I have also included links to price comparison "bots" for airfares and products, and information on my site for other types of "freebies" such as coupons, freebies, and sweepstakes.

The final area I have included on my page is Internet-related. At first thought you may be tempted to spend large amounts of money to buy software for your computer, get an internet provider to host your homepage and give you an email account, and then on reference books or tutorials for how to make your page. But in reality all of these things can be encountered on the web for free or at a minimal cost; I have included links to all, as well as to ways you can use your computer to actually make money (typically by putting up with a small ad bar at the bottom of your screen).

My goals in writing this page were to learn/practice with frames, share some of my financial ideas, and put together a useful set of moneysaving tools. At the end of my page is a feedback form that you can use to let me know what you thought of my page or to report other useful links.

Note: In these listings I have marked my favorite sites with ; this is of course a very subjective rating.

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If you normally carry a balance on your credit card, the most important factor for you will not be rebates but the interest rate they hit you with. If your current card hits you with high interest rates, you may wish to consider switching to a card which offers you a lower rate. Bank Rate Monitor and CardTrak are two Internet sites that you can use to compare credit card rates. (Note: Many cards offer you a low promotional rate the first few months you have a card, and then the rate skyrockets. When you compare credit card offers you should be careful to look not only at the promotional rate but also at the rate you will have to pay after that.)

If you live in North America and normally pay off your balance in full every month, you can benefit from intentense competition among banks here to offer you rebate credit cards. Perhaps the most famous rebate credit card is the Discover Card, which offers you up to 1% cash back each year based on level of annual purchases. Interest rates for most rebate cards are relatively high, but this won't matter if you pay off your balance in full each month.

Because I live in university housing, I am able to pay my monthly rent (as well as food and almost all other purchases) with a credit card. By paying a $500 rent payment--which I would have to pay for in any case-- with a rebate credit card, each month I can get $50 in free long distance, $10 in free gas, or $15 cash back, depending on whether I use the Verizon (formerly GTE) Visa, Amoco Visa, or Associates Credit Card for students.

I am listing below my favorite rebate cards and also providing you with links to sites that specialize in rebate cards where you can view more complete listings. Note that I am focusing on cards that offer you rebates on "general purchases"; many cards, such as the gasoline company rebate cards or the Sony card from Citibank, offer higher rebates on specific products or specific brands. The exact rebate percentage you can hope for will depend on whether you use your card for "general purchases" or for purchases of specific products/brands, and on what type of rebate you want. Most people prefer cash back rather than free gas or long distance or other products, but most cash back cards give a lower rebate percentage. There is also a limited number of cards that give cash back on balance transfers; however, most banks do not offer a grace period on balance transfers, and many charge a transaction fee for balance transfers. You chould check into this carefully if you want to try this route. You should check any information on these sites with the card issuer before applying for any card to make sure no terms have changed. I am also including links to credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance; it is a good idea to check your credit report so you can fix any problems before applying for loans or credit cards.

Note: All the below cards have no annual fee.

Credit Monitoring Services and Identity Theft Insurance:

Credit Card Comparison Sites:
Bank Rate Monitor: The most extensive and detailed site with lists of cards. Also news and offers from card issuers.
Cardratings.org: By the consumer credit organization Citizens for Fair Credit Card Terms (CFCCT). Charts of cards that give something back, and of cards with low interest rates for people who carry a balance. Unique scoring criteria. Also, calculators, information on how to get a free credit report, and information on how to establish credit, credit card scams, and debt relief.
CardTrak: Lists of rebate and low rate cards. Also some news and offers from card issuers.
Credit Card Freedom - Post a Card Review! : A limited selection of card offers, with helpful explanations of the different card types. Message board. The most unique and valuable aspect is its consumer reviews of many different credit cards as well as its educational content about different card types.
Credit Card Goodies: By Peter Flur. Extensive analysis of cash back cards; also features an email list you can subscribe to for almost daily rebate card updates, or search the info. on the web site. Interactive cash back rebate graph.
CreditCardSearchEngine.com: Includes detailed credit card offers, educational information, and a credit card search tool.
Credit Cards Plus: Lists of cards by categories. Low promotional APR cards, secured and unsecured and student cards, USA, UK and Canadian cards; informational section. Note: They encourage you to apply for "one or all" of their cards. I do not recommend applying for all at one time, unless you want to damage your credit rating.
Credit Choice: Lists of cards by categories.
Eye on Credit: Lists of US, UK and Canadian credit cards grouped by Frequent Flyer, Cash Back, Automobile, Low APR, Bad Credit, Gasoline, Business, Student.
Free Credit Card Analyzer.com: Has calculators to show you costs of carrying a balance with different interest rates and different minimum payments.
Lending Tree: You fill out a short form and they send your information off to several credit card providers, who get back to you with offers.
StudentCredit.com: Specializes in student credit cards; also includes some consumer credit cards, including prepaid cards that can be used like Mastercard.
Xolia.com's Credit Card Decision Center: The good aspect is calculators to show you costs of carrying a balance with different interest rates and different minimum payments. Also, information on some cards that you can browse or that it recommends for you--however, be careful: the best cards that I am aware of at this time (7/2000) do not seem to be in their database and their tools were recommending to me cards that I know are not as good!

