Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with Tyler Derheim, owner of FusionCash. He graciously took time out of his day to talk about some of the challenges his site has faced recently and about the future of his program.
First, can you tell my readers who aren't members of FusionCash what your program is about? What's the type of person who would really enjoy FC?
FusionCash is a loyalty and rewards community site. We offer anybody over 13 in the US an opportunity to earn some extra spending cash by taking surveys, entering contests, and trying free and nearly-free trials. We're also expanding our shopping cashback offerings, including many products that are "As Seen On TV". You can earn rewards quickly, but many of our members find the real value in returning to the site often for the forum community and daily survey opportunities.
Now, let me jump in and ask about the big question many people had recently: what happened to FusionCash a few weeks ago? The site was down and there was some concern that you might have closed for good! What really happened?
An unknown individual utilized a Distributed Denial of Service attack to overload our servers with fake traffic - preventing legitimate traffic from getting through to the site. Although we did not receive any communications from the attacker, some other sites in the industry reported emails attempting to extort "protection money" from them in exchange for stopping the attacks. Although it took an unfortunately long 6-7 days, we were finally able to configure our server and firewall to effectively block the attacks. Fortunately, these improvements have made the site faster in general, and more resistant to this type of attack for the future. Naturally, we extend our deepest apologies to our members for the extended inaccessibility - we were doing everything we could.
As for the allegations that we were shutting down or having internal difficulties, financial or otherwise -- they are completely unfounded. FusionCash has an on-time payment record that leads the industry, and we have no plans to do anything but continue to improve.
Why do you think FusionCash was one of the victims of this attack?
As a high profile rewards site, the attacker probably perceived that we would be more willing to pay him to stop. Naturally, we never have and never will negotiate with anybody who is breaking the law.
Are you working on some kind of feature to stop future attacks?
As mentioned, we have beefed up our firewall and server already. Based on the current numbers, an attack would have to be at least an order of magnitude larger than the last one to have a negative effect on our ability to stay online.
How has this impacted FusionCash?
It caused us minor inconveniences as our advertising partners adjusted to the first extended downtime in our (nearly) 3 year history, and of course the incalculable loss of faith that some of our members endured. However, there was no damage, and no data was compromised or lost. Once we completed the refinements to the firewall and server, it was back to business as usual.
We haven't talked in a while -- what kinds of changes have you made to the program in the last year or so?
Since we've been established in the space for some time, we've lately been focusing on making FusionCash the best loyalty program around. Some of our recent changes include:
- The addition of a community forum
- Hiring and training of support staff and refined support procedures to create a better member experience
- A hard-nosed approach to offer selection and monitoring - internal policies to ensure that we only present offers that credit consistently. This means that while we do not have the widest selection of offers, you will be properly rewarded when completing one. Don't get me wrong, though - we still have over 120 consistently crediting, quality offers, including two survey opportunities which can be completed once per day.
Are there any upcoming changes or promotions that you might want to share with my readers?
Glad you asked! We just recently finished our first raffle. Three lucky members walked away with prizes of $100, $50 and $25. More importantly, over two hundred members participated - and all of them walked away with some extra cash in their FusionCash account just for completing the qualifying offers. We are soliciting feedback on the raffle so that we can do even better next time (links to surveys are in that thread above).
Is there anything else you'd like to say to FC's current members or to people considering joining your site?
To our members: Thanks for your participation, your enthusiasm, and your patience during our downtime.
To prospective members: Give us a shot! We have over 1.2 million members already, who have been paid some $1.5 million to date. We know that your time is valuable, and we have created an opportunity for you to earn real money without much effort. You might even meet some interesting people on the forum :)
That's all the questions I have for now! Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me!
Thanks for your time - I hope we don't have to wait a whole year to do this again.
FusionCash has been around since June 2005, and I joined shortly after that. They give you $5 just to join, and they have surveys, some shopping offers (like $10 for making any purchase at ShoeBuy), and other offers that pay you just for trying out a product or service. Some don't require a credit card at all, and for others you have to provide one but the trial is free or cheap ($5 to sign up for a free 14 day trial of Emusic, for example), and you can cancel if you don't want to continue. Don't sign up for something and immediately cancel as soon as you're credited at FC or else the advertiser will tag it as being fraudulent -- if you sign up for a trial and don't want to keep the service, give it a few days or even a week before you cancel. And don't do an offer you've completed on another website -- also considered cheating.
FusionCash is very hardcore about weeding out cheaters (people joining multiple times, referring themselves, completing the same offer more than once, etc.), so if this describes you, find another place to scam! But If you're conscientious and follow the rules like I do, FC is a great site. They pay on time as promised, every month, and I've found their customer service to be very prompt and courteous.
Thanks again to Tyler for the interview, and if you're interested in joining, I'd appreciate your supporting me by clicking through the banner below.
I read an interesting article today that said that eBay is having a select number of members beta-test a new rewards program called eBay Bucks. It rewards shoppers based on the total dollar amount spent on qualifying purchases paid for by PayPal during the period of May 15 through August 14th. At the end of the period, members will receive eBay Bucks. The FAQ on the program is here.
Right now the membership is closed to new members while they iron out the kinks with their pilot group, but you can get in line for an invitation to join here.
This is not eBay's first attempt at a rewards program. In May 2003, eBay launched a rewards program called Anything Points. Here's a link to an interesting article about it in CIO Insight. It allowed members to trade in airline miles, through Points.com, for eBay credit when paying by PayPal. In June 2004, they partnered with MetaReward to provide more opportunities to earn points. As I reported in July 2005, eBay announced that they were discontinuing the program in the U.S., giving members until August 2006 to redeem their points. The Canadian program was kept in place.
What happened to Anything Points? Their official explanation: "The decision to discontinue the eBay Anything Points program was made after receiving input from U.S. members and assessing the benefit to the U.S. Community. We believe the decision to discontinue this program will allow us to channel our resources into other areas that will better serve the U.S. Community."
I'd interpret that to mean that the cost outweighed the benefit. The program as it was laid out, didn't serve to reward or encourage the use of eBay, it was just another rewards program. Hopefully the new program will have more success. I know I'll use it.
Steve,
In response to your recent letter regarding CompareRewards, which included inaccurate and misleading statements, I urge both you and my readers to read this entire response.
