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Mythbusting Thread : The Truth about Freebizmags (& Mercury Mags too) and Sponsored Sub Giveaways!
The Super Simple Guide to getting Freebizmags (And Mercury Mags) Subscriptions - the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Myths Busted! Ballons Burst! Check it out!
But before all that, here's a brief warning dated November 5, 2011:
NOW BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BUSTING OF FREEBIZMAGS AND MERCURYMAGS MYTHS -- -
Introduction: Freebizmagazines is a great site that offers "free" subscriptions to both Trade Magazines and Consumer Magazines. Mercury Mags is another one just like it that was begun by former FreebizMag employees. They earn their money by increasing the circulation of Trade magazines also known in publishing as Controlled Circulation Titles. To do that, they offer you good magazines, hereafter referred to as 'Consumer magazines' such as Town & Country Magazine, Guitar Player, Outdoor Life, MAD, VIBE, American Angler, American Cowboy, Cucina Italiana, Log Cabin Living, Elle Decor, Old House Journal, Upscale, Horticulture, Radar, Tennis, Computer Games, etc., etc.
Their goal is to lure you in with the free Consumer Magazine offer and then, while you are signing up, get you to agree to receive one or more Trade Magazines during the application process. All of us have fallen for this at the beginning because there are many myths on freebie sites about Freebizmags. I have believed some of them myself and even perpetuated a few back when I was still gullible. (please forgive me for I am heartily sorry and do repent).
However, it is my goal today to save you, the Noob, from all such myths and to keep your mailbox free of Silly Trade Mags (unless of course you actually WANT to receive Spot-Welding Illustrated or Miniature Vegetables Monthly)
Here we go -- How to get started:
If you are new to Freebizmags, find an offer that seems valid - One where experienced Slick Dealers say "Thanks, got it." Then, click on link:
Type in the name you use for mag subs and an email addy you actually check every day, preferably one you have set aside just for Freebizmags. You want a real email addy cuz Freebizmags sends account holders fresh links to free Consumer magazine offers at least once or twice a week.
Then, you are faced with the first hurdle: what to write as your Business info. You should be honest and try and figure out what to select for your own profession (something I did) .
UPDATE: Another slick dealer, Nightvessel, has suggested that I am trying to coach other Slickdealers to lie about their profiles to, in effect, get something they don't qualify for otherwise. Nope - nothing doing! Telling the truth about what you do in your profile gets you just as many magazines as you would if you simply made up a profile for the sake of ease of application. Let me be clear - there is NO advantage to lying or making up a profile. Whatever you enter you will still get offered the same consumer magazines unless you choose a profile that doesn't mesh with their software enough to allow that software to sift thru possible biz mag offers and toss some in your general direction, kind of like a fart on Monty Python! The only thing that would change with the profile is the Trade magazine titles they offer you. Therefore, there's no advantage in choosing one profile over another. Any profiles offered in this thread are for the purpose of showing you an example only.
In the past, many slick dealers have advocated using a Student Profile such as this one:
Keep in mind, however, that both FBM and Mercury have begun refusing the offer to students using the student profile. if you have a part-time job, you might wish to use that as your profile instead.
Student profile:
Other
.....Student
..........Other
...............Student
....................Student
UPDATE 7/11/06: The Other/Student/Other profile no longer seems to work and for good reason. Why would a company that makes its money referring you to Business trade mags want students to get their lure offers of consumer mags? Please use some other profile and stick with it if you want to be sure of being offered magazines. Use your part time job or the last job you held if you are currently unemployed. Really, it makes little difference what you use so long as it permits their software to toss some trade mag choices in your general direction, kinda like a fart on Monty Python. N'sM
MYTH NUMBER ONE: "There are special combinations that qualify your for certain FBM offers" (However, for some specialized titles, some users swear on their parent's graves that a specific profile might matter but this is highly debatable and unlikely... read posts to this thread for examples.)
>>>>BUZZER NOISE<<<<
Wrong! In general, there are no magic combos, just a couple of DUD profiles as reported by dozens of other experienced slick dealers. DUD profiles could be student profiles or Retired profiles. if you are a student and don't know what to pick, you may want to choose a profile that matches your part-time job, the last job you held or, the job you are educating yourself for. if you are retired, you might try creating a profile for your former profession.
Any legitimate combo should get you any mag if indeed there are subscriptions to be had. (This may not be true for a very few special mags, but it is true for the vast and overwhelming of them) It's best to stick with one profile that you find works well for you.