Credit Report and Credit Monitoring Sites:
Consumerinfo.com: Get a free credit report, online or on paper, and a trial membership in a credit report monitoring service. New (6/2001): Now you have online access not only to the standard 1-bureau credit report but also to a combined 3-bureau report. Check your credit report with all three major bureaus within seconds! Site also includes links to services for viewing your driving, social security, and medical records.
Monitrust.com : Order your credit report online. Choose from online credit report, one-bureau printed credit report, three-bureau printed credit report, and/or credit monitoring service (be notified if someone checks your credit report or if negative information is posted about you). New (5/2001): online 3-bureau credit report now available!
Equifax: Information Service Center at 1-800-685-1111
Equifax Credit Watch: Choose from silver or gold versions. Monthly service; discount for paying for 12 months in advance. Includes identity theft insurance, alerts to possible identity theft activity, and access to your Equifax credit report.
FreeCreditProfile: By TransUnion. TransUnion credit monitoring with weekly email updates; free 30-day trial includes online credit report, credit score, debt & income analysis.
QSpace: As of 11/2000, offer an online credit report, a 3-in-1 credit report, credit monitoring service, free credit analyzer, and a number of articles and additional credit education information.
TRW: Now Experian at 1-800-392-1122

Cash Back Cards:
American Express Cash Rebate Card or American Express Platinum Cash Rebate Card: No annual fee, introductory 5.9% interest rate. Annual rebate equal to the following percentages of your annual level of purchases: 0.25% for the first $2,000, 0.5% for the next $3,000, and 1.5% for purchases in excess of $5,000. If your account is carrying a balance, you will receive an additional 0.5% rebate for that billing period.
Associates Natl. Bank Credit Card for Students: 3% rebate on your net purchases, when you carry a balance from statement to statement. If you pay all of your balance except for 0.01 immediately when you make a charge, you can have no or virtually no finance charge and still qualify for the 3% rebate. Rebate limited to $20 per billing statement, $100/year. Coupons and other offers with your monthly statement.
Citibank Citi Click Platinum Select: No annual fee; 1% cash back automatically credited to your next statement. You are issued a Mastercard account number valid for internet and phone transactions but not a physical credit card. Includes best advertised price guarantee, money back guarantee on internet purchases for up to 90 days, and internet fraud protection.
Discover Card: The original cash back card. 0.25-1% cash back. No annual fee.
Farm Bureau Bank Credit Card: Earn a flat 2% cash rebate--the highest of any card currently offered (as of 6/2001)--if you allow the appropriate number of points to accumulate and then redeem them all at one time. Their 1-800 # is 1-800-492-FARM. The Farm Bureau Bank website does not have full details on the rebate program, but you can get more information by going to Credit Card Goodies and either searching or browsing through old issues of the newsletter "the Grapevine", or by clicking on "your best choice" on the Credit Card Goodies page to see a chart of rebate percentages for this and other cards.
Fleet Cash Rebate Card: Earn up to 2% cash back structured as follows: .25% on the first $1,999.00 of your annual qualifying transactions; .50% on annual qualifying transactions from $1,999.01 to $3,999.00; .75% on annual qualifying transactions from $3,999.01 to $5,999.00; 1% on annual qualifying transactions from $5,999.01 to $7,999.00; and 2% on the portion of your total annual qualifying transactions which exceed $7,999.00. For each calendar year, rebates will accrue monthly as of your billing cycle closing date and will be distributed within 45 days after that year's end. The maximum Rebate that can be earned in any one calendar year is $500.00. There will be no calculation or carry-over of any excess Rebate above that amount. Rebates earned of less than $1.00 will not be issued, but will be carried over to your next year's Rebate calculation. 2.99% intro APR for six months on balance transfers. (Note: The percentages above were accurate as of 8/2001. Fleet revises their rebate percentages for new applications from time to time, so when you apply you should check to see what percentages they are offering at that time.)
GE Rewards Card: Earn up to 2% cash back. There are rumors that they recently added a $25 annual fee to people who never pay any interest charges. This card has now been sold to FirstUSA and the old link at GE's website no longer there as of 2/2000. As of 2/2000, First USA does not have a page on their website specifically about this card and it is unclear if they are still taking applications; if you are interested contact FirstUSA and inquire.
Principal Bank Cash Back Reward Visa: Earn a flat 1.25% cash rebate on the Platinum card or flat 0.75% cash rebate on the Classic card, good toward Principal Bank products. If you qualify for the Platinum card and have it deposited into a Principal Bank savings or checking account this is a great deal, currently one of the best deals out there.

Gasoline Cards:
Amoco Visa: Earns 3% rebate on Amoco purchases; 2% rebate on general purchases (highest % for general purchases). Cap of $70/year.  NOTE: When checked 9/9/99 and 12/27/99, this link was no longer working and Associates no longer listed this card among their offerings. However, applications still seem to be readily available at Amoco service stations, or call (800) GO-AMOCO.
ExxonMobil Mastercard: Earns 3% rebate on Exxon and Mobil purchases; 1% rebate on other purchases. Formerly offered by GE; now offered by Associates National Bank. Click here to go to their website.
Phillips 66 Mastercard or College Mastercard: 2% rebate on Phillips 66 purchases; 1% rebate on other purchases. The Associates was bought out by Citibank, but as of 8/2002 this card was still available on their website.
Chase Shell Mastercard/Visa: Earns 5% rebate on Shell purchases; 1% rebate on general purchases. 5.99% intro APR. Must make 9 purchases at Shell stations per year to avoid an annual fee, but you can go cash in your rebates 9 times. To read more information on this card, click here.

