What is the best conga site to get referrals for www.FreeiPods.com and
other similar offers?

This looks like a scam.  I could be wrong.

Lots of people seam to have got their free stuff.

I don't think that they're a scam, but I DO remember that the group
that the free ipod people are with will harrass you, like there's no
tomorrow...VERY aggressive...

Hey listen , I am at work and my co-worker Melanie is sitting right
here , with the free ipod, all she did was go out post on bulitins
online, sold the blockbuster accounts, and got it. U have to be
carefull though you may sign up someone who has allready signed in a
blockbuster, and many others , once everthing was verified 1-2 weeks,
they sent it to her.I am holding and looking at it right now. For
harasssment call them and change you contact no. is what I would do.
But we figured out get 5 of your friend pay them the 9.99 blockbuster
first month fee , then cancel after 1 month and getting the ipod, and
woola 50 buck for a ipod. But I know of many people who start selling
things for the site but never get 5 or just forget.

It's a scam.

Here is how a standard "pyramid scheme" works:

The Original Bastard (OB) decides to cheat everyone.  He tells people
("suckers") that if they pay him $10, he will give them $30.

But there is a catch.  In order for the sucker to get paid $30, they
must not only pay $10 but also go out and find 5 more suckers to pay
the OB $10.

If this happens once, the OB has recieved $60 and paid out $30.  He
profits $30 net.

The original sucker profits $20 ($10 paid to OB, then $30 back) as
promised, but now the original sucker has become a Bastard themself
because they have now turned 5 of their friends into suckers.

This will continue as long as people are willing to become suckers. 
Some suckers will become profiting bastards if they recruit for the
OB.  But let's pretend the population of the world is only 7 people (1
OB, one original sucker, and 5 recruited suckers) to make things
simple.  The new 5 suckers don't have anyone to recruit, so they are
now screwed.  So at MOST only 1 out of 6 suckers will get what they
signed up (and paid in) for.  It could be even worse if the original
sucker didn't get all 5 people to pay in.  The OB would have a whole
pile of money and not have to pay anything out.

On thing to note is that SOME people very well may receive the
promised payout (unless of course the OB is short-sighted and just
collecting first-level sucker fees).  This does not mean it is not a
scam as you have seen above.


What about freeipods.com?  Instead of asking you to pay them money
directly to sign up, they want you to accept an "offer" of some sort,
most likely one that pays freeipods.com some kind of commission. 
Maybe it's even legal, who knows.


Use your own discretion, but if you sign up for this you are either a
sucker or a bastard.

http://www.freebiecongas.com looks like a well put together conga
site. It has congas for Free iPods as well as many other offers (Play
Station Portable, Mac Mini, iPod Shuffle, Notebooks, Digital Cameras,
etc) and not just from Gratis Internet.

The Free iPod Offer, and Why It Isn't a Scam.
http://people.bu.edu/jbrock/ipod_analysis.htm

dazzla-ga:

Despite the title of the article, it explains exactly how
freeipods.com is going to make a bunch of money while making it
impossible for most "members" (or whatever you call them) to get what
they signed up for.

It is a scam because it is implied in any offer that it is possible in
some way to get what was advertised.  In a pyramid scheme, it is
impossible for more than a fraction of the people who sign up to
recieve what they came in for.  Given the prize and what I hear some
of the "offers" are, they must be counting on a VERY small fraction of
total payouts, caused by the dead ends described in the article you
mentioned.

It is not a LIE.  They very clearly state the requirements in the fine
print and describe it accurately as far as I can tell.  That does not
mean it is not a scam.

The only way for it to not be a scam is if someone breaks the rules in
some way, or if the company has not calculated the value of their
offers to make a profit AND 5 out of 6 people don't mind signing up
and not getting anything.

Yes, some people will get free ipods.  That is the key to running a
successful pyramid scheme because these people will swear it "works".

I don't believe it's a scam, at for least the type that don't require
referrals.  It has been written up in reputable journals to be legit. 
It's actually an ingenious idea.  A company such as FreeiPod has
contracted with X number of companies to split the price of these
ipods.  So, if they have 10 companies, and the IPod is $200, it's
costing $20 per company per iPod.  The companies figure they pay that
in advertising costs per consumer.  So rather than place ads, these
companies have a much more direct way of reaching individuals.  In
reality, the iPod is really like $180, so FreeIpods pockets $20 per
iPod. (those are all fictitious numbers to illustrate how it works)

I take your point, their business model relies on few people
successfully completing the requirements.

However at no point do they promise anything other than that. They
make it very clear what you have to do. Of course they are not going
to give everyone an iPod because they could not sustain that and
continue to be a profitable business. I do not think it is sinister
that they are trying to make money out of this, as that is the reason
for every business (excluding not for profit).

Therefore I do not believe it is a scam because there is no deception.

What the link I posted shows is that this is a sustainable business
model. So you do have a chance of following this through, as Gratis
Internet should survive.

>Of course they are not going to give everyone an iPod because they
>could not sustain that and continue to be a profitable business.

Why not?   Everyone who signs up can get one, if the model is like
what I described.  It simply costs each participating company $20 for
each person.  It's "collective advertising" in a sense.  I think the
whole purpose of the referral system is simply to get more people to
do it.

To get an iPod you need 6 completed offers (yours plus your 5
friends). Gratis Internet may manage to get $20 for each of those
completed offers from their advertisers. That's only a $120 return for
a $280 iPod.

So they would soon go out of business if they gave everyone an iPod.
You just have to try and make sure you're one of the people they do
give one to and finding a good conga site helps that.

p1212-ga wrote:
 "I don't believe it's a scam, at for least the type that don't require
referrals."

If you get 5 people to sign up for an "offer" who are actually doing
it because they want whatever offer is being pushed, you could be
right.

But do you really believe that these recruits are signing up for Video
Professor or whatever because they want that?  I doubt it.  The
selling point is most likely that they too can get a free ipod if they
recruit more people to recruit more people.  What does the referral
page look like?  Do your prospects see a page of the "offers" you want
them to accept, or is the first page they see asking them to sign up
for freeipods.com in hopes of getting an ipod?

Of course the main goal is to get the free iPod. However if you were
thinking of signing up with Blockbuster, Netflix, Audible, etc already
then why not sign up this way?

You help your friend get something plus you have a chance of getting
something yourself. Where is the harm in that?

They're probably purchasing thousands or tens of thousands of iPods at
wholesale.  They could be paying $150 per iPod.  I don't know.  Either
way, you know the numbers are working out in the end so that all the
advertising companies are paying a cut of the price of the iPod, and
FreeIpod is getting their share.  Anyone who successfully completes
the offers gets an iPod, as advertised.

"Alternative motives" are something that are used all the time in
advertising.  "Come into the store today and get a free phone."  Most
are going in for the free phone.  If they happen to buy something
else, that's what the store is hoping for.  Same thing here -- sign-up
for 12 free CD's with BMG or whomever, and "we're hoping you stick
around for additional sales."

It's no more a scam than buying the Ipod itself, getting roped into
ITunes and Apple peripherals.

Of course they are trying to make money- but I don't think it is all
that deceptive to any moderately intelligent person.

The savvy can get a free IPod, but most wont put in the effort. That
is how they can afford to give out Ipods in the first place. Pretty
simple really.