It looks like Ciao.com is shutting down. They say it's 'merging with Bing', but Bing doesn't appear to be a review site. If you've earned any money from Ciao, it's still yours, but they won't be paying out anything new. This makes me terribly sad - I wasn't earning a lot, but I'd paid a bill with some money from Ciao. It was a nice source of a little bit of income.
I don't know if the newly merged Ciao will be paying for reviews. It doesn't mention that they will, so I'm guessing probably not. I suppose one shouldn't jump to conclusions, but I don't see any reassurances in the letter that it will be otherwise.
My personal opinion is this: from what I've seen on the website, Ciao was probably bleeding money to nonsense reviewers, plagiarists, and users who did not contribute any sort of unique or worthwhile content. This is my own speculation, it is not a fact, but I cannot help thinking this. The plagiarism and garbage reviews were rampant, and I can't see how Ciao would be able to sustain itself when much of its content was either copied or nonsense.
Ciao isn't the only paid review site out there, though. There is an alternative, a website I didn't like as much because I don't like the interface, so I never used it much - it's called ReviewStream. The payment system is a bit different - $2 for review, unless you let them give you the bulk rate, and $.10 per rating. You can't really log in - you submit reviews with your email address, and your account balance is tied to it - so it's not as socially gratifying. You also have to wait for your submitted reviews to be approved, and the minimum cashout is higher at $50.
If you have reviews on Ciao, do what it says and save them. I'm going to find out if they can be "recycled" or if Ciao will be keeping them up. It looks like I'll be hopping over to ReviewStream now.
So I guess, to Ciao... "ciao".
Showing posts with label ciao. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ciao. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Scour.com and More about GamingLagoon, Hits4Pay
Hit cashout on Ciao again. My first time, it took a week and a half - this time, it took 3 days. Why? Well, now I have a backlog of 44 reviews. The more reviews you write, the faster you make money, I suppose. I guess I'd better get cracking on those reviews again, eh?
I've also returned to my Scour.com efforts. I dropped it before because of complaints that Scour was not paying people who hit cashout - they were banning people and other shady things instead. However, I have since decided that perhaps this was because people were violating the Terms of Service (I see it constantly on other websites, right?) and unlike certain online counterparts, Scour actually DOES something about this. The only way to find out is to try to hit cashout on Scour myself, and either verify that it's legit or get conveniently banned. We shall see. Either way, it's gonna be a while - I've only got 90 points. If you want to give it a shot in the meantime, I say go for it.
GamingLagoon is on my shitlist. GamingLagoon has been sending me spam mails about their NEW OFFERS, so I signed up for another free "send me spam email" type offer to see if they've gotten any better about denying everything. For those not in the know, GamingLagoon is another free gift card/free stuff/free money type website. You can save up points to get stuff like a Nintendo DS, convert your points to Paypal money, or get gift cards with them. It's not nearly as good as Swagbucks, in my opinion - earning points is super slow, you have to sign up for "offers" (most of which involve too much money, or too much personal information), and they tend to reject the offers you've submitted as completed and refuse to reward you points, even when you have proof. I'll update this blog post with some images later, in order to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Nonetheless, persistent members claim that they have gotten their gift cards and such, I highly suspect that the only REAL way to do this is to recruit aggressively. If you're into that, I guess GamingLagoon can probably work pretty well for you. But I can't recruit people in clear conscience if I know that there's no way for them to be successful on the website without recruiting a whole bunch of people, themselves. I guess it's all about what you are or are not willing to do in order to earn points.
Hits4Pay still wants my social security number, but they're not getting it. I doubt I'll ever make enough off a PTC website to warrant needing my SSN for tax purposes.
