June 2006 Archives

Jellyfish Review - Updated 11/06

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Jellyfish.com launched in beta on 6/26/06. It's open to U.S. and Canadian citizens 18 years or older.

There are currently over 1,000 merchants participating in the program, and although there are some big retailers not currently participating in the program, the site's blog promises that they'll be adding, "thousands of additonal retailers" as the beta period continues.

Jellyfish has a $10 minimum payout. You can choose either PayPal or check, and you can request payout at any time after that $10 threshhold has been met. Their procedure is to put your shopping rebates earned into a pending status until the merchant pays them, which they say could be 60 to 120 days.

Jellyfish's rates are outstanding. In my 2007 Shopping Rebates Comparison Chart, Jellyfish had the second highest rebates out of 21 programs reviewed.

What really makes Jellyfish unique, however, is that it adds to its rewards program a comparison shopping tool. If you know that you want to buy an iPod Nano, plug that into the search box, choose your model, and what comes up next will be a list of merchants that sell it, sorted by total price after tax and shipping less the rebate to your Jellyfish account. This is a TREMENDOUSLY useful feature for diehard shoppers looking for the best deal available.

Now if, on the other hand, all you know is that you want to buy an MP3 player, you can do a search by category, choosing Electronics, Portable Audio, MP3 players...then you'll see the price ranges of the various models, and when you pick one, voila! You get the same total price sort as above.

We can't see it from the end user side, but Jellyfish uses an advertising model that gives merchants an incentive to drive down product prices in order to achieve higher listing on the price search results. However they handle their merchant accounting behind the scenes, the end result is that Jellyfish shoppers will get better prices than you can find elsewhere...in addition to the rebate!

If the prices are still a little too high for your taste, you can set a Price Alert that'll let you know when that item drops below a maximum price you select.

Most shopping comparison sites also have something in place to show how reputable their merchants are. Jellyfish does this a little differently -- they ask all shoppers to come to them with any problems that they can't seem to resolve with their merchants. Then Jellyfish will "become your advocate," and work with the merchant to resolve the problem to your satisfaction.

If they can't help, they'll take a point off the merchant's satisfaction score. A score below 80 gets the merchant kicked off Jellyfish, so it's in the merchant's best interest to make you happy.

In November 2006, Jellyfish added Smack Shopping, where a limited quantity of some really cool item is placed on a reverse auction, and the rebate percentage increases over time, dropping the final cost after rebate, until the item is sold out. See the Related Articles below for more information on the Smack Deal!

Summary: Jellyfish.com is new and feature-laden, with an emphasis on giving consumers the information they need to make the best deal with the retailers they feature. As the site continues and eventually emerges from beta to a full launch, expect to see more advertisers and more products added and site functions tweaked. Their director of business development has responded quickly to several inquiry emails I've sent, and the whole group seems very receptive to suggestions. I think this site has incredible potential.

Related Articles: 2007 Shopping Rebates Comparison Chart, Cyber Monday Promo at Jellyfish.com, Jellyfish Black Friday 24-Hour Smack Fest, The Full Scoop on the Jellyfish.com Smack Shopping Deal of the Day, Jellyfish Smack Shopping Deal of the Day, 2006 Shopping Rebates Comparison Chart

This morning, I was diligently wading through my email when I noticed a banner ad that, out of the corner of my eye, looked like some kind of cellphone offer by...uPromise? Huh? No, this was an ad for Alltel! They have a new prepaid plan that for some reason they named "U." "I" don't know "Y." (groan...sorry, couldn't resist)

But this reminded me of the last time I clipped coupons, when I did a double-take at a handful that displayed what appeared to be the uPromise logo. It surprised me; I didn't think they usually had quite so many featured coupons out. I gave it a closer look and realized this wasn't the uPromise logo on the coupons, it was Unilever's.

Thinking I must be the only aging consumer with screwed up peripheral vision and poor brand recognition, I googled it and found another blogger with a story about the uPromise and Unilever logo confusion, only his story includes an ice cream man who pointed to the uPromise logo as if it was the Orthodox Union's Kosher logo, in answering the question posed in an Orthodox neighborhood about whether his ice cream was Kosher. So now we have a FOURTH "U" logo getting jumbled up in (at least some) people's minds!