Not sure how to describe what it is that you do? Need a sample profile to look at? Well, here's one �and is an actual profile from my next-door neighbor:
Communications/Utlility
.....Radio/Broadcasting
..........Advertising/Sales
...............Avdertising
....................Account Manager
If you are a teacher this is one way to do the profile:
Education
.....Education
..........School/Library
...............Education
....................Educator
Okay ... now if this is your first try opening a FBM account, you will get a page which at the top SHOULD ideally show the mag you were hoping to get at the top of the page highlighted in yellow with a check next to the box. EDIT 1/02/08 Lately due to a software change, you have to manually add the check yourself. If you see that, that's a good thing. That means you will get the magazine if you can make it through the next few hurdles.
If you are a returning client, you will have been prompted to put in your password before you get this screen. Again, if the mag you were hoping for is pictured at the top of the page - YOU WIN.. you get the sub. now proceed.
Next you will see all these other options and offers. SAY NO TO ALL OF THEM. Make sure you check "No Thanks, or NO or "None of The above' to any and all questions. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO ACCEPT ANYTHING.. Not even the free sub to BabyTalk.. it will just side-track you with a bunch of qualifying questions. SAY NO NO NO To Everything!! Do not say "Okay send a letter to Washington on my behalf. Do not say YES to any sweeps entries or email newsletter subscriptions. KEEP SAYING NO! NO NO NO! Got it?? GOOD.
EDIT 2/07/06: Sometimes it is OK to say YES but only under very special circumstances. Please see the next post in this thread for the one time you can say YES. there isn't room here
You will also be asked to give the first letter of the State where you were born, the first letter of your dad's first name or some other piece of info which serves as an online signature that you are really you. Do it. You should not have to put the year of your birth if you followed my above instructions which were to SAY NO NO NO TO EVERYTHING! They only need that if you fell prey to the dumb offer for the Free career Kit. SAY NO and move on!
Say no no no, go to bottom of page click Submit.
If you are new, it will bring you to a page where you have to fill out your business addy and home addy. Fill them both out with the same address if you don't want to use your real business addy. You must put some business name and some phone number. I usually put my Area code plus all zeros. Then, under Alternate/Home address, I put my real address. It will ask you to enter a password too if this is your first time.
Remember, in the future, you will always be checking off 'SEND TO HOME ADDRESS" so it doesn't matter what business name you put. If you have no business just put in the word "Resident".
When you finish, check off 'Send to home address' and click submit.
You will get a confirming page showing where your mag sub is going and a button to click that says CONTINUE. Click it. That will bring you to a confirmation page that says THANK YOU... blah blah blah. Print that for your records. You are done.
Now, next time you see a FREEBIZMAGS offer, click on the link � fill out your name, email and profile (which you have made note of somewhere I hope), hit enter, then enter password. IF YOU DON'T SEE THE MAG YOU WANTED AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.... There are no more freaking subs - STOP THERE - DO NOT go on. If you go on, you risk accepting some dumb Trade Mags. Just because the link works and permits you to enter your info does not mean there are subs to be had. If you don't see the desired mag after you enter your password - No Mag Sub for you. Quit while you are ahead.
Class dismissed for now.
Next lesson:
What is that Akami Crap in front of the web address for FBM links?
Myths Busted! Ballons Burst! Check it out!
But before all that, here's a brief warning dated November 5, 2011:
|
Quote
:
BEWARE - Freebizmags has been sending out emails that are actually Fronts for companies they partner with. They offer a "FREE" mag but when you get to the end, you see it is either a "Perpetual renewal" (meaning, they auto-bill you each year) or.. there is a 99 cent shipping & handling fee atttaches as well as possibly a Perpetual renewal.Remember, check the deal out throurghly if it looks different from the usual Freebizmags or Mercury Mag format. In these tough times, even these companies are trying to squeeze an extra buck out here and there. We see Freebizmags doing it by FRONTING offers from other players such as MY BONUS CENTER whih is not THEM. However, they get paid a per cap fee for every sucker who buys one of those $5 a year subs that they could likely get free if they just waited a couple of days, weeks or months. Please read the fine print before posting offers with catches, folks. If it ain't directly from FBM, look closely. Again. Freebizmags has lately been trying to increase their income by FRONTING offers for other providers. BEWARE of that. FBM still offers plenty of decent, totally free mags but just like the TRADE MAGS (Controlled Circulation Publications) they toss in your path during the reuqest questionaire, they are now tossing in these "Partner" offers AFTER the questionaire and in emails to you. [COLOR="rgb(75, 0, 130)"]Be wise and Beware.[/COLOR] |
Introduction: Freebizmagazines is a great site that offers "free" subscriptions to both Trade Magazines and Consumer Magazines. Mercury Mags is another one just like it that was begun by former FreebizMag employees. They earn their money by increasing the circulation of Trade magazines also known in publishing as Controlled Circulation Titles. To do that, they offer you good magazines, hereafter referred to as 'Consumer magazines' such as Town & Country Magazine, Guitar Player, Outdoor Life, MAD, VIBE, American Angler, American Cowboy, Cucina Italiana, Log Cabin Living, Elle Decor, Old House Journal, Upscale, Horticulture, Radar, Tennis, Computer Games, etc., etc.
