One year ago I posted about my original free MacBook Pro from Nuitech. Since March 1st when they changed their terms and made it much more difficult to do, I haven’t found a single legit site offering a free MacBook Pro.
Until now.
I-Deal, the company many of us are getting Plasma TVs from, is legit and takes about two months on average from completing offers to getting your gift. They have an offer now for a MacBook Pro for only ten offers and one referral.
Their process goes like this: You complete your offers, wait for credit (up to 30 days, though it will usually come through in a week), wait for your referral’s offers to credit, print out certificates to mail to them, the certs are processed (within 1-4 weeks), then you wait 6-8 weeks for your gift to arrive.
Unfortunately, sometimes a referral isn’t so easy to find. So like with the Plasma TV’s, we’ll do a conga line.
Conga Line
A conga line is a list of people who are all working on the same freebie site. You’ll sign up as the referral for the last person on the list. Then you get put on the list below them, and the next person who wants to sign up will become your referral, and so on and so forth. Conga lines can be complicated when a site requires multiple referrals, but since this site only requires one it should be fairly painless.
Our conga line has grown to be so large that we have split it into five smaller lines, in the interest of speeding things up and giving everyone a chance to sign up sooner.
What if an offer doesn’t receive credit?
I-Deal doesn’t accept manual credit requests, so if an offer you complete doesn’t credit, you do another one. Or two or three, or however many you need to replace those that didn’t receive credit. At first this might freak you out, but really it’s not that big of a deal. After you see how many offers there are to choose from, finding another one or two for cheap isn’t a huge deal. And honestly, there have been times when I (and many others) have chosen to simply do another offer rather than wait for the sometimes excruciating process of receiving manual credit.
Before you get excited
A few final details. First, you need to know what offers are available to choose from. They’re the same as those that were available from the Plasma TV site: here are PDFs of page 1, page 2, and page 3 offers. You need 2 from page one, 2 from page two, and 6 from page three.
Also, I-Deal is really picky about fraud, so be sure to avoid offers that you might have completed anytime in the past six months.
If you completed the I-Deal site for the Plasma TV, you can still sign up for this MacBook Pro site.
The last thing you need to know is that I-Deal puts a 60-day limit on your account once you sign up. If you and your referral haven’t completed and been approved for all of your offers 60 days after you sign up, you’re out of luck. This shouldn’t be a problem if you complete offers soon after signing up, and get a referral quickly that does the same – even if you have to do one or two replacement offers – I’m just saying that you can’t dawdle around.
I’d also recommend reading their terms and conditions, just to be safe.
If you are interested
You just need to understand that if you decide to do this, you’ve got to be committed, because the person you sign up under will be depending on you to complete your offers, too. It’s not just your account on the line. That’s why I’m trying to give you as much info up front, so that you can decide if you really want to do this.
Also, there will be a $20 “fee†for joining the line.
The problem with a conga line is that eventually the line will end and someone will be stuck as the last person on the list. They’ve done their offers so the person above them will get a laptop, but they never get a referral, so they’re stuck with nothing.
To help with this problem, everyone involved will send me $20 via PayPal. Much of this money goes to the people who get stuck at the end of each group in the line ($400 will be given to each). Another smaller portion of the money goes to my excellent moderators on the forum who keep this thing organized and answer your questions. They spend a LOT of time on this and deserve to be reimbursed for all their hard work.
Since there is no way of telling when people will stop signing up, joining this conga line does not guarantee that you will get a referral.
Currently more people are signing up everyday, so it will probably be a while before we have to worry about this. Just a warning.
Sign up
I-Deal has changed their terms and conditions, so that we cannot do a conga line anymore. Thanks for your interest, and sorry to those who missed out.
Many thanks to Raj for his email.
It’s officially time to get excited.
bethany, the link should be to you soon
Rawr, this’ll be great.
I just signed up and was wondering can we view the conga line or is it not up yet?
Rachel,
You can view it. It’s under I-Deal in the forum.
I was curious what the website was for this offer?
Bhill,
It’s an ideal site that no one has done before. But we don’t want to announce the site url in the public.
WOOOOOO!!!!! JOSH YOU ARE AWESOME MAN!!!!! AND YES IT IS NECESSARY TO TYPE IN CAPS, I AM THAT EXCITED!!!! SIGN ME UP!!!
lol thanks Dave.
I’m excited you found a new macbook pro offer. So, is the only way to do this one, you have to join the conga line? Usually you supply the url/website. Thanks.
Yeah you need to join the conga. This one is different in that it requires a referral on top of your offers.
Hi Josh – I just did the plasma tv offer, can I do the Mac Book offer or do I have to wait 6 months to do another one with i-deal?
Any way of knowing what the version of the MBP it is… what the specs are? I know all MBPs are killer… just curious.
Amber,
Yes you can do this offer if you did the TV offer.
Joel,
I don’t think there’s a way of knowing until someone gets one in their hands.
