There are plenty of opportunities on the web to make money, or get something for nothing or at a great deal. But there is usually a catch, no doubts.

Sitepoint's bona fide design offer

According to a Sitepoint review in Webby's World, you can run a contest asking designers to submit a logo, a set of stationary or even a coded theme for your blog/website. If everyone enters into the spirit, a snazzy new look or even a fully functioning theme could therefore be yours for not a lot of money. Factor in the designer's added bonus of a platform for their work on one of the web design sites on the web - it all sounds brilliant, and so it should be for most participants.

Pitfalls to a bona fide offer

Knowing how human nature is, and being a cynical git, I can just see a pitfall that would make me wonder if it was worth it. You don't get anything for nothing, and shrewd designers could use the contest as a bait and trap, offering 90% polished work, teasing you, leaving you with a choice - pay me some more (inflated price) or you are on your own to get it just how you want it. Of course, before you get into it, you could budget for "hidden finishing costs after the fact" and you would have no issues, but, in effect, enter into the spirit fully, maybe naively, and that contest could be your first step on the road to hidden costs.

Under normal contractual conditions you wouldn't have to consider the hidden costs to finish option, as any designer worth their salt is going to tweak an almost completed piece of work to ensure a happy customer, in my experience, anyway.

Of course, competition is fierce at Sitepoint, so hopefully the shadier acts won't try to be cute and the vast majority of participants will be raving about the results. And if anyone tries to leverage more cash unfairly, I guess Sitepoint becomes another great platform, for outing dodgy operators!

Is a Techboggle Deal of the Day, really a deal?

They say you get what you pay for. On the other hand, if you have any experience of washing machine parts, or aircraft bits, or weddings, you know that the profit margins are obscene and if the price reflected true value for money, everything would come in gold. But over at Techboggle's Deal of the Day, they seem to find some cracking prices for brand name products that we would all happily pay bigger bucks for at the store.

So, working on the theory that low prices equals low standards, the 2 GB SD card from Crucial should be a dodgy memory chip made by a Chinaman in his backroom. If that is the case and they all fail with your award-winning photos, then so will everyone else's, and misery loves company! At least the $15.99 price tag won't kill you as much as the $25 and up prices paid by play-it-safe shoppers.

Free iPhone

Get doubly pissed if you are offered a free iPod when the pop-unders wreak havoc with your browser settings. A free iPod is so passé and 2006. It has to be iPhone, or else no way should you consider jumping through hoops with surveys and lotteries and prayers for a free gadget.

And if you work for a living and you value your time beyond 40 cents an hour, just go buy one. It works out cheaper that way.