Their goal is to lure you in with the free Consumer Magazine offer and then, while you are signing up, get you to agree to receive one or more Trade Magazines during the application process. All of us have fallen for this at the beginning because there are many myths on freebie sites about Freebizmags. I have believed some of them myself and even perpetuated a few back when I was still gullible. (please forgive me for I am heartily sorry and do repent).
However, it is my goal today to save you, the Noob, from all such myths and to keep your mailbox free of Silly Trade Mags (unless of course you actually WANT to receive Spot-Welding Illustrated or Miniature Vegetables Monthly)
Here we go -- How to get started:
If you are new to Freebizmags, find an offer that seems valid - One where experienced Slick Dealers say "Thanks, got it." Then, click on link:
Type in the name you use for mag subs and an email addy you actually check every day, preferably one you have set aside just for Freebizmags. You want a real email addy cuz Freebizmags sends account holders fresh links to free Consumer magazine offers at least once or twice a week.
Then, you are faced with the first hurdle: what to write as your Business info. You should be honest and try and figure out what to select for your own profession (something I did) .
UPDATE: Another slick dealer, Nightvessel, has suggested that I am trying to coach other Slickdealers to lie about their profiles to, in effect, get something they don't qualify for otherwise. Nope - nothing doing! Telling the truth about what you do in your profile gets you just as many magazines as you would if you simply made up a profile for the sake of ease of application. Let me be clear - there is NO advantage to lying or making up a profile. Whatever you enter you will still get offered the same consumer magazines unless you choose a profile that doesn't mesh with their software enough to allow that software to sift thru possible biz mag offers and toss some in your general direction, kind of like a fart on Monty Python! The only thing that would change with the profile is the Trade magazine titles they offer you. Therefore, there's no advantage in choosing one profile over another. Any profiles offered in this thread are for the purpose of showing you an example only.
In the past, many slick dealers have advocated using a Student Profile such as this one:
Keep in mind, however, that both FBM and Mercury have begun refusing the offer to students using the student profile. if you have a part-time job, you might wish to use that as your profile instead.
Student profile:
Other
.....Student
..........Other
...............Student
....................Student
UPDATE 7/11/06: The Other/Student/Other profile no longer seems to work and for good reason. Why would a company that makes its money referring you to Business trade mags want students to get their lure offers of consumer mags? Please use some other profile and stick with it if you want to be sure of being offered magazines. Use your part time job or the last job you held if you are currently unemployed. Really, it makes little difference what you use so long as it permits their software to toss some trade mag choices in your general direction, kinda like a fart on Monty Python. N'sM
MYTH NUMBER ONE: "There are special combinations that qualify your for certain FBM offers" (However, for some specialized titles, some users swear on their parent's graves that a specific profile might matter but this is highly debatable and unlikely... read posts to this thread for examples.)
>>>>BUZZER NOISE<<<<
Wrong! In general, there are no magic combos, just a couple of DUD profiles as reported by dozens of other experienced slick dealers. DUD profiles could be student profiles or Retired profiles. if you are a student and don't know what to pick, you may want to choose a profile that matches your part-time job, the last job you held or, the job you are educating yourself for. if you are retired, you might try creating a profile for your former profession.
Any legitimate combo should get you any mag if indeed there are subscriptions to be had. (This may not be true for a very few special mags, but it is true for the vast and overwhelming of them) It's best to stick with one profile that you find works well for you.
Not sure how to describe what it is that you do? Need a sample profile to look at? Well, here's one �and is an actual profile from my next-door neighbor:
Communications/Utlility
.....Radio/Broadcasting
..........Advertising/Sales
...............Avdertising
....................Account Manager
If you are a teacher this is one way to do the profile:
Education
.....Education
..........School/Library
...............Education
....................Educator
Okay ... now if this is your first try opening a FBM account, you will get a page which at the top SHOULD ideally show the mag you were hoping to get at the top of the page highlighted in yellow with a check next to the box. EDIT 1/02/08 Lately due to a software change, you have to manually add the check yourself. If you see that, that's a good thing. That means you will get the magazine if you can make it through the next few hurdles.