I sat down this morning and compared the logos, and I can see where there could be some confusion.

When you line 'em all up side-by-side like this, it's not too hard to see which one's which...but you can also see the similarities.

Obviously, any company is going to have trouble getting exclusive rights to the letter U. But when you have this many big organizations all using a "U" for their trademark, it makes you wish at least one of them would do something a little more "U"nique -- sheesh, at least choose a color scheme that's not blue and white! (At least the Orthodox Union's logo does often appear in other colors as well.)

If you're wondering, the Orthodox Union began carrying its Circle U logo on products in 1923 -- the first product to carry it was Heinz. Alltel just introduced its "U Prepaid" plan in 2006, Unilever adopted its current U logo in mid 2004, and while I'm not sure when uPromise's current logo was introduced, that company's just celebrating its fifth year of business.

MyPoints.com is running yet another promotion -- the Summer Challenge. In THIS promo, MyPoints' shoppers will be ranked by the number of points earned by shopping at select merchants (more on this in a second), from whenever the contest started, through July 31. They won't announce the winners for 30 days after that to allow for returns.

The top shopper wins 250,000 points (around $2,000). Shoppers #2-25 win 100,000 points (around $800). And shoppers #26-100 win 10,000 points (around $80).

Okay, the select merchants thing: only your points earned from shopping at 24 of MyPoints' merchants count toward your contest total: Overstock, JCPenney, BestBuy, Circuit City, Smart Bargains, Blair, Nordstrom, Disney Outlet, QVC, Gap, Buy.com, Oriental Trading, Old Navy, Target, Dell Home, Dell Small Business, Barnes & Noble, Home Depot, Ice.com, Brylane Home, Tiger Direct, Macy's, Kohl's, and Apple Store.

Currently, earning just 1,000 points will get you into the top 100 (thus winning you 10,000 points, or $80). Right now, two $25 purchases at Oriental, or $100 at Overstock (or one of the other 10 pts/$ merchants) would get ya there. But of course that amount is going to ratchet up as the contest goes forward. Right now, the number one shopper has almost 25,000 points. If the contest ended today, spending $2,500 at Overstock.com would get you the #1 spot and you'd win $2,000.

Looking at the participating merchant list, Overstock, SmartBargains, and Barnes & Noble pay out the most at 10 points per dollar. Target pays between 5 and 10 points per dollar. Oriental Trading pays 500 points per $25+ order. Circuit City is 5, Blair is 3, and all the others are just 2 points per dollar... so this should give you an idea of which merchants to focus on.

Keep in mind, this is a bonus -- you'll still receive the number of points per dollar you earn whether or not you're in the top 100.

And remember, also: the prizes are fixed amounts, while the amount you have to spend to get in the top 100 will be increasing. As your total spending increases, your chances of getting in the top 100 will increase...but since the bonus is fixed, the PERCENTAGE of your shopping total that the bonus is, will actually drop.

It's great if you could spend $100 and get into the bottom part of the top 100 and win an $80 bonus. That bonus is less exciting if you had to spend $10,000 to get it...see what I mean?

MyPoints supposedly has 4.5 million members. I have a feeling we'll see the leaderboard explode with big spenders -- probably business owners, corporate buyers, etc. -- before the contest ends. Doesn't help the little guy like us, but it does make sense from a loyalty standpoint for MyPoints to give greater rewards to those who spend more.

Ever have this problem: You're carrying points in a rewards program that you've decided isn't a "keeper," but you don't have enough points to cash out?

Or how about this one: You really want to cash out of a rewards program but you're just a few points short...and you sure wish you could just transfer your points from another program so you'd have enough? Maybe you'd even be willing to BUY the few points you're short to cash out?

What about, you have airline miles that you don't use or need and you'd like to give them to someone else? Or maybe you'd just like to get those airline miles into a program that you DO use a lot?

What if you just don't LIKE the redemption options at your point level?

Or maybe you're just having difficulty tracking how many points you have in each program?

