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Too_Good_to_Be_True
| Too Good to Be True??
Let's face it, not all people are good. I know what you must be
thinking, "What a pesimistic person you are!" However, there are
some facts of life we all just have to deal with. There are
people out there who want to scam you, spam you, or do whatever
they can so that they can make a profit.
I've been in the internet world for many years. I've learned
gradually over time how to tell the difference between when
something's true and when it's not. Here's a run-down of things
to watch for on the 'net when signing up for free stuff.
*!*! WEB SITE ADDRESS *!*! If you're signing up for a freebie
that's located on a page with the address of
http://www.geocities.com/~bugger/freestuff/sign-up/candle.html,
chances are you're wasting your time. If they can't even afford
to buy their own domain name, how can they afford to produce and
ship thousands of freebies?
*!*! WEB SITE DESIGN *!*! This is just my personal opinion (of
course, this whole article is) and you many not agree with me.
When a page has no design or layout or color, but just some text
in a really big font saying "SIGN UP NOW!!", the freebie doesn't
look too promising or reliable. It seems to me as though they've
slapped a bunch of text on the page in two seconds, and they are
trying to get your e-mail address so they can spam you.
*!*! COMPANY NAME *!*! I look for this one a lot. If it's a
brand name such as Revlon, Pantene, Sprite, Yoo-Hoo, etc.., I
usually quickly sign up for the offer. These companies are very
reliable and trustworthy, and would almost never try and scam
you. If it's a company name you've never heard of, well that
doesn't mean they're bad people. It just means you should sign
up with caution.
*!*! LENGTH OF AVAILABILITY *!*! As I see it, the longer that
freebie is out on the market, the less chance you'll see it in
your mailbox. A good, quality freebie is uaully in high demand
with thousands upon thousands of requests per day. How can a
company afford to spend so much money? They only can to a
certain extent.
For example, the typical length for a free t-shirt offer to be
available is 1-2 weeks. By two weeks, the company has probably
gotten over 50,000 requests. Now, if they keep up at this pace,
they'll be bankrupt in a month. That's why the offer only lasts
a week; so they can afford it. Any longer means the company
probably isn't sending anything out. Hence, they're scamming you
just to get some information from you.
I'm not stating that everything I've said applies 100% to every
freebie or company. There are ALWAYS exceptions. Tons of free
offers are out there on the internet. You've just got to have a
watchful eye.
About the author:
Nicole Seekely is the publisher of The Panda Pages Weekly
e-zine. You can contact her at gymaholic7@pandapages.f2s.com
Also, visit her website at http://www.pandapages.f2s.com for
freebies, cool sites, and more. To subscribe to her e-zine send
an e-mail to thepandapages-subscribe@topica.com
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