If you are a returning client, you will have been prompted to put in your password before you get this screen. Again, if the mag you were hoping for is pictured at the top of the page - YOU WIN.. you get the sub. now proceed.
Next you will see all these other options and offers. SAY NO TO ALL OF THEM. Make sure you check "No Thanks, or NO or "None of The above' to any and all questions. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO ACCEPT ANYTHING.. Not even the free sub to BabyTalk.. it will just side-track you with a bunch of qualifying questions. SAY NO NO NO To Everything!! Do not say "Okay send a letter to Washington on my behalf. Do not say YES to any sweeps entries or email newsletter subscriptions. KEEP SAYING NO! NO NO NO! Got it?? GOOD.
EDIT 2/07/06: Sometimes it is OK to say YES but only under very special circumstances. Please see the next post in this thread for the one time you can say YES. there isn't room here
You will also be asked to give the first letter of the State where you were born, the first letter of your dad's first name or some other piece of info which serves as an online signature that you are really you. Do it. You should not have to put the year of your birth if you followed my above instructions which were to SAY NO NO NO TO EVERYTHING! They only need that if you fell prey to the dumb offer for the Free career Kit. SAY NO and move on!
Say no no no, go to bottom of page click Submit.
If you are new, it will bring you to a page where you have to fill out your business addy and home addy. Fill them both out with the same address if you don't want to use your real business addy. You must put some business name and some phone number. I usually put my Area code plus all zeros. Then, under Alternate/Home address, I put my real address. It will ask you to enter a password too if this is your first time.
Remember, in the future, you will always be checking off 'SEND TO HOME ADDRESS" so it doesn't matter what business name you put. If you have no business just put in the word "Resident".
When you finish, check off 'Send to home address' and click submit.
You will get a confirming page showing where your mag sub is going and a button to click that says CONTINUE. Click it. That will bring you to a confirmation page that says THANK YOU... blah blah blah. Print that for your records. You are done.
Now, next time you see a FREEBIZMAGS offer, click on the link � fill out your name, email and profile (which you have made note of somewhere I hope), hit enter, then enter password. IF YOU DON'T SEE THE MAG YOU WANTED AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.... There are no more freaking subs - STOP THERE - DO NOT go on. If you go on, you risk accepting some dumb Trade Mags. Just because the link works and permits you to enter your info does not mean there are subs to be had. If you don't see the desired mag after you enter your password - No Mag Sub for you. Quit while you are ahead.
Class dismissed for now.
Next lesson:
What is that Akami Crap in front of the web address for FBM links?
Created 06-13-2005
at 06:15 PM
by Nuala'sMom
If you purchase something through a post on our site, Slickdeals may get a small share of the sale.
Community Wiki
Last Edited by Nuala'sMom
August 23, 2011
at
10:55 AM
For the OTHER Mythbusting thread, go here to the sadly archived thread on REWARDS GOLD which used to be MAG CENTRAL. Sadly, it has now been archive but there's good and detailed info there. Please look it up when you are done reading this!
Mythbusting MagCentral (now RewardsGold) plus all about free mag sub offers how they work and why
http://archive.slickde
http://archive.slickde
Thanks Ganglia for updating the link back in March 2010
Mythbusting MagCentral (now RewardsGold) plus all about free mag sub offers how they work and why
http://archive.slickde
http://archive.slickde
Thanks Ganglia for updating the link back in March 2010
145 Comments
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This is most likely due to the sponsorship issue. It is crucial to keep track of who sponsored the offer you did under which FBM account. I keep a log book listing the name of the mag I ordered, the date I ordered it and the sponsor's name. If the mag comes up again with the same sponsor, FBM will NOT usually allow you to re-order that mag under that account but will let you order it under a new or different account that had not previosuly ordered it. If the same link and the same mag comes up with a DIFFERENT sponsor, you can usually order it under that same account.
For example:
If you ordered Horse Illustrated under an offer sponsored by Malaria No More and 10 months later, the same link gets posted again but you notice the sponsor is now Fandango, you almost always can order again without any difficulties because even though the link is the same, it is considered a new offer by FBM due to the different sponsor.
I have an account for myself and one for my husband and I usually ping-pong between the two and have never missed out on any mag that still had subs available.
Lesson to OP's all hot to post an offer: Please post the offer details including the sponsor in BOLD. It will get you more rep if that's what you're after. If you're just hoping to be helpful, you will be doing that too.
Personally, I refuse to rep anybody that just posts bare links to FBM offers becuase they are missing the point entirely - FBM recycles links - It's the sponsor info that matters.
