February 2007 Archives

Yesterday Forbes.com had an article about the current owner of MyPoints, United Online (UNTD). A stock analyst had recommended buying their stock. The article described how UNTD had low debt and was getting out of some of its more unprofitable business (VOIP) and how its fastest-growing segment was Media and Content (which includes MyPoints and Classmates.com).

I know that everyone's been a little iffy about MyPoints since it was virtually abandoned by its prior owner (United Airlines, which had been in bankruptcy proceedings). I found it reassuring to hear positive news about MyPoints' newest owner and wanted to pass it along. The Forbes article is here.

I was asked to put together some information on sites that will allow you to earn for making bids or BINs on Ebay. To give credit where it's due, I started with the information provided by Andrew on RewardsDB.com and expanded it a little (calculating point value, removing info on frequent flyer miles programs and a few other programs I don't cover here, and adding a couple he doesn't cover) and here are the results:

BabyMint: $1.00 (the site doesn't say for what but I would think it's for registering and making your first purchase)

Big Co-op: $0.50 per winning bid (excludes BINs)

BondRewards: Varies - 1 to 20% of Ebay's transaction fees on BINs or winning auction bids; amount depends on value of the sale. Note that you don't earn a % on the purchase amount but on Ebay's profit on the purchase.

BountyZoo: $12 for signing up, and 40% (of Ebay's transaction fees, I believe, NOT on the selling price) on BINs or winning bids. NOTE: Your first $25 of earnings on BZ go toward the site's $25 membership fee.

CreationsRewards: 3 points per dollar (1.5%) per BIN or winning bid

FatWallet: 1% (excludes eBay Motors, eBay Real Estate, eBay Charity items, eBay Business, and bids placed with a sniping service)

LittleGrad: $0.25 (would think this is per winning bid but haven't received confirmation of this from the owners yet)

Milesource: 25 Award Miles per winning bid (~$0.07)

MyPoints: 100 Points (~$0.83) to register and make first purchase, 2 points per dollar (~1.67%) on purchases (BINs only? unclear if this includes winning bids)

QuickRewards: $5 to register and bid or BIN; winning bids or BINs paid by sliding scale (2% if <$50, $50-$100 is 1.6%, $100 to $200 is 1.4%, 1% if >$200)

SunshineRewards (stay tuned for my review of this program, coming soon!): $6 to register and make a bid, then 1%.

Upromise: 1% (excludes eBay Motors, eBay Real Estate, eBay Charity items and eBay Business & Industrial Capital Equipment)

Note: One program (QR) spelled out specifically that rewards are not paid on shipping cost -- this is probably true for all rewards programs. Several programs listed Ebay exclusions (including Motors, Real Estate, etc. -- this is also probably true across the board).

I know I post a lot about Jellyfish.com and their Smack Deal of the Day, but it's so addictive, I find I plan my day around being at my computer at noon central time so I don't miss a minute of it!

A fairly recent addition to the fun is the Smack Wheel, where the member who comes closest to guessing the best cashback percentage (without going over -- "Price is Right rules"), gets to spin a Wheel of Fortune-esque wheel for a chance at prizes that include a rubber chicken, $5 cash back, a Jellyfish t-shirt or hat, a gift from the day's wheel sponsor (which has only been Remington so far -- that winner gets a nice electric razor), a Wii or PS3, or Smack Daddy's Choice (the auction administrator gets to pick, and he factors in whether you've made a purchase before, as well as how much you grovel, hehe).

Yesterday, a member won $500 on the SmackWheel, the largest value prize ever awarded.

Note: You do NOT have to buy anything to have a chance to spin the SmackWheel for a prize -- you just have to sign up as a Jellyfish member and be the best guesser as to what the ending cashback percentage will be. Guesses are accepted only during the first few minutes of an auction, and in the event of a tie, the person who submitted their guess earliest, wins.

If you do decide to purchase something during the Jellyfish Smack, you can get some great deals, like a Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS for $64 ($125 retail price), a Microsoft Zune 30GB for $153 ($235 retail price), an Xbox 360 Core System for $193 ($337 retail), and the Apple MacBook Pro Notebook for $1512 ($1994 retail).

