the IFW. This link is unique to each user and upon signing up at any given IFW, you will be issued your own ref link for that site.

FLR: FreeLunchRoom. This is a popular forum for trading

FiPG: Free iPod Guide. Another popular trading forum

A4F: Anything4Free. Yet another popular trading forum

On Green: This refers to the fact that you will be paid from the trader that provided you with the ref link once you are green.

On Approval: This refers to the fact that you will be paid from the trader that provided you with the ref link once you have been approved.

Getting Referrals Faster and Safer

1. Friends and family make great referrals. Assuming you have both, hit them up for the task. Tell them everything though, or you might not be invited to holiday dinners. Explain the entire process and who knows, they might just enjoy it. Sure, grandma isn’t a wicked Grand Theft Auto player, but she might want some extra cash and pick the PayPal cash option or want to join Columbia House and get some Anne Murray CDs.

2. Sign, sign, everywhere a sign. After trying the normal routes, I decided to try and boost my exposure to the public. It came to me as I was walking through my local grocery store. They had a bulletin board in the entryway that had everything known to man posted. There were signs for kids’ toys, music lessons, tools for sale, and much more. I got to thinking, "Why not put up flyers?" I immediately went back into the store at the risk of letting my ice cream melt and asked one of the store employees if there was an approval process for hanging up a sign. They said no. I left with groceries in tow and quickly went home to my computer to pen my masterpiece. Ok, that’s overstating a bit. I threw together a simple, yet eye catching flyer with my site link across the bottom in tear off strips. Then I blanketed the local stores, and college campuses with the news. Also, look into classified ads online. Try to keep to the free ones and follow their rules. Have a website? Post your link. If you get a decent amount of traffic, you could generate a lot of interest. Do you frequent message boards and forums? Include your site as you signature file. Every post you make will have your unique link at the bottom of your post. For your own sake, don’t spam. Be aware of the board/forum policies and play nice with others.

* And just because it’s not electronic doesn’t mean it’s not spam. Be aware of each establishment’s posting policies. Put a real bee in someone’s bonnet and they might contact the IFW parent site and have you shut down for spamming.

3. Join a support group. No, not that kind. There are websites all over the internet devoted to freebie sites. Anything4Free.com, Freebiescout.com, and FreeLunchRoom.com are a few of the more popular sites. They have forums and message boards for traders, payers, you name it. If you join on of these sites please be aware of their rules. It’s not kewl to be a nOOb. Most sites offer an area on their forums for people to trade referrals for referrals, cash, or just about anything allowed in the fifty nifty United States as well as abroad. Take a look. Be sure to look at the board rules and tips for trading. It’s a pretty good rule of thumb to only deal with people with higher TR (Trade Record) than others. Be honest when asking questions and try to build up a good reputation on the board. It will pay off in spades. When in doubt, check with a mod (MODERATOR) of that forum.

* This is a place you NEED to be CAREFUL! I cannot stress enough the traps that can be out in these types of forums. There is some real scum out there waiting to take advantage of your inexperience in these types of sites. See the chapter outlining Helping people help you for more info.

 

4. Come on baby, do that conga. A conga circle is basically a group of people that are trying to get referrals from people who join the conga after them. Here’s an example of how one works. All congas start with one person on top. You can be this one person on top by being the first one to post your referral link for a new site. Then, when users start to sign up for that person, they get added too. To be added to a conga, you must complete an offer for one of the Top users. (There are usually arrows pointing to the top users) Once you sign up, post in the correct format listed on the first post of the conga. Once you do this, you will be added to the Pending section. Then, wait until your offer credits and post that your offer has completed and you will be added to the actual rotation of the conga. Some congas rotate every few days or weeks meaning the Top users get moved to the bottom, and the next group gets moved to the top. In order to start a potential conga, you need to post your site link in that particular network's forum in a new thread. Some congas are set at a certain limit. Once you get that limit of referrals, you’re done with that conga. Some places have been conga lined to death. Please keep in mind, some forums only allow brand new sites which have never had a link posted for are eligible. If you post your link for a site that has already been posted, that is considered spam.

