Clearing Cookies

After you have accepted a trade agreement with another trader, and you are ready to go complete offers in order to go "green" you must clear your cookies so that the site is able to credit you with the green.  Once you know what offer you will be completing on a freebie site, clear your cookies, sign in, and go straight to the offer.  If you are going to complete two or more offers on one freebie site, log out between completing offers, clear your cookies, and log back in.

How to clear cookies:

IE6

Select Tools>Internet Options>General again.

Under the heading Temporary Internet files, click on Delete Cookies...

Click OK for the Delete all cookies in the Temporary Internet Files folder? prompt.

Click OK to exit.

IE7

Click on Tools>Internet Options>General again

Click on Delete button

Under the heading Cookies, click on Delete cookies

Click Yes for the Delete all cookies in the Temporary Internet Files Folder? prompt

Click Close to exit

Firefox 1.5 or earlier:

Open Mozilla Firefox

Click on Tools>Options>Privacy

Click on Cookies>Clear

Select OK to exit

Firefox 2.0

Click on Tools>Options>Privacy

Under the Private Data heading, click on the Clear Now button

Click OK to exit

Signing up to PayPal

One of the things you will need to get started in freebie trading is a verified PayPal account. 

PayPal is free and many of you who do your shopping online at places like e-bay or amazon will already have a PayPal account.  To sign up, go to their website HERE.  Once you are signed up be sure to verify your account (this may take a few days).  You verify your account by linking your PayPal to a bank account.  They verify your identity this way by transferring a few pennies into your bank account to be sure the account is real.  Once the transfer has occurred, you check to see how much was deposited, go into your PayPal account and tell them how much was deposited.  After this you are a verified member.

PayPal is a trusted website, and so long as you are not doing anything illegal or fraudulent to earn money then you will have no issues with PayPal.

Why do you need a PayPal account? 

This is the way other traders will pay you.  They use their PayPal accounts to transfer money directly into your PayPal account.  Once you have money in your PayPal, you can then use it to pay other traders, spend online wherever you wish, or transfer the money into your bank account to spend in the real world.

Why does it have to be a verified PayPal account? 

Being verified means you are more trustworthy and there is some recourse if you scam somebody out of their money.  Most traders will not trade with you or will not pay you if you do not have a verified PayPal account.

Why doesn't it cost anything to sign up for a PayPal account?

There are fees involved, but not up front fees.  When you use your PayPal to pay somebody else, or to buy something online, there are no fees attached.  But when somebody deposits money into your PayPal account, they take a few cents off of every dollar.  So instead of getting paid $23, you might get paid $22 instead because they took their fees out.  PayPal is an online bank, and like other banks is a business out to make money.  A few cents every now and then from one customer isn't much for that one customer, but it adds up over time for PayPal when they are taking an few cents a day from millions of customers worldwide.

Overview:

You need a verified PayPal account to get paid or to pay other traders.  There is no upfront cost to open an account or to spend money from your account, but when receiving money, they take a few cents out of every dollar.  PayPal is a trusted site.  Being verified makes you a trusted member because it makes you accountable for your transactions online.  A PayPal is a must have in the freebie trading industry.

Getting traffic to your trading posts

Once you start level two trading, the question becomes, how to do I get traffic to my trading posts?  There are a number of good ways to start your level two career off.

1) Make a free blog on a site like blogger.com or Wordpress.  These sites are SEO optimized and will get you out to the search engines.  Be sure to put labels in your blog posts that people are searching for regarding freebie trading.  Have good information on the industry in posts.

2) Make promotional and informational videos on freebie trading with links to your trading posts.

3) Make use of your forum signature.  Post pictures if you are allowed and links to your trading posts.

4) Be active on the forums you are involved in regarding freebie trading.  High posts counts show new traders that you are active on the site, as well as get your signature with links out to the masses.

5) Be active on facebook and other sites, and share with your friends and family how you've made money.  Offer to get them started in the freebie trading world.

6) When you go green as a level 1 trader, be sure to go green on sites that are reputable, have many offers to choose from, have good gifts to choose from with low referral requirements, and that have low green requirements with offers worth high credits.  Ex.  Don't go green on sites where you need 1 credit, and each offer is only worth .10 credits.  Sites with 1 credit requirement with offers worth 1 or .5 or even .25 credits are better and easier to go green on, and will be better for you and your referrals.

7) Offer high payouts to referrals.  The general rule of thumb on cash payouts is that you need to offer at least half.  If you are getting $20 then offer $10.  Most people offer more than half once they start making good money.

8) Offer monthly deals.  Some traders offer higher payouts on certain sites different months of the year.

9) Be available to referrals for help.  Offer them your IM so you can walk them through the process if they need help.  This is especially important for new referrals.

10) Be creative in advertising.  Write articles all over the internet about your freebie trading blog, post ads in Craigslist for free, or in other free advertising sites online.  Once you start making good money you might even consider putting cheap ads in the local paper.

Trading Forums

Calistyle101.com   This is where I got started.  They have some great video tutorials to get you started, and some awesome mentors.

Freebie Society  Because Calistyle101 charges $10 a month to be a level 2 trader, I eventually moved to Freebie Society where it costs nothing to be a level 2 trader.

Check back later for updates.