There are always people out there looking for the bargains and free trials that abound – so what about free PS3 games and downloads? Yep, the same is true here as well. We have a certain segment of the society that is hyper attracted to “free” offers and because of it there will always be these types of free offers in droves. The trick is that you have to understand how to play the game and what the rules are if you want to venture into this and expect to come out without battle scares. So here are some of the top things to look out for in free PS3 games and free PS3 download offers.
1. Free is not always free. In fact, it almost always is not free. It is a play on words that you will see repeated over and over again. It works like this. The advertiser will tell you that you get a free product (in this case a free PS3 game or download) and that draws you in. But there will always be some fine print and in that fine print you will likely see that there will be hidden shipping and handling charges. Typically these are very nominal and are in the range of $3 to $7 – hardly extravagant. But they usually exceed the real shipping costs and are designed to recoup some of the costs of acquiring you as a potential customer or lead.
2. Beware of Hidden Free Trials. The “free trial” offers are the newest trend (though they have been around for a long time). The catch is that you may not have any upfront costs, though a $1 or $1.99 charge is more likely, or even a $3 to $7 shipping charge, but then you will have access to their product or service for only a very limited timeframe (ranging from 3 to 30 days) at which point you will automatically be billed a recurring monthly fee for their service that may be in the range $9 to $79 a month (or even more). The point is that they want you to forget about the expiration date and hit you with at least one monthly fee and hopefully you will like the service and stick around for more.
So how do you avoid these issues? Well, it is about being smart and patient. Take the time to read all of the disclosures. Yes, this is a big pain in the butt, however, it is the only way you can be truly assured of knowing everything that you are signing up for. Also, be very cognizant that if you give your credit card out, you will have to be very aware of the “free trial offer” tricks and make sure that you cancel within the trial period and keep written proof of that cancellation. This is your best approach to make sure you don’t get hit with a bunch of unexpected fees. There are also two other tips that may be very handy to you. One is to get a throw away email address that you use just for these offers so that you can clearly prevent a ton of spam getting to you and the second is to make a list of every site that you give you credit card to and list the amount and the terms of the free trial offers so that you don’t get confused later. Good luck.