Automotive Cards:
Autobytel.com Visa: 1% rebate on purchases bought from participating rewards partners toward the purchase or lease of your next vehicle through autobytel.com. Also, 20% when you dine at participating Transmedia restaurants, and 10% on 800-FLOWERS purchases.
Citibank Driver's Edge Card: Two versions. Charter: Earns 2% rebate but expires after three years; rebate good toward purchase or lease of any new or used car. Options: Earns only 1% rebate that expires after five years; can get cash back before rebates expire.
GM Mastercard: Earns 5% rebate toward a new GM vehicle; earn up to $500/year for up to seven years.

Free Long Distance:
Verizon Visa: Formerly the GTE Visa. Some of those who have had their cards for a while may get a 10% rebate; the applications they have been printing since Dec. 1999 or so offer a 5% rebate. Must carry a balance to get the rebate, but if you pay all but $0.01 immediately when you make the charge you can essentially eliminate finance charges on the carried balance. From Associates National Bank.

Other Rebate Cards:
Amtrak Guest Rewards Mastercard: Earn 2 points for every $1 in Amtrak purchases, 1 point for every dollar in other purchases, toward free Amtrak travel, hotel stays, Rental Car Rewards, airline miles, and more.
Citibank Sony Card for College Students or Sony Citibank Platinum Select Card: Earn points from general purchases, more points from Sony purchases, toward Sony items or movie admission to Sony theatres.
Ebay Visa: Intro 3.9% APR; $10 credit toward Ebay fees; 5% discount on Krause publications, Ebay store merchandise, and Ebay/Krause tradeshows. From First USA.
Hilton Optima Card: No annual fee; earn free stays at Hilton hotels and resorts. Earn two HHonors points per dollar spent with the card.
ITT Sheraton Starpoints American Express Card: No annual fee; earn free stays at Starwood hotels and resorts, air travel and car rentals. Earn one Starpoint per dollar spent with the card.
Kroger Visa: Earn 1 point per dollar in general purchases, 2 points per dollar in Kroger purchases. Earn 6000 points and get a $50 Kroger grocery certificate; other rewards include American Airlines certificates, vacation discounts, blockbuster movie coupons, Marriott Gift Cheques, and more.
NextCard Internet Visa : As low as 2.9% intro. APR, online account access, customize with any pictures you want; rewards program includes both free travel and other rewards.
United College Plus Visa: Earn 1 mile for every $2 in purchases; also 15% discounts on domestic travel on certain fares in United Economy, and certificates to save up to $75 on United Economy. See informational chart at Eye on Credit.

Cards that earn rebates on balance transfers: (none presently)

Low interest rate cards (for those that carry balances):

Note: If you carry a balance the most important thing to you should not be rebates but getting the lowest possible interest rate on your balance. The below are the best deals I was able to find when researching 7/2000. As you can see, if the balance is over around $5000 it is even worth paying an annual fee to get the best interest rate.

Bank	Interest Rate	Annual Fee	Cost (Interest + Annual Fee) if you carry $1000	Cost (Interest + Annual Fee) if you carry $3000	Cost (Interest + Annual Fee) if you carry $5000	Cost (Interest + Annual Fee) if you carry $7000
Arkansas National	7.92%	$50	$129.20	$287.60	$446.00	$604.40
Pulaski Bank	8.75%	$35	$122.50	$297.50	$472.50	$647.50
8.9% Fixed for Balance Transfers Platinum Visa or MC from Bank Of America	8.9%	$0	$89	$267	$445	$623
Visa Gold from Simmons First National Bank (Arkansas)	8.95%	$25 Arkansas zip codes / $35 non-Arkansas zip codes	$114.50 / 124.50	$293.50 / 303.50	$447.50 / 457.50	$651.50 / 661.50
Olympic Visa from Capital One	9.90%	$0	$99	$297	$495	$693
Fusion Smart Card 9.99% Fixed APR or ePlatinum- 9.99% Fixed APR from Fleet	9.90%	$0	$99	$297	$495	$693

Online sites of check printers selling directly to the public:
Artistic Checks: The only private check printer I have tried so far; seems to be a few cents cheaper than the others.
Checks in the Mail: Another private check printer with a web site; a variety of designs.
Current Checks: Another private check printer with a web site; a variety of designs.
Real Life Checks: Another private check printer with a web site; a variety of designs.
The Check Gallery: Another private check printer with a web site; a variety of designs. Environmentally friendly.
Y. Coles: Multicultural personal checks. Include designer deposit slips.

There are some disadvantages to buying stamps this way. For one, you have to buy the stamps in advance, because it will take them at least a few days to ship them to you. (If the company is backordered at the time, it could take significantly more time.) Secondly, in order to get a discount price, you must buy a large quantity of stamps (usually more than $10 worth), and the stamps will be older and many of low denominations. For example, to mail a letter, you might need to put 11 3-cent stamps on the envelope if the letter rate is 33 cents. But, if you plan ahead, and are willing to invest the additional time, this method is definitely worthwhile.

If you buy your postage stamps in advance from these dealers, you can enjoy substantial savings in your postage costs. The best prices generally come if you order a large quantity of stamps and/or if you order the lowest denomination stamps; prices vary somewhat from dealer to dealer so it pays to shop around. The cheapest company I found 7/99 (Unique Estate Appraisals) would sell you stamps at 87.5% of face value with an order of at least $10--if you were willing to put up with all 3- and 4- cent stamps. Most of the companies tend to sell mixed batches of stamps from 3-29 cents at 95-100% of the face value for a $10 order, and gradually give a greater discount as the amount of the order increases.

