The Fate of FreePay?

I didn't see any discussion on this yet so forgive me if I'm blind and its been posted elsewhere

http//badmark.com/2006/07/28/Gratis+Goes+Bust+No+More+Free+IPods+FreePay+RIP.aspx

[quote65df22755d] Friday, July 28, 2006
Gratis goes bust! No more Free iPods, FreePay R.I.P.

Gratis Internet, the company that started giving away Free Condoms and earned their mark giving away Free Ipods, are closing up shop..

It appears that the breach of privacy lawsuit filed by David Spitzer, New York state Attorney General, affected them tremendously. Being an ex-employee of this company, I saw this coming 100 miles ahead, primarily due to the fact that they hired a COO from a completely different industry, who after 3 months, still did'nt understand how the company generated revenue! Just goes to show, a business model based on breakage, will eventually break.

All of my condolences go out to my ex co-workers, half of which were laid off this week. Peter Martin, one of the co-founders left the company last week.

Another internet saga comes to an end.

Gratis R.I.P.[/quote65df22755d]

fuck so does that mean that I wont be getting my 360 that i paid 200 dollars in refs for?

Link doesn't work..

It's someones blog.

http//badmark.com

Is there anything on this blog that points to him being a freepay employee? Other than his word?

I somehow have a hard time believing that....It could be that I just don't want to believe it because we might not get our gifts now....

Wouldn't it be illegal for them to not send our gifts???

i have a feeling that it isnt true cause i havent seen anything in the news.

I evened try to google it and still nothing.

You would think that with the first big freebie site going under that there would be something in the news or on the internet.

Well, now that he has "supporting documentation," I don't know what to think.

http//www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2006/mar/Verified%20Petition%20-%20Karen%20Geduldig.pdf

I better get my iPod.

that is so old ive seen that already

I know. roll

He was lead software developer for 8 months.

[quote08a1b974f2="Psyc"]Well, now that he has "supporting documentation," I don't know what to think.

http//www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2006/mar/Verified%20Petition%20-%20Karen%20Geduldig.pdf

I better get my iPod.[/quote08a1b974f2]
That's just the actual lawsuit document. Old news. We all know they were sued by Spitzer.

I'm less inclined to believe Freepay/Gratis is closing down at this point, but more likely just laying off excess employees. Much of that blog sounds like the speculation of a disgruntled ex-employee who just lost his job. Peons (if this guy was one) often are not privy to the business reasons behind their layoffs, so he could just be assuming that the company is going under when it's just "streamlining."

If Freepay/Gratis is in fact closing up (rather than just laying off a chunk of employees) I have not heard it. However if they do go under, I have a feeling it will not be because of this lawsuit -- there has been no trial and no judgement against them yet, these things take months at best, and usually years. No, if they go under, it will be because they have outlived the viability of their business model, and/or their management changeover from awhile back did not do so well, as alluded to by this blogger. When Gratis was the only game in town, and the freebie scene was not as widely practiced by us "professionals" as it is now, they had a good run. However the immense competition that has sprung up in the past year or two, combined with the proliferation of sites such as FiPG & A4F with a ton of educated users who drastically impact the level of breakage, was probably more than they could bear.

That is true, but that expiration policy must have put a lot of money in their pocket, yet they still seem to be getting worse.

they are having problems internally i do know that but as far as shutting down that im not sure of hopefully they will stay open..not only cause i want my nano and my desktop but because it would just suck in general

Think of how slow it has now, and now theyre laying off employees?

shit man i better get my 360

This is just badddddddddddd news (

It had to end sooner or later. FreePay isnt the only site though guys. They did have a big ego. There are alot more better ones such as My Network OC 123stuff Anygfit4free ETC.

FreePay will always be the best no matter how much they suck

i just want my 360, im drinking cause of that site...thanks freepay.....you failed me

[quotea32e49c4c5="bruman"]FreePay will always be the best no matter how much they suck[/quotea32e49c4c5]

loooooooooool.

lol what did it say because I get a 404

I WANT MY FUCKING CAMERA

what a bad idea. I must have like $300+ investing in Freepay right now.

Bah, doing the PS3 site was not a good idea. (

[quote35646cd7b2="ilanbg"]Bah, doing the PS3 site was not a good idea. ([/quote35646cd7b2]

Join the club.

I'm so glad I gave up the moment i saw their new "approval form" requirements. It was a signal that something is going to happen. Phewww, glad to have avoided this.

I really don't need to hear this is true....especially not now.

Hang on here.

There are other people on other threads here claiming that they got sent to vendor yesterday.

Maybe the doom and gloom is just a rumor...

[quotedbbba7cf72="dosangst"]He was lead software developer for 8 months.[/quotedbbba7cf72]

Do (did) you work for Gratis? With only two posts and the first to post the link to the blog in your first post, I am wondering who you might be. You might even be the blogger, who knows.

I also wonder how people found that obscure blog.

I personally think it's just old news drummed up to make current given most people's accounts in either processing, STV or not approved yet.

I'm thinking that if the wait is long enough (at least those of us waiting for nanos) that we'll get the new models. Wishful thinking, I know... but hey, looking for any positive in all of this waiting.

As for the expiration dates making big money for Freepay, I think they screwed themselves in this in that people will start doing the site less and less once they find out about how long it takes to get the freebie, the 90 day timeline.

Plus with other freebie sites out there that are very good in their customer service (I'll praise Trainn all over the place for their two day shipping after ordering), Freepay is left out as the one to avoid, at least within the freebie community.

So I feel that if Freepay is hurting money wise, it's due to two things
- the lawsuit from NY state
- the lack of people signing up

[quote2726271e0f="theman2005"]I'm so glad I gave up the moment i saw their new "approval form" requirements. It was a signal that something is going to happen. Phewww, glad to have avoided this.[/quote2726271e0f]

thanks for your positive contribution to a thread of people with that gut feeling that they are screwed

We're not screwed yet....keep on hanging on guys.

Yourgiftsfree is better, My freepay expierences were all bad ones, Even in their "prime" approval / shipping took minimum 3 weeks. Nowadays YGF ships in like 1 week tops and 123free the same. Trainn also ships within 2 weeks.

nothing personal against the unfortunate people who may not get their item but good fucking riddance

[quote410d409d69="icy"]nothing personal against the unfortunate people who may not get their item but good fucking riddance[/quote410d409d69]

Nothing like biting that hand that fed a marketing revolution.

A marketing revolution of losing money, I'm pretty confident, Everyone of those offers who are getting "leads" from incentiviced traffic, is LOSING money. They are paying out a good commision, and getting bad leads IMHO. limostli people sign up and do the C word once they get credit.

is there any possibility that if freepay goes under that we will be paid by freepay for our greens..or is that a dumb question?

[quote789a7caf25="zr2152"]is there any possibility that if freepay goes under that we will be paid by freepay for our greens..or is that a dumb question?[/quote789a7caf25]

I fucking hope so too.

I wonder why Jake hasn't been here? He could share a wealth of knowledge about freepays current status since he is now an X employee. Him being one of the recent lay offs.

Well, he wasn't just part of this forum. He'd post in other areas too (like Off-Topic), so I don't know why he stopped coming all together if he got layed off.

isn't AG of ny name Eliot Spitzer, not David Spitzer?

[quotea112e09267]It appears that the breach of privacy lawsuit filed by David Spitzer, New York state Attorney General, affected them tremendously. Being an ex-employee of this company, I saw this coming 100 miles ahead, primarily due to the fact that they hired a COO from a completely different industry, who after 3 months, still did'nt understand how the company generated revenue! Just goes to show, a business model based on breakage, will eventually break.
[/quotea112e09267]

Yes, it's Eliott Spitzer.

And how do you know Jake got laid off?

/\/\/\/\/\
Sorry to be off-topic, but that avatar is freakin hilarious lol , is that your cat?

Jake was not laid off, Freepay just had better things to have him do than help the very types of users they were trying to drive away (the ones that complete the site).

