Yesterday, I received an unsolicited PM asking if I had any interest in reviewing a newly released flashlight. I replied that I had no money in my budget at the moment for another flashlight. I recieved a reply back today that said “no problem, here is a discount code for 99% off just order, pay 0.3 dollars, and we will send you the light”.
Is this common? This was sent from a manufacturer who has a presence on this forum with a reputation that seems more positive, than negative.
It happens.
Can you write who contacted you?
Why does that never happen to me?
I would be more then happy to try to write (and gain skills) to create a nice objective review
If you are known reviewer it is very common to get stuff for review free. New brands are probably less critical about the “known” part, they just want their name in as many reviews as possible.
In my reviews I usual (Sometimes I forget it) put in a line at the bottom if I got the item for free, my guess is that about half my review are free stuff, but it varies significantly over a year.
And for people that would like to get free stuff for review: Start doing high quality reviews and publish them a couple of places. They do not necessary have to be technical, but they must tell something about the products (If you sleep in a tent each weekend with a new lights you can write about how well the light works for this).
Doing it on Youtube can improve the probability, at least if many people want to watch you.
If they send you a light for review it may well only be worth 3 cents. 
Free stuff for reviews is very common but it is hardly free unless you really enjoy doing reviews.
For my hobby I generally like fiddling with components and solder irons much better than doing reviews so the gifted flashlight to be reviewed for me does not pay for the many hours that go into the tests and write-up. It does however pay off really well for the manufacturer of the flashlight who gets very high quality exposure for the costs of producing one flashlight!
I get them occasionally and always ignore the PM. If I get more than one from the same vendor, I put them on my block list. I’m not very good at doing reviews anyway.
This is the issue…I’m very new to the whole flashlight world…brand new to the forum, and have never done a single review.How/why did they pick lil old me?
I dont view myself as cynical, but do try to be cautious.I’m just wondering what purpose my 30 cents serves?
I’d forget about it and move on. Lifes to short. 
I appreciate the feedback. Thank you. I did hear from another member and feel more comfort now after what he shared. Some of you “heavy hitters” have confirmed some of what I’ve been thinking and noticing in your posts and reviews. I think I will go ahead and do my 1st review the best I can with where I’m at.
They are selling it on Amazon, and Amazon sellers can only discount an item up to 99%.
This is not unusual.
Recently I did the same for Orcatorch, I had to buy it through Amazon and it was discounted 99%.
The inventory is being held at an Amazon fulfillment center and will be sent to you from there. This way their shipping and records is streamlined and you will be listed as a verified purchaser on Amazon for you to (hopefully) leave a review there as well.
It’s certainly not anything nefarious or to get your payment info.
(If the purchase is not on Amazon I assume it is on a similar website and being done this way for similar reasons)
I’ve had that happen too, it seems to come around when I’ve bought a few other lights on amazon or maybe when I’ve clicked on a few too many links.
Yes, this is exactly the case. There’s a bit of turmoil going on at the moment and I guess I missed the fact that it would be an Amazon transaction. Suspicion level is back to normal.