Points2shop Prize Proof

Finally edited together my 'proof' for Points2shop - here is the prize I received in the mail. Note that it actually came directly from the Amazon seller to me.

Unfortunately, I have been having some difficulty with OTX surveys not loading in Firefox. I don't like IE and can't always remember to switch to IE for doing OTX surveys, and once you have attempted a survey for the day it won't let you attempt another one, even if the survey didn't load correctly. So it has been costing me. I finally got around to installing the IE Tab addon for Firefox. Hopefully, this addon will solve problems with some other survey sites that insist on Internet Explorer. If you're having trouble with this in Firefox, go to Tools --> Add-ons and run a plugin search for IE Tab.

Today, I actually got SIX ads to click on Neobux, instead of the regular four. Exciting. I still have no referrals, but the money seems to accumulate a little bit faster, possibly because I'm staying on top of it a little bit better, possibly because they seem to be feeding me more ads to click lately.
Waiting for the ads to load and verify has started to take quite a long time. If you're having trouble with it hanging on 'loading advertisement', just let it sit. Eventually, it will load and verify, but it can take quite a while. It's not like it's hard work to just let it sit and load, though.

TrekPay Responds

TrekPay responded to my question/complaint. They didn't even bother with a semi-polite form letter. Instead, I got a half-assed mass mailing:

Posted by: Support Rep: admin Post Date: 2009-08-26 13:14:38
Hi,

We have done some changes to our security and you may have noticed that we are using a security certificate (https) on our site.
We had a problem with our ticket system and are not sure if tickets got answered or not. We can find this out but it would take a bunch of extra time that is difficult to spare as we are adding additions to our business.

I am including a general answer to many questions in this ticket. If your question is not answered within its content then please open another ticket.
………………………..
Once a week we convert some of your credits to cash. Check your account balance.

We do not have a preset value to a credit. We are a profit share business.

Each week between Tuesday-Thursday calculations for conversion of credits will be made and values of credits are determined at that time. The dollar amount will be displayed in your back office. You can then decide to withdraw these funds to your PayPal account. (you must have at least $5.50 to withdraw)
This is a profit share program so it is difficult to state what a credit will be worth.
We are still in pre-launch and will be adding other money earning methods shortly.

also....
When you refer someone there are bonus credits added to you. If that referral purchases searches from Trek Advertising you will get 12.5% of the buy. Referrals will become more important when we add our next steps, you will have to wait for the official announcement.
………………………….

The T icon is only activated by our cheat team. If you do not see one then it is a good thing. If you happen to see one please click on it and all is ok. If the T icon does not disappear do not worry, it is either a malfunction or a fake one made by somebody else.

……………………….

When you get a cheating message, do not take it as a personal attack. It is only our system and it notifies our cheat team to watch your account more closely. Everyone will have this happen to them sometimes. If it happens all the time then it will become a problem.

……………….

We do not have upgrades available. Everyone is a free member.

……………..


If your question was not answered within this ticket then open another one.

My reply:

Your 'cheating' message is antagonistic. It's not that people are taking it personally so much as the fact that it is poorly worded. Trust is an important component of the relationship between a website such as TrekPay and its members, and a message such as that does nothing to build trust. If a lot of people are getting offended, implying that it is the fault of the people for getting offended by the message is a poor tactic. Further stating that everyone gets the 'we think you're cheating and we're watching you' message every once in a while and that is normal or o.k. doesn't help. Perhaps if you reworded your message more tactfully, members would not get so upset.


As you can tell, I'm not thrilled with how TrekPay treats their members. I may still stick with it just to see how it pans out, but anyone who plans on joining probably shouldn't expect too much help from Customer Support if they ever have a problem.

Edit:
Received another 'cheating will not be tolerated, we are watching' message while attempting to normally surf websites through TrekPay. And, of course, did not receive credits for it. I'll attempt to use this website over the course of the next few days, but if this continues, I'll be dropping it and adding it to my 'STAY AWAY' list.

Trek Pay

So, a friend sent me an invite to Trek Pay. They didn't want a whole lot of personal info, so I figured what the hell. I signed up.

It literally took TWO MINUTES of being a member to be accused of cheating. My crime? Clicking on a link. You know, like you're supposed to, in order to earn credits.

Now, I try my hardest to play by the rules. I'm not trying to game the system, since that endangers the very websites I hope to benefit from. Accusing a two-minute-old honest member of cheating when they haven't done anything wrong is not good customer service, and it's not a good way to win loyalty or grow as a website, either.

This is the ticket I submitted to TrekPay's support:
Subj: "Confused by accusations of cheating (currently using Firefox browser)"
Body:
"I'm running searches and trying to click on websites to visit them, as I am supposed to, in order to earn credits. I'm currently using the latest version of Firefox. Every time I click on a link - not even trying to open in a new tab or anything, just a regular everyday left-CLICK - on a link, it still pops open in a new window and it says "manually entered URL, cheating will not be tolerated, we are watching".