I've also returned to my Scour.com efforts. I dropped it before because of complaints that Scour was not paying people who hit cashout - they were banning people and other shady things instead. However, I have since decided that perhaps this was because people were violating the Terms of Service (I see it constantly on other websites, right?) and unlike certain online counterparts, Scour actually DOES something about this. The only way to find out is to try to hit cashout on Scour myself, and either verify that it's legit or get conveniently banned. We shall see. Either way, it's gonna be a while - I've only got 90 points. If you want to give it a shot in the meantime, I say go for it.
GamingLagoon is on my shitlist. GamingLagoon has been sending me spam mails about their NEW OFFERS, so I signed up for another free "send me spam email" type offer to see if they've gotten any better about denying everything. For those not in the know, GamingLagoon is another free gift card/free stuff/free money type website. You can save up points to get stuff like a Nintendo DS, convert your points to Paypal money, or get gift cards with them. It's not nearly as good as Swagbucks, in my opinion - earning points is super slow, you have to sign up for "offers" (most of which involve too much money, or too much personal information), and they tend to reject the offers you've submitted as completed and refuse to reward you points, even when you have proof. I'll update this blog post with some images later, in order to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Nonetheless, persistent members claim that they have gotten their gift cards and such, I highly suspect that the only REAL way to do this is to recruit aggressively. If you're into that, I guess GamingLagoon can probably work pretty well for you. But I can't recruit people in clear conscience if I know that there's no way for them to be successful on the website without recruiting a whole bunch of people, themselves. I guess it's all about what you are or are not willing to do in order to earn points.
Hits4Pay still wants my social security number, but they're not getting it. I doubt I'll ever make enough off a PTC website to warrant needing my SSN for tax purposes.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Ciao and Swagbucks Cashouts
Currently up to my eyeballs in Message box spam in Ciao. Also angry - discovered some members who had copied my reviews. I reported them - unfortunately, one of the continually frustrating things about Ciao is that they do nothing about the plagiarists.
Otherwise, I am pennies away from the $5 cashout on Ciao after just 2 days of renewed activity. That's not bad, really. I won't be cashing out at $5, however - it's not worth it, at this point. I'll wait until there's more in my account.
On Swagbucks, I just 'bought' another $5 Amazon gift card. My order has been verified, and I am currently waiting for the gift card number.
If you haven't joined these two sites yet, you're definitely missing out!
In the meantime, at MyPoints, I am about 150 points away from ordering my first gift card.
Otherwise, I am pennies away from the $5 cashout on Ciao after just 2 days of renewed activity. That's not bad, really. I won't be cashing out at $5, however - it's not worth it, at this point. I'll wait until there's more in my account.
On Swagbucks, I just 'bought' another $5 Amazon gift card. My order has been verified, and I am currently waiting for the gift card number.
If you haven't joined these two sites yet, you're definitely missing out!
In the meantime, at MyPoints, I am about 150 points away from ordering my first gift card.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Ciao - Legitimacy Verified
I have written 40-odd reviews on Ciao. A while ago, I requested some payments. Two separate payments, totaling about $23.00, when all is said and done. I was paid via Paypal.
Well, nothing happened for a while - no money in my Paypal account - and I thought perhaps I'd been had. I was also frustrated by the rampant plagiarism and spamming on Ciao. So, at the end of April, I just sort of gave up.
Wasn't I surprised when I was informed that Paypal had a payment waiting for me?
Here, you can only see one of the payments (for $18.00), I'm guessing the other one went through at the end of April (about when I gave up).
Well, the money is in my account - for real - and I can say that, while Ciao certainly takes their sweet time paying you, they DO pay you. Be prepared to wait for a month and a half, however.
I'm back on Ciao again - after all, $23.00 for writing a few reviews isn't bad. There are other websites where you can write reviews for money, but they are not as user friendly and they have some shady tactics. I'll review one in more depth later this week.
Until then,
Ciao!
Well, nothing happened for a while - no money in my Paypal account - and I thought perhaps I'd been had. I was also frustrated by the rampant plagiarism and spamming on Ciao. So, at the end of April, I just sort of gave up.