You were absolutely right about my inaccurate description of Dragon*Con. I truly appreciate your bringing this to my attention. I corrected my post and apologized to Dragon*Con privately. Dragon*Con did have several adult-oriented discussion panels in 2006, and former porn star Traci Lords was a featured guest.
I'm not sure if it's relevant whether Xpeeps and NetWinner each sponsored one adult-industry panel at Dragon*Con 2006 or if they sponsored both of them jointly. That both were sponsors of one or both discussions is not an "unfounded insinuation" but a direct quote from a porn industry newsletter. NetWinner.com was listed by name in the article I excerpted in this post. The link is here for anyone who doesn't mind viewing adult content. Re-read the source. If the source is inaccurate, your quarrel is with them. Provide me with a source for what NetWinner's panel really was about, one that contradicts the source I already have, or go on the record personally with an explicit denial that NetWinner's panel was adult-oriented and a description of what it WAS about, and I will happily append my post.
The article that I excerpted has been posted online since 2006. Why am I the bad guy for providing the same information on this website? Have you threatened that website with legal action, too?
I'm not sure how you can say that sponsoring an adult industry-related panel discussion is insulting and damaging to NetWinner. You admitted that NetWinner is financed, at least in part, by the Adult Entertainment Broadcasting Network's founder, Scott Coffman. I noticed that Xpeeps, the sponsor of the other adult-themed panel, is owned by AEBN.
You offered the movie "Pulp Fiction" as an example of "adult content." You call NetWinner's connection to the porn industry "loose." We must have different dictionaries, Steve. This is what I see:
- You admit that Scott Coffman, founder of the Adult Entertainment Broadcasting Network, is an investor at NetWinner. (I'd love to know what percentage of the company's stock he holds. Care to disclose?)
- You admit that you and Coffman go way back, that you had interviewed him about his porn business and that you admired him, before being offered your position at NetWinner.
- You didn't deny that NetWinner VP Matt Coapman, the self-described "Porn Peddler," was a former Global (International) Divison Supervisor for AEBN/Coffman.
- You didn't deny that Coffman is the registered agent for process service at both AEBN and NetWinner, LLC.
I wouldn't call these connections "loose."
In fact, I would add that:
- NetWinner's CTO, Arion Hardison, is the CEO [sorry, former CEO; also edited to remove the dates due to conflicting information] of CameraPhonePorn.com,
- AEBN registered AdStreams.com,
- and that AdStreams, in turn, registered NetWinner.com.
How can you have connections like these and then get indignant when they're pointed out? (Oh, by the way, when you changed the WHOIS information for AdStreams to get AEBN's name off of it, you forgot to update its Alexa page... it still shows AEBN as owning the domain. You might want to get on that.)
In your letter, you said, "NetWinner is a game that gives people a chance to win. There are no 'earnings' here; playing a free online game is not a job." What exactly do you call the money you owe your members? Winnings? Okay, then, are you denying that the members' "winnings" are a debt that your company owes and is extremely delinquent in paying? Saying that this wasn't "earnings" and that it came from "playing a free online game" doesn't get you off the hook for paying people what you owe them in a timely manner.
I was thrilled to see yesterday and today that some members are reporting finally receiving some of the payments (sorry, "winnings") owed them by NetWinner. I have two sources that tell me they received a phone call from Matt Coapman asking them to keep the their conversation confidential, in which one was offered a partial payment on her account, and another was offered full payment when it was clear that partial payment was unsatisfactory. One source said that Mr. Coapman admitted NetWinner was paying the vocal, "disgruntled members" ahead of everyone else, and not to tell anyone. This source feels guilty for being paid out of order, which is she they told me. While I'm happy for those who are getting some or all of what they were owed, is this fair to those who have been waiting longer?
You stated that the delays are "primarily due to the company's growth and continued diligence towards fraud protection." But fraud has been a concern of NW since the beginning, as seen in this post by your Chief Technical Officer, Arion Hardison (aka "Netwinner"), as far back as July of 2006. Your head forum moderator, mjp, also posted about fraud at NW in July 2006. That was almost two years ago. What's the holdup in getting this problem addressed?
My post regarding the status of Ecount payments was neither false NOR misleading, and I didn't see you deny that NetWinner had made no payments to Ecount between March 13 and the time of my post, April 27. Did I miss that? Or were you just trying to deflect attention by saying that Ecount would have had to break their contract with you in order to divulge it? Not only did I have a source for that information (who emailed me personally in great detail), but I went a step further and talked to Theresa Wabler, Ecount's VP and Marketing Manager. She told me that when Ecount receives funds from a client, they pay it out in 24 to 48 hours. If NW's members haven't been paid, she said, it's because NetWinner didn't pay us. That sounds like good enough confirmation for me, when you put that together with the payment reports (or lack thereof) that were on your own forum at the time. Are you accusing Ecount of being the holdup in your payments, or are you just upset that they told your members THEY weren't?
"What is NetWinner?" Good question; glad you posed it. The definition seems to have changed. Formerly, members won not just instant-win prizes, but also points that converted to gift cards, merchandise, and more recently, Ecount credit. Now, it sounds like you're saying that people should only play it for fun, not with the expectation of getting anything out of it. Did I misunderstand you, or is that the new NW model? I'm sure your members want to know.
Lastly, the email to which I'm responding (attached below for reference), which was posted on my site, yours, and all around the internet, appears to have been made not to address your members' concerns, but to cast aspersions on my website and my personal reputation, as it was addressed "Company response to Compare Rewards" and "Becky." If the true intent of NetWinner was to address its members concerns, some sort of email communication would have been sent to your members directly. My legal counsel has advised me that your characterization of my articles on NetWinner as "unsubstantiated," "misleading," "biased," "[not] presenting the whole truth," "unfounded insinuation," "false and misleading, "insulting and damaging," posted all over the internet, may constitute harassment, libel, defamation, and wire fraud.
While it will not repair the damage you have already done, I DO NOT expect a retraction, but I do expect that you will instead take the time and effort to communicate directly with your members so they don't have to come looking to me, or at other websites, for the answers to questions like, "What's going on at Netwinner?" "Why did they change their games?" and "Why haven't I been paid?" I would also request that you change your terms of service to reflect the current, more realistic time frame of 180 days. Further, I would recommend that NetWinner close its doors to new members until it can pay the ones it has right now. These actions would help me and your current members restore our faith in NW and serve as a good faith example of your company's ethics and fairness.
In closing, I suggest that you please consider carefully before making any further misrepresentations about me, my website, Ecount, or the members who have stepped forward as information sources.
