Are freebies really free?

if you're a regular visitor on our site, you will be aware that finding free stuff and samples is something we spend a lot of our time doing.

Clearly, we wouldn't be spending all that time looking for free samples and posting them on the site if we didn't know they are very much real and very much free.

How to get free stuff on the internet

Applying for free samples on the Internet is easy, as long as you know where to look. We look for the very best things for free on the Internet and feature them, nicely categorised, and all you need to do is visit our home page every day or look at our Latest Free Stuff page to see the very newest offers we've found today, or even better sign up to our mailing list to hear about the very latest alerts before everyone else.

Have a look at some free stuff we've recently received.

All you need to do is click on the titles that appeal to you and we will redirect you to the website that is giving away the free samples.

Simply follow the instructions on the site we divert you to and you will be in with the chance to get free samples, delivered directly to your door.

Why do comapnies give away free stuff?

Good question and the answer is simple - It is like advertising to them, only more powerful!

When brands run adverts on the television or in newspapers or even on the internet, they have no way of knowing if the people who looked at the ad actually bought their product and if they did buy the product.

That's where free samples play a big role. If a brand knows that they have sent out 100s or 1000s of free samples of their products directly to consumers, they can be quite sure that those consumers have actually tried out their product.

Have you had some freebie success? Please let us know on our Freebies You've Received Facebook Group.

This is the main driving factor behind brands giving away free samples on the internet. It's not much different to how some shops offer passersby free chocolates or drinks to entice you through their door, or how bingo sites give away free bingo money to encourage you to try out their games.

Giving away free samples is a very powerful tool for brands to reach new and existing customers and lure them back towards buying their products, and that's why there are so many things you can get for free on the internet.

What's the difference between a freebie and a competition?

When we label something a 'Freebie' it's because there are several of the same or differing products being given away. There is no set number that would make us decide whether to call something a freebie as opposed to a competition.

A standard competition is usually when there is just a single item up for grabs, such as 'Win a Playstations Games Console'!

However, if there were 20 Playstation games consoles to be won in a particular giveaway, we may call this a freebie because several people are in with the chance of getting their hands on a very expensive item.

If for example, there were only 20 packets of Doritos up for grabs, we wouldn't label that as a freebie because the total value of the giveaway is low, even though there are multiple packs being given away.

So, we usually call something a freebie if there are several items up for grabs that have a combined monetary value that is high, which makes it more lucrative.

Just as 20 Playstation 5s have a high value, 2,000 packets of crisps also have a combined high value, so that also counts.

Some free samples require a small payment

Indeed, some times companies that are giving away samples could ask for a small fee to cover postage and packaging. Technically, that means it's not free but what we've found is P&P charges are usually only associated with giveaways that are quite expensive to ship. If you consider a product could cost a company more money to post than the actual item costs them to manufacture or buy, it's reasonable that they would ask the consumer to cover that cost.

When we find a promotion that asks for postage charges for an item that clearly costs less than the actual item they are offering for free, we would usually not feature it on the website.

We apply for free stuff ourselves

We practice what we preach here at Offeroasis.co.uk, which involves applying for all the goodies we find out there if it's of interest.

There is limited time in the day so we don't apply for every single free sample we find out there but if we think it's a useful thing to have, we most certainly will apply for it.

Our success rate is quite high too because we are often one of the first to find new promotions and get our application in before they're all gone.

To put a number on it, a conservative estimate of successful applications that actually arrive through the letterbox is around 30%.

30% might not sound huge but 30% of 100 applications is 30 items bagged for 100% free!

Don't take our word for it though

Well actually, do take our word for it but it's always good to get a second opinion and you can get just that by having a look at our OfferOasis Facebook page, where our followers dedicated to finding things for free on the internet, post all sorts of stuff and they also often post pictures of the samples that they have received.

Proof of free stuff we've received

Over the years we've accumulated so many goodies, including stuff like tea bags, chocolate, cosmetics, detergent, toys and the list goes on.

Most of the stuff we get is used as soon as it arrives. Chocolate that land through the letterbox don't stand doesn't stand a chance of hanging around for long.

Recently though, we've been making more of an effort to document some of the goodies that have arrived through the letterbox by taking a picture of them and posting a news article in our news section. You can see some of the most recent ones below.

Some ffee samples we've recently received

• Playboy Perfume Free Sample
• Sensodyne Pronamel Toothpaste Sample Proof
• Our femfresh Soothing Wipes Sample Arrived!
• Sweet Pea Seeds Freebie Arrived!
• Britney Spears Fantasy Perfume Free Sample Proof

Don't give up on your hunt

Finally we just want to encourage you to never give up on your hunt for getting stuff for free because a penny saved is a penny earned and yes freebies are really free!