Wasn't I surprised when I was informed that Paypal had a payment waiting for me?
Here, you can only see one of the payments (for $18.00), I'm guessing the other one went through at the end of April (about when I gave up).
Well, the money is in my account - for real - and I can say that, while Ciao certainly takes their sweet time paying you, they DO pay you. Be prepared to wait for a month and a half, however.
I'm back on Ciao again - after all, $23.00 for writing a few reviews isn't bad. There are other websites where you can write reviews for money, but they are not as user friendly and they have some shady tactics. I'll review one in more depth later this week.
Until then,
Ciao!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
More About Ciao
So far, my progress on Ciao has been pleasing, even though I haven't reached my first payout yet. However, something happened that amazed me.
I had been having issues with my password since my account was created. I contacted them about my problem via email. I received an automated reply, and didn't think much of it. I have not had many good experiences with online customer services (including one infuriating exchange with Myspace.com).
So you can't blame me for being surprised when I was emailed a day later, not by an automated reply, but an actual polite human being offering to help solve my account problem, if I was willing to be patient for a little bit longer. Because of the nature of the problem, it wasn't unreasonable for them to ask me to wait another day or two. I emailed them back with an affirmative and waited.
Another day passed, and I got another email. My problem had been addressed and fixed. I logged into my account to check -- it had!
So apparently, their customer service is handled by real, live human beings - and they actually try to help you. It's sad that I should be impressed by something like this, but I really am. It's not often that you get good customer support from a large website.
It's definitely a huge point in their favor, and yet another indication that it is worth spending a little bit more time using Ciao. I am certainly being won over.
I had been having issues with my password since my account was created. I contacted them about my problem via email. I received an automated reply, and didn't think much of it. I have not had many good experiences with online customer services (including one infuriating exchange with Myspace.com).
So you can't blame me for being surprised when I was emailed a day later, not by an automated reply, but an actual polite human being offering to help solve my account problem, if I was willing to be patient for a little bit longer. Because of the nature of the problem, it wasn't unreasonable for them to ask me to wait another day or two. I emailed them back with an affirmative and waited.
Another day passed, and I got another email. My problem had been addressed and fixed. I logged into my account to check -- it had!
So apparently, their customer service is handled by real, live human beings - and they actually try to help you. It's sad that I should be impressed by something like this, but I really am. It's not often that you get good customer support from a large website.
It's definitely a huge point in their favor, and yet another indication that it is worth spending a little bit more time using Ciao. I am certainly being won over.
Ciao - Ranting and Raving For Cash
Ciao.com is a rare gem: a website where I get paid for writing a few paragraphs about how much I hate my MP3 player.
I reached Ciao through SendEarnings or MyPoints (I honestly cannot remember which) about two days ago. I initially joined because I'd seen a lot of buzz about it on MyLot, and some people swore by it. I knew that the payout was fairly low (I later discovered that it was $5.00).
I have read on blogs and heard from members that Ciao isn't as good as it used to be. Apparently, you used to get a flat $1.00 fee for publishing a review. This was changed to .25, and now to the current "incentive" program where you get paid a few cents for each positive rating your review receives. That system still sounded o.k. to me - write a good review, get rewarded more.
I'd choose this system over a flat rate any day. There's more potential to make money this way. I can easily make that $1.00 off of a review over the course of a few days, and after that, it'll just keep making more. With a flat rate once I've gotten it, that's all I'll ever earn off that review. With the current system, my reviews will continue to earn for me (I believe up to $3.00).
In any case, I took the plunge and joined. After staring at the wall for a while, I decided to write my first review on St. Ives Apricot Scrub, a product I had some mixed feelings about.
I looked at my account all day that day, but although I got many comments on my review from other members, the balance remained 0. I assumed that the product I had selected was not one that you got paid for reviewing, and almost didn't go back to the website. However, when I logged into Ciao the next day, I was greeted by a pleasant surprise: 33 cents I had not possessed before.