Points.com can help. It helped me.

I had $14 sitting in my account at BabyMint. It's a nice program, don't get me wrong, but it isn't for me. Cashout was $25 and I didn't want to have to spend that much more at the program when there were others I preferred. So, I popped on over to Points.com to see what my options were. Turns out I could cash out my $14 worth of BabyMint earnings for $12 of Amazon credit. Obviously Points.com gets to keep $2 of my money, which is their angle, but for me it was a great deal. The exchange went through pretty quickly, too (not sure because it was over a weekend, but definitely within a few days).

I could have chosen instead to transfer in some points from my PhoneHog account, my Greenpoints account, or my e-Rewards account in order to reach the $25 cashout.

You should know that you will lose a little in point/dollar value when using Points.com. That's where their profit comes from. I don't think it's an unreasonable amount. Also, not all rewards programs participate in Points.com, and of those that do, some don't participate in the points swap facet of it, and only airline mileage programs will allow you to gift or buy extra points.

It is a really cool resource for those who use airline mileage programs, or those other rewards programs that participate. Some non-airline rewards programs that participate include BabyMint, e-Rewards, Goldpoints, Greenpoints, KidsFutures, NestEggz, and PhoneHog. (Sorry, none of the big players like MyPoints, Ebates, or uPromise.)

It's a free program -- no cost to join it or use it (though you can pay for upgraded customer service if you use it a lot and have a lot of questions). They even give you some points to get you started! Here's the link to join: http://www.Points.com

After September 18 (why don't they just say "On September 19th"?), BestBuy is making some changes to its Reward Zone rewards program.

- Membership will be free; make one purchase per calendar year to continue your membership. (I guess you'd lose your points if you didn't.)
- You'll receive 1 point "for nearly every dollar spent" (obviously there will be some exclusions).
- 250 points will get you a $5 reward certificate. When I originally reviewed their Reward Zone program two years ago, it took $150 in purchases to get that $5 reward certificate (100 points per dollar spent and 15,000 points for the $5 GC)... BUT membership was $10 and points couldn't be earned online.

The new Reward Zone will offer some other perks, like free paper when you buy 2 ink cartridges, exclusive members-only deals, sweepstakes and memorabilia offers, and access to special sales.

If you're wondering (I was), they say they'll convert your existing points to the new rates after the change occurs. Sorry, we won't all be enjoying Christmas in September. ;)

If you have questions or want more details, contact them at http://www.MyRewardZone.com/learnmore or call 1-888-BESTBUY.

They tout this as a "simplified point system" and say it was necessary as "part of our efforts to continually evolve the program, making your participation easier and the rewards more meaningful." I think they could've done that without dropping point value. At first glance it would seem to be a cost-cutting measure, but maybe this is part of some larger loyalty strategy (perhaps to cover the cost of the perks like the free paper and sweepstakes?).

There have been a TON of complaints about Reward Zone, mostly related to fulfillment. Read my comments to the original review to see what some other people have gone through. My own experience with the program has been positive. If you do want to cancel your membership in Reward Zone, they say to either email rewardzone@bestbuy.com or email them at 1-888-BESTBUY.

There was an interesting write-up this morning on DMNews.com about the keynote address at a marketing conference yesterday that was given by Rick Ferguson, one of the editors of Colloquy.com (one of the industry resources that I link to here on CompareRewards).

Ferguson talked about the impact that social networking could have on advocacy. "Mr. Ferguson said social networks are important for loyalty programs because they 'attract advocates, or people who are champions of your brand.'"

Ferguson mentions HP's online support forum which, in providing troubleshooting support and other tips, is creating loyalty for their brand. Huggies' Baby Network has a large forum with 17,000 registered current or expecting moms. He also mentions ClubMom, which has both a loyalty (rewards) program and a huge online forum.

Not only do these social networks allow members to share information, but they can provide useful information to the companies as well.

"Currently, 100 million consumers worldwide earn promotional currency. In addition, loyalty points are the second-largest currency in issue, 58 percent of consumers worldwide own a credit card and 70 percent of grocery shoppers use a loyalty card."