Hi Josh,
I read that it’s fine to do the Mac Book offer if you have completed the Plasma TV offer, but I would like to know if I can still join the Mac Book conga line if I’m still in line waiting for the referral link for the Plasma, or do I need to wait until I complete the offers for the TV before joining? Also, if the same offers will be offered for both the Plasma and the Mac Book, must you complete 2 sets of completely different offers in order to be eligible, or can they be duplicated?
Thanks!
mslady,
It is fine to do the MacBook Pro line even if you are still waiting in line for the TV site.
You cannot duplicate offers. You must be able to do an entirely new set of offers for the MBP site than the TV site.
Be sure there are at least 12 offers you can do for the TV, and 12 more you can do for the MBP.
The MBP is only 10 offers currently, but we expect it to go up before too long.
Is anyone else having problems with the forum.
When i go there it says someting like delete /install directories
IT says:
Please ensure both the install/ and contrib/ directories are deleted
kelly,
I’m working on adding some new backend feature stuff to the forum. It will be up soon. Thanks.
buring the midnight oil? I respect that. lol
Thanks Josh
Whoo hoo I’m in! I’ll finally get a Macbook Pro. The last time I signed up to get an Apple computer I received a check instead. Haha fate has lead me to this better computer.
Forum back up and running fine.
If anyone comes across any error messages, please send me a copy.
I saw this in the terms and conditions. Has anyone had problems with the tv.
“C. Cancellation Limitation: You will not be eligible to receive a Reward in this Promotion if, within 60 days of your Sponsor Offer Initial Transaction Date, you cancel your participation in more than two Sponsor Offers you have completed as a part of the Program Requirements (the �Cancellation Limitation�). The Cancellation Limitation applies regardless of whether such limitations appear in the advertiser�s terms and conditions for the applicable Sponsor Offer.”
You’re looking at the terms and conditions on a different site. Those aren’t the terms on the site we’re using.
Just wondering after you sign up and are on the Conga Line, how are you supposed to get the link from the person in front of you? Also have you already registered for the new mac?
This is great! I’d had my eye on a DIY 12 offer site for a black MacBook for a while and was planning on doing the offers tomorrow night, never mind that there were quite a few OODs involved. I check this blog and forum every other day or so and today, after a monstrously unlucky day, what do I find but the conga of my dreams. Feels like some kind of blessing! Thanks Josh!
Is it possible to sign up for the macbook offer multiples times (using different mailing addresses and email addresses)? if i could do this offer like 4 or 5 times, my college living expenses would be covered for the next year!
Austin,
No, that’s considered fraud and you could get in legal trouble for it.
So just to get this straight: I can sign up for the MacBook Pro and the Plasma at the same time?
As long as you look through the offers and there are enough for you to do 24 (12 for the TV, 12 for the Mac), then yes, you can do both at once.
If you’ve never done a freebie site before, I would recommend only doing ONE. It can be a bit overwhelming.
Preston,
When it gets down the line to be your turn, the person above you will contact you via the forum or email with a link.
Everyone make sure to register on the forum for faster help
What is the website for I-Deal? I can’t find it anywhere?
so is it possible/legal to register multiple time under the same name and address, but with a different email address? thanks!
Austin,
No, that’s considered fraud.
Everyone,
Please remember to ask questions in the forum. Creating an account will only take you a minute. There is a wealth of information there, and you will get your questions answered extremely quickly.
I myself have a macbook pro from last year and have done a lot of these offers–gift cards, ipod etc. Kudos on your organizaiton of this forum and site Josh. Hat’s off to you.
One question–I’d like to get a MPB for a gift but I’m moving in the next two months. Can I start offers and then when they’ve all cleared can I then change the shipping address of the gift to my new residence? Some sites are iffy on this… wondering if you know what I-Deal has done in the past.
Will join in the conga dance as soon as I hear from ya.
Has anyone received a plasma tv yet? How do we know these guys are legit?
Andrew and TJ,
Create an account on the forum. It only takes a sec, and there’s a ton of information and discussion going on there.
TJ,
If you check the Plasma TV blog entry, you can see a pic of my beautiful 42″ HDTV from I-Deal.
You should know that I don’t post about anything unless I’m sure it’s legit.
What is the link for the MacBook Pro?
Jordan,
If you want to do this site and don’t have someone who can sign up under you and complete the entire site as well, then you should join the conga line.
If you have someone who can be your referral, then send me an email and I’ll send you the link. But be warned that if you create an account on your own you will not be able to join the conga line later.
Can I create an account on the forum and not have to pay for the conga line yet? Like if I am still thinking about doing the MacBook?
Cody,
Yeah, there’s a lot of discussion on the forum besides for the conga lines.
AWESOME, THANKS JOSH
Hi Josh,
I don’t need a macbook pro, but I could sure go for a Plasma TV. is it possible to sign up in this conga line but choose a plasma deal over a macbook?
Jason,
We are actually still running a Plasma TV conga line. Read this blog entry for details and to join:
http://www.joshclark.com/blog/?p=219
Is this offer for Canadians as well?
Hi Josh,
I would be interested in getting the link from you if possible for the macbook pro if possible. I am not interested in joining the conga line. If this is possible please send it to me. Thank you.