After this small success, I wrote three more reviews: one for the Sunbeam Bread Maker I own, one for the Creative Zen Micro (a combination rant and funeral dirge for my dying MP3 player), and one for Diesel For Her (a perfume I like that most people hate).
These efforts netted me 45 more cents the next day, bringing my total to just under a dollar. With such a low minimum balance necessary to reach payout, I'm starting to see how one might easily generate a trickle of extra cash from Ciao.
I befriended a few people, and rated a few people (who kindly rated me back). Currently, I'm accepting some Friend Requests, but I'm not going to befriend plagiarists or rate shoddy reviews positively. I'm just not going to reward bad work. I suppose that may not please some people in the community, but they'll get over it.
What I've been up to:
Feb 28th:
I joined Ciao and immediately wrote my first review on St. Ives Apricot Scrub.
It got a bunch of comments and positive ratings, but I didn't see any money in my Earnings section. Discouraged, I logged off and went to bed.
March 1st:
Logged in to discover that I was 33 cents richer. Woohoo!
Wrote reviews on Diesel For Her and Zen Micro 5 GB.
Befriended several other users, who immediately began nagging me to rate their reviews positively.
March 2nd:
Logged in and discovered another 46 cents in my account, bringing me to 79 cents. More nagging "RATE ME" spam. Checked out users' reviews. A few were good, decent, legitimate reviewers, but there was an upsetting amount of plagiarists, people who copy-pasted product reviews, and "Engrish" word salad. De-friended the offenders, reported some for plagiarism.
Wrote a review for Eisbrecher's album, "Eisbrecher".
Recruited my friends Reese and Jaime. Sent my mother an email with a referral link, which she might get around to reading and clicking eventually.
Friended some users who actually wrote coherent and useful reviews.
March 3rd:
I was awake for rollover. Saw my account total go up another 70 cents. Part of this was due to my referrals posting reviews of their own, but most of it was my own work. Ciao is looking good so far.
I wrote a review for The Sims 2 Expansion Pack: "Seasons" and Friended a few more good reviewers.
March 4:
Only made 20 cents. Apparently, I am alone in my awe of The Sims 2. Friended a few more people.
Wrote three more reviews: One for the video game Cubivore, one for Maybelline Purestay Foundation, and one for Clean & Clear Morning Burst.
More RATE ME spam and friend requests from people who don't actually bother to write reviews. I wish that there was an Ignore button.
Doing the math:
At an average of 40 cents per day, I should reach payout in around 9 days. If I make closer to 70 cents per day, it will be around 6 days.
From what I have gathered, you can make a maximum of $3.00 per review, not counting the Premium Fund (which I will talk about in later posts). I spend an average of 15-20 minutes writing a review. If you stop to think about it, that could amount to $3.00, total, for 15 minutes of my effort. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that I will make the maximum amount of money off of a review. Once it gets too old and nobody reads it any more, it stops earning (except maybe very occasionally). A review might only ever earn me 50 cents.
Still, all said and done, that's not a bad. Still, I do not wish to misrepresent Ciao. Although it's panning out well for me, it seems like it will only be good for a little bit of extra cash. I'll consider myself lucky to make $5.00 a week - assuming I don't have trouble cashing out. Remember: at this point in the course of this blog, I have not yet hit payout.
My observations:
I've noticed that there are a few reviewers who seem to speak somewhat-broken English, but their reviews are still pretty good. Then there are some who write their review entirely in text-message shorthand, which irks me to no end. I know it's a review about a cell phone, but that doesn't mean you need to type out the review AS IF you typed it on a cell phone.
Finally, there appear to be a few who have simply copied and pasted the product specifications into the review box. Nonetheless, there are a LOT of very good reviews and reviewers. I can see how writing a good review that stands out in the crowd could become exceedingly difficult.