Ferguson posits that the build-up of all this data and all these people in these social networks, plus data that comes together thanks to mergers and acquisitions, is going to "enable the growth of coalition loyalty programs, or large, wide-ranging programs run by third parties such as the ClubMom and Upromise programs."

I agree that social networking can provide very useful information for both members and companies. My site attempts to undertake that somewhat, with the posting via comments of members' experiences with various rewards programs. The general public is willing to share their opinions, and their data -- willingly or unwillingly (with cookies and beacons and loyalty card transaction histories, and the like) -- but companies need to actually take action on that, to make changes and be responsible for maintaining and BUILDING loyalty.

It's not enough to just send a monthly coupon to your newsletter subscribers. That'll incent the subscriber to go to your store once to redeem the coupon. REALLY rewarding loyalty means providing incentives to your members or customers to continue to spend, to shop exclusively, to refer members to your program, to thank them for x number of years of active membership. Those who shop more get better rewards. Your core members are shown that they're appreciated.

Otherwise, companies (including rewards programs) will find that this whole social networking thing is working against them. And that can be very bad for business indeed.

I came across this transcript of a conference call on May 5th with several United Online execs and stock analysts to discuss their first quarter operations. The parts about MyPoints are highlighted. Make sure you read all the way to the bottom, because they were also discussed in the Q&A following the execs' statements.

For those of us who were concerned about UNTD's understanding of or commitment to MyPoints, I can offer the following quotes from UNTD's CEO, Mark Goldston:

"When the world moves into Web 2.0, we will see many internet companies looking at points programs as a means to differentiate their offerings from competitors, bolster their loyalty, increase their frequency of visits, and to create recurring relationships with their consumers...We not only find the MyPoints standalone business to be highly attractive, but our vision for that business extends to the entire United Online family of companies and users...Ultimately, our goal is to try to integrate a point system into every one of our United Online businesses."

Also, "We believe MyPoints is an ideal strategic fit for our content and media segment because, like our other properties, it leverages our focus on loyal and active consumers. It is branded. It expands our network of online advertising properties, communicates with members extensively through targeted e-mail, and, most importantly, MyPoints can be featured as a branded loyalty incentive across all of our North American internet services at United Online."

Goldston also confirmed some other stats on MyPoints that I'd heard elsewhere: MyPoints has around 4.5 million members and earned about $38.4 million in revenue in 2005, up about 44% from the previous year. Of this $38.4 million in revenue, only about $2.4 million was profit (if I'm interpreting what he said correctly; another $2.4 million was written off to depreciation/amortization).

What I think is good about MyPoints' sale to UNTD is that it gives MyPoints the opportunity to grow tremendously as members of other UNTD companies like NetZero, Juno, and Classmates.com are brought into the fold. And with higher membership numbers, MyPoints will be able to negotiate better rebates and more diverse offers. It'll be interesting to revisit this again in a year or two and see where MyPoints stands after a few years under UNTD's umbrella.

Thanks to SeekingAlpha.com for sharing the transcript!

In the midst of its legal woes (see below), Memolink's Merchant Account Manager, Nicki Hayes, posted on an affiliate marketing forum about three weeks ago, "Look for exciting things from us soon like the redesign of our site!" I'm sure the company could use some extra funds to fight off Levi's civil suit, and the way they make money is from their members. Last time the site was redesigned, they slightly dropped their point value but also dropped the value of the points they were paying for many of their offers (sometimes by a third!). If they pay you a smaller cut of what you earn by completing an offer or a sale, they increase their profit. Makes sense. May be about to happen again, so be forewarned.

FusionCash.net has a note up in their Account section of the site saying their referral bonus program was discontinued on 6/15. Prior to that, members received $1 for each referral plus $2 when they cashed out. Today, more bad news: FC says that PayPal closed their account and they'll be paying PayPal users by check instead.

Click Continue Reading to read the company's response to my questions about what happened and whether the site was planning to stick around.

Ever get one of those spam emails where you're promised something, like, say, Free Levi's 501 jeans -- the email even says it's FROM Levi's -- and then in fine print at the bottom of the email, it says that you have to join some program and complete some offers in order to get the "free" jeans?

