The majority of items that I am offered to review are given at no charge, sometimes I get items that cost a small amount (we’re talking under a dollar). I also get requests for items that are 50% off, 70% off or 90% off… you get the picture. These last sorts of items I mentioned are items that are heavily discounted, but have what I think is a still pretty high price for something that I would have to do a lot of work to review, and may not end up liking anyway.
If it is an item that I think I would like, I always email back the seller and say that while I like the product, I could not possibly review it because I only do free reviews. The worst they can say is “sorry, I can’t do that”, but in my experience they can and do give me the product for free. So I have developed an attitude of “it never hurts to ask”.
This attitude has permeated into the rest of my life as well, and I have taken to asking for discounts on all sorts of things like lawn care and car repairs or other services. Guess what? It works there too. Even when I get a defective product (most recently a pizza was 30 minutes late) I ask for it for free, rather than wait to see what they would have given me. You just have to be a little ballsy.
Check out my blog archives, lots of hidden gems there!
prudent reviewer 
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