How I Get Products To Review

I get asked every time I post a new product review where and how I got it. I usually tend to keep quiet about how I get my review products because a lot of the time I get them as a one time deal but I've decided that today I'm going to let you in on my "secret".  

Now as some of you may know, I'm a Dominatrix and my subs do buy me all kinds of items and products, I even write the odd review on my gifts but that is not how I get the majority of my products for review.  

First things first, I get a real kick out of coupons, especially on the rare occasion that I manage to get my hands on full price coupons. Every time I am shopping I look for coupons, I collect coupons, then I wait for the items I have coupons for to go on sale so I can get them for as cheap as possible.  

I'm not a crazy coupon lady, you won't see any extreme couponing or shelf clearing from me, but I do get items for next to nothing on occasion or for free using coupons.  

I hear about new products throughout my social media so if a product sparks my interest I'll take a look around for coupons and deals.  

Sometimes a product I want to try is expensive, doesn't seem to go on sale or doesn't have coupons, so I contact the company that makes the product directly. I'll send an email to the company, explaining who I am, what I do and what I want (usually I ask for coupons and/or samples for specific products) I usually get a decent response back and the companies send me manufacturers coupons, sample size products or (rarely) they will send me a full size product or full price coupon.  

Another way I get products is by signing up for review & survey sites like ChickAdvisor (Canadian Only), BzzAgent, HomeTestersClub, Swagbucks ECT.  

These sites are great for people who like to share their opinions on new products. Though it is very unlikely that you will receive enough products to keep you busy for an entire month, even if you are active daily on all of those sites, you will receive products to test and review. I get a few products every other month or so from all of those sites.  

Swagbucks is a bit different, on this site you fill out surveys, watch ads, search the net and play games for bucks that you can use to exchange or buy various gift cards. I use this site less often simply because of the time it takes to build up enough swagbucks to get gift cards but if you have the time I have heard some ladies make close to $600 per month. The best part about swagbucks is that you don't have to buy gift cards, you can buy PayPal cards which we all know, can transfer real money straight to your bank account.  

Another site not a lot of people that I know have heard of or use is Listia. Listia is a buy/sell eBay style site but instead of using cash you use points to bid on auctions. Building points on listia is fairly simple, fill out surveys. I personally use this site to sell off a bunch of my Xbox digital codes, whether that is a dlc code, a gold membership trial or skins in specific games.  

While I use listia mainly for digital goods I see a lot of people buying and selling physical goods too. With seller ratings on listia its pretty easy to tell who is new to the site and who has established themselves as trusted sellers. Listia is one way that I get game download codes for games or dlc I want to review.  

There are also options like the P&G Brand Sampler but since they have started to charge for shipping I have stopped using them for samples and only get the odd coupon from them. I didn't find enough value in the packs to be worth the shipping fee for me, but I know a bunch of people who find it to be well worth the cost of shipping.  

I've also signed up for a few paid review sites like SliceThePie where I get paid to write reviews on various things like music, movies, tv shows and apparel. Sites like this don't pay much so it takes a while to build up any kind of pay but if you enjoy writing reviews and have an excessive amount of time to kill it is definitely worth signing up for.  

And this brings us right back to the beginning. What do I do with the extra cash I get from swagbucks & Slicethepie? Well I spend it on new products to test and the cycle continues.  

I do have the odd time when one of my sponsors will send me a product or game to review but that is a whole other blog topic.  

So there you have it folks, my not-so-secret secret to how I get products to test and review. Go forth, sign up and get yourself products to review for free as well!  

If you have come across other great product review/testing sites that I haven't mentioned please share the site links in the comments section.