PriveCo's Tom Nardone Says Don't Get Screwed By Bad Customers

Everyone loves free merchandise. "When something is totally and completely free, the number of people that are going to want it almost skyrockets to infinity," Tom Nardone, President of

, told Benzinga. Nardone gained first-hand experience of the matter after announcing that his website,

, would give away free vibrators to federal employees who have been furloughed during the government shutdown. "I think if you're giving away something for free but you have to pay shipping, even if you make them pay $0.50, I think you'd lose 95 percent of those people," said Nardone. "But there's something about that totally free thing."

While Nardone spoke positively of the giveaway and is happy with the results, he said that some shoppers are taking advantage of the offer. "[Some people] will use any trick in the book," said Nardone. "[On Wednesday], people figured that there's two free gifts on our website. One is a free gift for furloughed employees. One is a free gift with your order -- you're supposed to buy something. The loophole was that if you used the coupon code, you could get either of those gifts shipped for free." When the deal started on Friday, October 4, Vibrators.com received its first major media mention in the form of a post on

. By the end of the day, 80 vibrators had been given away. On Saturday, October 5, Vibrators.com handed out an additional 140 units. During the next day (Sunday, October 6), 200 were sent to furloughed employees. When the deal started up again on Monday, October 7, all of the free vibrators were gone by lunch. They went even faster on Tuesday, October 8, disappearing in just 21 minutes. On Wednesday, October 9, the deal wound up on freebie websites. This is when people really began to cash in. They realized that when the deal was turned on each day, the "Furlough Vibe" code (which furloughed employees are supposed to enter) was not yet active. By the time the code was turned on -- a mere three minutes later -- 300 people had ordered the

free vibrator! None of them made a purchase, but they still requested (and received) the item. "You can't cancel these orders," said Nardone. "It's against the unwritten rules of the Internet. Even though it said, 'Free vibrator with your order,' these people were not placing an order. We knew better than to call 'em out on it. It's a point at which you're right, but you're not a cheapskate. So we had to give away 430 vibrators [on Wednesday] just to get the 200 furlough vibes out. "If we were giving away blankets to Hurricane Katrina victims away for free, would these people be ordering them? I wonder what they heck they're doing. So they're pissing me off. But the federal employees have been nothing but nice. The comments have been really positive. It's kind of a fun idea, and they are stuck at home doing nothing, so vibrators are a good gift for them."

"My advice is, don't do it unless it's something that really represents your brand very well," said Nardone. "In this case I think we're being very well represented. We have a neat product, we can afford it, the publicity has been fantastic [and] is paying for the offer." Nardone estimated that he spends somewhere around $3.55 on every vibrator he gives away. The costs are broken down by the following:

"Today we're a little smarter," said Nardone. "We have a new coupon code. We only announced what time we're doing it an hour in advance on our

and Twitter. And then the other free gift with your order is shut down right now, so you won't be able to scam it." Let that be a lesson to Americans: if they want a free vibrator, they should go work for the government. Disclosure: