A Great Ride!!
Written: Oct 15 '00 (Updated Oct 19 '00)

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Freeride has got to be the best earning program out there. Well, with the exception of Epinions. of course! But Freeride is a different kind of program. They offer many point-earning opportunities. I joined the site about six months ago, but did not know much about it and quickly forgot about it. However, I think that I read a review here on epinions and decided to check it out again. I now regret that I did not stick with it from the beginning. I think of all the points and certificates that I have missed out on. I am not complaining, because I have earned way more certificates than I could ever imagine from one site, but it would have been nice to have those extra few that I missed.
I have been doing the site faithfully for about 2 months again. To date I have earned right at $60 worth of gift certificates. So, that averages out to be about one certificate every week and a half. Not too bad for an earnings program and that is without any points from referrals! I have referred a couple of family members, but they have not really kept up with it. You do receive 5% of the points that your referrals earn for the year. You earn it for the first year that they are members and it will show up in your account the first week of every month.
There are several ways to earn points. My favorite is the Magic Bus this is the newest thing that they have added on. You click on a banner and you are taken into that site. There are little boxes that will pop up every couple of minutes and stay on the screen for about a minute or so. These are called hitchhikers and are worth between 1-3 cents.
Sometimes, there are bonus riders, which are worth 30-50 points. I have only had the luck of getting one once. You have to make sure and click on them pretty quick, because like I said, they only appear for about a minute. I think that three come up for every banner that you click on. So, you should go back and switch sites frequently in order to get the hitchhikers. However, if you do not switch sites you will still get the credit for being on the Magic Bus.
You get 5 points for every 10 minutes that you are on the bus. You can stay on the bus for 100 minutes each day, so that means that you can get up to 50 points a day. You can also pick up 50 hitchhikers per day, so that means up to 150 points a day. So, as you can see, you will want to switch sites frequently in order to keep getting those hitchhiker points. It sounds a little confusing, but once you get in the site it all falls into place.
Another top way to earn points is through the Destination Points. You can earn up to 70 points a day. This is very easy; you click on what they call a gate. The gates consist of different categories to choose from. They include: Travel, Investing, Computers and Internet, News and Weather, etc. You will then find several different banners to choose from. The point values range from 2 points on up to 10 points (these are hard to find, but there are many 5 and 6 pointers).
I usually earn around 35-40 points a day through this part. Some of the banners have points beyond, which are opportunities to earn more points. This might consist of signing up for a program or just looking at another site. Some even have taxicabs instead of point values and with these you are entered into a contest called the Grab a Cab. These are for entries into a contest, but I usually stay away from these. I go after the points instead, because I don’t have much winning contests, so I stay away from these.
Another way to earn points is through the search engines. There are only two of them and they are go.com and alta vista. You can earn up to 20 points a day by doing Search--O-Rama. I usually do this first, since it is the easiest and takes the least time. I then go on to destination points and then finish up with the Magic Bus, because I can leave that on while I am doing other stuff on the Internet.
Now what can you get for your time and work? There are many ways to spend your points. You can exchange them for paper gift certificates, online gift certificates, movie passes, and even gas certificates. Most of the paper gift certificates start out at 1100 points. I have chosen Macy's and Bed Bath & Beyond. They have all been $10 certificates and cost me 1100 points. You can get a $20 one for 2190 points, but I like to order them as soon as I have enough points. You can even get them in $25 and $50 denominations.
If you are interested in movie tickets these are somewhat cheaper. They only require 900 points and are good for a movie that is up to $9. These have to be used within 6 weeks. I have thought about saving up some points and ordering these right before Christmas, because they always make a nice gift. They do offer many other certificates. It is funny because some of the stores require more points than others and are worth the same value. It is not a big difference, but is some.
I mentioned earlier that I have received about $60 worth of gift certificates. I received them within 2 weeks of ordering. I have already used my Macy's certificates and had no problems whatsoever. I have decided to save the future ones for Christmas gifts. I have received some from other sites as well, so I have about $40 worth right now. I have not been as pleased with the other sites though. It took about 3 times as long to earn enough points for the same certificate.
So, I you are not a member, I highly suggest going to this site and checking it out right away. If you have an email address through a free service (such as yahoo, hotmail, go, etc.) you will be able to earn points, but your wallet will be frozen. They will send you a card in the mail So, if you are not a member I would highly recommend going and checking out the site right with an activation code on it. This does take up to 2 or 3 weeks to come. You should be able to get quite a few points during that time and when your card arrives you will be able to request a certificate.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: sheann26
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Location: San Antonio, TX
Reviews written: 255
Trusted by: 70 members
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