Getting Started with Freebies

This is probably a little beginner guide that I should have written right when I started the site, but alas, better late than never! I thought I would put together some tips for claiming as many freebies as possible as I have seen a few people disappointed that they haven’t received any free items yet.
1) Be Patient
The first step is really patience. Some freebies can take months to arrive, and some, as disappointing as this may sound, never show up at all. I would say that probably most of the time the people giving away the free items are simply overwhelmed with the response. I have seen some items where there are 20,000 items available and they can be completely gone in a matter of hours. It depends on the items, and where all they get posted online. I get a lot of freebies in the mail (usually several a day) but I don’t think that is a normal amount. With updating this site all day long, I usually catch items right when they are made available, and most of you all probably have a much more exciting life than me and don’t sit around and wait on free stuff all day!
2) Make an e-mail address just for freebies
This is one thing most people should do. If you are going to be claiming a lot of freebies, make an email just for them. Usually when you sign up for a free item, you are also signing up for an email list from the source of that freebie. If you are claiming a ton of them, you will quickly be overran with emails and find it impossible to catch up. I use an email address that I have just for sweepstakes and freebies and it is a method that I have found that works well. I don’t have to make up email addresses when a form asks for them, and I can always confirm my email quickly if it is needed.
3) Beware of fake freebies
There are an awful lot of fake freebies out there who just want to grab your email address and never send you a free thing ever. It is sad that people would do that, but they do. Here at Julie’s Freebies we try to vet each and every one of the freebies that we post to make sure that they are all legitimate offers, in addition, we sign up for EVERY SINGLE item that we post here.
Here are a few of the steps that are taken to ensure items are legit. If a company we do not know, or don’t recognize, we start by Googling the site. We check to see where else it has been posted. If a site has only been talked about on other free stuff sites, it is usually spam. We go even a few steps further. If a website with a free offer has a phone number, we call it. Fake offers are usually disconnected numbers. We also look up addresses on free offers. If you are signing up for an offer and it is from a big manufacturing company, their address isn’t going to be some shopping center, it will be a warehouse 9 times out of 10. We also look up the owner’s name of domain names, how long their site has been around as well as PageRank and a few other factors. Basically, we strive to make sure the offers that are posted, are ones that you can claim safely.
4) Don’t get discouraged
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get everything you order. We don’t, and no one does. It can be frustrating if there is an item that you REALLY want to get, but just be grateful for the opportunity to get so many great things at no cost.
Overall, I just love getting free stuff. It makes checking the mail so much fun, and instead of getting nothing but bills you can get some great products to try out. When I first started with getting free stuff, I was doing it just because I have always liked checking the mail. It didn’t take long to realize that trying out so many different brands and products would be so awesome. It is amazing how I go through stores now shopping, items that I have tried for free always pop out at me, and I have found some awesome brands that I now buy on a regular basis.

Some Recent Freebies