Oh, and by the way...I also reserve the right to take further action as necessary.
I am very proud to announce that CompareRewards.com is now a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This organization fights for the right to free speech on the internet by various initiatives including providing a library of legal information on the rights of bloggers, organizing activists to fight for internet privacy laws, and by funding attorneys to represent those whose rights have been threatened.
"EFF defends the Internet as a platform for free speech and believes that when you go online, your rights should come with you."
Contributions to the EFF are tax-deductible. I strongly urge all bloggers and webmasters to consider membership.
In a press release today, Volkswagen of America announced it's offering Upromise members $1500 if they pre-order VW's new minivan, the Routan. It's kinda cute, really, starts at $24,700 with seven-passenger seating, a two-screen entertainment system, two power sliding doors, and "no less than thirteen cup holders." Wow...they should've included a restroom! ;)
The way the Upromise promotion works is, you log in to your Upromise account -- join here (aff) if you're not a member already -- then go to http://www.upromise.com/vw where they'll give you a Upromise VW Savings Code. Take the code to your dealer, and make a deposit on your new Routan by 8/31. Complete your purchase or lease and take delivery by November 30th...and 6 to 8 weeks after delivery, they'll deposit the $1500 into your Upromise account. You can then request a check from Upromise, you can transfer the money into your (or another person's) 529 plan, or you can apply it toward an outstanding student loan.
Not sure what "Routan" means. I did a German-to-English translation on it and it just meant "routan." Not helpful. It reminds me of Roatan, which is a terribly poverty-stricken city in Honduras. Who picked the name? Anyway, VW's website for more info on the van, is here.
Borders has a coupon out for members of its Borders Rewards program -- save 30% on a $10+ purchase. The coupon's good at Borders and Waldenbooks stores in the U.S. through May 11.
The Borders Rewards program is free, but you can't join online. Pick up a card at your local store, then register it online to receive the latest coupons and sales by email. Plus, for every $150 you spend, you get $5 in Borders Bucks good toward a future purchase.
Hallmark is doing a promotion for its Gold Crown Rewards program through May 11th: show your card when you make any purchase and they'll give you a bonus 200 points to your account. Limit one bonus per person, and the offer's good in the U.S. only. 3000 points = a $10 Hallmark certificate, so 200 points is worth around $0.67. If you were going to buy a Mother's Day card there anyway, it's a nice bonus to your account.
If you're not already a member, you can join for free here.
If you're a member of Best Buy's Reward Zone, you can print this coupon for 12% off regular priced in-store purchases through May 12. (The coupon's also good for non-members, but only for 10% off.) See the coupon for all of the exclusions.
The Best Buy Reward Zone program is free to join. My review of the program is here.
Updated Weekly!
Every week, ClubMom doubles their shopping rewards at a couple of their merchants. Here are the merchants with double rebates through May 11:
1800Flowers.com -- now 20 points per dollar (10%), and bouquets start at $40!
Avon.com -- now 24 points per dollar (12%) -- see their Mother's Day Boutique
Blair.com -- now 10 points per dollar (5%) -- great ideas in their Mother's Day Section
Kohls -- now 8 points per dollar (4%), AND through 5/6 for every $50 you spend, you get a $20 Kohl's Cash Certificate!
ClubMom's redemptions include gift cards starting at 2,000 points (for a $10 GC), or 1500 points and up for merchandise including magazine subscriptions.
I received the following via comment and email from the director of communications for NetWinner, Steve Goldberg. In this message, he requested that I issue a retraction regarding my incorrect characterization of the Dragon*Con conference. Here, in part, is Mr. Goldberg's statement:
With more than 25 years experience as an investigative reporter/writer, and now under contract to NetWinner, I do my fact checking with great diligence. If you had done your research properly, you would have let your readers know that the annual Dragon*Con in Atlanta with more than 30,000 attendees does not have anything to do with "porn" but is actually, according to their site, "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the U.S." It's a family friendly event with fans dressing as Klingons, Superman, Harry Potter, and other characters. More information can be found at www.dragoncon.org
And here is my response:
I'm not a journalist; I'm a stay-at-home mom. Although I do try to think like a journalist when I do the research for my posts, I did make a mistake on this one: I posted earlier that Dragon*Con was a porn convention. I was wrong. It's a "science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film" convention. My deepest apologies to Dragon*Con and its many fans and attendees.
In an email to members today, Jellyfish said that it had been assimilated by integrated into Microsoft Live, and that members would need to log in with their Microsoft Live accounts or create one if they didn't have one. I did, and it appears they're still working on transferring over data from the old system. I was really quite confused by the new platform (this is Microsoft we're talking about...anyone surprised?).
It seems they plan to separate the cashback shopping -- which now features PayPal as a payout option -- from the Smack Shopping reverse auction.
I need to do a little playing around with both sites to better understand the changes and will update this post when I do. Stay tuned!
Updated Daily!
Ebates.com has a a new feature called the Daily Double. For one day only, they will double their usual rebate for one merchant.
Today (Saturday, May 10), earn 8%, instead of the usual 4% at The Land of Nod! This store sells everything baby-related! Free shipping on strollers, diaper bags, and CDs, and up to 80% off in their outlet section!
Plus, Ebates gives you a FREE $5 bonus when you join and make your first purchase! -- Join Ebates today!(aff)
In an email to members yesterday, Freeride.com announced that it would be eliminating all $10 gift cards from their redemption catalog, "due to rising costs." The lowest cashout available is now a $15 GC, for 18,500 tokens. Members will have to "ride" a little longer before they can redeem their points, it appears. You can click Continue Reading to view Freeride's email.
p.s. NetWinner, take notes -- this is how it's supposed to be done. ;)
Wellness360 Review
Please join here -- If you sign up by May 4 and email me with your mailing address, I'll send you $1 and a free magnet!
Date Launched: 2008
Minimum to Redeem: No minimum, checks are sent quarterly upon request
Prizes Offered: Check
Earn Points For: Many activities including 2 points for every page view of at least 10 seconds, for entering or updating your vitals, medications taken, family medical history, workout calendar, or food diary, for watching exercise videos, reading health-related articles, and more
Limit One Account Per: U.S. resident 18+
Notes:
This morning I spoke with an employee of Wellness360 named Heather, who gave me some great information about the program. Wellness360 is owned by a company named Aperture Health. Previously, the site was offered exclusively as an employee benefit to employees of the cities, counties, hospitals, and other small business with which Aperture had a contract. Two or three months ago they decided to open it to the public.
