After running Free Stuff Times since 2002, I’ve learned a lot about what makes signing up for free stuff actually work — and what wastes your time. Here’s everything I know about getting legitimate freebies in your mailbox, condensed into one guide.
Before you sign up for anything, create a separate Gmail account just for freebies. This is the single most important tip in this guide.
Why: Companies giving away free stuff almost always add you to their email marketing list. If you use your main email, your inbox will be flooded within weeks. With a separate account, all those promotional emails go to one place, and you can check it whenever you want.
Setup is free:
Pro tip: Some sites use double opt-in confirmation. Sign up, then check your freebie email account, and click the confirmation link to actually be entered.
Most freebies are sent by mail, so use your actual home or PO Box address. Companies do verify deliverable addresses to reduce fraud. If you give them a fake address, your free stuff just doesn’t arrive.
If you’re worried about junk mail at your home address: get a free PO box at your local post office or use a UPS Store mailbox. The cost is usually $10-25 per month and stops physical junk mail at your home.
The biggest misconception about free samples: they don’t show up overnight. Real free stuff timing:
If you ordered something three months ago and forgot about it, that’s exactly when it shows up. Set a calendar reminder for two months out so you remember what you signed up for.
Watch for red flags that signal a scam, not a legitimate freebie:
A legitimate free sample requires only your name, address, and email. If you’re being asked for more, walk away. We pre-screen every freebie posted on Free Stuff Times to filter these out, but always trust your gut on offers you find elsewhere.
If you’re claiming a lot of freebies, manual form-filling burns through your evening fast. Modern browsers have free built-in autofill features that work better than the old desktop apps:
Set it up once with your “freebies” name, address, and email, and most signup forms will populate with one click.
Different freebie categories need different tactics. Here’s what works for each:
Beauty samples: Sign up for brand newsletters and major beauty retailers’ birthday rewards programs. Sephora, Ulta, and Macy’s all give free beauty samples to members. Smaller indie brands often run “free sample with your email” promotions.
Food samples: Manufacturer websites occasionally have “request a free sample” forms when launching new products. Walmart’s app frequently has free product offers when you scan certain items. Costco gives out free samples in-store on weekends if you have membership access.
Free Kindle ebooks: Authors offer free ebook promotions for 1-5 days at a time on Amazon. Free Stuff Times posts these daily — bookmark our ebooks category. You don’t need a Kindle device — read free Kindle books on any phone, tablet, or computer with the free Kindle app.
Birthday freebies: Sign up for restaurant rewards programs at least 2-4 weeks before your birthday. Most chains require advance signup. We’ve documented dozens of birthday freebies — you can plan an entire birthday around free meals if you sign up for the right ones in time.
Free magazines: Many trade publications are free to “qualified” professionals — meaning anyone with a relevant business email or job title. The qualification surveys are loose. You can get years of free professional magazines this way.
Stickers and posters: Charities, advocacy groups, and small businesses send these out as promotional items. They typically arrive in 2-4 weeks. Stickers are great low-effort freebies for kids who want their own mail.
Sign up for new freebies daily for a week, and you’ll start getting mail almost every day a month later. Here’s how to scale up:
After 30 days, expect to be receiving 1-3 free items per day in the mail.
Yes. Every offer posted on Free Stuff Times is verified to be no-cost — no credit card, no shipping fees, no purchase required. We’re aggressive about pre-screening offers, removing “free with purchase” deals and any offer that requires payment of any kind.
Free samples are a marketing investment. A company spends a few dollars sending you a sample because if you like it, you might buy a $50 item from them. It’s the cheapest customer acquisition channel many brands have, especially compared to paid ads.
For mailed items, yes — your name needs to match what’s on your mailbox or the post office may return the package. For digital freebies (ebooks, software downloads, etc.) you can use any name.
About 10-15% of free samples never show up. Could be a shipping error, a discontinued offer, or an out-of-stock item. We can’t fix this on the brand’s end. Don’t panic if one or two never arrive — most will.
That’s why you set up a separate freebie email address (see tip #1). Don’t bother unsubscribing one by one. Just check that account when you want and ignore the rest.
Getting free stuff is a hobby that pays for itself. Done right, you can pick up hundreds of dollars in free samples, ebooks, magazines, and gift cards every year — for the cost of 15 minutes a day and some patience.
Free Stuff Times has been doing this for over two decades. Bookmark us, subscribe to the daily email newsletter, and you’ll always know about the latest legit freebies first.
Have a tip we missed? Email me at webmaster@freestufftimes.com and I’ll add it to a future update of this guide.
— Chris
Free Stuff Times, since 2002