Listia, another source for freebies

This next post is about an auction website where everything is free... well, free-ish.

Listia is a small website where you can both win real and virtual items (like XBox Live collectibles and subscription time) by bidding with a credit system.  You receive anywhere up to 500 credits just for signing up and a handful of credits now and then for using the website regularly.  Most of the credits that you could receive and use come from the things that you give away.  So the gist of the experience is that first you give a little, and then you get a little.

First, I should address what a "credit" consists of in this service.  Credits are both a measure of interest in the items given away and a measure of goodwill in the community towards the person giving things away.  Credits cannot be cashed out and cannot be given away, only used in auctions and sweepstakes.

In most auctions, people bid with money.  Real money.  Members of Listia do spend credits when they win an auction, but there is no clear cash equivalent.  If you wanted to buy some outright, Listia sells these at a rate of ten for a dollar.  You might suspect this means they are worth ten cents each.  You might also suspect your sign-up bonus is worth fifty dollars and the credits you receive now and then might be worth a dollar or two on a good day.  This is not entirely true.

No member spends credits like they are worth ten cents each.  On most of the auctions I have followed, even when there were only a few bidders, credits are treated as if they are worth about one cent each.  With certain items, Listia members become very emotional and spend credits as if they were only worth a fraction of a cent each, down to a hundredth of a penny.  To give a very clear example of emotion in action, Listia offers a couple of brand new items each month that attract up to a thousand different bidders.  An Acer Chromebook, which is worth about $350 or so, has been bid up to over 71,000 credits.  That gives us a ratio of about half a cent per credit.  With twelve days left to go, it is assured to rise further.

A broad and eclectic mix of things across twenty or so categories are added every day, so there is no need to become emotional.  Make several small, conservative bids and move on.  Be a good sport, and you are more likely to find a real bargain when no one is looking.

To improve your experience with this service, follow some of the same advice that you would use at other auction websites.

• Stick to trusted sellers, those members with a high level of positive, recent feedback
• New members with no feedback are the most likely to vanish, change their minds, etc.
• Read the shipping information carefully.  Some auctions offer free shipping anywhere, some offer free shipping only in the US, some will ask the buyer to pay for shipping by money order or PayPal, and some will only offer items for local pickup, which would require you to live in the same city.
• If the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.
• Credits automatically transfer to the seller after about nine days, so if things go bad quickly, ask for a refund before that time is up.

There are honest sellers.  I found one after a few false starts, and I won a new movie on Blu-ray for just over 2,000 credits, the equivalent of about $20 under most circumstances. 

If there is anything you are want to give away, this website may give you a few new options beyond a nearby dumpster or recycling bin.

Here is a short Pro/Con list based on being a member for a little over a month.
Pros:

• You can clean out your house without throwing many things away.
• You can get a few things for yourself for little or no cost

Cons:

• Someone has to pay for shipping.  It can get a little cumbersome to take a lot of small packages to the post office when you are giving things away.
• Not every member is honest, but avoiding new sellers puts the odds in your favor.
• Losing an auction at the last minute can be frustrating.  This is exactly what leads to the crazy bidding you want to avoid.

Free Money IRL

Wonderful things sometimes arrive in the mail without warning. I received two JCPenney coupons yesterday that will be a lot of fun to redeem. The first is for $10 off of any purchase of $10 or more, excluding sales tax. The second is for $10 off of any purchase of $25 or more. Both are wonderful reasons to be on this clothing retailer's mailing list, but the first is my favorite for obvious reasons - ten dollars of free merchandise with no catch. You can even use these on clearance items. In fact, that is exactly how I spent my last 10-off-10 coupon. I bought two shirts and one pair of jeans - all from the clearance racks - for about two dollars out of pocket.

Watch TV, Get Swagbucks*

Another way to earn those gift cards and other prizes on Swagbucks is through the “TV” page, which provides a large number of sponsored videos across ten categories, usually under five minutes each. The basic premise is that after you watch ten videos, you receive three points. There is even a progress meter to keep you interested.

The time involved is why I rarely do this, but it is a very low-stress option, while the surveys can be less pleasant. If any of the regular video collections are related to your favorite TV programming, then have fun. As of my last test, you can open another browser window or tab without disqualifying yourself.

This related video panel is the fastest way to navigate, with examples shown from the Food category.

The stand-up comedy videos under the Entertainment category are a relatively painless way to fill up that Swagbuck meter as quickly as possible, but it does depend on how bad the puns are. No matter what your choice of content may be, you can earn more Swagbucks like this at least three times a day. I haven't seen a daily limit mentioned anywhere.

* not to be confused with Jim Cramer's "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich."  

Cashcrate Clarifies Rewards for Search Feature

I haven't posted anything about Cashcrate yet because I am an extremely new user, but there is one element to their services that is related to my last few posts.  In March of 2011, Cashcrate released a browser toolbar and branded search engine with a $1 bonus for installation and use (20 searches required).  There were a lot of questions in the forum about how much and how often additional rewards would be available.

This was clarified yesterday, August the 4th, with an announcement posted to the home page that you can earn $5 each month for using their search toolbar.  The headline technically says "$5.00+", but you would have to log in every day of the month to exceed that amount.

I have been using the toolbar for about a month and have earned $1.50 on top of the original $1 bonus.  It's a start.  If you decide to join, please use the referral link to the right.

When Is The Best Time To Search?

 

There may be some curiosity about the best time of day to use a website like Swagbucks. When are you most likely to be awarded points? You are right to be curious. With perfect information, a good statistical analysis might give anyone a huge advantage

My answer will be one you might not expect. The best time to use Swagbucks, or any paid survey site, or any forum that gives away prizes, etc., is during non-productive free time.

Your job already pays many, many times more that you can realistically (and honestly) earn through most websites. Let's not even consider that to be some sort of free time. Even if the boss is making you mad today. Meals, exercise, and time with your children should also be off-limits. That is productive free time. When you are down to flipping channels or opening another bag of chips, we have reached non-productive free time. This is where you could do better.

With just a little experience, you will begin to see how you can put together a fairly productive “maintenance” routine that will give you a little something in just two to five minutes – maybe more if you are approved for a survey. After that brief window, your productivity will drop off noticeably. With Swagbucks, an hour could easily pass between awards for searching. I imagine the new Bing rewards program is similar, but that question is for another day.

If you sit on any website for too long, your little window of productive, fun, and even profitable time will slump back into non-productive free time. Let's pick on a better known website for a moment, like E*Trade. No matter how interesting your portfolio is, you will read everything you need to know about your stocks for the day within five minutes. After that, you're daydreaming about what you would do with even more money. There are a couple of ways to avoid that slump. One is to position the free time you use on a favorite website between two other activities that make you feel more active or alive, as in exercise and an amazing dinner. This would help you avoid the temptation to waste too much time. Another is to be a member of several rewards websites where you know a simple routine on each will consistently give you a small but measurable reward. That way, you might have several bursts of activity with different reward systems that bring up your hourly average a little.

My posts here will reflect that second strategy – using at least two websites, focusing on the easy money/points, and going back for time-intensive activities like surveys later. I don't expect to get rich – just to get a little something extra – and this is why I will be ahead at the end of the year when other people are burned out and frustrated.