All right, where's my buddy fraggedbylaggers? I haven't seen him around lately. I thought I'd post this little anecdote for the group's amusement. I've been completing offers through yourfree360games.com since early May, after having completed extensive research on the most efficient means for acquiring a "free" PS3.
After looking at Cashcrate, PS34free, and even Trainn's PS3 site, I discovered that I could get the most bang for my buck completing two offers here, ordering a Guitar Hero II bundle and hawking it on Ebay. I completed this process a total of 8 times, filing a W9 form along the way, with each bundle closing between $70-$80. I dropped all these profits into my ING savings account and let the 4.5% interest roll in.
Now here's where the story gets amusing. Because the Ebay market is really starting to get flooded with these bundles (mainly due to one seller who lists like 20 at a time, titles them "NEW!!!" in the listing, but states in the description that they're in "original opened packaging"), the bundles started selling for less and less. My 8th and final bundle closed out at only $61!
Fragged and I had argued before about the process of returning these to Amazon and just getting a straight refund. I thought for sure Amazon would deduct shipping, leaving you with a refund of around $70. However, I was amazed and stupified when fragged gleefully gloated (and rightfully so) that Amazon emailed him a gift certificate for $98 for his return.
As fate would have it, the bidder on my final bundle had terrible feedback and ended up stiffing me. This is when the wheels started to turn. "Hmm...if I was only going to pull in $61 from this auction, even IF Amazon deducted shipping from me, I'd come out ahead" Surely, I thought they'd catch on to this trick as more and more people send back GHII bundles, claiming they're "not compatible". I decided to give it a shot, and "return" my final bundle. One week later, I now have an Amazon gift certificate for $97.98. Marvelous!
Having passed the $500 mark some time ago, I ordered my PS3 from Amazon when they were bundling it with Memento and the remote. This extra $98 just got put toward my Rock Band pre-order though. Fragged, I have to say, you are the man. I hope you can laugh about this, and I hope there are no hard feelings. Just thought I'd share.