Thanks again
luckily i dont think i did it bad.i did not sign up for any of the trade magazines however i became very confused when it came to company address at first i was going to put a fake address for business and my real address then choose send to home address but then started to worry that it may not work like that so i just put my home address as my business and clicked on send to business.Hope i still receive it i really really want the mags i subscribed for.Thanks for the post in the future i will be better prepared
thanks you sd for all the awesome freebies i am addicted lol
I'm kindda new here and I just wanted to ask how I can get my magazines for free without signing up for anything. I like FHM,Maxim,Stuff,ESPN the Magazine,Men's Health,Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. I would really appreciate it if someone can give me links or pointers. PLease.please,please!
thank you
I'm kindda new here and I just wanted to ask how I can get my magazines for free without signing up for anything. I like FHM,Maxim,Stuff,ESPN the Magazine,Men's Health,Sporting News and Sports Illustrated. I would really appreciate it if someone can give me links or pointers. PLease.please,please!
thank you
By the way, FHM and STUFF have ceased publication. Sports Illustrated never gives away free subs
See beginning of this thread for why:
Mythbusting MagCentral (now RewardsGold) plus all about free mag sub offers how they work and why
https://slickdeals.net/forums/t111530.html?
and ESPN does so rarely and usuaolly only thru loyalty points.
.
Anyone have any more questions about FBM AFTER reading through this thread from the first page, please post your questions here so we can have all the Q&A in one place
.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Anyone have any more questions about FBM AFTER reading through this thread from the first page, please post your questions here so we can have all the Q&A in one place
.
luckily i dont think i did it bad.i did not sign up for any of the trade magazines however i became very confused when it came to company address at first i was going to put a fake address for business and my real address then choose send to home address but then started to worry that it may not work like that so i just put my home address as my business and clicked on send to business.Hope i still receive it i really really want the mags i subscribed for.Thanks for the post in the future i will be better prepared
thanks you sd for all the awesome freebies i am addicted lol
If you do not have a business address, do this:
Title: Current Resident
Company name: Current Resident
Address: Your Home Address
Then for home address, just list your home addy.
When it asks which addy to send to, choose HOME.
If you choose business, the name of the company will be printed on the addy label which is why I recommend using the term : Current Resident instead of making one up., Honesty is the best policy, right? It doesn't matter to the FBM computer, it only sees words words words.
And now I'm wondering is it possible to know a history of my subscriptions on this sites -- Freebizmags and Mercury? Do we have any accounts like on RewardsGold.com?
And now I'm wondering is it possible to know a history of my subscriptions on this sites -- Freebizmags and Mercury? Do we have any accounts like on RewardsGold.com?
In a word.. NO. RewardsGold (formerly MagCentral) is an entirely different operation from Freebizmags or Mercury. In the 2nd post in this thread back on page one, there is a link to the Mythbusting MagCentral/RewardsGold thread. Click on that and read through THAT thread for some info about how and why THEY give out sponosred subs to the likes of you and me. They operate primarily as a distribution method and they don't make money the way FBM & Mercury do by prescreening applicasnts for controlled circulation magazines.
Mercury & FBM do not allow you to access your order history but they do encourahe you to print out the final confirmation page for your records in the event there is a problem. it is your only record of having subscribed.
You might want to start doing that - printing the final confirmation page and then using a 3-hole punch to punch holes in the lefthand side of the page. When you have done that, you can store the pages in a 3-ring binder for quick and easy reference to your past orders. You can then arrange them by date and use index pages to separate your Freebizmags orderds from your Mercury orders.
If that is too much for yo to bother with, you can keep a log book - something I picked up from other slick dealers years ago. Just used lined paper and keep a sheet like this:
Name of magazine---------Date Ordered--------Source------term of subscription (1 yr, 2 yr etc)
I keep separate sheets for each source myself but you don't have to. I find its easier to have one page for StartSampling, one for Value Mags, one for Mercury, one for FBM, and one for misc soruces.
Hope that helps!
.
Sorry to break this to ya, but most Trade mags DO auto-renew which is why we counsel people to avoid them. Even though they may send you a form once a year to fill out to stay on the list of qualified subscribers, they will usually keep sending it to you for a few years even if you ignore those forms. Getting rid of Trade mags is like trying to get rid of herpes.
For example: I stupidly sign up for Baseline back in 2004 and every6 months they send one of those forms attached saying "fill this out or risk losing your free sub" type deal. I ignore it every time and Dang if that stupid mag doesn't keep showing up! @#2&65!
Moral of the sotry - avoid the Trade Mags they toss in your path unless you want them forever.