5. Break some rules, but don’t get caught. Now, why would I suggest to you breaking the rules when I’ve just spent a lot of time getting you to trust the system. Because, even bad publicity is good publicity. I broke a couple of good rules but got some positive results. EBay is filled with ads for IFW sites. Most people try to not break any rules by stating that the auction is for information only and not the actual product. They also repeatedly and in bold print tell the viewer to DO NOT BID JUST READ! However, this is considered illegal by EBay’s Terms of Service. It does generate a lot of people going to your site through the link, but again, it’s not allowed. There are ways to do it legally, but be careful. There are also places like Yahoo Answers. You can start to answer questions and tag your link at the bottom. Again, this is considered spam, but it does get the information out there. So, I’m not telling you what to do. I’m telling you what is not allowed.

Earn Extra Cash

It is possible to make money from IFWs.  Now, we’re not talking riches beyond your wildest dreams. Don’t buy that mansion just yet. I’m talking about a few extra bucks at the end of the week to help pay for that second mortgage you took out to put gas in your car. A4F and other sites offer a section in the forums to people wanting to trade referrals. The safest way to trade is to do referral for referral. This allows you to trade one on one and it hooks you both into an agreement. The drawback to this is you will find yourself opening many IFW accounts and you limit the audience that can trade with you. Because a person can only do a specific IFW site once, you will have to start looking for people who haven’t completed your site. You also can only trade with people who are working on a different site than you. It’s the magnet rule. Opposite sites attract while like sites repel. This is why it’s a catch 22 situation when you go to a site like A4F or FLR and expect to trade with experienced traders. More than likely, they’ve already completed your site and can no longer be a resource for a referral. If you try to trade with people who are inexperienced and have a low Trade Record they may disappear with your referral and you get stuck with a completed offer you didn’t want to keep tracking.

On the other hand, you can always pay cash to someone to do a referral for you. Some people charge between $10 and $50 for a green. If you just can’t wait that long to gather referrals at no cost to you, this is an avenue you can explore, but it comes with a serious caution. BE CAREFUL WHO YOU DEAL WITH IN CASH TRADES. I, myself as a very inexperienced trader lost $25 on someone who I paid to give me a referral. "Why did I pay $25?" I figured it was a small price to pay to get that last referral. I was wrong. The guy went green immediately and I paid him. Then he broke some rule and went red. He got banned from the site we were on and was gone with my money and probably other’s as well. A lot of scammers are referral brokers. They are usually foreigners who have troll the message boards. They have poor conversational English and usually take your money and pay a percentage to some other poor foreigner to complete the site. They do this repeatedly and get caught only after they’ve got your money. Most trading boards have a feedback meter attached to traders. It works like eBay to give some kind of credibility to the trader you may be dealing with for referrals. If you become an experienced trader you can in turn make some extra cash by offering to go green on people’s sites for cash. I do caution that you can become bogged down in the different sites and can ultimately get red flagged without being aware. Always keep a log of what sites you are doing for whom and what the terms are.

EXAMPLE

Date: June 1, 2007
Trade with: mom2our3
Site: www.zeropricetags.com/?ref=0000
My Site Ref Link: www.zeropricetags.com/?ref=0001
Pay: $20 on green OFFER: Blockbuster Free Trial
Trial Period: 2 weeks
Customer Service: 1-800-000-0000
Website: http://www.blockbuster.com/
Login ID: abcd1234
Password: wxyz5678
Date Cancelled: June 13, 2007
Cancellation #: abcdefg012345

If you can keep ahead of the different sites, offers, trial periods, and what not, you’re a better person than I. You may want to pursue this avenue and use your earnings to purchase your gift at a retailer instead of trying to complete the process for the "FREE" one. Then again, you might want to capitalize and have 15 different sites going at once using your referral money to offset the cost of your completed offers at each one. Whatever path you choose, just be aware of all the fine print and don’t get too caught up in the "gristmill" mentality. You can get yourself in some serious debt and have spent more than you can afford.

 

Click here to get started
Just in case you need more proof, check out my PS3 page.

FreeVideoiPods

I'm sure you've all seen ads to get a free tv, or ipod, or xbox, or whatever. The vast majority of these ads are scams. However, there are a few of these companies that are legit. Trainn happens to be one of them. They run a whole network of free stuff sites, and have shipped $2.5 million in free gifts since their foundation.

