Freebie Trading for Cash…?

Posted on February 5, 2009
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Because frugality can only get you so far, I’m always looking for new income streams. Earlier this week, I came across a short post on (link)Christian Personal Finance on trading freebies to earn extra cash. I like free stuff, and I like the idea of bartering or trading – one of my favorite books when growing up was Alvin’s Swap Shop. I don’t have speakers on my PC, so I couldn’t listen to the podcast, so I downloaded the report. It’s an interesting read, and I’m sure there are some people who actually make money doing this. It’s not something I’ll be trying any time soon though, for several reasons.

First of all, according to the report, you’re required to give “accurate” information when filling out the offers. I don’t have a problem with giving out my mailing address, but I have a huge problem with giving out my phone number. I work as a PBX technician at a community college, and bogus charges on phone bills by illegitimate companies is a problem that I deal with every single month.

Second, it seems that in order to successfully complete the offers, you must set up your computer and browser in such a way that it would be especially vulnerable to viruses and other mal-ware. If you have a spare system you can dedicate to freebie trading, this might not be a concern for you. I don’t, and I’m not willing to risk my home system.

Finally, and this is the biggy, participating in freebie trading requires you to give the companies either a live credit card number or a live ATM/debit card number. According to the report, the companies don’t allow you to use prepaid cards. Some of them even consider it “fraud” to use a prepaid card. To me, this is a HUGE red flag. If the offers are really free, then why do the companies need my credit or debit card information? Even if not completely free, for example shipping charges on an otherwise free item, what difference does it make to the companies what kind of card I use? Given this condition, I don’t think I would touch this one with a 10 foot pole.

I could just be overly paranoid, and I’d love to hear from people who have actual experience with freebie trading. For those who want to try it, I would make the following recommendations:

1. Have a dedicated computer and email account just for freebie trading.
2. Check your phone bill each month for unexpected charges. report any that you find to the phone company and try to get them reversed.
3. Keep a separate, low limit credit card to use for this activity. alternatively, keep a dedicated bank account with a really low balance.

When it comes down to it, there are many other ways of making extra money that don’t expose you to the risk that this method would seem to.

Cheers,

Ken

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