Everyone has heard the old expression “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” The idea of getting something for free online automatically has anyone with the slightest bit of skepticism asking what the catch is. Is it really possible to get free stuff online without giving any billing information? The short answer is yes, it is possible. You really can get free samples of shampoo, makeup, toothpaste, soap, and pretty much anything the average person uses. Many times, large brand name companies will post legitimate offers of free samples on their websites. To request a sample you just need to fill in your data and press send. They will have a designated number of free samples to distribute and it will be on a first-come, first-served basis. They will not charge for shipping and will send you free samples of their products in the mail.
What’s the trick?
The problem is, you can never really be sure whether a sample you request will actually show up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. There are several factors that influence whether a free sample will actually be sent to you. The first and most important factor is the supply. Companies have a limited supply of free samples to hand out, so when they hit that number, there may be thousands of people who haven’t received their sample yet. Also another factor that will influence whether or not a sample will arrive is location. The shipping cost is higher for companies that deliver the samples the further they have to send them. Therefore, almost all free sample offers are limited to a certain geographic region (primarily North America).
Avoid scams
Scams, fake offers, SPAM, call it what you want, the end result is the same. There are sites that claim that something is free, and whether in cleverly worded fine print or outright lying, they never actually send anything to anyone for free. Spotting free scams at first can be tricky, but once you learn the things to look for, it’s really just common sense. How much does the product on offer cost? If it is more than a few dollars, it is likely a fake. There is no such thing as a free iPod or laptop. Also, check out the home page of the site offering the free sample. What business are they in? Does it make sense for your company to have samples of the product they offer? For example, if a ringtone site offers free shampoo, it is most likely a scam. But if it’s an online cosmetics store that offers small samples of your cheapest lip gloss, it’s more likely to be real. Also ask yourself if the information the site asks for makes sense. Are they saying they are going to mail you something but don’t ask for your address? There are exceptions, but generally most actual free samples will ask for your email address, name, postal address, and phone number.
Avoid spam
Another thing to watch out for is spam and junk mail. Unfortunately, it is unavoidable when trying to get gifts. Even legitimate free samples will keep you on their mailing lists long after they send out your sample. In fact, in most cases, it’s the reason they offer something for free in the first place. But this is easy to handle if you know how. First set up a separate email address that you will only use to request free samples. You cannot provide a fake email address because you will have to click on the links in the confirmation emails before they are sent to you. Next, think of a pseudonym and use it as your name when ordering gifts. The fake name is useful because it makes it easy to sort spam and keeps your real name out of annoying commercial mailing lists.
where to look
Now that you know the basics of how real free samples work, it’s time to explain how to find them. There are many different sites that serve the same purpose, to find real free samples and to let your visitors know where they are. It is important to understand that these free sites are not the part that actually offers the free samples. The websites that you will become familiar with will actually be more like the yellow pages, making gifts easy to find. How do they find freebies for your site? Checking what the other free sites link to. What this means is that actual gifts spread very quickly. A free site will find a sample and post a link to it. Then 2 more free sites will see that link and put one on their own site, then 4 more from there, and so on until you’re on all the free sites. There really isn’t ONE free site that you should use. Rather, you should familiarize yourself with them and choose 2-3 free sites to periodically check for new samples to order. Finding these sites is as easy as doing a Google search for ‘free samples’, ‘giveaways’, ‘free stuff’, etc …
Playing the numbers game
On average, no less than 80% of the free samples you try to request will never show up for one of the reasons listed above. This means that requesting just one or two gifts will not be enough to turn the odds in your favor. Instead, visit your favorite gift sites every day and request every new gift you see. On average, there are no more than 7-10 new gifts available daily. This may seem very time consuming, but there is a great trick to automating requesting for free samples. All you need to do is download and install the Google Toolbar. It is virus free and will not harm your computer. Once you’ve installed the Google Toolbar, go to your options and then go to the “autocomplete” tab. There you can write your fake name from before, your real address and your email address separately and save everything.
Then when you are on a website requesting that information, you just need to click the auto-fill button on the Google toolbar and the request form will be filled out automatically. This means that without auto-complete it may take more than an hour to request 10 free samples, but with that the same amount of request could take less than 5 minutes. So it’s just a matter of setting aside 5-10 minutes every day to order each new sample you see. If you are consistent about it, you will have more than enough requests to turn the odds in your favor. Then your daily mailbox visits will be like an exciting free sample lottery. Some days you will win and there will be a gift for you. Other days there will be nothing. But it is always exciting and you never know what you are going to find!