When rechecked 4/2000, Unique Estate Appraisals was still offering postage "below face value", but they were charging higher prices and tacking on so much for shipping and handling that the prices ended up the same as or higher than just getting your stamps at the post office. As of 4/2000, the best company for an order of $50.01-100 seems to be DJ's Stamps; the best company for an order of >$100 is Henry Gitner. When checked 4/2000, none of the companies were offering particularly great deals for orders under $51.

US Dealers:
 

Dealer	Payment Accepted	% of face value for different orders
Ann Arbor Stamps & Coins: Postage below face value	(unknown)	(unknown)
DJ's stamps: US discount postage	check, visa, mastercard, paypal	$10.00-$50.00 for 95% $50.01-$100.00 for 93% $100.01-$300 for 91% $300.01-$500 for 89% Add $1.50 per order for postage and insurance.
Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc.	check, credit card (Amex; Discover; MC; Visa) (2% fee added for credit card purchases)	$100 Face Value, postpaid for $91 (91%) $200 Face Value, postpaid for $179 (89.5%) $300 Face Value, postpaid for $266 (88.66%) $400-500 Face Value at 87.5% of Face Value + $5 flat fee shipping
Joseph Luft: Mint US Postage for sale under face	check only	98% ($25 order) down to 92% ($500 order)
Unique Estate Appraisals: Postage below face value	check, visa	$10.50 Face Value for $10 + $2.49 shipping (95.23% + shipping = 118%) $27 Face Value for $25 + $4.99 shipping (92.59% + shipping = 111%) $55 Face Value for $50 + $5.99 shipping (90.90% + shipping = 110%) > $100 Face Value for 89% of Face Value + $9.99 shipping Based on these current prices, I no longer recommend Unique Estate Appraisals for discount postage.

 

When selecting a long distance provider/plan, you should carefully consider your calling patterns. The best provider/plan for your neighbor may not be the best one for you. There are four basic types of long distance service that US residents may wish to look into: Internet Phone; Residential Service; Dial-around Service; and Calling Cards. Residents of other countries will want to investigate Callback Service.

Note: The below links are provided for your convenience only. I am not the provider of any of these services, and my description may be out of date or otherwise inaccurate. You should contact the company for the latest product information if you are considering any of these services.

Internet Phone: There is a variety of Internet Telephony products now available. For some of them, you must buy the program, then can make unlimited calls. For others, you can download the program for free, but then you must pay per minute if you use it to make calls. Others allow you to place free calls--but only to the US and a few other countries, and they typically display banner ads while you talk. Many of these programs will allow you to call PC-to-PC from and to anywhere in the world--but the other person must use the same program... Internet telephony products are sometimes touted as a way to make "free" long distance calls. Unfortunately, the products I have used do not presently quite live up to those descriptions: they are cheaper than most traditional long distance services, but the voice quality of the programs I have tried has not been the same (using a headset and/or additional card for your computer is said to eliminate echoes and improve the quality, but I haven't gotten around to investing in one yet).

Click2Talk: Allows you to add HTML code to your site so that visitors can click to call you in one step for free from anywhere in the world. Works to call phone numbers in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Not as flexible as some other companies because it will only work to call the one number you registered and put the code for on your web site.
Delta Three: Offering PC-to-phone service with a per-minute charge.
Dialpad: Site with a java applet which allows you to make PC-to-phone calls; also provides prepaid calling cards with competitive rates. This company at one point offered free PC-to-phone and PC-to-PC calls, paying for it with banner advertising, but when ad rates dropped in 2001, they discontinued this service. If you get an echo when making calls try turning down the volume of your computer's microphone and/or speaker, or using a headset.
Go2Call: Site offering (as of 8/2000) free PC-2-Phone calls not only to the US and Canada but also to the UK, Ireland, and Germany. Their other special feature is the CallFinder: enter the name of a country you are interested in calling, and it shows you (in order, least to most expensive) the rates for that country from different PC-2-Phone providers to help you find the best rate. [Note (8/2001): As of this date Go2Call is still in business but is no longer free.]
Net2Phone: Free download; charges per minute for any calls you make except 1-800 numbers. I tested this with a call to a 1-800 number and found the connection very bad. There is a card you can buy for your computer that is supposed to improve the quality.
Paltalk: Free PC-to-PC worldwide calls, video conferencing, group voice conferencing, instant messenging, group text chat, voice mail, and file transfer. Also allows PC-to-Phone calls (not free) through iconnecthere.com, powered by DeltaThree.
Pagoo: Free during their preview release: free internet phone number in the area code of your choice; voicemail, caller id and call forwarding; unlimited free domestic long distance calls while online.

Residential Service: Has a reputation for providing better rates than calling cards; I have found that typical residential service rates are significantly cheaper than typical calling card rates. However, you should not assume this as a matter of course; there are a number of extremely cheap calling cards out there, if you know where to find them. Residential service is not available to people in university housing (me), so I have not compared prices extensively (sorry).

dialfreecalls: The best rate I have found for US domestic calls: 5 cents a minute state-to-state, with no minimum usage or time-of-day requirements and no monthly fees (direct dial). Reduce your phone bill with calling credits you earn by playing games, referring friends, shopping with their merchant partners, or playing daily lotto. They also have a second plan available which has a monthly fee and adds additional services such as international calling, toll-free, calling cards, etc. Formerly known as 5centld.com.
CallCom International Long Distance: Lets you compare residential international LD rates from five different programs.