The site I'm going to tell you about today is called Your Free Video iPods. It's possible to get a Video iPod for free or as little as $5.45.  While that isn't free, it's a whole lot better than the cost of one in the store. The great thing is, you don't even have to get the Video iPod. You can opt for CASH. I've heard of people signing up, doing the offers, and having cash in their paypal accounts in a few hours.

The way these sites work is like this: You sign up, and then they have a whole bunch of advertiser offers. With Trainn, you can either complete offers on your own (about 15 ) or you can opt for a referral account. Complete one offer, and then have 10 people sign up under you and they complete one offer. THIS IS THE EASIER AND CHEAPER OF THE TWO.

Most of the offers are free, or close to free.  Some offers include trials of Blockbuster online, Gamefly, Netflix, just to name a few.  
 
I signed up on Your Free Video iPods. I then chose to make my account a referral account. (You can do points or referrals.) I then looked through the offers, and found one that I thought would be worthwhile.   I  signed up for Dr Suess Book Club since they offer a deal for 7 free books and a backpack.  I needed some books for my newborn daughter to enjoy one day so it worked out in my favor.
 
Within 2 business days, my offer was credited to my account.  Now all I needed was 10 people to do the same.  Remember, you don't have to pick just an iPod. Cash is an option and $300 loooked good to me since I already had a 30gb iPod that has yet to be filled.

And that's all there is to it. Here is a link to trainn's feedback, with pictures of prizes won. You can also look them up on the spam.com forums.

If you found this post helpful, please, sign up.
 
If you want more proof, check out my PS3 page.

FreeiPod

I'm sure you've all seen ads to get a free tv, or ipod, or xbox, or whatever. The vast majority of these ads are scams. However, there are a few of these companies that are legit. Trainn happens to be one of them. They run a whole network of free stuff sites, and have shipped $2.5 million in free gifts since their foundation.

The site I'm going to tell you about today is called Your Free iStuff. It's possible to get a Video iPod and iPod Touch for free, or as little as $5.45.  While that isn't free, it's a whole lot better than the cost of one in the store. The great thing is, you don't even have to get the iPod. You can opt for CASH. I've heard of people signing up, doing the offers, and having cash in their paypal accounts in a few hours.

The way these sites work is like this: You sign up, and then they have a whole bunch of advertiser offers. With Trainn, you can either complete offers on your own (about 15) or you can opt for a referral account. Complete one offer, and then have 10 people sign up under you and they complete one offer. THIS IS THE EASIER AND CHEAPER OF THE TWO.

Most of the offers are free, or close to free.  Some offers include trials of Blockbuster online, Gamefly, Netflix, just to name a few.  
 
I signed up on Your Free iStuff. I then chose to make my account a referral account. (You can do points or referrals.) I then looked through the offers, and found one that I thought would be worthwhile.   I  signed up for eAuction tutor.  I do some selling on eBay and thought it would help.  They charged me $4.95 for shipping and I ultimately decided that the service wasn't for me.  I called Customer Service and they were excellent.  I opted out of my membership and was never charged another dime.
 

Within 2 business days of signing up, my offer was credited to my account.  Now all I needed was 10 people to do the same.  Remember, you don't have to pick just an iPod. Cash is an option.

And that's all there is to it. Here is a link to trainn's feedback, with pictures of prizes won. You can also look them up on the spam.com forums.

If you found this post helpful, please, sign up.

If you want more proof, check out my PS3 page.

FreeiPodTouch

I'm sure you've all seen ads to get a free tv, or ipod, or xbox, or whatever. The vast majority of these ads are scams. However, there are a few of these companies that are legit. Trainn happens to be one of them. They run a whole network of free stuff sites, and have shipped $2.5 million in free gifts since their foundation.

The site I'm going to tell you about today is called Your iPod Touch For Free. It's possible to get an iPod Touch for free, or as little as $5.45.  While that isn't free, it's a whole lot better than the cost of one in the store. The great thing is, you don't even have to get the iPod. You can opt for CASH. I've heard of people signing up, doing the offers, and having cash in their paypal accounts in a few hours.