Hi Josh,
This looks great, but it’s also highly suspect. These “Free [whatever]” sites are all dying to get viewed, how come A) You don’t post a link to it, and B) Google search on “Free MacBook Pro” and “I-Deal” turns up….this site and nothing else relevant? I want to join the conga line but I’m extremely suspicious.
Anything you can do to clear this up?
Well…scratch that…after looking in the forum it looks more legit – but can you send me the link to the main site so I can check it out? Plan on joining the line this weekend.
Jose and saltmine,
I have emailed you each the link. Be sure to check your junk mail folder to look for it.
saltmine,
I’m glad you found this legit after some more looking around, but I’d still like to answer your questions for the sake of others who will read this.
I know this looks suspicious.
I don’t post the link because then people would make the mistake of signing up on the site on their own, and if they did that, we can’t stick them in the conga line since they didn’t join under someone else.
If anyone wants the link and does not want to join the conga line, I will gladly send it to them, as I’ve done with Jose here.
Googling for anything directly about “I-Deal” doesn’t show results because they normally do not actually go by “I-Deal” on their sites. They have multiple names that they do business as (may companies do this). If you searched for those names you’d be more likely to find something. I take the work out of it by posting about legitimate sites here.
And honestly, anyone who needs more assurance that I’m not out to scam them, just needs to read through this blog. This has been my personal blog for the past several years, and the freebie world was something I just stumbled into. You can read about my life stories and then find where I first started writing about this stuff, and read the comments from thousands of other visitors who have all gotten free stuff, and get on the forum where there are people talking about it and posting pictures of the free stuff they’ve gotten. And if you are still hesitant, please drop me an email. I will take the time to answer any questions you may have and put your suspicions at ease.
Hope this helps
Hey Josh,
How about Canadians? We like to conga. Can we join?
Thanks.
Dave,
Sorry I missed your question earlier.
I welcome Canadians to my forum. Unfortunately, I-Deal’s site says it’s only for US residents. Sorry.
Hey Josh me and my friend are wanting to do this together any way you could send me the link like you did for Jose?
Thanks
Field,
Just sent you an email. Check your junk mail folder.
Thanks Josh, although I did decide to join the conga line. Seems like its probably easier that way. Just sent in my $20
Will you send me the link? Thanks Josh.
Hey Josh,
When I click on the terms and conditions page it contains the following information
C. Cancellation Limitation: You will not be eligible to receive a Reward in this Promotion if, within 60 days of your Sponsor Offer Initial Transaction Date, you cancel your participation in more than two Sponsor Offers you have completed as a part of the Program Requirements (the �Cancellation Limitation�). The Cancellation Limitation applies regardless of whether such limitations appear in the advertiser�s terms and conditions for the applicable Sponsor Offer.
You already answered this question in an above posting but are you sure there is no penalty for cancelling early? Or am I just misunderstanding?
Jose,
You accidentally registered on the wrong site, probably one of the ones that popped up as an offer when you were going throug the surveys. Those terms in conditions are for another company completely, and do not apply to I-Deal.
hey josh,
so my friend just signed up to do this plasma tv thing. im really thinkin about it doin too, but i am also extremely skeptical. i just don’t understand how a $1500 tv can only cost me about 50 bucks.
Frank,
I completely understand your skepticism. It’s too good to be true, right? My friends looked at my like I was crazy when I first did the offers last year to get my MacBook Pro. But it worked, and it’s worked again and again. Visit the “Free Stuff” page to see a list of all the things I’ve gotten for incredibly cheap.
That first Mac post would actually be a good entry for you to read. It explains the general process of how this works, why it’s legit, etc. The link is at the very beginning of this blog post. Read that and then let me know if you have any more questions. I will be more than happy to answer them.
Hey Josh, can you please send me the link to the macbook pro ideal program, I have a friend that I will be completing it with. Thank you.
Christopher,
I’ve emailed you the link. Check your junk mail folder.
If you are sure you do not want to join the conga line, please do not ask me for the link.
Instead, send an email to mbplink@joshclark.com and it will be automatically sent to you. Remember to check your junk mail folder, in case it goes there. Thanks.
does anyone know what the specs for this mac are? does it have leopard and all the new stuff on it? either way, its amazing, i cant wait to start doing this. i missed out last year.
Chris,
We won’t know the exact specs until someone gets one from I-Deal.
Just a reminder to everyone that all the questions you’re asking here have already been answered in the forum.
hey josh,
i have three people and myself who want to the the mac book pro on our own, so please send me the link. and the link for the 42″ plasma tv if you dont mind.
i love your website, and have read up on all information about how to do it. i thank you very much for this opportunity.
oh nevermind, i didnt see where it said dont ask you for the link here.
sorry, im sending you an email.
If you are sure you do not want to join the conga line, please send an email to mbplink@joshclark.com and the link will be automatically sent to you. Remember to check your junk mail folder, in case it goes there.
For all other questions, visit the I-Deal section on the forum. Thanks.