not sure whether this is the right forum, but..well it for sure has to do with google. For my pathetic amazon astores i dont have a domain, actually they're hosted on amazon...eg. astore.amazon.com/youraffiliateID Now i got me a bunch of those free *.tk domains and redirect them to those astores...eg. www.piercing-store.tk , www.anime-store.tk etc..etc.. what does that mean now in terms of search-engine rankings...if google comes along this URL....and then sees it's a redirect ? (Let me..guess.....they wont get spidered AT ALL ???) I ASSUME its a bad thing....so..what can i do ? Dont use ANY redirect domains ? (btw. i am aware that the only serious way for marketing etc. is *.com and REAL hosting on a domain, no question...but in this case i would have to redesign my astores a bit..besides i am totally out of .com domains at the moment..so i used those *.tk domains.
I think you answered your own questions. Most decent directories will not even list domains that redirect, so I think it would be hard to even get good links to your site. I have never seen any .TK domains in google results. Have you?
I have a domain which is ranked #2, because the number #1 is a free Forwarding redirection for the same that I took a few years ago. Instead of worry about Google you should be more concerned in learn what is easier for your prospective customers.