How I Got Three Free iPods

How I proved the skeptics wrong and got an iPod for free

2006-06-28 12:37

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March 18th, 2006

After reading this article in Wired News, watching some news stories (NBC news story, TechTV news story, TechTV follow-up), and Googling for a while, I decide that I'm ready to try out some of these freebie sites. I sign up for a site from Transcendent Innovations called FlashiPods4Free.com. For my "offer" I choose two trials of services that cost $1 each. These two offers gave me discounts to lots of services, and I even got $12 cash back from one of them as a bonus for signing up. So far I've already made a profit! Now I've got an account, I've done the offer, and so I will need to get some referrals. I decided when I started that I wasn't willing to beg my friends for referrals. This was an experiment, and I wanted to prove to myself that it was a legitimate concept before coercing anyone else into trying it. So what next? In my online searches, I have come across a few websites with huge communities of freebie enthusiasts who "trade referrals". Basically you sign up for one of their sites in exchange for a sign-up on one of yours. It's a great system because you don't have to convince your friends, and the people on the sites are already familiar with how the system works. There are some people who will try to scam you (by getting you to sign up for theirs without ever signing up for yours) but this is definitely the minority. Although there are some referral trading forums which require you to pay to sign up, I chose to stick with the free sites, Anything4free.com and FreeiPodGuide.com. (NOTE : As of October 2006, we now have a referral trading forum at FreebieScout.com! Check it out here : FreebieScout Referral Zone). These aren't just great places to get referrals, you can also get advice, see the proof from people who have already received their freebies, and make friends. I'd highly recommend checking these sites out even if you have other ways of generating referrals.

Over the next couple of months, I trade referrals to complete the requirements for a free 30GB Video iPod. I'll need 5 referrals so I set up some trades. As you do more and more trades on these forums, you build up a "Trade Record" which is a history of successful trades. As a newbie, my TR is low and I have to complete my side of the trade first. If you decide to trade referrals, my advice is to trade with people with a higher TR until you build up your own. You are less likely to be taken advantage of if you trade with someone with a good reputation.

May 24th, 2006

My fifth referral goes "green". This means that they have received credit for completing an offer. You can have a thousand people signed up under your referral link, but if they don't complete an offer you get squat! Anyhow, I have completed the requirements, so now when I check my account online I see the following :

I need to request approval, which means that they will check my account to make sure that all my referrals are legitimate. Once I click on "request approval" my account changes to the following :

June 5th, 2006

My account is approved! None of my referrals were disqualified, and in the meantime I've actually gotten a couple of extras from advertising my referral link. I now have the option to place my order :

I can check my order status at any time :

June 12th, 2006

My order status changes to "Shipping Soon" :

June 14th, 2006

My order status changes to "Shipped" :

June 23rd, 2006

My 30GB Video iPod arrives!

So was it really free?

I decided when I started that I wasn't willing to ask friends to sign up when I didn't even know that this was a legitimate company. As a result, I got my referrals via trading, and for every trade I had to sign up for an offer. Had I got all my referrals without having to sign up for other sites, my total cost would have been the $2 (for the two $1, 1/2 credit offers that I complete for this site), minus the $12 cash back from the Reservation Rewards offer - so I would have actually made $10! Here is my total cost of offers (note, these are in Canadian dollars) :

Galleria trial : $1.00
Reservation Rewards trial : $1.00
Reservation Rewards cash back promo : -$12.00
Poker Expert trial : $1.20
Privacy Protection Plus trial : $1.00
LifeStyle Rewards trial : $1.00
Tickle Chakra Online Quiz : $5.92
XHobatol Weight Loss Pills trial : $6.94
CellaDerm Acne Treatment trial : $8.11
Tickle Sex IQ Online Quiz : $5.84
Children International : $20.90
Total : $40.91

What I received : 30GB Video iPod (black), 15 capsules weight loss pills, 15 tablets multi-vitamins, 10 ml Acne treatment, and in addition I sponsored a 4-year-old girl in Columbia called Delia. So yes, it really does work! Sure, it cost me $40.91 to get an iPod for 'free'. But considering this thing retails at $350 plus tax, and I got some other products and services as well, that's pretty good. Remember, if you can get your referrals without trading and signing up for other sites/offers, your freebie will be almost $0.00.

Update : July 2007

Since writing this article I've received several other freebies, including 2 more iPods (another 30GB and an 80GB), a 22" flatscreen LCD monitor, a Nintendo Wii, Wii games, and an XBOX 360 Elite is currently shipping to me. In addition I've made well over $2000 in freebie sites which I finished for PayPal rewards.

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Comments

2007 October 1, 13:23 Justin wrote :
Thank you very much for this information. I too am trying to get referrals without bugging my friends to sign up. I will be trying this referral link trade system out and let you know how it turns out. Thanks again and take care.

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2007 October 27, 07:32 denzal wrote :
can i win it

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2007 November 2, 19:54 Shmeather wrote :
Im going to try this, after I convince my parents to use there credit card. :D

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2007 November 23, 22:31 Danielle wrote :
I'm a newbie, your artical is inspiring. :p

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2007 November 24, 00:38 FreebieScout Admin wrote :
Thanks Danielle! I was a newbie once too, I remember when I started all this I never thought that it would work, but it does! Good luck with your freebies, hopefully you will be posting a success story sometime soon.

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2007 December 26, 06:54 Giovanni wrote :
Thnx so much. This article is inspiring, cause i always thought these things didn't work. Thanks a lot. I'm gonna try it ryt now

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2007 December 29, 08:10 tulus situngkir wrote :
can i also win it?

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2008 February 7, 13:49 dude man wrote :
yay man i want a free ipod

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2008 March 16, 11:05 JC wrote :
Hey I completed yourfreevideoipods.com at 100% and they shipped my iPod touch but it hasn't arrived yet, I've ordered it 6 weeks ago...

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2008 May 2, 09:07 charlene wrote :
i love ipod touches

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