Getting it free

April 23, 2006 1:52 AM

Looking for alternative methods for getting referrals for a "free ____ " program.

So I signed up for a MacBook Pro website that requires 20 referrals, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting them. (I know since Ask MeFi isn't an advertising site, I'll leave it at that and if you want to be awesome and help me out, email me)

Anyway, I saw sites on the internet that sell "guaranteed signups" for a certain amount of money. While I realize and accept that if I buy signups, it's not guaranteed that any of them will actually complete an offer and "go green", anyone have any experience with this type of thing?

Does anyone have any success stories or advice on how to most effectively get people to sign up and complete an offer, besides asking family, paying 1 person $25 to sign up and complete an offer, and (il)legally spam your referral link everywhere?

posted by beammeup4 to society & culture (6 comments total)

"I would like help enlisting others in a ponzi scheme for personal benefit. Can you help?"
posted by evariste at 2:49 AM on April 23, 2006

How'd you get tricked into signing up? Do that, but to someone else.
posted by moift at 2:59 AM on April 23, 2006

Does anyone have any success stories or advice on how to most effectively get people to sign up and complete an offer, besides asking family[...]

Why don't you want to ask your own family to join?
For the same reason, don't ask other people.
posted by lenny70 at 3:10 AM on April 23, 2006

Spend a few bucks and register a couple of bogus domains. Host those domains on webhosts that allow you to have dozens of e-mail addresses. Ask friends and family members if they'd be willing to help you out, and that you'll give them an e-mail address to use that you can delete once you've gotten your free "prize". For under $500 you can get five domains plus a year of $5/month hosting. I'm sure you can get yourself at least $500 worth of stuff in a year, don't you?
posted by Spoonman at 8:33 AM on April 23, 2006

Actually, I just did something like this - but instead of trying to leach my friends, I did exactly what this guy did, with the same company, and after 2 1/2 months and $150 bucks later (not to mention some crap pseudo-pharmaceuticals), I just got it this past Friday.

I'm doing the same thing with another site for a Razr Phone, but that one hasn't shown up yet.

There are millions of trading sites for those of you who want to still chase the unicorn of something for nothing. Just google the names of some of the popular companies. (I'm being intentionally vague here, as I don't want the googlebots/yahoo spiders finding this thread and ruining our little oasis here.)

My advice is to realize that while there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is such a thing as a heavily discounted lunch.

Oh, and that if you want something done right, do it yourself.
posted by plaidrabbit at 9:53 AM on April 23, 2006

I actually got my 60GB ipod video using those referral services. I'm not much help for you on the macbook front, but check the site to see if it has a bustling forum. That's usually a good sign (for me it was at least).
posted by heartquake at 10:49 AM on April 24, 2006