I first ran across the Trialpay web payment system in February 2007 when Chris, jealous of my AI Roboform To Go password utility, decided to obtain a license for himself. We visited the Roboform site, but before he completed his purchase for the $29.99 Roboform Pro key, I recalled that I had already purchased a second key a while back for just $9.95 that could be used on his computer. We cancelled out of the checkout process and were greeted with a last chance offer by the website: Get a full license for Roboform Pro for free by using the Trialpay link.

Trialpay allows shareware buyers and online service users to obtain legitimate licenses or subscriptions for a growing number of products for free by signing up for trials or making qualifying purchases at such merchant affiliate sites as Discover Card, Petco, Gamefly, Vistaprint, and Stamps.com. Trialpay’s merchant partners essentially pay the shareware developers for their software on behalf of the customer in exchange for sending the customer’s business their way.

The customer gets a full license for software that they want for free or very little if they sign up for a trial offer, or in addition to a purchase they might make anyway at an online merchant (e.g. pet supplies at Petco.com).

The shareware developers wind up getting paid a bit less than their asking price on their sites for their software, but this is still a lot better than losing a sale completely.

The affiliated merchant partners and vendors obtain sales or new customer leads that might not otherwise have turned up.

Trialpay, I assume, gets a cut of everything.

Pretty nifty all around.

I am just bummed out that Chris couldn’t take advantage of the free Roboform offer back in February since the only offer he was interested in at the time (Trialpay’s stable of merchants was rather small back then) was the Discover Card sign up.

Pity he had JUST signed up for the Discover Platinum Gas card earlier that morning.

Anyhow, to keep other people from suffering from the same pangs of regret, I have compiled a wee list of the Trialpay software offers currently available, including some great premium shareware utilities like ZoneAlarm, Roboform (sobs…), WinRAR, Corel Photo Album 6, and ACDSee 9. The primary weakness of the system is that the Trialpay website does not currently have a comprehensive list of participating shareware and online services providers compiled for easy browsing, so software bargain-hunters are forced to play “spot the hidden Trialpay button/link” when the visit the web sites of their favorite applications. Some sites have the Trialpay button prominently displayed, but others try to downplay or even outright hide the Trialpay option until it is clear that the visitor is NOT going to bite the bullet and pay the regular retail price for the software.

If you know of any other Trialpay offers, please let me know, and I’ll add it to the list!

ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite Pro ($49.95)
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/zonelabs/iss2?tid=6rGU1C1

AI Roboform ($29.99)
http://www.trialpay.com/productpage/?c=djojaj

Winzip 11.1 Standard ($29.99)
http://www.winzip.com/trialpay.htm

GetRight Download Manager ($29.95 value)
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/headlight/getright

Sunbelt CounterSpy ($19.95 value)
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/sunbelt/counterspy

Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall ($19.95 value)
http://www.trialpay.com/productpage/…36781a9bbf7cfb

WinRAR 3.62 ($29 value)
http://www.win-rar.com/mails/special012006.html?slick

ACDSee 9 Photo Manager ($39.99)
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/acd/photomanager

Corel Photo Album 6 Deluxe ($49.00)
http://store.corel.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=48167

Corel Snapfire Plus ($39.99)
http://store.corel.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?partNumber=OL_SP01

Broderbund Software Titles ($14.99+)
PrinterMaster Advanced Drawing
PrinterMaster Homework Helpers
SendPhotos 5.0
Family Lawyer 2006
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?
Print Shop 22
PrintMaster Gold 17
ClickArt Fonts Version 4
MediaShop TunePlus for iPod
WillWriter Deluxe 2005
http://www.broderbund.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=4931

Photobucket.com 1-Year Subscription ($25.00)
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/photob/pro?tid=9ahBJQF

PDA Cookbook Plus (for Palm OS, Windows Mobile) ($24.99)
http://www.wakefieldsoft.com/trialpay.html

TweakNow Powerpack 2006 Pro ($34.95)
http://www.tweaknow.com/powerPack.html

Auction Sentry Std/Deluxe (eBay sniping tool) ($14.95/$24.95 value)
http://www.auction-sentry.com/PurchaseByTrialPay.htm

CSE HTML Validator Standard v8.01 ($69 value)
http://www.htmlvalidator.com/trialpay/

iPodCopy http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/products.html ($19.99)
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/ipodcopy/trialpay.html

SafeChat Parental Controls for Messaging http://www.zihtec.com/en/products.html ($34.95)
http://www.zihtec.com/en/get-safe-chat-free-with-trial-pay.html

KittyXplorer ($24.95), Ana’s Archiver ($19.95), or PuzzleJoy ($9.95)
http://myplanetsoft.com/products/index.php

Quivic Quicktime Video Converter ($14.99)
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/quivic/index.html

ColorCache Color Picker/Color Scheme Generator ($34.99)
http://www.colorcache.com/free_colorpicker.shtml

AmiPic ShareMaster Web/Usenet Mass Downloader/Image Viewer/Search Tool ($49.95)
http://www.altomsoft.com/order.html

NovaPDF Standard PDF Document Creator ($29.95)
http://www.novapdf.com/free-registration.php?src=14

Zortam MP3 Media Studio Pro 7 ($21.95)
http://www.zortam.com/trialpay.php

Lightning Download Accelerator ($19.95)
http://www.lightningdownload.com/buy.shtml

Crazy Eggs Puzzle Game ($19.90)
http://www.xpowergames.net/games/CrazyEggs_TrialPay.htm

Magic Workstation Collectible Card Game Deck Manager - http://www.magicworkstation.com/ ($26.90)
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/magicworkstation/checkout

AstroMenace 3-D Scrolling Shooter Game ($19.95)
http://www.viewizard.com/astromenace/index.php

!Easy Screensaver Station ($49.95)
http://www.dd2002.com/free.htm

Bitzipper File Compression Utility ($24.95)
http://www.bitzipper.com/free.html

ToneThis Pro Image, Ring Tone, and Video Maker for Mobile Phones
http://www.tonethis.com/index.php?page=download2

GraphicConverter X (Mac/Apple) ($30.00)
http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html
http://www.trialpay.com/stores/lemke/graphicconverter