Dial-around Service: If you have residential service, but want to make a call with another provider, you can dial a certain number (usually 10-10-something) before the number you want to call in order to utilize the other provider. Many of the dialaround services are capable of saving you money on certain calls, but you should check into them carefully (watch for surcharges) before using them. You can't use a dialaround service if you don't have residential service.

Yahoo Index of Dialaround Services: Index to the web sites of a variety of dialaround services.
10-10PhoneRates.com: Provides comparisons of all major 10-10 and 10-x dial around telephone plans. International, in-state and interstate phone rates arranged to allow you to choose lowest cost.

Calling Cards: These have a reputation for being more expensive than residential service, but I have found a number of them that are extremely cheap. For example, AT&T's residential service cost per minute for a call to Ecuador is something like $1.50; VoCall has a calling card that offers a per minute rate of only $0.16.

dialfreecalls: The best rate I have found for US domestic calls: 5 cents a minute direct dial state-to-state, with no minimum usage or time-of-day requirements and no monthly fees (direct dial). Reduce your phone bill with calling credits you earn by playing games, referring friends, shopping with their merchant partners, or playing daily lotto. They also have a second plan available which has a monthly fee and adds additional services such as international calling, toll-free, calling cards, etc. Formerly known as 5centld.com.
Cognigen Rate Calculator: Compares rates from a variety of companies (including internet, residential & calling card); you specify the place you want to call to and the duration of the call.
Phonecards Prepaid Card Page: Compares international rates from a variety of prepaid calling cards. Volume discounts.
IConnectHere (formerly DeltaThree): Offers calling cards and PC-to-phone accounts at competitive rates (PC-to-phone cheaper than calling card).
MyFreePhoneCards.Com : Free phone card; option to buy more later if you are happy with the service.

Callback Service: The United States has intense competition between long distance companies, which results in some of the lowest rates in the world. In contrast, many countries (especially Latin American countries) have only one company supplying all of their long distance. Because this company has no competition, it has no reason to offer good prices and tends to charge rates several times higher than US rates. You can avoid having to pay your local phone company's high prices for international telephone calls by using a Callback Service: you dial a special number from a callback company and hang up after one ring. Because the call was not answered, there is no charge from your local company for this call. But the callback company detects that you want to make a call: it calls you and gives you a dial tone with a US line. You dial the number desired and talk, paying US prices. Because they are afraid of losing money, some local phone companies attempt to block callback; if your company blocks it, you can still use the callback from many companies by using the internet or email to activate the call.

CallCom CallNow Callback: Instant signup. Excellent Ecuador rate.
GlobalTel: Providing direct dial and callback services. You can trigger callback with a phone call or an internet form.
Global Telecom Solutions: Allows you to compare rates from three callback providers: Telegroup, CallNow and Sakon.
TelCan: Canadian telecommunications company. Good rate for Ecuador. Working on web and email callback triggers.

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Insurance:
Insurance Web: Compare insurance quotes from different companies.

Products:
Bottomdollar.com: Somewhat successful bot for finding the best prices.
Computer Shopper: From Zd.net. Allows you to instantly view/compare prices on zillions of computer items.
Excite shopping: Doesn't look for books and music but makes searching easy for other products.
MySimon: The best bot, querying over 1000 merchants, although occasionally misses a best price.
PriceScan: Select a category to search for an item.
SmartShop: An excellent price comparison engine, carrying over 1.5 million products. As of 10/2000, they listed 8,547,376 merchant offerings for 1,533,570 products. [note: This web site is a Smartshop partner. When you click on this link to make purchases, this web site will receive a 35% sales commission to support the continued development of the site and additional research in Ecuadorian Numismatics.]
WebMarket: Covers specific categories of products; search somewhat inaccurate; limited to certain categories of goods.
Yahoo Shopping: Comparable to MySimon but searches Yahoo merchants first; must do a second step to see the others.

America's Coupon Explorer: Coupons for stores in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Utah & Texas.
Choice Coupons: Money-saving discount coupons, local and national coupons.
Coupons.com: Allows you to print coupons online; for residents of USA, Canada, Sweden.
DVD Talk Coupons: Includes a number of online coupons, for book, music and movie stores, principally. Includes amazon.com, barnesandnoble, borders, buy, among others.
Kroger U-pons: Originally could request free Kroger coupons online and have them arrive in the mail a few days later. Now (8/2002) they have electronic coupons available--select the coupons you want and they will be automatically placed on your KrogerPlus card. Then when you buy the items and scan your KrogerPlus card you automatically receive the savings.
Coolsavings: Print coupons for your groceries or other items from your favorite merchants.
Couponclipper.com: Extensive online coupon site.
Moviepriceguide.com Coupons: Includes a number of online coupons, for book and movie stores, principally
ValuPage.com: Not exactly coupons but close: Present the printed ValuPage to the checkout clerk at a participating supermarket chain along with the brand name products you've purchased from the list. A special printer will issue you your Web Bucks, which let you save ON ANYTHING YOU BUY on your next trip to a store from that chain.
Yahoo Coupon Directory: Yahoo directory of various online coupon sites.
Yahoo Coupons: Online coupons from Yahoo.

Free-n-Cool: Lists on the web and available through email of free stuff, contests, earn-money-for-surfing sites, discounts, and many other categories.
Free Stuff Center: Extensive directory of free stuff online: freebies, coupons, links.
Ultimate Free Archive, The (TUFA): Iindex of free catalogs, magazines, contests, webpages, and more.
Yahoo Freebies: Results of search for "freebies" on Yahoo--many sites.
Yahoo Free Stuff: Category in Yahoo with hundreds of listings.