The goal of the website is to offer a small cash incentive for the public to access free health information and other health-related website features. The site offers some interesting features like a health risk assessment, a food diary that calculates your caloric intake, exercise diaries that calculate calorie expenditures, and the ability to upload your medical records if desired to ensure they, for instance, aren't lost in a fire. The site is in compliance with all HIPPA health care privacy regulations.
While technically there is no limit on what a member can earn, the site examines accounts for abuse. They don't expect members to spend, on average, more than 10 to 15 minutes a day on the site. Average expected monthly earnings would be between $10 and $20 a month (more if you refer a lot of friends because you get a percentage of the points they earn). They strongly encourage legitimate use of the account to receive health information and to track progress toward your health goals.
Earnings are paid by check quarterly, upon request. Members have 15 days after the quarter ends in which to request their check, otherwise their points roll over to the next quarter. Taking this and processing time into account, expect your check 3 to 6 weeks after the quarter ends.
Yesterday, United Online (MyPoints.com's owner) announced it was buying FTD for $800 million. Among other reasons given by United Online's CEO Mark Goldston for the unusual acquisition, UNTD wants to diversify its revenue streams. Also interesting: "We will explore opportunities to encourage repeat purchases of FTD products using reward programs based on our MyPoints loyalty marketing service."
I just wanted to say hi to all my new website visitors -- thanks for stopping by and I hope you find some useful information here! I'm always happy to answer questions or recommend programs based on your own circumstances (whether you shop online a lot, if you want to earn cash or gift cards without spending anything, if you prefer programs that pay in PayPal or Amazon or by check, etc.). Also, I send out a twice-monthly newsletter by email summarizing the latest news, giving an advanced heads-up on new programs I intend to review here, and sometimes even sharing some spicy gossip you won't see elsewhere. ;)
It's also a good reminder for you if, like me, you tend to find an interesting website, bookmark it, then forget to visit it for the latest. So, if you'd like to sign up for the Insider newsletter, send an email to me here with "Subscribe" in the subject line! You can also email me there if you have other questions. And thanks for visiting CompareRewards.com!
Update, 5/5: I'm not a journalist; I'm a stay-at-home mom. Although I do try to think like a journalist when I do the research for my posts, I did make a mistake on this one: I posted earlier that Dragon*Con was a porn convention. I was wrong. It's a gaming-related convention. My deepest apologies to Dragon*Con and its many fans and attendees.
Update, 4:42pm: Despite this information surfacing, two NW mods today insist, "This is a family game site." The info below is being dismissed as "gossip" and irrelevant and members are being warned they will be banned if they discuss it. While I appreciate everyone's support, please don't violate NWC's forum rules! This website has a much wider reach than their forum and the public IS being informed. Please see my response to this post below. Thanks, and best wishes to all unpaid members.
Someone sent me a very interesting link today, to a porn industry newsletter. Because I've always prided myself on being a (mostly!) family-friendly website, I won't post the link but it's available upon request. This is a cropped screenshot of the relevant part. Please note the part that says "sponsored by...Netwinner.com."
I found this to be a very odd business decision. NetWinner doesn't show porn ads during its games. I looked and couldn't find where NetWinner had sponsored any other types of discussion panels...why a porn industry one? What was the significance of the porn industry to NetWinner?
I did some digging and found the following:
According to the North Carolina Secretary of State's office, a guy named Scott Coffman is NetWinner LLC's registered agent for service of process (he's the person you'd have to physically hand papers to if you intended to sue NetWinner). Whoever this guy is, he's got a huge responsibility, so he has to be someone NetWinner trusts to stay in close contact.
So, who is this guy? According to his LinkedIn profile, Scott Coffman of Charlotte, NC is the president and owner of AEBN.
This article, originally in Business North Carolina, says that AEBN.net "sells pay-per-minute porno online." The article was co-written by a Steve Goldberg. Steve Goldberg is also the name of NetWinner's Director of Communications, the PR guy (see the credits below their 4/15 press release) who also contributed to my February post on NetWinner. Coincidence?
What about the VP I talked to? Does he have a connection to AEBN? Yep! Google Matt Coapman AEBN and you'll see that he used to be AEBN's Global Marketing Manager.
What does all this mean? First of all, I'm not making any moral statements about porn; I'm a firm believer in a free market and staying out of the business of what's done among consenting adults. I just question the business logic in having NetWinner co-sponsor a porn industry discussion panel as a PR event rather than, say, a NASCAR race. I don't know much about porn discussion panels but I'd imagine that there aren't many Fortune 500 companies sponsoring them.
It's a shame that NetWinner's not as successful as AEBN -- according to Alexa.com, it's the 255th most visited website on the internet with somewhere between one and ten million dollars in revenue.
Well, as they promised last year, you'll no longer find those little Kool-Aid Kool Points on their packages anymore: Kraft Foods confirmed with me this morning that they have discontinued their Kool-Aid Points program. You can still cash in your points while supplies last. The prizes are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis.
They've removed their catalog from the Kraft website, but you can request one by calling 1-800-367-9225.
The phone agent I spoke with this morning suggested that you mark a first, second, and third choice on the form. The cheapest prize, she said, is 20 points plus $1.75 shipping and handling for a Kool-Aid Packet Holder. (Because different prizes have different costs in points and S&H, I don't know how you'd do the first, second, and third choice thing but I didn't argue with her.) I requested my catalog and will update this post when I receive it. You can see an archived copy of the last catalog on Kraft's site here
This news makes me sad. I collected points as a kid and cashed them in for, among other things, a really neat Kool-Aid Stand. My dad used it to teach me about supply and demand, "cost of goods sold," and marketing (I earned lots of dimes that summer)...which sparked an interest in economics that led me to pursue a degree in it and eventually a master's in business administration. So in a way, I am who I am because of Kool-Aid Points! Oh, yeahhhh! ;)
Today I got an email from MrRebates.com reminding me to request my cashout by the 30th in order to receive my payment next month. I've been a member of many rewards programs over the years (I started using them in '97) but I've never had a program REMIND ME to cash out! Now THAT is a sign of conscientious management with their member's best interests at heart!
If you shop online, I can highly recommend these guys...great rates (fourth highest out of 21 I analyzed last October), payments when promised (they paid me quickly last month, my first month to cash out), and a staff that really cares. Click here (aff) to sign up!
