The best example of a genuine free sample troll hailed from New York. Rather unusual was fact that this troll was a man. “Hello, my wife is throwing a shower for about 100 people and would like to order a huge assortment of soaps, but since she has never tried yours before she asked me to ask for a few samples to try, so if you could send me a few samples, I would appreciate it. The shower is in 3 weeks so if you could get them to me as soon as possible, I would appreciate it. Joe S.”

The man wanted soap favors supplied by various soapmakers from around world for free! He contacted handcrafted soapmakers from Canada, Minnesota, Georgia, Oregon and even Australia! Mr. S. tried to cater to greed factor by using term “a huge assortment” and he also wanted not just a sample, but also “a few samples.”

As Mr. S. used his work e-mail address I was able to contact his employers who promptly took action and an apology was sent.

Meanwhile, Bobbi from Canada still trolls internet in search of free samples as evidenced by this soapmaker back in June 2004: “I have gotten one from her. Wanting free samples and free brochures... Ummm one would think site she just landed on and went straight to contact page would have worked as a brochure...guess she was too busy to read…”

And here, by another crafter: “This gal was pretty obvious in trolling for freebies. This one basically just said give me, here's my mailing address.”

The anonymity of internet allows a ripe field of products to effortlessly harvest for those free sample trolls. But it also can enter level of conning as evidenced here: “I am an associate editor for [name], a national magazine. I am interested in featuring your soaps in our holiday issue. I am especially interested in wine soaps. Please let me know if you can send some samples.” Wanting to make certain this was legitimate; I called magazine’s office to confirm editor’s address and discovered that she no longer worked there!

One of most thoughtful free sample requests occurred last autumn with this pleasant missive: “The products on your site look fabulous, we would love to see some samples for editorial consideration. My address is enclosed below. In meantime, please let me know if you are interested in learning about various promotional opportunities available on our site including our upcoming holiday gifts section.”

The free sample troll had now escalated into someone not only wanting gratis products, but also wanting money from me in order to further promote them on her site.

Last month I heard from Denise, another free sample troll who was apparently unable to click on links to products that were clearly listed. “I wanted to know if you have [name of product] as I have very dry skin and looking for a good product for this. If you do please let me know prices for that.” I wrote back and gave her links. She immediately wrote back: “Let me send in my orders then for [name of product] and see how it works.”

Obviously that order never went through, as I didn’t get another e-mail from her. Just another free sample troll trolling for a freebie…