Do I have to pay taxes on money I earn?
Yes, if you earn over a certain amount of money in one year, just like any other form of income. It differs on different GPT sites, but is usually around $400-$600. Once you hit that limit, you must submit a W-9 form to the GPT site. At the end of the year, the GPT site reports to the IRS and you get a 1099 mailed to you.

Do I have to provide my real info on offers, or can I just make stuff up to get the money?
YES, YOU MUST PROVIDE ACCURATE INFORMATION! The advertisers on these sites are looking for real potential customers. You must provide valid information when filling out forms (your name, address, phone number, etc.). If you use false information, your GPT account will be deleted. *Any mention of intending to cancel orders or doing offers simply for money may result in your offer being denied or even having your GPT account closed. Try out offers that actually sound interesting to you!*

I don't want to give my real info because I don't want to get a lot of spam, phone calls or junk mail. Can I still do GPT programs?
Sure! You WILL get a lot of spam email, so make sure you set up some free email accounts. I haven't gotten any extra physical junk mail at my mailing address; they usually just stick to email. For phone numbers, using PrivatePhone by NetZero will allow any calls to go directly to voicemail online, so you won't be interrupted on your frequently-used phones.

Can I do offers from home and from my computer at work?
Yes, but you have to do things carefully. Read the terms of the GPT site when you sign up. Most will only allow one account per household, and only one computer per account. GPT sites track IP addresses in order to ensure that you don't have multiple accounts to complete offers numerous times - this is fraud and your GPT account will be deleted if you're found to be in violation. If you want to do some GPT offers in more than one place or on more than one computer, sign up for one GPT site at home and another one at work and be sure not to duplicate offers.
Do NOT let anyone else sign up for a GPT site on your computer. NEVER login to your GPT account from another computer.

I am in Canada. Can I do GPT programs?
Yes! Although most GPT sites are directed towards U.S. residents, Instant Profitz does have freebies and trial offers that are for Canadians only. I will work on finding some more sites for you guys, but start with IPZ and let me know if you come across any others. The Netzero PrivatePhone is only for the United States as well, but there are a number of companies who provide a similar service for a small monthly fee.

Sounds great! How do I start?

First, sign up at a GPT site. My favorites for beginners are Deal Barbie Pays and Instant Profitz. They're reputable companies who have been around a while and have good customer service. Sign up with an email address that you check frequently. Start by doing freebies. Once you're comfortable doing those, work on them for a month or two until you can cash out. Spend some of the money you just earned to buy a Simon Giftaccount, and use that card number to start doing trials if you like. (You don't ever have to do this; you can continue doing freebies, but you'll earn more money doing trials as well.)

Before you start doing freebie offers:

1. Set up some free email accounts with gmail.
2. Set up a free PrivatePhone number.
3. Get a notebook or an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of offers you complete.
4. Download Firefox for doing offers
5. Download CCleaner (for Windows users)
6. Download Roboform (for Windows users)

1. Email addresses:
When completing freebies, you will get a LOT of spam at these email addresses, so do NOT use your primary email address. Set up a bunch of free email accounts for completing freebies. Google mail is a great place to start (if you need an invite, let me know). Set up 4 or 5 different email addresses to start with.

2. PrivatePhone:
For giving out phone numbers, I recommend getting a PrivatePhone number from Netzero. It's a free online voicemail service with a local (to you) phone number. You are setting up a real phone number to give out on a GPT offer, but all the calls go directly to voice mail, so no one will call you at home on phone lines you use a lot. PrivatePhone emails you when you get a voicemail, and you can check your messages online.

3. Keeping track of offers:
Keep track of the offers you complete. If you're doing freebies, this helps you make sure you don't repeat one, especially if you're using more than one GPT site. *You are only allowed to complete each offer ONE time, ever, even if you find the same offer on a different GPT site.* I use a spreadsheet, but you could easily just write everything down in a notebook if you prefer.

In my spreadsheet I have fields for:
- GPT Site
- Freebie Name
- Freebie Family/Category
- Email Address Used
- Date
- Reward Amount
- Status (Pending/Accepted/Denied)
- Comments

4. Download Firefox:
In order to have offers approve, you must make sure you clear cookies in your browser frequently. This means that many other websites you visit often will make you log in again. For that reason, I like to complete GPT offers in one browser (Firefox) and do all my other websurfing in another browser (Safari, on a Mac). In Safari I can stay logged in to all the regular sites I frequent, and I know that my GPT approvals won't be affected. You can do this with IE and Firefox in Windows, too, or use any other browser for your surfing. I prefer Firefox for my GPT offers because it's very easy and fast to completely clear cookies and private data. Other browsers often hold onto things that make the advertisers' offer sites think you've completed the offer already, so they won't give you credit.

5. Download CCleaner (Windows users):
If you don't use Firefox, check out CCleaner. It's a free software program that clears your cookies and Internet history. I use a Mac, so I have no experience with CCleaner, but I know a lot of GPTers who use it and love it. They run CCleaner after completing offers instead of clearing cookies.

6. Download Roboform (Windows users):
Download the free program Roboform to help you fill out your forms even faster. Again, I use a Mac, so I don't have any experience with Roboform, but many GPTers recommend it.

Hints and tips on completing freebies:

1. GPT forums:
Once you've joined a GPT site, visit its member discussion forums. There are a number of threads with questions and helpful information. Start out by reading the posts that are stickied at the top of each forum.

2. Cookies:
In your web browser's preferences, find the privacy settings and set it to allow all cookies. GPT offers rely on tracking cookies, so allowing them will help make sure your offers get approved. This will NOT affect your security settings on your computer. After completing each offer, clear your cookies (in Firefox, go to 'Tools' -> 'Clear Private Data') or run CCleaner.

