David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Remember a while ago, free iPod sites exploded. They quickly lost their buzz in favour of the million dollar homepage style sites which, in turn have lost their buzz to cashback sites.

Well, there's a new payment gateway based upon the free iPod concept.
 
TrialPay means that the shopper doesn't have to hand over any cash to get a product, they just have to signup to offer. TrialPay then pay the merchant, who in turn delivers the goods.

It's a novel idea and extends the free iPod concept further than it has been taken in the past.

Is it a good idea? I don't see why not. It will probably never rival Google Checkout or PayPal as it is a niche payment gateway but I like the concept. What's even better about this is that us technical-minded affiliates can create something similar very easily.

I would imagine something like this would be ideal for selling e-products such as web scripts or ebooks, primarily due to the fact that validation of these offers may take a while. Plus, there is the risk that people cancel their trials but these have already been encountered and catered for by the free iPod movement.

I suppose there is also scope to extend this so that you can earn credits for purchase made with X, Y and Z and these credits can be exchanged for products - cashback meets free iPods.