They auction off items other than electronics, too -- Dyson vacuums have sold for 44% off, Patagonia men's jackets for 67% off, and the One Javapod coffeepot sold for 65% off.

Members get to vote on what the first auction of the day will be -- today it looks like a runaway victory for a Sony home theater system.

Anyway, it's fun if you're buying, and it's fun if you're just watching and hoping to get a spin on the SmackWheel. Remember to tune in at noon central time and if you see me in chat, be sure to say hi!

I've always had a thing for Sting. He's #1 on my list of men I'd ditch my husband for in a heartbeat. (Just kiddin', honey. Maybe.) I was so excited to hear that the Police were getting back together for a concert tour -- weren't they awesome on the Grammy's?

Anyway, I found out that Best Buy's RewardZone members are being given access to Ticketmaster presale passwords so they can have first crack at Police concert tickets. Pretty cool, huh? You have to be 18 or older and have had a RewardZone membership prior to 2/1/07. Just log into the site. Codes are being given out on a first-come, first-served basis and are for one specific date only. More info is here. Good luck!

Fans of the QuickRewards.net rewards program will be happy to hear that QR launched a new blog yesterday, that promises to "discuss how QuickRewards works, recommend various offers that are super easy to do, answer member questions and receive feedback and suggestions."

In operation for under 24 hours, it already has over 40 member comments posted.

I think all rewards programs should operate blogs -- glad to see QR has decided to jump in and offer their own.

On Thursday, United Online (current owner of MyPoints.com) held their regular quarterly conference call with stock analysts. The full transcript is here.

Mark Goldston, United Online's CEO, said that "The team at MyPoints performed exceptionally well this year...and we are very proud of them." He went on to say that their goal is to "significantly enhance the MyPoints.com website, to make it a more compelling destination shopping site, while emphasizing the fact that there are very few categories of products that you would be purchasing from, which would not be represented by a MyPoints partner," and that to do this they've hired an outside firm to do the site redesign.

"Our goal is to be in beta over the next couple of months with a new design on MyPoints and to ultimately re-launch an exciting new MyPoints to the world later in 2007," said Goldston.

I think it's also noteworthy that United Online's net profit for the last quarter of '06 were down 63% from the same quarter in '05. For the full year of 2006, their net profit was down 10% compared to 2005.

Thanks to SeekingAlpha.com for the transcript.

Last week, BzzAgent released its new site and, as predicted, rewards have been cut back. Some campaigns do not offer points. Members are now ranked in some cryptic way based on the quantity AND the quality of their submissions and site interactions (including campaign reporting and polls). Higher ranking equals more opportunities for new campaigns, new freebies, etc.

Currently, my 900 points there are worth...nothing. There are no rewards available for any of the campaigns in which I'm enlisted. And despite 2.5 years of membership, probably a dozen quality bzzreports, and countless referrals, I'm listed as a bottom tier member.

This is a prime example of a few bad apples spoiling the barrel. Problems began to arise when members started trying to sell the items given to them to try out for their campaigns. Abuse of the system led us to this point.

The problem I've had is, if I am in a campaign and I don't care for the product, I don't talk it up...thus I can't report on it. I'm not going to submit phony bzzreports in order to improve my tier ranking.

I'm not going to write off BzzAgent entirely -- too much time invested in it -- but my enthusiasm for the program has completely gone down the tubes.

It was announced today that QuickRewards.net won the popular vote at BeenPaid.com for the 2006 Seal of Approval Program of the Year. With over 5,000 votes in total and 20 nominees, QuickRewards won, with over 38% of the votes cast.

Nominees had to fit the following criteria: "Programs and their owners who exhibit both professionalism and motivation make things happen. This is what makes them stand apart from the crowd, by charting their future through diligence and a solid commitment to excellence. They are the programs who create the standards by which others are judged." QuickRewards was found to be "a model program."

Congrats to QuickRewards.net -- if you're not a member, like I have been since it began over 4 years ago, please join here! I was paid $40 by them in January alone!

And thanks to BeenPaid.com for their continued hard work in keeping us informed of which programs are known for paying their members as promised!