A Couple of Affiliate Links, and Thoughts on Same

You'll often see me linking to stuff with a parenthetic "not an affiliate link." I try to be clear when I'm actually shilling for a commission. Here are two things I like and that are offering me some juice for sending friends:

1. Wish.com (not an affiliate link, but if you enter the code kvlvtwx when you sign up, I get $5 after you put in your first order) is a site where you can buy pretty much anything "legal," including a lot of things you don't need, or at least never imagined you needed. It's cheap stuff, mostly from China (I've seen Vietnam and I think Myanmar return addresses on some packages). Beware brand name claims, etc., and personally I wouldn't buy costly electronics and such, but between me and Tamara we probably order five things a month from them and are generally not disappointed. Guitar straps. Earrings. Socks. Those little plastic beads that turn any cigarette into the equivalent of a Camel Crush. If you want it, they probably have it. It takes a little while to arrive (usually 4-6 weeks), but the prices are so low on most things that they're worth the wait if you don't need them immediately.
2. Lolli (affiliate link -- if you sign up through me and actually use it, I get a taste) works like this: You install a browser plug-in. When you're shopping at certain online stores, you'll get an alert that you can "activate your spree" to get a small rebate on any purchases. The rebate is in BTC (aka Old Bitcoin). Once you've racked up $15 USD worth of rebates, you can withdraw the BTC to your wallet. I have NOT withdrawn yet (I'm only up to $12.xx in available BTC), but based on online reviews, etc., I don't think it's a scam.

This isn't the kind of stuff I expect to get rich off of, obviously. But it is the kind of stuff I actually use and would probably tell you about whether I made the occasional buck off it or not. So enjoy or not, at your discretion.

A semi-pro tip regarding Wish:

When you're shopping there, you'll come across "limited quantity deals" where the first person to order gets the thing (it might be a game console, or a comforter set, or a guitar pedal, or just about anything else you can imagine, ranging in "regular" price from $50 on up) for 50 cents plus 25 cents shipping.

If you aren't the first person to order, 24 hours later they refund your money. You get a choice of having the money refunded to the source you paid it from, or getting "Wish Cash" in your account that can be used for other purchases.

Tamara has "won" one or two of these things. I've "won" none. But starting a few days ago, I'm taking a systematic approach to it.

I ordered five of these "limited quantity deals" for a grand total of $3, and took my refunds in "Wish Cash."

Now I'm ordering five of the things each day, using that $3 in "Wish Cash," and taking the refunds in the same way. I figure sooner or later I'll catch some of those deals at the right time. I have $3 wrapped up in the scheme, and that should more than "pay for itself" the first time I get something cool.

Since I'm at the computer most of the day every day anyway, it's not a big time-waster -- a few minutes a day collecting my refunds then hunting up the latest "limited quantity deals" and putting in new orders. And it's kinda fun.