Free After Rebate: With this method, you pay for product up front and then send in some type of proof of purchase (usually a bar code accompanied by receipt) to get a rebate on money you paid. While these look great while purchasing product, it's important to read fine print and terms before proceeding to purchase. Chances are there will be some restrictions which may make getting rebate difficult. You want to take time to know that you will qualify for rebate and can receive it with relatively little work before you buy. If you don't, you may find that freebie is not so free after all.

Free Trial: This freebie gives you a product or service at no cost for a certain period of time. Two classic examples are one month free memberships or three free issues of a magazine. As with a free sample, companies hope that once you begin using their product or service, you will continue to do so.

The point to be careful about in regards to these free offers is that you are usually required to cancel membership or subscription once free trial period is over. If you don't, then you will automatically begin being billed for product or service. It is easy to forget these dates and your free trial can become quite expensive if you don't religiously keep track of dates.

Free Reward: This is where you receive something for free after doing something or completing a task. A classic example is receiving something after filling out a survey or applying for a credit card. The issues to take into consideration and weigh are whether time spent doing activity is worth reward or, in case of filling out an application, will completing activity cost you in some other way down road.

Free Shipping: This has become mantra to selling on Internet. You buy product and receive free shipping. The problem here is that we all know that shipping has to be paid for somewhere, so you can make an educated guess that shipping fee is being passed onto you in some other form. Classic examples of these are "processing fees" or "handling fees" which are added to cost of product. Even when these don't appear outright, you can be sure that free shipping has been factored into cost of product.

As you can see from above information, free can actually end up costing you in hidden ways if you are not careful. In end, taking time to understand all information and terms associated with free offer is essential to make sure that free offer doesn't end up costing you more than if you had never pursued it in first place.

You may be thinking, these survey sites don’t want me taking up their time by signing up for their panels. They probably want professional people that know a lot. Wrong! Most want consumers; people like you who shop at supermarket, go on vacations, and drive cars. They probably need a large database of people to choose from from different backgrounds and ages. Case in point, I signed up for a site and signed my parents up. They send my parents more surveys than me even though they are in their 40’s and 50’s. So why don’t you go to one of sites and see how they present their advertisement for people to join their panel. It will usually say “Join our Panel” no catches or spam; and they mean it. I have accumulated best of best sites, so you will not be sorry. So sign up now and have a good time giving your opinions (as I am doing here). After seeing sites and signing up you’re ready to take next step of finally making money on web!

Danielle Watson is a student who’s been online since 1997. Her website is Survey’s Galore at http://www.webspawner.com/users/danie3304/index.html