Well, I haven't manually entered any URLs and I'm trying to open it in the same window. Is there a reason for why this is being displayed even though I'm not even trying to open the website in a new tab?"

I'll update if/when I receive a reply.

So far: not impressed.

I Received My Points2shop Prize

Today, I received my prize from Points2shop. I'd ordered a music CD (Good Apollo I'm Burning Star Vol. IV by Coheed & Cambria, if you're curious). I'll post photos of the package and prize in a little while

To recap: I received confirmation that my prize had been ordered the third day after I requested it. I never received a tracking number for the prize, even though the message told me I would receive one. I was a little bit worried about that. A tracking number would have been comforting.

I just now visited their website and, unfortunately, it seems to be down. d'oh. They'd been talking about an update, I guess maybe their update hasn't gone as planned? I'm not sure. All I know is that it only occasionally loads properly, and if I try to visit another page, I get an Internal Server Error. I hope that my point balance hasn't been wiped out - that would be a shame, considering the fact that I've just confirmed that they pay out.

Edit: I just visited the website again, and it appears to be working properly. Nevermind.

Points2Shop Has Shipped My Prize...

I received this email from Points2Shop today:

"Your order is approved and ordered at Amazon.com. As soon as we receive the tracking number we will update the status of your order. You will receive notification of this by email."

This means I should get my CD soon. I haven't received a tracking number yet.

Unfortunately, many of the offers and surveys I've taken on Points2shop recently seem to be stuck in "approval limbo". I hope that it doesn't turn out to be the same situation as GamingLagoon all over again. From the announcements, though, it looks as if they are doing a major site overhaul. Hopefully, the 'approval limbo' is linked to this, and things will get better once they're done updating the website.

Anyway, Points2Shop is also linked to something called Cashle. Instead of Amazon points, you earn cash. Cash can be converted to Amazon points on Points2shop, but Amazon points cannot be converted to cash. I mainly ignored Cashle since many of the offers only give you a few cents, but some of the Daily Surveys look like they have a decent payout, so I may switch over to Cashle for a little while and see what my experience with that is.

As for Reviewstream, I got burnt out on review writing and let it rest for a little while. Part of the problem is that they only want to pay the full rate for certain kinds of reviews. I'm not sure about some categories, but I know that makeup and electronics reviews are in demand. And I was sort of sick of reviewing makeup and shampoo. Right now, my opinion is to only review things such as food if you're willing to accept the bulk rate. Nonetheless, I'll be writing a few more reviews over the next few days while picking my brain for more ideas for Associated Content articles.

Neobux Paid Me

I finally reached the $2.00 minimum payout on Neobux and cashed out. They paid me almost instantly. By the time I opened a new tab and logged into Paypal, my payment was already there:



It's $1.98 because Neobux apparently takes fees out when they pay you. They inform you of this when you go to cash out, though.

I would like to stress that this was done WITHOUT a premium account, without renting referrals, and with no actual referrals (nobody clicked my referral link, nobody loves me... *sniff*).

You'll also see a payment from Ciao - my final payment, actually. Took them about a month, in comparison.

I also recently requested a prize from Points2Shop. It was a pretty cheap price - a CD from a band I happen to like, used, for about 3 bucks plus maybe another dollar or two for shipping. It didn't come up in the Points2Shop searches, I had to manually enter the product ID, but I wasn't told it had to be specially requested or anything, so hopefully the request will go through normally. If so, it should arrive in a few days.

I've been plinking away at Swagbucks, as usual. Swagbucks and Neobux are favorites of mine, by now. I like ReviewStream but I've been having difficulty thinking up new reviews (that they'll accept at full price, anyway). Same with Associated Content. Those two definitely take more time and energy, although they pay a lot better.

Regarding Surveyspot, I have not yet qualified for a single paying survey. Regarding Opinion Outpost, many of the surveys they offer seem to be surveys I can also take through Dollar Surveys. I'd rather get the 1 buck (transferred to my Paypal within a week) than "points" I have to save up, so it's not hard to guess why I tend to go with Dollar Surveys. That, and they don't ask for tons and tons of personal information about myself.

MyPoints Is Legit

I actually got this gift card in the mail last week, but I've been busy and hadn't gotten around to taking a photo of the letter and the gift card:



So there it is. My Bath & Body Works $10.00 gift card from Mypoints.

Was it worth it? Well, honestly, I didn't put a whole lot of 'work' into getting this gift card. It was just a slow burn - clicking Mypoints ads sent to my email every day or every other day, and using coupons from the Mypoints website or filling out whatever offers or surveys struck my fancy. Is it a huge payoff? Not really. But it was "free". Did I put a ton of effort into it? Honestly, no. If you put a lot of actual effort into using Mypoints, in my opinion you're doing it wrong.