3. Freebie Groups/Families:
Freebies are split up by groups (like Brand Survey Panel or Consumer Promotions Center). If you're doing more than one freebie from one group in one day, make sure you're using a different email address, or the advertiser won't give you credit. For example, if you're going down the row doing offers from Brand Survey Panel, use a different email address for each one. When you switch to Consumer Promotions Center, you can go back to email addresses you've already used for Brand Survey Panel.

4. Gmail "Period Trick":
If you are using gmail addresses, you don't have to have 40 bazillion email addresses. You can use one address more than once to complete offers in the same group by inserting a period into the email address, then moving the period for later offers. The email address is still valid, but it makes the freebies think it's a new address. Here's what I mean:
I'll fill out a Brand Survey Panel survey with ilovegpt@gmail.com
then on the second BSP survey i'll do i.lovegpt@gmail.com
then il.ovegpt@gmail.com
ilo.vegpt@gmail.com
ilov.egpt@gmail.com
.....and so on...

Make sure you're keeping track of which email address you used last, so you don't get mixed up. As far as I know, this only works with gmail.

5. Wondering how far to go on freebie surveys?
They seem to go on forever! Most freebies only require that you fill out and submit the first and second page. If you see a message at the top that says, "Thank you. Your information has been received successfully," or you see a bunch of 'yes' and 'no' radio buttons with "skip" at the bottom of the page, you're done. You can close the survey window.

6. Another note on email addresses:
I know the email address thing can get kind of confusing. Here is how I use my addresses:
- Personal email address for all regular email - not used for GPT at all
- Second email address that I use and check frequently - used to login to GPT site accounts (like DBP or IPZ), also use for signing up for trials
- Number of additional email addresses - rotate through these to complete freebie offers (using the Gmail Period Trick)

To help you get the hang of this, let me walk you through completing an offer at Deal Barbie Pays:
1. Clear Private Data in Firefox (or run CCleaner)
2. Login to DBP in Firefox
3. Browse freebies until you find one you want to complete
4. Click on the link for the offer (brings up a new window - or tab, for those who use tabbed browsing)
5. Complete the survey or offer in that new window/tab
6. Go back to the window/tab where DBP is open and find the offer you just completed
7a. If it's a manual crediting offer, find the white text box labeled "Login ID" and enter your DBP username OR the email address you used to sign up AT DBP (*NOT the email address you used to sign up for the offer in the other window/tab!*); click "Submit this Signup"
7b. If it's an instant crediting offer, just click the "Mark as awaiting" button
8. Close the offer window/tab and Clear Private Data (or run CCLeaner)
9. Repeat the process!

Having fun? Ready to move on to bigger bucks?

Trials (money-up-front offers):

These are offers in which you try out either an online service (like Netflix and Entertainment Rewards) or a product (like diet pills or face cream). The payouts are often much higher than freebies, but they do involve some risk. Most of these trials will continue to bill you for the service or ship more products to you if you don't do anything once your trial period is up. Read the terms carefully to see what you're agreeing to.

Again, advertisers are looking for REAL potential customers. Try out products and services that you actually think are interesting. If you sign up and then cancel right away, this is seen as fraudulent and your account may be flagged and/or deleted. Really give these trials a shot and see what you think of the product or service. Many GPTers I know have remained Netflix or Blockbuster customers after completing a trial of their services.

Prepaids
Before you start, sign up for a prepaid Giftaccount from Simon Mall. It is a prepaid Visa virtual account that you can use for buying things online (or for paying for activation or shipping fees when doing GPT trial offers). You can put on any amount of money, from $20 to $500, and it's good for a year without any fees. The good thing about these accounts is that you don't have to use your own private credit card number, so you can avoid being wrongly charged & racking up fees. If you like the product or service and want to continue past the trial period, you can switch to a regular credit or debit card for future charges.

Some GPTers use other prepaid credit cards - many banks sell them for around $5. Most of them are perfectly fine, but you have to physically go to a store to buy them. Simon Giftaccounts can be purchased and received online much more quickly, but if you're out at the mall or bank anyway, you can certainly buy a different prepaid card to use. Read their terms carefully. Some prepaid credit cards allow insufficient charges to go through, and then you may have problems. Prepaid gift cards, however, will decline charges if your balance is too low.

A very small number of trial companies are dishonest and will charge your card even after you've cancelled. Most companies are honest, but there are always exceptions. If you're not sure about how reputable a particular trial company is, check the GPT message boards or ratetheoffers.com to see what kind of experiences other people have had.

Completing a trial
Read the terms of the trial carefully. Find out what they will charge you to start, how long the trial lasts, how to cancel, and how much they will keep charging you if you do not cancel and continue to use the product or service. If it's a product trial, find out if you have to ship the remaining product back if you cancel. Find out about all the cancellation terms.

If the terms are acceptable to you and any shipping or activation fees are less than what the GPT site will pay you for this offer, then give it a shot. Keep track of all this in a notebook or in an Excel spreadsheet. For each offer, save the following information:

- Signup Date
- Company Name
- Company URL
- Length of Trial Period
- Activation Fee or Shipping Charge
- Monthly/Weekly Fee if you keep the product or service
- Company Address/Phone # with Cancellation Instructions
- Reward Amount from GPT site
- Save and/or print out all the terms of your trial offer so you can refer back to them if you need to.

If you decide to cancel your trial, keep track of that information, as well.
- Date Cancelled
- Customer Service Rep you spoke to (Name, Employee ID #)
- Cancellation Confirmation #
- Whether you received an email confirmation of your cancellation

That's it! Happy GPTing!