On Instagram, users see sponsored posts that promise free watches.

This in itself shouldn't be a fake or a bad subscription trap, but probably more of a kind of business model. Websites advertise that you don't have to pay any money for products. These types of sponsored posts have appeared more frequently on various social media platforms in recent days, and now also in the form of sponsored posts on Instagram:

Screenshot Mimikama.at
Screenshot Mimikama.at

No costs?

At least according to the operator, there are no costs for the watch, but you are informed that the only costs incurred are shipping and a logistics fee. This logistics fee + shipping is then around €15, shipping is also often quoted as €10.

The website that placed the advertising shown above has a valid company imprint and real people may also act as operators of this website. You can also assume that you will actually receive the product under the conditions mentioned .

There is also no reason to have any doubts about the website's owner information. We already described this in a previous article last week and we repeat it here:

Product comparison

What is this free product that is being advertised on Instagram? Search engines help enormously when comparing products! Take, for example, the watch pictured above in the sponsored post entitled “YAZOLE ANALOG WATCH” from the Dutch-operated website Gaudin.site ( see here ).

The key data about the watch:

  • Alleged new price €72.95.
  • Here for €0.00.
  • Delivery time 2-4 weeks
  • Total shipping and handling costs incurred 14.90 €

Using the product name, you can now perform a search using a search engine. You then get a result, for example, that leads to the sales platform AliExpress. There you will find the same product, which you can order directly from China ( see here ), supposedly with free shipping for long waiting times of up to 4 weeks:

Key information about this product:

  • New price $5.52
  • Corresponds to €4.83 (as of November 8, 2018)
  • Delivery time 23-36 days
  • The total costs incurred vary depending on the shipping method, but in the end they are effectively €6 – €8. Even free shipping is offered.

What just seems misleading at this point is the new price of the watch stated on the Gaudin website. The new price here is €72.95, although you can get the watch very cheaply from China.

In conclusion

Of course, we don't know the distribution channels of the free providers. In this respect, of course, we cannot say how they act.

A possible business model would, at least in general, be to obtain these cheap watches from China, offer them as a free product and, at the end, charge the logistics fees, which exceed the value and costs (in purely mathematical terms, this would result in an increase of €7 - €9 per watch). . In the end, the shipping times between the free providers and the Chinese goods show certain similarities; the products compared are at least probably the same products.

By the way: the free providers state that you will get the purchase price back if the product does not arrive within 60 days. The much cheaper offers on AliExpress promise the same thing.

Screenshot Mimikama.at
Screenshot Mimikama.at / AliExpress


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )