How to Find Free Stuff on the Internet

While you do have to develop a skill for recognizing legitimate offers from scams, there are ways of getting "free" stuff on the Internet. I put free in quotes because rarely is there such thing as "something for nothing"--the items are usually paid for by advertisers, marketers, sponsors, and sometimes the website's owner as an incentive for visiting the website. The key is finding the opportunities that are a win-win situation for both sides.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• The desire to find free stuff online

1. First, I want to discuss offers that are legal but best avoided. These are offers where the free item is actually a hook to get you to jump through a bunch of hoops to where it is actually going to cost you a lot of time and money to get the "free" item. Almost everyone who has spent time on the Internet has run into these, and they're most easily recognized by "you get a free item for completing x number of other offers." They're also hard to look up with the Better Business Bureau because you can't find a company name to research.

2. Several legitimate free stuff websites work on a points system--Gather, Swagbucks, and MyPoints are three examples I know that are like this. They make money from advertisers and sponsors, and a certain percentage is calculated on how much to give back to visitors. I've won nice items from all of these sites, but some patience is required to never spend anything out-of-pocket.

3. Free stuff forums are a great place to look so you get feedback from people who have checked out offers before you--this is how I found legitimate product testing/survey sites such as Pinecone Research and SheSpeaks. Technically you are earning the items by giving your opinion about products, but it's not what I would call painstaking work.

4. Occasionally you can find good free stuff on your local Craigslist.org website--the only requirement is you have to pick up the item (often from people moving, yard sale items not sold, etc). Similar sites are out there, but that's one that I know.

5. Check manufacturer, retail, and resturant sites directly for coupons and special deals. Even large websites such as Amazon and Wal-Mart.com offer free items and samples on occasion. Create an e-mail address exclusively for signing up for any memberships--this will allow you to access coupons and other useful offers when you want without clogging up your personal account.

6. If in doubt, I find it's best to pass on an offer. If you have a company name, check it out in a general search and with the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org). Sometimes offers really are too good to be true, and the scammer is playing on your desire for the item that you can end up giving up personal information--at least for marketing/spam and at worst for possible identity theft.

Tips & Warnings

• I'm going to include links that I know are legitimate and worthwhile from my experience, as well as resources I think you'll find helpful.

Resources

• Better Business Bureau Website
• Craigslist.org (Main Page--Narrow down your state and city)
• Swagbucks.com
• Gather.com
• MyPoints.com
• Wal-Mart.com's Free Stuff Section
• SheSpeaks.com
• Free Christmas MP3s from Amazon.com (Valid at Least Until Dec. 25th 2008)
• Absurdly Cool Freebie Finder (Read Comments Sections for Feedback on Free Offers)
• Index of Cougar1002's Articles (Sorted by Topic)
• Cougar1002's Author's Blog (For News/Updates/Recent Articles)

[ladym33]

on 1/23/2009 Great information, thank you for sharing.

[Thims]

on 12/21/2008 Kind of like online Green Stamps. Cool. Interesting information. Good resources.