I have been getting freebies for years now. I would recommend number 1 for sure. I have a yahoo account that is flooded with advertisement. I did make the mistake of sending some people my yahoo account email address to people that I needed to communicate with so now I have to keep an eye on the account. I would recommend the freebie account being a Hotmail account because they have a feature that sweeps through your e-mails. It would make it easier to have e-mails automatically deleted from certain companies. The Hotmail account sweep feature can also have certain companies e-mails automatically blocked which I think most e-mail accounts can do. I would also recommend number 4 on not giving your phone number away. I do not want salesmen calling me especially on my cell phone. I above all if it seems too good to be true it usually is.
Great thread. One thing I always keep in mind is NOTHING is free. Whoever is giving it away has some expectation, weather they are using your information or perhaps they want to advertise their product. It's always helpful to think about the WHY, as in why is this product or service being given to me.
I definitely agree that you should always have a separate email address for freebie websites, because if you don't, you will find that you are inundated with ridiculous emails at all hours of the day, that you can no longer do anything to avoid. So, do yourself a huge favour and make an account that you don't use for anything else other than the freebies, and you should find that your inbox gets a lot cleaner over time!
This is very true. Adding onto that, I think it's a good idea to use a mail service that allows you to easily organize the emails you get. You can make separate folders for different companies, so the emails go directly into those folders instead of piling up in your inbox. That way, if you ever do want to find something in the bottomless pit of spam, you'll be able to locate it a little bit more easily.
I would also say that lying/providing false information to to get freebies does disservice to the company that is offering them, and so the company might feel less willing to make such offers in the future. There are ways to find out that you are using false information, especially if you are using form-filling software.
I stopped trying for Freebies because of the amount of spam mail you receive when the trial period is over. I have had to stop using an account because of the spam. I like getting things I use like free tea or shampoo samples.
Yeah that is helpful. I usually really evaluate whether a freebie site is worth my time or not before I sign up with them. I am not impressed with some of their offerings, and some are not worth signing up for. Many times they just seem like come ons to get your email address so you can get spam from the companies. I think some are quite good though and really are helpful to consumers.
Thank you for posting this. Yes, I always give out a separate email that I created for online offers. I'm interested about signing up for freebies, but I haven't ever done that yet! Although there are some legitimate freebie companies, sometimes I wonder if the company makes you connect all your social media and advertise to your friends before they give you the freebie.
These tips confirm what I have always known to be true: the fact that freebies come at a cost. Either to your convenience or your to your bottomline. Given, freebies are given for promotion purposes but it is always prudent to read reviews of particular freebie offers or leave one in case there aren't based on your experience.
Good tips! I always use a different e-mail address when I sign up for freebies. I notice that I get a lot of extra e-mails on that account. Every month or so, I will go through the e-mails and click unsubscribe to get rid of the extra e-mails. I notice that some companies won’t give you a freebie without signing up on their website. I’m glad I can unlike companies on Facebook too so I won’t be overwhelm with extra ads. The only thingI really hate is when I sign up with a company, click submit then see the comment, “Sorry we ran out of the product.” It's like they are saying ha ha, got your information anyway.
You can actually use the + symbol in gMail in order to sign up for offers. If you do [eMaihere][email protected] (without the brackets) Google will ignore everything after the + so it'll still get to your inbox and you can set a filter for email going to +Forever21 to skip your inbox and send it to a folder of your choice. It's a nifty little feature that helps when it comes to freebies and avoiding spam.
I have signed up for so many things online that promised so-called "freebies", and ended up being a coupon that you cut out and take somewhere, buy a product, and then send in for a rebate. That is very disappointing to me. A freebie is supposed to be free. I know there are companies that actually send you samples and free items in the mail. The Snail Mail. That's what I'm aiming for. I will keep checking for those kinds of samples and real freebies. In the meantime, if anyone here is actually getting samples and real freebies in the mail, would you let me know how you accomplished it? Thanks.
I agree with you, but I have not seen anyone (at least not here) suggest that we should try to give them false information. There is nothing wrong with using a separate email address, since it is still tied to you. Many companies (especially survey sites) make it clear that they will check and that you must provide unique and valid information. If you don't, you won't get the reward or in this case, the sample. I imagine some people have tried this, but they probably got banned. It wouldn't do any good to give a false home address if you're hoping to receive something. My biggest issue is with giving out a phone number. They don't need to call me on top of spamming my email and snail mail. it's just not worth it to me, so their "free" stuff then ends up being not a good value. So, I usually just skip those that try to force you to give it out. I have heard of people on other sites giving out fake numbers. It probably catches up to them eventually though.
Thanks for usefull information. I like freebies and often take the opportunities to get them in the mail. It`s rather attractive for me.
