Free Gifts Which Are Not Really Free

by 29 replies
34
Hi,

I'm a bit concerned regarding FREE GIFTS & CARDS after stumbling into quite a number of complains about it.

The usual complains are participants have to buy certain goods to get their free gifts. And such goods could cost more or the same or less than the promised value in Free Gifts or Cards.

Other complains are about the number of processes that an individual participant had to go through. Some upto 14 steps. During this process a lot of personal info have already been given out. And in the end, participants did not receive their gifts.

To the extend that some people really regard Free Gift & Card offers as scams. This type of generalization is unfair but is quite common among people from every creed.

IMHO, it is also not fair for participants in offer programs to want something for free and not giving anything in return. I think this is the nature of some humans wanting everything for free and being selfish to give.

I am bound to interact with all sorts of mindsets once I start my marketing in Forums, Groups, FB and Video channel communities

Can anyone address my concerns and share opinions? I need to prepare myself once I'm bombarded with amusing questions, cynical remarks, cunning wits and popular beliefs. I would like to be personal until I get so tired that I start outsourcing.

Newbies like me would appreciate some insights from seniors.

Thank you.
#ad networks (cpm/cpl, display) #free #gifts
  • Many of the offers are a bit scammy but you get to pick which offers you wish to promote!!

    Of course nobody is going to give out free $1000 gift cards or iPads for nothing, so there is an expectation that there is something more that needs to be done, be it signing up for all kinds of trials, buying other products, etc. At the end of the day, most of the offers probably do have a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is often a long, headache and possibly costly journey. The advertiser is only going to give out a $1000 ipad if he gets $1000+ in return, right. BUT, since many (majority) of people drop out through the tunnel, it doesnt necessarily mean the visitor needs to spend over the $1000 to get the $1000 product in return. Does that make sense?


    But, as I said, you decide where you want to play. I dont do those kinds of offers anymore for personal reasons mostly, but there still are people making a lot from them.

    My advice would be to take an hour and think about who you are and who you want to be. Only promote what you feel comfortable promoting which will be different for each person. A good test is whether you would be proud to tell your mom or grandmother exactly what you do!
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    • You are right about all this free gift away stuff online,, Most of them don,t give you anything all they do is get your name and email address
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  • I'm guessing you might be referring to e-mail submits? Part of me thinks "read the fine print" the other half feels for these people.. although the email submit thing isn't nearly as bad as some of the rebills out there.
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    • They are a scam. But anyone expecting to get a $500 or $1,000 free gift card, without giving something in return, is somewhat of an idiot. They deserve to get scammed, because they are the same type of people buying a $20 scratch ticket expecting to win $100,000.
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  • They ARE NOT scams.

    Free sites are acutally how I found out about the CPA world. You would not BELIEVE the stuff I got off them (after doing the CPA offers of course)

    Here is just a list:

    -the 6 year old laptop Im on now
    -the 27 inch TV Im watching right now
    -2 xboxes
    -over $300 cash
    -a generation 3 ipod

    and plenty more. People in college thought I was rich but I wasn't. I was using those free sites to get all my tech stuff!
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    • Thanks Cash. This is a major relief. I appreciate it very much.

      From the comments I read from seniors here, give me the impression that I ought to be selective if I choose to promote such offers.

      I'm assuming that the reputable Affiliate Networks are sensible in accepting advertisers based on some form of integrity indicators. They also have their image to safeguard. Afterall, trustworthy image is the most important selling factor, if long-term business is the goal.

      I don't know, I'm just assuming. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
    • Let me correct this guy by saying, most of them aren't. There have been companies running freebie offers that don't deliver on their promises even AFTER the customer does all the required steps.

      That being said, if your wanting to promote this offer and worried they won't hold their end of the deal up, ask your affiliate manager if they've been around awhile and have a proven track record or not.
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  • The process is:

    Email/zip submit -> Long form submit -> Offers

    The email/zip submit has low value. The long form can be sold to insurance companies and other clients. The offers (which may involve a cost) is where they make most of the money. The company running the email/zip submit offer acts as an affiliate (similar) for the merchants of the other offers.

    As Kenster said, it's obvious that no one will start giving away computers, ipods and other gifts without making any money. However, most companies to deliver the gift if you complete all the necessary forms and offers.


    William
  • Most people get that nothing is *really* free, even something like Google Analytics. There is a trade off you are giving Google data in exchange or a tool to evaluate your web traffic. People assess what they are giving up and determine if the "cost" is worth it.
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    • Agree 100%

      Some people argue that its the consumers repsonsibility to read all fine print. The problem arises when many internet users are completely new and naive. Things are much looser in terms of regulation online but people newer to the internet dont always realize that.

      Many of us marketers have been online for years so its easy to forget the number of completely new people online every single day (mostly older generations).

      So its a tough issue
  • I'd say a good indicator of whether a particular offer is a scam is to see if they have a good rating with the BBB (ie. relatively few complaints compared to the volume of transactions, and if the complaints were resolved.) Of course, not all products related to CPA are registered with the BBB, in which case I like to google "(product name) scam" or "reviews" and if few (or no) relevant negative listings can be found, that means (at least for now) that the product is pretty safe to market. Or you could just order the free trial yourself and see what happens...
  • If not scams, because they do live up to the fine print terms, they certainly are deceptive.

    I didn't see mentioned the fact that they also profit from the great number of people who give up before fulfilling all of the requirements, the drop out rate has to be key having a profitable offer. It would be fascinating to here the actual percentage who complete the offer.
    The terms of the higher price $500 and up offers also require you to recruit around 1 to 3 others, who also have to complete the requirements before you collect, that's got to be a tough one.

    One convenient place to review such offers is one of the sites that kick back a little of their finder's fee, like cashcrate.
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    • While i believe its alright to go through the process to get the gift but if consumers have to pay more than what these offers suggest,then it will appear as a scam to them.The reputation of the merchants will be affected,consumers will stay away from such offers and if this practice get viral,then CPA industry may be affected by these scammy offers in the long run.
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    • Thanks for the advice Webapex. I saw that recruitment technique used in Step 2:
      > get some friends to join certain subscription and get a bonus
      > get some friends to participate in certain ways and that is considered as an action completed.

      That's called viral marketing and I don't see anything wrong with that. TV Commercials are even more deceptive.

      Talking about deception, lets take a look at how an Affiliate from MaxBounty raked in $170,000 through deception. I was like shocked on how he did it. He was like owning Facebook. hehehe.

      Facebook sued the guy in October 2010 and MaxBounty was also dragged along to court because of that.

      He really messed-up Max Bounty. Max Bounty is an oft mentioned Aff Network in WF and this case would be of interest to a lot of us here.

      I've never worked with Max Bounty before, so I don't know them at all. But they still have my sympathy because what they're facing right now is a potentially vicious giant who just OWNED THE WORD "FACE" as their copyright (throughout the world).

      Can you imagine the impact on Max Bounty caused by an affiliate's deceptive methods.

      Here's the link to the news report from Computer World.

      I hope my dig is useful.
    • This is true. If they actually live up to the fine print, then they really cannot be considered a "scam". However, many offers do NOT live up to the fine print, and they are all for the most part deceptive. Anyone with any common sense can tell that nothing is ever 100% FREE in business.
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