The Freebie Trading Industry: A World of Its Own
by Mike [The Prudent Geek]

Are you guilty of looking for a quick, get-rich scheme? Have you spent numerous hours researching money-making methods to only find that great flaws lie within them? I know I have; over the past several years, a lot of my time has been consumed sitting in front of my laptop searching for money making methods, business plans, and much more. However, I always end up disappointed as I come to the simple realization that many of the schemes I come across aren’t very profitable. In fact, many of them would cost me a great deal of money!

Well, that all changed when I came across the freebie trading industry in December 2011. When I was utilizing Yahoo! to search for keywords related to free products one day, I came across a forum post about the freebie trading industry. The thread poster stated that he was paying $18 for someone to “go green” on a website for him.

At the time, I didn’t know when the term, go green, meant; nor was I prepared to trust the thread poster. I decided to do some more research. I found that there are a lot of people that make a great deal of money working within the freebie trading industry – some as full time employment, others as supplemental income. They make money by paying people to complete affiliate offers under their referral link on websites called incentivized freebie websites (IFWs).

What is Freebie Trading?
          Are you looking for an easy way to make some extra money online? Well, freebie trading may be one solution. This source of income typically does not have to involve start-up costs and can result in immediate income. Alike most work-at-home business models, however, there are also several drawbacks. Before we get into all of those fine details, let’s take a look at what freebie trading is exactly to help you get a better understanding of it.

The Short & Sweet Explanation
          Freebie trading is the process of receiving money in exchange for signing up for incentives or for referring others to sign up for incentives.

For nearly all beginners, you will complete the following basic steps:

1)    Register on an Incentivized Freebie Website (IFW)

2)    Complete an offer or purchase a product

3)    Be paid by the person you traded with once they are paid by the IFW.

Geek Talk
            There are many companies that are trying to find new customers.  To do this, they offer incentives for buyers (i.e. free trials, discounts, promotional items, etc.) and referrers (i.e. cash bonus, free item, etc.). This same practice is occurring every day online. Companies are in contact with incentivized freebie websites (IFWs) to have their product or service promoted. The IFW offers rewards for users that refer new members to use a particular product or service. Once this practice has expanded and many online users (shoppers, work-at-home individuals, etc.) caught hold of the practice, online communities were formed to help streamline the process of referring people that are interested in certain offers that IFWs have available.

To help you have a better understanding of this practice, I am going to provide you with an example of a trade that I completed in the past.

On January 1st of 2012, I engaged in a trade with a trader named Scott. Scott was looking for a referral on one of his IFWs and I was looking for some quick cash. Prior to agreeing to trade with him, I looked at the IFWs offers. One offer on their website was to register for a chocolate tasting club. At the time, I was looking for a way to treat myself to some snacks with some money I received for my birthday and Christmas. I thought that a monthly order of chocolate would be a great idea.

To complete the offer, I registered for trial order of a chocolate tasting club’s service. The trial cost me $9.95. Once the offer was verified through the online credit tracking system, Scott was notified that I went green (completed the offer). He was then able to receive an incentive from the website; I believe he was paid $20 cash for having one new member complete an offer. He then paid me $17 for completing the offer.

Let’s take a closer look at the trade, shall we?
I paid $9.95 for chocolate.
Scott received $20 for referring me.
I received $17 for being Scott’s referral.

I made a profit of $7.05 after receiving chocolate that I paid for.

Scott made at least $3 for simply referring me; he may have made more money if he referred other people at the same time.

The Chocolate Tasting Club had a potential customer try their product.
In the end, it was a win-win situation for all parties involved. I do, however, have to mention that freebie trading is intended to be used by genuinely interested customers. I have only engaged in trades for products and services that I was considering to purchase and keep. In this case, the chocolate that I tried wasn’t bad. However, when compared to the cost of my local candy shop, it wasn’t worth the price.

Summary
          I have engaged in many trades over the past couple years for freebie trading. I realized that some of the products and or services weren’t for me. Without engaging in those trades though, I could have lost a lot of money through cancelling services I didn’t want or by being into a committed contract with that company for a certain period of time. In 2012, I received more than $200 cash and $1,000 worth of products and services – keeping approximately 80% of the products and services that I ordered. To me, freebie trading isn’t a full-time job or even supplemental income; it is a way of helping me afford products and services that I would have had to pay for anyway. I just gave a new company or brand a chance by receiving an incentive to give them a try.