Well, it turns out that Levi Strauss & Co. themselves got one of those emails (two different versions of it, actually), and they weren't terribly pleased. And it also turns out that the program you were required to join to get the 501s was none other than Memolink.

Levi Strauss was understandably upset. In December 2005, they slapped Memolink with a civil suit for trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, and violating CAN-SPAM. The complaint they filed is located here (you'll need Adobe Reader to view these court documents as they're in .pdf format). The complaint asserts, among other things, that Memolink unlawfully uses Levi's trademarks to lure consumers into yielding personal information that they turn around and sell off to other companies. They say the emails are misleading because they're made to look like they're from Levi Strauss, and because they indicate that the completion of one offer is required to get the free jeans but it's an endless succession of offers. "[Memolink] deliberately designed its internet promotion precisely to frustrate users and to depress 'prize' redemption rates." "Memolink gets something for nothing: private, valuable consumer information that it can sell, while never having to part with any Levi's product."

The complaint goes on to allege that "Memolink, directly and/or through other agencies, sends unsolicited email messages to vast numbers of consumers...Consumers who undertake Memolink's maze of 'offers' are deceived, exploited, and taken advantage of." Because Levi's name, pictures of their product (with the copyrighted stitching, tab labels, etc.) are prominent in the email and during the survey, Levi's is claiming suffering severe, permanent damage to their reputation.

Levi's is mightily displeased, which you can see by their demands, which include an injunction to prohibit Memolink from using their name, products, or copyrights, treble (that's triple) of either their losses or Memolink's gains plus attorney/court costs, or whatever the maximum statutory damages are allowed by law, plus $1 million per incident. They also want contact info for all the people who attempted the Free Levi's offer so they can be contacted for corrective action. The complaint is 19 pages long -- if you have time, it's definitely an interesting read.

Memolink answered the complaint this February. It appears to me to be the legalese version of, "Says you!" with a bunch of, "I don't know what you're talking about"'s thrown in for good measure. The actual words were, "denies," "conjecture," and "subjective characterizations." Memolink "denies that it sends 'unsolicited email messages,' or that it is 'falsely promising consumers' anything."

"Whatever was or is offered by Memolink speaks for itself absent of any allegations that are the product of conjecture and/or subjective characterizations on the part of LS&CO..." (meaning that hey, the fine print DOES say that you have to complete an offer or offers) They do not comment on Levi's complaint that Memolink's offer appears to come from them, or that Memolink is using their good name and trademarks to lure consumers in to completing offers that will result in their information being sold to third parties.

I counted 39 times in this 14 page document in which Memolink responded to Levi's with, "Memolink is without knowledge or information sufficient as to form a belief about the allegations therein..." This is the only legal way to file an answer without either admitting or denying anything. It's sort of like responding, "Hmmm, maybe yes, maybe no."

Both sides requested a jury trial. The judge had both parties agree to mediation if they were unable to come to some sort of agreement by May 31st. Apparently they weren't. On June 8, ten days ago, the court issued its case schedule, with dates assigned to various parts of the process, assuming that a settlement isn't reached by mediation. It has the discovery process (that's the fact-gathering phase) set to end in April 2007...so this could be a really drawn-out (and expensive) case.

If you're a long-time reader here, you'll recall that David Asseoff and his Memolink site are no strangers to spam charges. Memolink was found to be one of only 3 companies, out of 1,057 surveyed in early 2004, that was actively spamming. Asseoff settled a spam claim against his Trifecta Advertising company out of court in December 2004 for an unspecified amount. There's one suit underway and another is forthcoming against Memolink/Asseoff for spamming or hiring spammers (or allowing their affiliates to spam). And I read an interesting Google Groups post just this spring where someone complained that a company called MustHaveFreeGifts.com was spamming. This site was registered to High Altitude Marketing and was also located in Colorado (as is Memolink). A check of HighAltitudeMarketing.com shows the contact name of David Asseoff and the Memolink office as the contact address. Hmmm. If you're interested in the colorful history of Memolink, see the Related Articles section in my Memolink review here.