The way these sites work is like this: You sign up, and then they have a whole bunch of advertiser offers. With Trainn, you can either complete offers on your own (about 15) or you can opt for a referral account. Complete one offer, and then have 10 people sign up under you and they complete one offer. THIS IS THE EASIER AND CHEAPER OF THE TWO.

Most of the offers are free, or close to free.  Some offers include trials of Blockbuster online, Gamefly, Netflix, just to name a few.  
 
I signed up on Your iPod Touch For Free. I then chose to make my account a referral account. (You can do points or referrals.) I then looked through the offers, and found one that I thought would be worthwhile.   I  signed up for Blockbuster.com.  Since I normally pay around $6.00 for a rental in the store, I thought it would be neat to try the online service.  They delivered movies right to my home with prepaid mailers to return them.  They charged me $9.99 plus tax and I watched 5 movies in a month, including V for Vendetta, Live Free or Die Hard, and Transformers.  At the end of the month, I decided that I no longer wanted the service and opted out of the membership.  Customer Service was great and I only paid $10.59 for what would have costed me $30.00 in the store....not to mention those movies were newer releases and usually out of stock in the store.
 
Within 2 business days of signing up, my offer was credited to my account.  Now all I needed was 10 people to do the same.  Remember, you don't have to pick just an iPod. Cash is an option.

And that's all there is to it. Here is a link to trainn's feedback, with pictures of prizes won. You can also look them up on the spam.com forums.

If you found this post helpful, please, sign up.

If you want more proof, check out my PS3 page.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

MyPS3

How I got a Playstation 3 for free.
Here it is. This is how I did it. Every Freebie Link I promote on this site can be executed in the exact same way. These are legitimate sites and if correctly done, you will get your free item just like I did.

I know this all sounds like a lot of work, huh? It is. I signed up for a PS3 site in August. I completed the trial by September and it took until Decemeber to gather up enough referral signups to get my PS3. At first, I did what any n00b would do. I posted an auction on eBay. After all, that's where I got the idea. Man, I nearly sank the ship right there. I copied and pasted an ad and changed the link in hopes of getting all my refs in a week. Truth be told, I got 20 sign ups but no one completed an offer. I created a flyer with tear off strips promoting my long ass URL which got another 3 or 4 signups, yet still no completed offers.

I started getting really frustrated. I was ready to be like everybody else and just give up. Of course, I'm too stupid for that. I want to drag this on as long as possible. Then I joined a couple of message boards devoted to IFW's and freebies. Right off the bat I learned that using eBay was considered spam and could cause me to violate terms of service......like anyone reads those...and would cancel my account. I learned a lot of things about how to go about getting signups. In essence, I learned that I could pay people as little as $15 to signup and complete the process. I went from getting the PS3 for free to having to pay for it. I resigned myself to the idea that if I really wanted this to work, I'd set myself a limit of $100 and see how that goes. Any more than that and I agree that I need my head examined. After all, the website said it would be free. Technically, they were right. The free trial didn't cost me a dime. I cancelled it before it posted to my account. Had I been a little more aggressive and completely stopped working at my 9-5 job and devoted more time to collecting referrals, I could have done it. But, I wanted it NOW!

So, I started posting in the sections that allowed me to advertise and offered to pay people for signing up at my site. I even offered to trade links for other free items on the outside chance that I may come back to them later. Soon, sign ups started pouring into my site and little green checkmarks began appearing next to the names. I became excite because I was finally getting somewhere. I paid these folks money through PayPal to signup and try out the site and now these people have these....wonderful.....little....RED...X's...next to their......name. What the hell, just happened? Maybe, I should have made a mental note when these people communicated to me using broken english and insited I PAY NOW. That's right, I ran into a group of referral brokers. Usually, they are from outside the US/Canada area and pose as your everyday freebie junkie. They answer your ad and offer to do the site using the least amount of adjectives as humanly possible in communicating. Then, they pay a fraction of what you offer to some person with an internet connection to go on the site and sign up. After that, they move onto the next person and repeat the same process using the same site and same vendor....a no no in some IFW's. If you sign up for a free PS3 with one site, depending on their structure, you usually cannot repeat the site again. Likewise, if you use Stamps.com to complete the requirements for a PS3 site, you cannot complete Stamps.com for say a Wii site. The vendors won't recognize new interest and people are likely to just try and fly, leaving the vendor high and dry.

