Paying for free stuff

There's always a way to game the system, as Wired News indicates:

Lured by a slew of websites that promise free electronics and other goods to people who fill out advertisers' forms and refer others to fill them out, some die-hard freebie fans are finding the best way to get something for nothing is to simply pay for it.

In recent weeks, a growing number of freebie aficionados are offering to pay people to fill out tedious forms from online advertisers in order to qualify for valuable giveaways. The payment offers are cropping up on websites like RefStop.com and Anything4Free.com, where users of freebie sites swap referrals.

People are shelling out large sums in some cases to qualify for "free" goods from sites like FreeiPods.com, one of several freebie offers run by Gratis Internet. The sites require users to refer a certain number of people to sign up for online offers before they can get their coveted freebie.

Hm, I wonder if this sort of thing might have saved Mercata ...