January 2005 Archives

On Tuesday, GSN The Network for Games announced that it was parnering with MySony to offer its own rewards program. Users sign up for the program on GSN.com and get 2000 points for signing up and an additional 500 for completing their user survey. Then, earn up to 10 points a week for clicking on banners, and 125 points for every interactive game show you play along with online (these are designated on-air as "GSNi"). For the first month of your membership, the reward is doubled to 250 points per game.

Points can be redeemed for auction entries, GSN merchandise, or discounts on stuff sold by MySony.

I have NOT been impressed by MySony in the past, but I'm hopeful that this association with GSN will only improve MySony's program. But even if the rewards are lame, I think playing along with the game shows will be fun. :) The link to sign up is here.

Got a Macy's card? Then you're in for a treat. Macy's announced today that it is launching a new customer rewards program, effective on March 1. All current cardholders will receive a new card, color-coded according to how much you purchase. The lowest level is Red, then Gold, Platinum, and finally their biggest customers get an Elite Star Rewards card.

The more you spend, the better the corresponding benefit. Higher level cards get merchandise certificates worth a higher percentage, free services like gift-wrap, and exclusive offers and events. All cards will track participating in their frequent purchase programs like for hosiery and lingerie.

More information is in the press release, here.

"Okay, I want to try out some of these paid to read email programs. Any you can recommend?" As a matter of fact, yes! And thanks for asking!

Not all PTR programs are disasters waiting to happen. Some programs have withstood the test of time. How do you know which to join? (Read me after reading Parts One and Two.)

Read me after you've read Part One, and you'll find out why what should be a winning situation often fails.

Not exactly REWARDS programs, but these sites pay you for clicking on links in email or onsite. Paid to read email? What's the catch? Read on!

Hi, all!

I have the trivia answers back in their old place now -- if you're looking for today's trivia answers, please go to (and bookmark) http://www.CompareRewards.com/trivia.html

And REMEMBER -- you can sign up to receive these by email by sending an email to comparerewards@yahoo.com with "Trivia" in the subject line!

Updated, 1/8/05

Sploofus (see my initial review here or click here to join) has just added a new game, WordRounds. The way it works is, each hour you can play up to ten 10-question vocabulary quizzes. All players are ranked on accuracy and speed. The top three scorers every hour are awarded points (3,000 to #1, 1,500 to #2, 1,000 to #3). NOTE: As of 1/8, the amounts awarded have dropped: Unsure of #1, but #2 is worth 750 points, and #3 is worth 500 points.
This could be a REAL game-leveller for those of us relative newbies who have not yet built up big balances. A couple of 3,000-point wins could make a big difference in the monthly Leaderboard stats.

Tips: 1) READ FAST! After you do the first 2 or 3 questions, start scrolling down and read the next question AS it scrolls up your screen. 2) Go with your gut instinct. People are going to make 100%'s just by guessing...the question is, who's going to get them faster. 3) Obvious answers are often right. It doesn't look like they're throwing in tricky answers (yet!). 4) If you need to make a quick guess, rule out the obvious wrong answers. Then take a look at the suffixes of what's left. If they're looking for a noun, you can guess that generally a word that ends in "ly" is not going to be a noun. Use what you know of language to make informed guesses.

Good luck, everybody! And if you have any tips of your own, please respond in a comment!

Wow, 2004 was an interesting year for those of us involved with rewards programs! How much of 2004 do YOU remember? Revisit some of the highlights -- read on!

Like Asian food? Benihana restaurants launched a rewards program called the Emperor's Club in August. They'll be offering double points for dining at certain periods during the year, too. Locations of Benihana's participating in the Emperor's Club program are here. Membership in the program is free, but you have to get the card in person at a participating restaurant. Once you have a membership, you can see your available points balance online here.

250 points = $25, 500 points = $50, 750 points = $75, 1000 points = $100. Sorry, you can't earn points on alcohol purchases :). Tax and gratuity don't count, either.

I've posted before about how the Ebates Moe Money Maker program, which purports to remind you about rebates available at Ebates when you're casually shopping the 'net, is scumware and needs to be deleted from your machine (see my Feb. 2004 post). A group of rewards program owners also noted in a Sep. 2004 chat session here on the site that MMM potentially interfered with users receiving rebates while shopping through THEIR sites.

Now, Harvard PhD candidate (Economics) and spyware watchdog Ben Edelman has actual video of Ebates' MMM software taking advantage of a security hole to install itself on his computer. He goes on to discuss the many issues posed by Moe Money Maker and why Ebates is allowed to continue to behave this way. Very interesting reading: http://www.benedelman.org/news/121504-1.html