It seems harmless enough when you′re applying for freebies – free samples, free products, free downloads, etc. – to just give the essential details of required information and fudge a little here and there to protect your personal information (after all, who wants to subject themselves to all those calls and SPAM?). But harmless as it may seem, giving out inaccurate information in freebies offers and trying to trick the system could backfire big time – you may never get the freebies you seek and worse, you could blackball yourself from a company′s freebies list forever.

If you play fair, though, reputable companies will, too, and they′ll do their best to get you the freebies you deserve. It isn′t hard, either. Here are a few simple tips you can follow so that you don′t become a freebies blacklister:

• Respect the terms of the freebies offer; if the company can′t ship to a P.O. box, don′t give them a P.O. box number; if they don′t ship to your state or country, don′t bother
• Fill in all required fields; you′ll have to give a (valid) phone number and address if the company requires you to do so, or you can expect not to receive any freebies from that offer
• Give valid information; for one, shipped freebies can′t find you at a wrong address; the post office may not deliver if the names are wrong; and if a company can′t verify your information with a valid email or phone number, they′ll remove you from their lists
• don′t get greedy; one of the biggest reasons companies blackball consumers from freebies and free product offers is that they try to take more than their fair share. If a company states one per household, only apply for one; don′t try to get around it by applying for one in your name, your mother′s name, your children′s names…
• don′t make the mistake of thinking companies are stupid; they′re not; these companies are big businesses with big resources and they often share cheaters′ information. They can also tell if you are reapplying with too much frequency (like saying you have a newborn twice within a year)

As long as you give good information, you have nothing to fear from freebies promoters. They want you to play ball with them and they want to give you their free stuff; they just want a little something in return from you – some feedback, an email to market to, your opinion, you trying their products; freebies marketers are not out to blacklist you and do you harm. As long as you keep that in mind and don′t try to take more than your fair share, freebies will abound indefinitely.