Finally!

After several technical glitches, I finally completed the Free Flat Screen TV offer.

The free iPod offer is still worth doing, I completed mine weeks ago.

For folks getting started, the idea is that you sign up with either (or both) websites. You have to complete an offer and then refer friends who complete offers. Then you get the reward, an iPod or a flat screen TV.

The website makes money because it’s paid by advertisers based on getting people to sign up for their offers. That’ll almost cover the cost of each iPod or TV. Plus they know that lots of folks will do one or two offers and never finish, and they make money on the slippage.

The key is to take advantage of offers that don’t cost anything. The simplest one is to sign up for eBay. You don’t even need to provide a credit card or win an auction — you just need to place a bid (and I believe actually be the high bidder on something — it doesn’t work to be instantly outbid). So you can find something that requires a $1 bid but hasn’t been bid on yet and which will go for far more, such as a free Southwest Airlines ticket that’ll likely fetch $250. The only problem with using eBay is that if you already have an account you may not get credit for the signup.

I used the AOL Free Trial Offer. I have 45 days to cancel my AOL subscription at no cost, which I’ll definitely do.

The other offer I used (for the TV) was Video Professor. They send you software and charge you shipping. You can send the software back to avoid paying for it, and if you send it back you can also insist on a refund of the shipping charges. The advantage of this offer, even though it requires giving out a credit card number and accepting an upfront charge, is that it credits to your account instantly. Most offers take a few days and you have to wait to see if they’ve worked out properly. This one takes no time at all and you’re done.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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