After all was said and done and I managed to get $0.20 back from my scam artists through PayPal, I noticed that I had enough referrals for a PS3. I placed my order and within 14 days, I had a PS3 sitting on my front porch complete with a game of my choice. I ended up spending $150 on the site and made $50 back from someone who screwed up in my favor. Then, the kicker, my mother asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Usually, I hated having to tell her what to get me, because I never know. I made an offhanded comment, "How about $100 for a PS3?" She wrote me a check.

So, there you have it. I did get the PS3 for free......kinda. I did spend $150 in total for the process but managed to make it all back from means outside the site. Perhaps you'll have better luck. Click a link on the side to get yourself in the freebie game. Now that you've read this and are probably bleeding from the eyeballs, I will offer you the proof of this venture.

Screenshots and Proof That This Really Works

Now, I will show you screenshots of the process.

Here you can see my progress screen after I was done. It showed that I did complete an Offer for Stamps.com and I was not charged because I fulfilled the terms of the Offer and decided that I did not want to keep the service beyond the trial period.

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You can also see that I had a total of 10 Referrals towards my PS3. While I only needed 9 to get the 40gb PS3, an additional person signed up late and I could have had a 60gb or 80gb for that one person. I got impatient, what can I say.

Here you can see all the people who signed up with my Freebie Link. I blurred out the addresses but they are there.

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You'll notice the Red X's and Green Checks. The Green Checks are people who have succesfully comepleted an Offer and have provided me with a Referral. Thery are probably enjoying their PS3 right now. The Red X's are people who tried to cheat the system or somehow violated the terms of service. Their site was locked and any progress they had towards their Reward was lost. I suggest that you read the terms of service carefully and follow them. This is a legitimate website and they do not tolerate scammers.

Receipt from Amazon.com. Check out the billing address. That's not mine. The shipping address is mine, however.

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Sorry about the pixelation and strikethrough, but there are too many shady folks out there who could do damage with my info. If you have any doubts or questions contact me here and I will help or answer any questions.

And lastly, here's the PS3 sitting on my ugly spare bedroom carpet.

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FreeiPhone

How to get a Free iPhone

I'm sure you've all seen ads to get a free tv, or ipod, or xbox, or whatever. The vast majority of these ads are scams. However, there are a few of these companies that are legit. Trainn happens to be one of them. They run a whole network of free stuff sites, and have shipped $2.5 million in free gifts since their foundation.The site I'm going to tell you about today is called Your Free iPhone. It's possible to get an iPhone for free or as little as $5.45. While that isn't free, it's a whole lot better than $499. The great thing is, you don't even have to get the iPhone. You can opt for CASH. I've heard of people signing up, doing the offers, and having cash in their paypal accounts in a few hours.The way these sites work is like this: You sign up, and then they have a whole bunch of advertiser offers. With Trainn, you can either complete offers on your own (about 15 ) or you can opt for a referral account. Complete one offer, and then have 10 people sign up under you and they complete one offer. THIS IS THE EASIER AND CHEAPER OF THE TWO.Most of the offers are free, or close to free. Some offers include trials of Blockbuster online, Gamefly, Netflix, just to name a few.

My Story

I signed up on Your Free iPhone. I then chose to make my account a referral account. (You can do points or referrals.) I then looked through the offers, and found one that I thought would be worthwhile. I signed up for STAMPS.COM since they offer a month of service for free and $5.00 in free postage that you print out from your computer. I ended up paying nothing because I decided not to keep the service longer than a month. I did, however, print out some postage. THIS IS REQUIRED. HEY, IT'S FREE POSTAGE. Within a half hour, my offer was credited to my account. Now all I needed was 10 people to do the same. Remember, you don't have to pick just an iphone. Cash is an option.And that's all there is to it. Here is a link to trainn's feedback, with pictures of prizes won. You can also look them up on the spam.com forums. If you found this post helpful, please, sign up.

If you want more proof, check out my PS3 page.