Particular Freebies:

Jobs Online: Browse thousands of online job postings. Also, job aptitude test, salary information, and other resources for job-hunters. Requires registration (free).
Mr. Wakeup: Free wakeup call service. Schedule a date and time, enter your phone number, and then go to sleep. Also provides news, weather, and horoscopes.
Paypal: Pay bills via email. Free service for personal accounts allows you to use your credit card or bank account to put money into your Paypal Account, then use the Paypal Account to pay bills via email. If you have a balance in your Paypal account, you can request a check to be mailed to you or can sign up to have the balance deposited into your bank account. Allows buyers to save time/stamps paying bills, and to use a credit card even if the person they want to pay normally doesn't accept credit cards (BIG advantage if the buyer puts it on a rebate-earning credit card such as those recommended in the credit card section of this site!). Allows sellers to accept credit cards without having to set up a merchant account (and therefore without having the bank take a percentage from them), and they don't have to worry about problems like checks not clearing, etc. They also have premier and business accounts with a small fee and extra perks for people planning to receive more than $100 sent by credit card per month.
Personalmd.com: Free service. Store all your medical records securely online; free emergency card; personalized health information and newsletter.
WebCertificate: Send a friend or family member an online gift certificate good at any store. They have two promotions for new members/new friends of members: 1) get free $5 gift certificates for you and for your friends; 2) buy a gift certificate of any denomination and get a free $10 gift certificate.

Get Paid for Adding Affiliate Links to Your Website (Webmasters):
cj.com : Commission Junction. Become an affiliate and choose from their more than a thousand merchant partners (1408 as of 7/30/2000).
LinkShare Referral Program : Hundreds of merchants to choose from.
TradeDoubler: Hundreds of merchants, multilingual site. European.

Get Paid for Answering Questions:
LiveAdvice: Formerly known as InfoRocket. Under their original model, people with a variety of questions ("I need to know how to do ... on my computer" "I need to know good places to visit in Rio"...) posted their questions and were willing to pay for answers. If you knew the answer and the poster accepted your price, you could be paid for your answer. Now they are geared more toward offering advice by telephone but the basic idea is still the same; if you are knowledgeable enough, sign up to be an advisor.

Get Paid for Completing Surveys:
Greenfield Online: Complete surveys for a chance to win cash and prizes. Cash credited to your IGain account, which is automatically created when you sign up.
ICameo: Get paid $1/minute while completing surveys; get paid 5% of the income of all of your direct referrals, 1% of the income from their referrals.
MyPoints: Get paid for visiting web sites, taking surveys, shopping, or accepting trial offers. Additional points for referring a friend.
SurveyPayDay: Get paid for taking surveys, website reviews, public opinion polls.

Get Paid for Having an Ad Banner Visible While You Surf or Use Your Computer:
CashFiesta: They claim they are the only site of this type with no hours-per-month limit and no limit on the number of referrals you can get paid for. Get paid for doing any activity on your computer while the FiestaBar is visible, as well as sending/receiving emails, playing games in the Fiesta Gaming Salon, referrals, and taking advantage of certain free offers. Current rates for the FiestaBar as of 8/abr/2000: $0.60/hour.
Spedia: Get paid to actively surf (expected to go to one new URL each minute), play games, receive emails, or sign up for programs (they claim you can make over $150 in one hour signing up for programs). Premium services (i.e. higher payout rates) if you use the SpediaBar a certain number of hours per month.

Get Paid for Listening to the Radio:
Cash Radio: Get paid for listening to the radio through your computer, periodically interspersed with commercial announcements. Apparently uses the same content provider as Radio Free Cash, but seems to also carry a few adult radio stations not carried by Radio Free Cash.
NetRadio: This company (as of 8/2000) was not paying people to listen, but in any case is one of the major Internet Radio transmitters with a huge number of stations available. All CDs played are also available for purchase from them.
RadioFreeCash: Get paid for listening to the radio through your computer, periodically interspersed with commercial announcements. Occasionally a pop-up box will appear that you will have to click on to show you are still there and paying attention.Will pay you $.20 cents per hour for every hour you listen, $.08 per hour for each first generation referral, and $.04 per hour for each of the next three generations of referrals; also if you have >150 referrals will receive free CDs depending on your number of referrals.

Get Paid for Playing Games:
CashFiesta: They claim they are the only site of this type with no hours-per-month limit and no limit on the number of referrals you can get paid for. Get paid for doing any activity on your computer while the FiestaBar is visible, as well as sending/receiving emails, playing games in the Fiesta Gaming Salon, referrals, and taking advantage of certain free offers. Current rates for the FiestaBar as of 8/abr/2000: $0.60/hour.
IMustLotto.com : iMustLotto $50,000 hourly drawings.
iwin.com-->Free stuff, games, and over $1,000,000 in Prizes: Choose from 42 different free games, including solitaire and Mah Jong solitaire. Play for ICoins, which you can redeem for tickets in their raffles for various prizes.
LuckySurf: A free lottery-like sweepstakes. Play once daily.
Lycos Gamesville: Play 17 different free games for cash and prizes, including bingo, slot machine, poker and blackjack.
Netscape Games: Play free games online and win cash, tokens and other prizes. Includes many different sports, action, casino and other games.
Prize Central: Play various free classic or casino games for tokens. Redeem the tokens for cash or prizes (as of 4/2000, 1500 tokens=$10 cash). [Please enter "" when asked for the email address of the person who referred you.]
Spedia: Get paid to actively surf (expected to go to one new URL each minute), play games, receive emails, or sign up for programs (they claim you can make over $150 in one hour signing up for programs). Premium services (i.e. higher payout rates) if you use the SpediaBar a certain number of hours per month.
Yahoo! Games: As of 4/2000 these free games were NOT awarding cash or prizes. However, Yahoo! Bingo was in beta test and supposedly will soon offer Yahoo! Points which can be redeeed for prizes.
 
