Different Internet Freebies

When it comes to the different types of freebies that are out there you have a huge variety of them to choose from. I have to admit I am a freebie junkie myself and have sifted through just about every type that you can think of.

If have had my share of successes in this area and my share of failures as well. I have received great freebies that I still use today and I have had to chuck some of those not great ones too. Just some of the freebies you can find on the net include things like:

- software (fax, email, burners, word processors etc.)
- gifts from purchases made
- electronics
- music samples
- movies and movie programs
- quickie items like clothing, household items
- wireless phones
- satellite dishes

These items don’t even cover half of what types of freebies you can get offered. You can get virtually everything for free if you search hard enough for it. Most people assume that getting some sort of freebie means that you will get the item at absolutely no cost.

Although on the surface this claim sounds great and makes total sense, the reality is that there are a wide variety of ways that the term freebie is used on the Internet. For the average consumer It's important to understand the different types of freebies that are out there and the meaning of each.

Free Sample

This is the most common type of freebie that most people will find when looking around. A free sample is when a product is given away with the intention of letting you try it to see if you like it. Let me tell you that in this case, more often than not you will actually be receiving a sample size as well. Think of Avon’s mini lipsticks that are good enough for about 4 real uses.

This happens because the manufacturer believes that in sending you a free sample of a product and covering the shipping costs will entice you to buy their product on a regular basis. Most of the time these do not carry any hidden costs. These are the best and most straight forward freebies that you will find.

Just know that some free samples are not free and require you to pay for the shipping cost. You know that commercial that you see with the free full size bottle of the “focus” pills? That is my case in point.

Free With Postage or SASE

This type of freebie is when you are offered a free sample of a product, but you're required to pay the postage of the item or send a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE) if you are going to receive it. This sounds pretty straight forward right?

What you have to watch our for in this case is that the site providing the freebie isn't hiding the actual cost of the product within the shipping charge. A good thing for the average consumer to note is that the legitimate offers are usually much better than the ones that you can get from a free sample with free shipping.

Free With Purchase

This is actually pretty straight forward because it is very simple. Basically for this freebie you receive an extra something for free when you purchase a certain product. It is generally a like object such as if you buy a set of cosmetics, you get a free carrying case for them. While these can be good deals if you were planning to buy the main product being sold anyways, however it is pointless if you don’t really need the main item. Don’t buy it if you don’t need it just because it comes with a free product.

Free After Rebate

Like I said above, this is where you start off by paying full price for the product and then are able to send in some type of proof of purchase in order for you to get your money back. While these can be a great deal if you actually go through all the steps to get your rebate, they are often more trouble than they are worth.

It's also important for you to read the fine print and terms of service thoroughly before making the purchase. There is a good chance that you will find some restrictions which can make getting the rebate difficult.

Free on a Trial basis

This is just annoying because for this you get a product or service for free but only for a limited time. Two perfect examples of this are in the case of gym memberships where the first month is free with the full payment of a year’s membership or like you can get three free issues of a magazine with a paid subscription.

This is very process as you get with a free sample because the companies giving away the free trial are hoping that once you begin using their product or service, you'll continue to it for a long time.

Sometimes the free trial will be completely free with nothing for you to do once the trial period is over but that is rare. Most of the time you'll be required submit some sort of payment first so that you can try a product and then cancel the membership or subscription once the free trial period is over.

The problem here is that if you don't or forget to, then you'll automatically be billed for the product or service that you really don’t want. A good example of this is the case with the free AOL service for three months. Eventually you will be billed for it even if you don’t like the service simply because you forgot the cut off date.

Free Reward

The free reward lets you receive a product or service for free after doing something that the company wants you to do first. A perfect example of this type of freebie is that you only get the freebie after filling out a survey or getting cash for opening an account of some type.

For this freebie you will want to see if the needed task or obligation is even worth the reward that is being offered. This is just common sense. Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration here is that in doing the activity it may actually wind up costing you in some other way down the road.

Free Shipping on purchases

This freebie is basically the biggest selling point on the internet these days. Basically it just states that If you buy the product, you will receive free shipping when it is sent to you. For this you have to think that many of these companies will secretly include the shipping costs in the actual price of the item.

Either this will happen or you will be paying the shipping costs in another way such as by being charged extra fees such as processing fees or handling fees which are added to the cost of the product at the time of purchase.

As you can see there are quite a few different types of freebies and freebie offers. What we will be looking at in the next section is the common freebies that you can find and the many “bewares” that come along with them.

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