Click here for the latest update (4/29).
I know all of NetWinner's members would like some sort of update but there isn't much to tell and what I do have isn't good.
First of all, yesterday a NetWinner member named Sue called the number on her Ecount card to find out the status of her payment and was told by Jessica, an Ecount manager, that NetWinner had not sent them any funds since March 13.
Second, on Friday two NW forum posters reported receiving emails from NetWinner requesting copies of their IDs by fax in order to process their raffle prize. This isn't all that unusual and has been done occasionally in the past. HOWEVER, the company committed a huge privacy violation by sending out the email by publicly addressing (versus BCC'ing) the message to what was described as around fifty member email addresses.
Third, members need to be aware that the site's Terms of Service have been changed in regards to referral earnings. Formerly, members would receive 100 points for referring a friend, then another 400 after the friend completed 100 game plays. Now, that has been changed to be after their friend wins 100 contest entries. You do still get 10% of your friends' winnings, but if you didn't notice, now that the 10-point prize has been removed, you don't get anything if your friend gets the most likely win, a raffle entry.
What can players, some waiting nearly six months for their payments, do about the situation? Here are some suggestions, proposed by fellow players, an attorney friend of mine, and yours truly:
1. File a complaint with the Attorney General for the state of North Carolina. The instructions on how to do this are here. If you have a printer, you can print the complaint form here. It includes their mailing address and a toll-free number, 1-877-566-7226. I'm not sure if they accept complaints by phone; I confirmed that they definitely don't accept them online, so mail may be your only method.
2. File a complaint with the BBB for Charlotte, NC. Start your complaint process here and it will redirect you to the Charlotte BBB. Note that the BBB "does not act as a collection agency." They do, however, "work closely with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies," should they determine that fraud is involved.
3. File a complaint with the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Division of Marketing Practices. Their website is here, and you can file a complaint here. I think this would need to be complaints along the lines of, they advertised one thing and that's not how it worked.
4. Contact the local (Charlotte, NC) media. Wikipedia says that TV station WBTV "is the largest television news department between Washington and Atlanta," so they may be the best ones to approach. Information on how to contact them (including their assurance of confidentiality) is here, or go straight to the story tip submission form here.
5. Contact Ecount. Last year, members of the Freeride rewards program waiting for Ecount GCs called Ecount directly, and they were able to tell the members whether the delay was due to the rewards program not paying Ecount, versus some other reason like the program sending Ecount an old email address for the member, or the member's ISP blocking Ecount's email. You can contact Ecount at 1-800-522-7458.
To read other members' experiences with NetWinner, including the latest payment (or non-payment) reports, you can visit their forum at NetWinnerCentral.com.
Lastly, as an aside, do you remember the video about the NetWinner Fairy? Take note of the costume and the background (red walls, white paneling). I found these other videos interesting: "Netwinner Dog LOL," "This is how we stamp our mail! LOL," "bright eyes crazy dancing," "eyes," and www.netwinner.com Dogs!!! sooooo cute!!!." I think these show behind the scenes at NetWinner far better than the "Spin Report" PR video released a few days ago.
Boomertowne.com Review
Please click here for an invitation to join the site! Note: Let me refer you, and sign up, before 4/30 and I'll send you $1 AND a free magnet!
Date Launched: April 2007
Minimum to Redeem: 5,354 for merchandise; GCs start at 12,500 (for $25 Target or BestBuy)
Prizes Offered: GCs, merchandise
Earn Points For: Many activities including logging in; submitting or rating jokes, recipes, or quotes; playing games; watching videos; chatting; posting to the forum; requesting or adding friends; signing up for and reading the newsletter; recommending a restaurant or other attraction in a specific city and more
Limit One Account Per: Person 18+ with a unique email address; maximum of 4 accounts per mailing address. If you are caught using more than one account regularly, the accounts will be frozen.
Dollar Value of a Point: Approximately 1/5 of a cent
Daily "Free" Points: About 1500
Value of those Free Points: About $3 per day
Notes: 100 points to join. Points per activity vary and some activities have daily or weekly maximums. Add boomernews@boomertowne.com to your address book to ensure delivery of newsletters.
My Take:
BoomerTowne was founded by a Wisconsin entrepreneur Herschel "Buzz" Peddicord (a baby boomer himself) who recently sold a healthcare company to Honeywell for an undisclosed amount (which means it was probably quite a bit). BT generates income from ad revenue including Google ads and an optional paid dating section. A dozen celebrities have partnered with the site to provide exclusive content as their "Towne Council" -- including Dr. Bob Arnot (medical expert and foreign correspondent aka "Dr. Danger"), Dr. John Gray (relationship expert and author of "Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus," Dr. Steven Covey (marketing management expert and author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,"), Denise Austin (fitness expert with over 20 million videos/dvds sold), and Gary Player (Golf Digest's third Greatest Golfer of All Time in 2000). Talk show host Montel Williams has also donated content to the site.
I am very skeptical that a site can continue to pay out the equivalent of $3 a day in free points to members over an extended period of time. However, I do know that site reportedly only had 9,000 members last October, so they're still in their growth phase and this is probably being written off as advertising expense (to aid in word of mouth marketing) and it's also a necessary incentive for them to initially build up content on the site.
So: I suggest we all enjoy it while the ride lasts, but that we not expect it to last forever. At least with the ability to cash out for a $25 gift card about every 8.5 days, we won't be TOO much in the hole should the site begin to dry up.
Please email me for an invitation if you'd like to join -- Note: if you let me refer you, and sign up, before 4/30, I'll send you $1 AND a free magnet! -- or go directly to the site at BoomerTowne.com.
According to a post on the BeenPaid.com Forum, both CreationsRewards.net and SunshineRewards have been suspended from the BeenPaid Seal of Approval program as of Monday, 4/21. BeenPaid contacts its approved programs once a year as a "quality control check" to be sure that their payouts are current. Out of around 80 programs, Creations and Sunshine were among the only 4 to have not responded to any of BeenPaid's three emails. As a result, they've been suspended and would have to reapply for the Seal of Approval if they wanted the designation again.