I'm amazed he was even here at all.

Not sure I believe that Gratis is going under, but anyway

up-to-date case information
http//portal.courts.state.ny.us/pls/portal30/CMS_DEV.RPT_FCAS_OPEN_CASEINFO.show?p_arg_names=enter_county_code&p_arg_values=30&p_arg_names=enter_index_no&p_arg_values=04012162006[]http//portal.courts.state.ny.us/pls/portal30/CMS_DEV.RPT_FCAS_OPEN_CASEINFO.show?p_arg_names=enter_county_code&p_arg_values=30&p_arg_names=enter_index_no&p_arg_values=04012162006

They're still in "special procedings," whatever that means.

Well... I stated before that this lawsuit was a bad thing as well as the change in managment. If a comptany like Metarewards can shut their doors after so much marketing success... then it's not totally unbelievable that Gratis would do the same. If they were smart they would shut their doors and file Chapter 11 but if they try to balls it out... they'd have to come up with programs to generate the revenue for the payouts... which may mean more waiting.

all we can do is wait and see. I have posted 3 support tickets in the past 45 days and none have been responded to. So i'm sure they have been kind of MIA and leading up to this, but the users are right freepay at one point in time was the best in the biz.

They had tons of "easy" offers like autovantage, and efax, and stamps.com always credited instantly or told you when they would. Their cust support was top notch and untill last november approved and shipped very quickly.

I've got a PS3 coming to me...

[quotee85eeec44d="ilanbg"]Jake was not laid off, Freepay just had better things to have him do than help the very types of users they were trying to drive away (the ones that complete the site).

I'm amazed he was even here at all.[/quotee85eeec44d]


Yes Jake was Laid off from Freepay's payroll. I didn't mean to impy he no longer spends time here due to being fired. He was removed from here to spend more time at work. Then Him and most of the CS staff was laid off this month.

i highly doubt they are going under. that would suck as i have a psp and ps3 coming, if it is indeed true.

i have a psp, ipod 30gb, and ps3 finished and processing, but ive pretty much written them off that they will never come. if they do get shipped, it will be like a surprise bday present.

[quote2cc379b511="Mikhail2"]Yes Jake was Laid off from Freepay's payroll. I didn't mean to impy he no longer spends time here due to being fired. He was removed from here to spend more time at work. Then Him and most of the CS staff was laid off this month.[/quote2cc379b511]
So how do you know that?

[quote2cc379b511="MyungChunHa"]/\/\/\/\/\
Sorry to be off-topic, but that avatar is freakin hilarious lol , is that your cat?[/quote2cc379b511]
No, unfortunately not. It would be hilarious.

It's a "Kitler."
Cat that looks like hitler lol
That one is the best one I've seen so far.

freepay isn't going down until sometime next year. that $20 million they made last year will last until then. well if jake has truly been laid off then I'm sure he's willing to come back and talk about freepay. lol probably more than willing to. lol

So many unfounded suppositions in this thread it's getting ridiculous.

Gratis did not make $20 mill last year. That was their revenue in 2004. Profit (or loss) = Revenue - Cost.

...well, its just a guy's blog...and I refuse to believe anyone who calls himself a "technologist"

[quote798999fec1="Crymson"]...well, its just a guy's blog...and I refuse to believe anyone who calls himself a "technologist"[/quote798999fec1]

On the other hand, I am a smartologist, so you know everything I say is educated and accurate.

[quote890aae9cdb="hehehhehe"]

I also wonder how people found that obscure blog.[/quote890aae9cdb] I originally found the info in a brief blurb on Valleywag. http//www.valleywag.com/tech/web-2.0/remainders-your-alter-ego-is-named-kind-of-a-dick-190704.php

Mind you I stopped dealing w/ Freepay/Gratis after they implemented the time limits and snail mail approval forms, so I don't care one way or the other how things go for them. When I saw that post, I decided to check and see if FIPG was discussing the blog since it makes some pretty severe claims.

Meanwhile, this is Mark's resume http//markbuckman.com/Resume.aspx