 

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Get Paid for Receiving Emails or Opt-in Ads:

AddBonus: Get paid for receiving emails--50% of the revenues they receive from their advertisers. Refer friends and get 10% of the points your friends receive.
AllCommunity: Get paid to surf the web, visit advertisers, read email, or shop. Also get paid for 5 levels of referrals.
GiantRewards: You can log in and play the DailyRewards Machine every day for a chance to win
big points that can be redeemed for prizes. The points you accumulate when shopping, receiving e-mails, referring friends or playing GiantRewards games can be redeemed for Big Screen TV's, Trips, Electronics, Computers, Clothing and more. And don't miss the GiantRewards contests for a chance to win a new Mercedes Benz or Porsche.
InBoxCash: Get paid for receiving email and for referrals ($10 per referral). You determine the amount of emails you receive by selecting the categories that interest you and the minimum value of email you want delivered to you--from $0 (all mails delivered) up to $10 or more.
InBoxDollars: Sign up for free and get paid for each email you read (0.05) and for each email your referrals read (0.02). They also have an optional Gold Membership plan which costs a one-time fee of $15 but gives you a percentage of the referral income from people who sign up without specifying a referrer.
Mailclicker: Get paid up to 0.50 for each email your read, plus get paid when your referrals read emails. Get a check each time your account balance totals $25 or more.
MoneyWithMail: Earn money for reading emails and taking advantage of offers, plus $1 per referral. They give you your own web-based email account with 6 MB of storage space (compare with Hotmail's 2 MB). A partnership with Driveway.com allows you to accept 25 MB in online file storage space if you want to.
Readclick.com: Earn money for receiving emails and clicking on the link in each one, plus for referrals, and for your referrals receiving emails. Get paid anytime your account exceeds $50. You choose the categories you receive emails for.
SendMoreInfo.com: Earn $0.05 for each email you receive; $0.02 for each email your referrals receive.
TotalE-mail.com: Get paid for receiving targed emails, or for clicking on ads on their site. Get 10% of all advertising revenues generated by you, and 5% of those generated by your referrals.
TrocaMania: Site in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Accumulate "Trocas" for shopping online, visiting web sites, answering surveys, reading e-mails and much more.Your Trocas can be redeemed for travel, local and international gift certificates, magazine subscriptions, and even lottery tickets.
YoYo Mail: Free web-based email account; get paid to receive commercial emails.

Get Paid for Sending Emails:

(No companies currently in this category)

Get Paid for Running a Screen Saver on Your Computer:

(No items currently in this category.)

Get Paid for Using Your Computer's Idle Time to Perform Calculations:

(No items currently in this category.)

Get Paid for Visiting Web Sites:
MyPoints: Get paid for visiting web sites, taking surveys, shopping, or accepting trial offers. Additional points for referring a friend.

Free Internet Access:

Note: In exchange for the free internet access, these companies generally require you to display an ad banner.

AltaVista Freeaccess: Free internet access in exchange for displaying the MicroPortal on your screen. Available to users in the US, UK, and Canada.
MyPoints Connect: For MyPoints members (membership free). Free internet access plus 50 points each month you surf 10 hours or more.

Free Web-Based Email:

Free Webemail List: Excellent list of free email sites, organized to make it easy to find what you need.
Mailchek: Free web-based email. Personalized--choose from hundreds of domain names to match where you live, your interests, the theme of your web site, etc.
MoneyWithMail: Earn money for reading emails and taking advantage of offers, plus $1 per referral. They give you your own web-based email account with 6 MB of storage space (compare with Hotmail's 2 MB). A partnership with Driveway.com allows you to accept 25 MB in online file storage space if you want to.
Nightmail: Free anonymous email for adults (site also includes adult search, adult links, etc.)
TUFA Email Listings: From The Ultimate Free Archive.

Sign up for a FREE email account!

Free Web Graphics for Your Page:
Free Index--Graphics: Extensive listings for free web graphics; also chat room providers, message boards, guestbooks, CGI scripts, counters, URL submitters, HTML help guides, etc.
Free Stuff Center Graphics: Animations, web graphics, clip art. Spice up your web page.
HTML Wizards--Graphics: Listings of sites with free web graphics.
Graphics4Free: 100% Free graphics. Free bars, bullets, arrows, icons, fonts, backgrounds, space images and more. Thousands of free graphics to suit your needs.
Realm Graphics: Free web graphics you can download; organized by category like lines, icons, buttons, etc.

Free Goodies (Scripts, Forms, Guestbooks, Chat, etc.) for Your Page:
Bravenet: Numerous free services to enhance your homepage: Guestbooks, message boards, chat, fast URL, webpage announcers, email forms, hit counters, greeting cards, mailing lists, vote casters, classified ads, daily cartoons, net or site-specific searches. The provider of this site's Ecuadorian Greeting Cards service.
DHTML Page: Library of free Dynamic HTML scripts to create special effects for your page.
Free4u: Freebies site with a variety of freebies for webmasters (web graphics, guestbooks, etc.)
Free Index: Extensive listings for free web graphics, chat room providers, message boards, guestbooks, CGI scripts, counters, URL submitters, HTML help guides, etc.
Freevault Webmaster Resource Page: Lists of counters, message boards, mailing lists, guestbooks, etc.
Freewarejava.com: Extensive index of free java scripts, link to the DTHML Page, java tutorials, etc.
Jars.com: Tremendous compilation of freeware to commercial java applets and javascripts, categorized and reviewed.
Zing: Add personal photo albums to your homepage and allow your visitors to send greeting cards from them; unlimited storage space. Also, "greeting cards of the week" greeting card service.

