How to Participate in Online Trial Services Without Getting Scammed

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.



There are countless sites on the web that offer you a free trial for a month as long as you enter your credit card information. What they are banking on is that you'll forget to cancel the service and you'll get slapped with a non-refundable fee just seconds of that trial period ending.

The way around this is to buy a prepaid credit card for a small amount and then use it up with just a dollar or two left. Use this card for all the trials you sign up for online. The online verification process only looks to recognize a valid credit card number with a valid expiry date and security number. When they try and charge you later, they will not be able to because there'll be nothing available on the card.