Whether or not Memolink was spamming in sending out the Free Levi's offer, I'm not surprised at all to see a large corporation rebelling against having its good name tarnished at being associated with websites that have an unsavory reputation. A poster on RipOff Report claiming to be a Memolink employee (or former one) last July described Memolink's operation as very similar to Levi's characterization: "Memo Link Corporation claims affiliation agreements with Costco, Columbia House, Visa, Mastercard...however, if you contact these companies they will deny any affiliation. This is huge. Memolinkcorp.com uses these affiliations to gain the trust of people so they will surrender their personal information. This gathered information...is sold to whoever has the cash to fork over."

I predict an out of court settlement in this case. While Memolink is a large operation, I doubt it has the same resources to fight an extended court case as Levi Strauss & Co. Memolink may be right in that the emails do state that offer(s) must be completed to get the jeans. Levi's may be right in that the emails were faked to appear from them. Whether or not there was spamming involved, and whether Levi's can prove that their reputation and good will were really harmed by this...I think those will be the grey areas that could make a case like this drag on.

My advice, Memolink? Apologize, agree to stop mentioning Levi's, offer to send out an email to all members making it clear that you're not affiliated with them, and offer to pay their court costs/legal fees. Not saying you'd lose if it went to trial, but you'll go broke fighting a goliath like Levi's...and ultimately, it'll be your members who will pay for it.

Winzy.com Program Review
Please click here to join!

Who is Eligible:
U.S. residents only, ages 13 and up.

How It Works:At random times, searchers will be chosen to win a prize, which currently includes the iPod Nano (1GB), iPod Shuffle, and free Amazon GCs in $25 and $10 denominations.

Also, if you refer someone and they win, you win, too!

How Often Do People Win?
According to the stats currently up on the site, there have been 9 winners in the last 24 hours, and 203 in the last 30 days...so one winner every couple of hours. It is random, though, according to the site, so the time between winners will vary.

Members are limited to two prizes per month.

How Do I Join?
Just click here to join! And be sure to check your inbox for the confirmation email that will follow after you sign up!

Like Winzy? You may also like these similar programs: BigDevil, Blingo, and MSN Live Search Club.

There was an interesting article on Brandweek.com today in which the CMO of United Online, MyPoints' new parent company, discussed the company's expansion strategy. In it, Matt Wisk says that although NetZero and Juno (other companies United Online owns) bring in around 80% of the company's total revenue, and although they realize that dial-up access is on its way out, they have no intent to offer broadband. They want to take whatever money they can make from NetZero and Juno, as long as they last, and use it to diversify into other online opportunities, like MyPoints, and their latest offering, PrivatePhone.com.

That doesn't sound like much of a long-range plan to me. Cut your losses on your core businesses, raking in the profits as long as they last, while taking the cash and spending it on various other online businesses? What happens when the NetZero/Juno gravy train runs out? Is there some sort of unified master strategy, some core focus, to their business, or is it just "buy stuff and see if we can do something with it?" And -- my concern as a long-time MyPoints member -- in a few years, will MyPoints be the cash cow they're just stringing along, milking for income they funnel into buying other businesses?

A related article about how United Online's dial-up competitor, Earthlink, is embracing -- and pursuing -- broadband, is here.

ClubMom Rewards is offering a bonus of 100 points per purchase, up to 500 points, through the month of June. 100 points at ClubMom is worth $.50.

They are also doubling points on a few of their merchants through 6/11: NewportNews.com is up to 6 points per dollar (3%), HSN.com is up to 8 points per dollar (4%), TheChildrensPlace.com is 10 points per dollar (5%), and Lancome is now at 28 points per dollar (14%).

Also, there is a link to click on daily through the 10th, on the ClubMom home page, to visit their Featured MomBlog for an entry into a daily 10,000 points giveaway.

If you've been waiting for a good time to check out the ClubMom Rewards program, they're offering a free one year subscription to Fitness Magazine (a $20 value) when you join.

Looking for something to keep your kids occupied this summer? Curious about the online movie rental sites and looking for more info? Here I've put together a summary of the costs/benefits of both Blockbuster Online and Netflix, as well as a listing of the rewards available for signing up for either program, so you can maximize your reward.