I don't know if this was an oversight or if the program owners no longer feel a need for the Seal of Approval distinction. In their defense, as far as I know, both Creations and Sunshine are current in their member payments. If you're interested in checking them out, please consider joining with my referral links: CreationsRewards.net / SunshineRewards
Along with many others, I've been concerned about how Jellyfish's buyout by Microsoft would affect the company. There's a core group of employees at JF that have become like a second family to its members (okay, sometimes they're the "weird cousin you only see during the holidays," but still...). Would Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, fire the Jellyfish staff in Madison, Wisconsin, or force them to relocate? We'd already lost Smack Daddy -- would we lose Jake, Amanda, Jyll, Trixie, Keith, Greg, and the rest of the gang, too?
Fear not, Jellyfish fans -- or at least fear LESS: Microsoft announced today that it's opening the Jim Gray Research Lab in Madison, and will staff it with grad students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The purpose of the group is to do advanced research on databases and database technologies.
Does this affect Jellyfish directly? Probably not, but it does show Microsoft's committed to maintaining its presence in Madison, and hopefully they'll continue to keep our favorite Jellyfish staff members around for a long time. With big raises. (Ya listening, Bill Gates?)
Click here to join Jellyfish if you're not already a member.
I know a lot of people are frustrated with the changes at NetWinner or are concerned about FusionCash's disappearance, or you just may be looking for another program to add to your daily routine.
I spoke with Dmitry, the owner of QuickRewards.net, and he's agreed to offer my site visitors an EXCLUSIVE promotion:
Get a FREE $3 bonus when you join the site with my link, confirm your email, and complete just one survey or offer...
OR,
Get a FREE $5 bonus when you join with my link, confirm your email, and make just one shopping order through the site's cashback portal.
QuickRewards.net, in business for 5 years now, pays its members for reading emails, completing surveys, signing up for contests or newsletters (be sure to use an email address for these where you don't mind receiving spam), playing games like Guess My Number and trivia (today, 4/28, the answer is "K"), answering polls, visiting websites, signing up for trial offers, AND for shopping!
Cash out your QR earnings for PayPal with NO MINIMUM to cash out, or save up for emailed gift cards like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or snail-mailed gift cards like Home Depot and Disney. Their customer service is OUTSTANDING. Have a question? Get a fast answer by email or get help from others on their blog. Want them to add a merchant to the shopping section? They'll do it! Shopping orders are credited to your account within 36 hours in most cases, and unlike most shopping sites, you can cash out your rebate IMMEDIATELY -- no waiting 30 to 90 days! Surveys, signups, contest entries, and offers usually credit in 24 to 48 hours, too.
But don't take my word for it -- go to the site, then click on Member Feedback and read what others are saying about QuickRewards.net...then join and see for yourself!
Here's my link to join for the bonus offers -- and be sure to email me with your QR account name after you do a survey or offer or make a purchase so I can personally ensure your bonus is credited. If you have any questions about QR before you join, I'd be more than happy to answer them!
If any other rewards program would like to offer my visitors an exclusive signup bonus, please email me and let's talk!
CompareRewards has learned that Ebates' Founder and CEO Alessandro Isolani has named Kevin H. Johnson as the company’s new CEO, replacing Isolani as head executive this week. Johnson was most recently the General Manager of Acxiom Digital, a division of Acxiom Corporation (ACXM on the Nasdq) and a top 25 interactive agency. Johnson comes to Ebates with decades of experience in digital marketing with particular specialization in targeted marketing. This is the last of a number of senior management hires made by Isolani over the last year and was the result of an exhaustive six-month search.
By email, Isolani informed me that he will remain at Ebates and will continue to help guide the vision and direction of the company as it manages its record customer growth experienced throughout 2007 and into this year. The changes we can expect at Ebates? All for the better, Isolani promised. He wouldn't share too many details but assures that they have a number of initiatives in the works which will result in better rewards, higher quality customer service, and faster order tracking for its users.
To read the new CEO's biography, as posted on Ebates' site, click Continue Reading. If you're not a member of Ebates and would like to join, please click here (aff) -- thanks!
According to an email sent out today, Jellyfish.com's cashback service will be down from 4/25 through 4/30 "to perform necessary service upgrades and enhancements." There will be another outage in May. The ever-popular Smack Shopping reverse auction section will remain up "with some minor interruptions." The program promises your earnings and other account information will remain intact.
I've been expecting some site changes since Microsoft bought Jellyfish last year. I hope this will mostly be cosmetic changes, or if anything, it will involve improving the product search engine. Guess we'll have to wait and see (unless some JF employee wanted to, say, ahem, anonymously give us a hint in a comment here...).
Click Continue Reading below to see the full email.
Just a note if you haven't checked either of these sites lately -- both LuckySearch and QuickRewards have new looks. In addition, LuckySearch added some ways to earn points besides by just searching and winning: you can now complete several offers on the site for points (Netflix and the Entertainment Book are the ones I see right now). QuickRewards' new look is streamlined, reducing some of the redundant links it had before. But as always, they anticipated the needs of some of the site veterans and put up an option to use the old format and colors if you don't like the change.
Ryan from LuckySearch and Dmitry from QuickRewards are a couple of good guys. They pay and pay fast, and they care about their members. If you're not a member of their programs yet, please join with my link: Join LuckySearch here, and join QuickRewards.net here. Thanks!
The FusionCash rewards program has been down since Friday. There's no word on why or whether this is just a temporary outage. I have an email in to one of the site's owners and will post an update if I receive one.
**Update, 4/23: Today I was forwarded an email from one of FC's members (thanks, Megan!) who had gotten an email from FusionCash support on Tuesday. "We are currently working on the issue, it is something to do with the server overloading. We do not know if this was an intentional attack on FusionCash, or simply something that was done due to poor maintenance of the server itself. We are working very hard to get the server back up and running, and we are not going anywhere anytime soon." I then emailed the same address and just now got this response: "The site appears to be back up and going strong -- no idea how long it will last. Sorry for any inconvenience, we had no way of even emailing all our members." The site is still down for me but it may come up for you. (fingers crossed)
**Update, 4/24: Site's back up and fully functional. Staff confirms they were down due to a denial of service attack that tied up their servers and left them unable to email members about the problem.
Update, 4/18 - 12:07am: A post on NetWinnerCentral that contained a link to this article was just deleted. They don't want you to read it. That should tell you something.
In a press release on Tuesday, "Casual Games a Winner for Both Consumers and Advertisers," NetWinner claims to have paid out over $1.6 million to members since the site's inception. They say that in February, they served 50 million video ads to players of their games.
