Review: TrialPay can help you get freebies online (AP)

Mountain View, Calif .-based TrialPay offers just that kind of a deal, which it bills as a win-win-win for consumers, merchants and advertisers. It probably won't change your buying habits dramatically, but it could help you get a (sort of) free lunch.

Awesome software for website polls

Here's how it works: Let's say you're perusing a movie ticket Web site. If that site is working with TrialPay, you might be presented with the option to get tickets not by paying for them directly, but simply by completing a purchase or trial offer with another company. If you're game, you can click to see a list of participating companies, such as Starbucks or Netflix. And if you agree you'll receive e-mailed instructions on how to get your free movie tickets . As TrialPay's 27-year-old co-founder, Alex Rampell, describes it, the service is "kind of like PayPal for people who don't pay." Rampell began building his own business in high school and college by selling shareware — software that you can generally download and try for free but are later prompted to pay for. He came up with the idea for TrialPay in 2004 as a way to get more consumers to "pay" for his software, after talking with a marketer friend who helped him realize how much companies are willing to shell out to acquire customers.

Full Story: Review: TrialPay can help you get freebies online (AP)