To be eligible for a reward at all for signing up for either of these programs, you are supposed to be a first-time customer. I've heard rumors that you might be eligible if you haven't had an account in a year or if you use a new email address and/or credit card for the account. Let's not defraud the system, okay? New customer means NEW customer.

Blockbuster Online
. Free Shipping (Both Ways) and No Late Fees
. A 30 day free trial IS available with code: FRIENDS but it is not combinable with the rewards listed below (see Notes)
. One free in-store rental every week
. Other special in-store discounts for BO members
. DVDS "usually arrive within 1-3 business days"
. $17.99 plus tax for up to three movies out at a time
. Offer for $9.99 first month should come up automatically when clicking the offer from the programs below (it IS combinable with the reward)

Top 5 Rewards for Joining Blockbuster Online:
1. InstantProfitz: $25.00
2. FusionCash.net: $22.20
3. FatWallet: $19.00
4. CreationsRewards.net: 3,200 points ($16.00, under Trial Offers)
5. SearchCactus: $14.00
Also-rans: QuickRewards.net: $12.00 (under Trials), Freestyle Rewards: 1,400 points ($11.20), ClubMom: 2,000 points ($10.00), BigCoop: $10.00, Freeride: 10,000 tokens (around $8.33), Memolink: 14,000 points (around $8.10), MyPoints: 1,000 points (around $8.33), BabyMint: $7.00, Upromise.com
: $7.00, Milesource: 2,500 miles (around $5.68)

NetFlix
. Free Shipping (Both Ways) and No Late Fees
. Free two week trial included (combinable with the rewards available below)
. NO free in-store rentals or discounts
. DVDS usually arrive "in 1 business day"
. Multiple pricing plans include:
. $17.99 plus tax for up to three movies out at a time
. $14.99 plus tax for up to two movies out at a time
. $9.99 plus tax for one movie out at a time
OR $11.99 plus tax for two out at a time with a cap of 4 rentals a month (the only plan with a limit to the number you can rent per month)

Top 5 Rewards For Joining NetFlix (after an included 2 week free trial):
1. InstantProfitz: $20.00
2. FusionCash.net: $19.80
3. Ebates/FatWallet/QuizPoints: $18.00
4. CreationsRewards.net: 2,850 points ($14.25, under Offers Portal)
5. Upromise.com
: $12
Also-rans: ClubMom: 2,000 points ($10.00), Freeride: 12,000 tokens ($10.00; limited time offer), Memolink: 14,000 points (around $8.10), MyPoints: 1,000 points (around $8.33), BondRewards: $15.3 BD ($7.65), BigCoop: $7.00, BabyMint: $6.00, Freestyle Rewards: 400 points ($3.20)

NOTES:
1. The free month offer at Blockbuster may be a better deal for you if you would really prefer to try it out for free for a month before committing to it. But assume you would keep the service for two months -- your cost for two months of service would be $17.99 by choosing to get the free month and no reward. However, if you went through a rewards program instead, you would pay $9.99 for month one and $17.99 for month two, and get up to $25 back, for a net cost of about $3 for two months of service.

2. In case you're wondering, yes, you do have to keep the service long enough to actually make at least one month's payment before you can qualify for a reward. No, you're not signing any kind of contract by joining either BO or NF and you can quit either program at any time. BUT if you join JUST to get the reward, and immediately quit the service as soon as the reward is credited, there's a chance that your reward will be taken away and you could even lose your account at the rewards program. Don't do either offer unless you are genuinely interested in Blockbuster Online or NetFlix!

3. You may find a different cheapest-plan offer at Netflix by clearing your cache and revisiting the Netflix site, or by clicking on a banner found elsewhere on the 'net (I found one on YahooMail while composing this article)...like $5.99 for 1 out at a time, max of 2 per month. This will not be something you can combine with a reward. More info on these alternate offers can be found here, just as an FYI.

4. Rewards programs change their offers more often than my husband changes TV channels. The info in this post was accurate to the best of my knowledge as of this posting. You may want to double-check your favorite rewards programs before making any changes. (Rewards program owners, if you decide to change your offers for BO and NF, and you'd like me to update this post accordingly, please email me.)