The press release states that "the company works hard to build the consumer connection by giving them what they want, not just in the games they play, but the prizes they win..." [emphasis mine]
Ask a long-time NetWinner player if they agree with this. First, gift cards and magazine subscription redemptions were taken away and replaced with Ecount gift cards, which was met with huge player resistance. Players were indifferent to the redemption of points for raffle entries, so the company "forced" the redemption by replacing ten point game wins with raffle entries. $25 Ecount redemptions were removed. As of this writing, no one has been paid for any prize redemptions made after November 5, 2007.
CompareRewards has learned that the same day that NetWinner took drastic measures to decrease the amount of member earnings and the frequency of their payouts, they gave their AdverGame Network partner websites a 50% raise.
Click here to see an excerpt of the email sent to their partners (cropped, and with the partner's website name removed). The email cited "tremendous response" to the prize drawings, touting the fact that NW dropped the points required to buy an entry. It mentions the addition of the $100 Ecount redemption for 100,000 points...but neglects to mention the removal of the $25 Ecount redemption. And it spins the substitution of the ten point prize for a daily drawing entry as a positive.
Then comes the kicker: "Because of these changes [emphasis mine], we will now be able to offer all partners 15% [formerly 10%...a 50% raise]..."
I heard from two AdverGame Network partners in the past week who shared their viewpoints on the changes at NetWinner but asked to remain anonymous. One, echoing my own concerns when NW asked me if I wanted to be a partner site, said that he was worried that the frustration and outright anger many NW members are expressing because of last week's changes would result in ill will toward him and his website. I asked him whether he was concerned about being paid and he said no...HIS payments were guaranteed by contract.
The other partner I talked with said, "This move is an attempt to reduce the amount of money spent on prizes and to increase their partner payout. They'll get more traffic from partners since they are able to pay more - but they'll lose a lot of dedicated members because of the changes."
In other words, NW knows the changes will tick off existing players and that perhaps some of them will leave. While this is good for NW because those members won't be around to cash out their earned points (keep in mind that points earned but not redeemed are considered a liability, accounting-wise, for any point site)... it's bad for NW, too, because no members playing = no members watching ads = NO INCOME. When you've p*ssed off your existing membership, what else can ya do but find new members? And the newbies won't know how good NW used to be...they may be content to play for raffle entries and for points that will take a year or more to accumulate to cashout minimums. NW obviously hopes to bring in new members by offering its partners more money to promote the program.
This AdverGame partner went on to say, "The REAL problem with netwinner is that they don't have a strong business model. They drive traffic by partnering with sites on a rev-share basis, but the rev share is so small that many sites won't give them much attention or placement, since there are more lucrative offers always floating around. I myself have made threats to reduce exposure because they just don't pay enough for the traffic that they're getting." He said that the high-bandwidth video ads were a relatively new market and it's not valuable enough (yet) to advertisers...so there's not much money to be made right now.
So, what's the next logical thing for NW to do? Get their affiliate partners to buy their own prizes! Which is exactly what they're now trying to do.
In an email today titled, "A new opportunity with NetWinner," (click here to see an excerpt) NetWinner urged its partner websites to buy their own prizes, in return for 20% of the ad revenue instead of the just-increased 15%. NW creates a page customized for the partner's giveaway (which can be changed weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly), the partner provides the prize, and NW gives the partner site 20% of the ad revenue. The partner can put ads for their own main website into the ad rotation if they choose. You can see an example of these customized campaigns here -- note that this is a raffle-only system, with NO points involved, only drawing entries.
This business model at least gets the prize burden off of NW's back. Whether or not the partners get sufficient return on their investment (the prizes they're ponying up) and whether NW can afford to customize campaigns and host the traffic while giving up 20% of their earnings remains to be seen.
Will NetWinner ever catch up with its outstanding redemptions? Who knows. But it's my guess that a raffle-only model will be the way of the future for NW and their partner sites.
In a press release today, SallieMae, the owner of the Upromise rewards program, reported a net loss in their first quarter earnings for 2008 of $104 million, compared to a net INCOME of $116 million in their first quarter last year.
SallieMae's CEO, Albert L. Lord, said, "Today’s environment is the most difficult we have seen in our 35-year history of student lending...It has become obvious that we can only meet the enormous student credit demands we are seeing at Sallie Mae if there is a near-term, system-wide liquidity solution.”
Liquidity solution? Upromise's CEO just up and left two weeks ago? Hmmm.
Jellyfish announced that on Wednesday from noon to midnight Central time, they will be doing their Smack (reverse auction) live and hosted by Jellyfish employees, with the Smack Wheel (chance to win prizes) in-between deals, and with increased quantities and speed throughout! If you've never had the opportunity to enjoy a JF-employee hosted Smack Show during the week at noon central, here's your chance since they'll be going after hours as well. You don't want to miss this -- mark your calendar and I'll see you in Talk'n Smack, the member chat area, during the show!
Not a member of Jellyfish.com yet? What's wrong with you? ;) Join here!
In mid-February, I had a couple of interesting conversations with folks over at NetWinner.com, which I put together into a post here on CompareRewards. One of the program's VPs was kind enough to address some of the concerns I'd been hearing about the program, and I found the exchange enlightening and reassuring.
However, it's been about 8 weeks since then, and some things have changed, and at this point I'd say NetWinner is facing the beginning of the end...unless they do something and fast.
1. Despite NetWinner's insistence to the contrary, it does appear that criticizing NetWinner, even on outside websites, can get your account frozen. Three weeks ago, a member was told that his NW account would be frozen if he didn't remove posts critical of NW on outside websites by a certain date and time. The only website this member had posted on was mine, and my site settings don't permit commenters to delete their own comments. The member's account, as a result, was frozen. I interceded on his behalf, appealing to the folks I had spoken with at NW in February to investigate, and the member did eventually get his account back. What if I hadn't stepped in? Would the member have been out of all of his points and all of the redemptions he's been patiently waiting for? How many other people has this happened to? I've heard the complaints before and believed NetWinner when they said they were untrue, but now... I don't know.
2. When NetWinner eliminated all redemptions but raffle entries and Ecount certificates, the rationale given to me was that Ecount certificates would help reduce fraud, would help better use NW staff since it was outsourced, and that it would help speed up redemptions. This is not the case either. Eight weeks have passed since I spoke with NW and the site is only five weeks further along in their redemption backlog. In other words, they're not catching up at all...the backlog is actually growing.