Free Services for Your Page:
123Webmaster Free Services: Lists free link checking, content, shorter URLs, guestbooks, newsletters, mailing lists, free submission, and similar sites.
UfuWeb: Tutorials and tools for webmasters.
A2ZSol: Submit your URL to their search engine; also index of over 1200 FFA pages (visit each and add your site manually for free, or submit automatically to all for $20)
BCentral Free Webmaster Tools: Monitor your site's traffic, check meta tags, dead links, spell checker, and find out who is linking to your site.
EONS.Com site management tool links (Validators, Graphics Optimizer): HTML validators, check for accessibility to people with disabilities; link checker. view site under different screen resolutions. Graphics Optimizer allows reducing size of graphics.
JavaScript Creator: Create new windows, prompts, news, alert boxes, status messages, etc. without programming.
JimTools: Meta tag generator & checker, search engine simulator, automatically register your site with the 46 major search engines, 420 major directories, and 160 FFA pages for free.Check your links and search engine positioning. Link to freesitestuff.com, which provides forums, forms, personals, search engine, guest book, poll, e-cards, and games.
MailBits Webowner: Submit your site to over 300 search engines and directories in one step. Free as of 1/2000 if you put their button on your site. Currently in beta testing; may only be free for a limited time.
Mind-It: Set it to track a page and it will inform you when there is a change in its content or address.
NetMechanic: Free basic service; subscribe for "pro" service. Check for dead links, browser compatibility, spelling errors, HTML code, and page load time; compress your images to reduce load time.
Northern Web's Meta Medic: Check your meta tags and view a simulation of your page in a search engine.
PageResource.Com: Tutorials for tables, frames, image maps, removing underlines from links, etc.
Proboost: Check your meta tags. Free and premier services.
UfuWeb Link Page Submission: Submits your page to 50+ link page lists. Increases your number of visitors.
UfuWeb Top Ten Submission: Submits your page to the top 10 search engines in one easy step.
Recommend-it.com: Add simple code to your website so that visitors can recommend it to their friends. Through their affiliate program, you get more traffic, your visitors get entered to win $10,000, and you earn money!
Validateithere: Compilation of links to site analysis tools, HTML validators, link checkers, and specialized tools (meta tag checkers, etc.). Some unique and valuable links include Bobby (checks your web page for access to people with disabilities) and screen resolution tester (see how your page will look in the different screen resolutions, including PC, Mac and Web TV).
WebmastersOnly: Well-organized extensive list of different remotely hosted goodies you can add to your website, as well as URL redirection and link checking.
WebSiteGarage: Check your page automatically for broken links, compatibility with different browsers, load time, spelling, readiness for submission to search engines, HTML design, and tells you how many sites are linking to you. Netscape service.

Free Tutorials and HTML Help:
HTML Wizards: Extensive tutorials and other resources for webpage designers.
Netscape Index of HTML Tutorials: For a variety of levels. Extensive listings.
UfuWeb Tutorials (Advanced): Imagemaps, forms, mouse-over effects, meta tags, embedded sounds & videos.
Yahoo Beginner's Guides to the Web: Extensive listing of introductory tutorials to the web.
Yahoo Beginner's HTML Guides: Extensive listing of introductory HTML tutorials.
Yahoo HTML Guides & Tutorials: Extensive listing of free online HTML tutorials, beginner to advanced.
Beacon's FormMail Information: Link to a demonstration form and a tutorial for FormMail, from Matt's Script Archive.
FormMail download site and documentation, from Matt's Script Archive.:  Extensive documentation for basic and advanced features of FormMail.
Framing the Web: At webreference.com.
HTML Goodies Forms Online Tutorial: Links to a basic forms tutorial, with additional links to more advanced information on fancier details.
HTML Goodies Frames Tutorial: Basic frames tutorial, with links to additional information on advanced commands, turning frames on and off, in-line frames for Internet Explorer, etc.
HTML Goodies Master Tutorial List: Extensive tutorials for HTML, Java, CGI, Perl,... etc.
JavaScript Drop Down Menu: Code and tutorial for the same type of java script drop-down menu used on this page.
Kudos - A Frames Tutorial: Good frames tutorial.
Primary Language in HTML: From the W3 Organization. Information on how to label what language your document is in. Also, customize your meta tags (descriptions, keywords, etc.) by language.
Sharky's Netscape Frames Tutorial: How to program with Netscape frames. A dissection of Netscape Communication's proposed frame syntax.
Special Characters in HTML: iso8859-1 table by Martin Ramsch. The codes you need to add foreign language characters or other common symbols to your HTML documents.

Shareware:
shareware.com: Searchable shareware database of software files from CNET.
TUFA Shareware Site Listings: From The Ultimate Free Archive.
Yahoo Freeware Listings: List of freeware sites.
Yahoo Shareware Listings: Very long list of shareware sites.
ZD Net Software Library: Top rated shareware. By category; searchable. With extensive reviews.

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