BondRewards Review - Updated, 10/07

Please click here to join.

Date Launched: Offline in 2000, private label program in 2002, relaunched as a consumer rewards program in March 2006
Reward Per Dollar Spent: Varies
Minimum to Cash Out: 50 Bond Dollars (equivalent to $25)
Cash Out For: US Savings Bonds
Earn For: Shopping, signups, referrals, reading emails
Limit One Account Per: US resident age 18 or older

Notes: This site began primarily as a private-label rewards program for some large unions in 2000. They hired MyPoints' former COO, Charles Berman, in mid-2004. His vision was to make it less of a business-to-business program (running private label programs for the unions) and more of a business-to-consumer program (dealing directly with consumers). In March 2006, they relaunched the site as a consumer rewards program, increasing some of their rebate rates along the way.

This is the tricky part about the program: the only redemption option is the $50 US Savings Bond. These cost $25 to buy and aren't guaranteed to reach the $50 face value for 20 years. They could reach it faster, depending on the current interest rate, but it won't take more than 20 years, because the government promises to pay you $50 in 20 years. The bond can continue to accrue interest for an additional 10 years after that.

Now, if you buy something for $100 and BondDollars' given rebate is 20%, you'll earn $20 toward the FUTURE value of the savings bond ($50). Because the savings bond is purchased now for half of its face value, you're only REALLY earning $10...half of what was stated on BondRewards' site. You could, after all, earn $25 on another site and use it to buy your own Savings Bond. So, to me, what it's worth in 20 years is really irrelevant; what matters is how much you're earning NOW.

The only way to compare BondRewards' rebates to other programs' is to divide BR's rates by 2. And this, I guess, is my only real qualm with the program.

BondRewards does have some advantages -- if you'd like to earn US Savings Bonds, this is the only rewards program to my knowledge that will pay them. It's a good way to be sure you build up your savings, and it's got a guaranteed minimum earning rate, though you may earn more. Savings Bonds make great gifts, too. Just be sure that you remember that 50 Bond Dollars is really equal to $25 US dollars in the present...so half their stated rebate rates. Even halved, their rates are very competitive, and this is the program's other advantage.

Examples:
eBags 15.3% -- 7.65% halved, vs. 6% at Ebates or Fatwallet
Magazines.com 59.5% -- 29.75% halved, vs. 25% at Fatwallet or 22% at Ebates
OldNavy 6.8% -- 3.4% halved, vs. 3.3% at Fatwallet or 3% at Ebates
SmartBargains 11.9% -- 5.95%, vs. 5% at Fatwallet or 3% at Ebates

I know this program is a little confusing; if you have questions I'll try to clarify this post (just email me).

Also, note that you get 5 Bond Dollars ($2.50) just for signing up.

Like BondRewards? You may also like Upromise, BabyMint, or Ebates.

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Updated, 10/07

The internet has been a-buzz for the past week or so with the news that Mastercard has entered into an agreement with uPromise to offer a debit rewards card, with 1 to 5% of all debit card purchases sent to the owner's uPromise account.

Today's news is even bigger: It was announced today that uPromise would be sold to student loan provider Sallie Mae for an undisclosed price. The sale isn't expected to be finalized for a few months as there are some regulatory hoops they have to jump through.

uPromise, founded in 2001, has 250 employees and 7 million members, and it administers "nearly 1 million" college savings accounts (I guess that means the other 6 million folks choose to just receive a rebate check). They have contracts with seven states to administer their Section 529 plans (the article I read said that it is the largest administrator of these plans...more info on what they are and how they work is here).

Sallie Mae has 10 million borrowing customers, has been around since the early '70s, and started out as a government-sponsored student loan company that became privatized in 2004. My husband will be paying them until the end of time, I think. Ah, the price of higher education. Anyway, they're not going to change uPromise's name, and this is supposed to be a good thing for uPromise, as Sallie Mae has relationships with 6,000 colleges and universities. No worries, mates.

The official news release on this is here.