3. Today, NetWinner eliminated its 10 point prizes on their games and put in their place a raffle entry, for one of ten $100 Ecount GCs (and with surely tens of thousands of players, those odds are rather paltry). While 10 points was the smallest points prize a player could win, before, with the occasional points multipliers it could add up to 250 points. Now, regardless of any multiplier in place, it amounts to just one raffle entry. Because your odds were better at winning the 10 points (now the raffle entry) than anything else, this GREATLY limits the number of points a member can expect to earn in a day. And this, obviously, impacts your earnings from referrals as well.
4. Which brings us to the biggest, reddest flag of 'em all: NetWinner eliminated its 25,000 point ($25) Ecount redemption and all that remains is 100,000 points ($100 Ecount) and raffle entries. This will in essence make the program raffle-entry only because, with odds of winning 25 points 1 in 29, the average member will earn 75 points per day -- okay, give them the benefit of the doubt and say 100, which would require 1,000 days, or almost 3 years, in order for a member to reach cashout.
Now, consider all these points along with the fact that NW first limited players' daily wheel spins, THEN they increased the length of time in the Terms of Service that they had to pay people when they cash out (not that they're actually paying them in that time frame)... Well, you don't have to have an MBA to read the writing on the wall.
NetWinner has fun games and a great user interface, but if the site isn't properly monetized, doesn't pay on time, isn't properly staffed, has lousy customer service, freezes accounts on a whim, and changes the redemptions and TOS when they can't keep up... what's it matter?
Sorry, NW members. I'm as disappointed as you are; I feel just as much deceived as you do. :( I hope you can find some other places to spend your time and hopefully earn a little something in the process. Check out other programs mentioned here on CompareRewards, or shoot me an email if you'd like personalized recommendations.
Everybody loves free GCs, especially when they're from Amazon! Amazon is a favorite merchant of a lot of online shoppers because of its great promotions, including free super-saver shipping on $25 orders, and because it doesn't charge sales tax. While there are no rewards programs that can (legally) reward you for shopping at Amazon, there are several programs that will pay you in the form of Amazon credit, without you having to spend a red dime (unless you want to, that is)! Here's a recap, in no particular order:
QuickRewards: http://tinyurl.com/2ck7nj -- Earn for reading emails, visiting websites, completing surveys, entering contests (use a "throw-away" email address because these will spam you!), trial signups, shopping, completing polls, playing trivia, Guess My Number, referring friends
CreationsRewards: http://tinyurl.com/266mrk -- Earn for reading emails, visiting websites, completing surveys, entering contests, trial signups, shopping, playing trivia, referring friends
MyPoints: http://tinyurl.com/2h8drg -- Earn for reading emails, visiting websites, completing surveys, trial signups, shopping, completing polls, referring friends
QuizPoints: http://tinyurl.com/cfsmy -- Earn for completing surveys, entering contests, trial signups, shopping, referring friends
Winzy: http://tinyurl.com/2dhkp7 -- Random searchers win $5 Amazon GCs (max of 30 searches per day per member); if your referrals win, you win, too
LuckySearch: http://tinyurl.com/2hhomy -- Random searchers win points redeemable for prizes including Amazon (max of 25 searches per day per member); if your referrals win, you win, too
BigDevil: http://tinyurl.com/ypk529 -- Random searchers win $5 Amazon GCs (or $25 Restaurant GCs) (max of 30 searches per day per member); if your referrals win, you win, too
Blingo: http://tinyurl.com/24tpt6 -- Random searchers win $5 Amazon GCs (or Fandango tickets) (max of 25 searches per day per member); if your referrals win, you win, too
Swagbucks: http://tinyurl.com/24sshw -- Random searchers win Swagbucks redeemable for Amazon GCs and other prizes; if your referrals win, you win, too
iRazoo: http://tinyurl.com/54fzpt -- Random searchers win prizes including $5 Amazon GCs; all searches (and referrals) earn points redeemable for prizes
Lightspeed Panel: http://tinyurl.com/344dsb -- Complete surveys for points redeemable for Amazon GCs and other prizes
Testspin: http://tinyurl.com/2gcuw8 -- Complete surveys for Amazon credit
Survey Exchange (formerly called OTXsx): http://tinyurl.com/24uxde -- Complete surveys for points redeemable for Amazon GCs and other prizes
Mturk: http://tinyurl.com/c5ny4 -- Earn credit to your Amazon account by performing short "HITs" (tasks)
GoFreebies: http://tinyurl.com/2g9ktv -- Subscribe to a daily email and click the link each day for a chance to win one of 8 $10 Amazon GCs
Saturn Devotion to Motion Instant Win Game: http://tinyurl.com/27wmez -- Play once daily through 1/5/09 for a chance to win prizes including 12 $500 or 1,000 $5 Amazon GCs
This was originally published in my Amazon Shoppers newsletter, sent out about twice a week from YahooGroups. If you're interested in receiving it by email, please click here -- thanks!
And since you can't earn rewards on your Amazon purchases, please shop through my link to help support CompareRewards; thanks!
I don't know about you guys, but I am really turned off by survey sites that just offer you a drawing entry in return for your time. If I'm going to sit still and give a survey site my full attention for 10 minutes or more, giving thorough and honest answers to their questions, I expect more than just a one in a thousand chance of winning ten bucks, or some other such nonsense.
I was really happy to hear that the Ipsos i-Say program just added points as a reward for every survey completed. They will continue to hold a quarterly sweeps for $5,000, and to offer an instant win game play after every completed survey, but in addition, you'll receive points you can cash in for merchandise (starting at 150 points) or GCs to a TON of merchants.
Interested in joining? Please use my affiliate link below -- thanks!
Upromise is running a promotion through April where they'll deposit $10 into your Upromise account when you join and make just one purchase through their site. Order 22 issues of Parenting through Upromise's link to Magazines.com for $4.97 and get 25% cash back ($1.24) plus $10 into your account... you profit $6.27 (plus you get the subscription to enjoy for 22 months)!
Interested? Please join with my affiliate link below -- thanks!
DigitalTransactions.net is reporting that Greenpoints has been sold.
The new owner, YT Acquisition Corp., is a newly formed company made up of lenders of the former owner, Solidus Networks, Inc. The purchase price, which includes several other assets of Solidus, was $4.4 million plus a "credit bid" (whatever that is) of $50 million.
Oh, really? Did I not call this?</