I'll write more about how bad the issue of spam and plagiarism is on Ciao, but for now, I'll state this: It's bad, it's annoying, it may threaten the longevity of the website. Still, I'm not having trouble earning money at all so far. Out of all of the programs I'm describing, Ciao may be the best so far.
I reached Ciao through SendEarnings or MyPoints (I honestly cannot remember which) about two days ago. I initially joined because I'd seen a lot of buzz about it on MyLot, and some people swore by it. I knew that the payout was fairly low (I later discovered that it was $5.00).
I have read on blogs and heard from members that Ciao isn't as good as it used to be. Apparently, you used to get a flat $1.00 fee for publishing a review. This was changed to .25, and now to the current "incentive" program where you get paid a few cents for each positive rating your review receives. That system still sounded o.k. to me - write a good review, get rewarded more.
I'd choose this system over a flat rate any day. There's more potential to make money this way. I can easily make that $1.00 off of a review over the course of a few days, and after that, it'll just keep making more. With a flat rate once I've gotten it, that's all I'll ever earn off that review. With the current system, my reviews will continue to earn for me (I believe up to $3.00).
In any case, I took the plunge and joined. After staring at the wall for a while, I decided to write my first review on St. Ives Apricot Scrub, a product I had some mixed feelings about.
I looked at my account all day that day, but although I got many comments on my review from other members, the balance remained 0. I assumed that the product I had selected was not one that you got paid for reviewing, and almost didn't go back to the website. However, when I logged into Ciao the next day, I was greeted by a pleasant surprise: 33 cents I had not possessed before.
After this small success, I wrote three more reviews: one for the Sunbeam Bread Maker I own, one for the Creative Zen Micro (a combination rant and funeral dirge for my dying MP3 player), and one for Diesel For Her (a perfume I like that most people hate).
These efforts netted me 45 more cents the next day, bringing my total to just under a dollar. With such a low minimum balance necessary to reach payout, I'm starting to see how one might easily generate a trickle of extra cash from Ciao.
I befriended a few people, and rated a few people (who kindly rated me back). Currently, I'm accepting some Friend Requests, but I'm not going to befriend plagiarists or rate shoddy reviews positively. I'm just not going to reward bad work. I suppose that may not please some people in the community, but they'll get over it.
What I've been up to:
Feb 28th:
I joined Ciao and immediately wrote my first review on St. Ives Apricot Scrub.
It got a bunch of comments and positive ratings, but I didn't see any money in my Earnings section. Discouraged, I logged off and went to bed.
March 1st:
Logged in to discover that I was 33 cents richer. Woohoo!
Wrote reviews on Diesel For Her and Zen Micro 5 GB.
Befriended several other users, who immediately began nagging me to rate their reviews positively.
March 2nd:
Logged in and discovered another 46 cents in my account, bringing me to 79 cents. More nagging "RATE ME" spam. Checked out users' reviews. A few were good, decent, legitimate reviewers, but there was an upsetting amount of plagiarists, people who copy-pasted product reviews, and "Engrish" word salad. De-friended the offenders, reported some for plagiarism.
Wrote a review for Eisbrecher's album, "Eisbrecher".
Recruited my friends Reese and Jaime. Sent my mother an email with a referral link, which she might get around to reading and clicking eventually.
Friended some users who actually wrote coherent and useful reviews.
March 3rd:
I was awake for rollover. Saw my account total go up another 70 cents. Part of this was due to my referrals posting reviews of their own, but most of it was my own work. Ciao is looking good so far.
I wrote a review for The Sims 2 Expansion Pack: "Seasons" and Friended a few more good reviewers.
March 4:
Only made 20 cents. Apparently, I am alone in my awe of The Sims 2. Friended a few more people.
Wrote three more reviews: One for the video game Cubivore, one for Maybelline Purestay Foundation, and one for Clean & Clear Morning Burst.
More RATE ME spam and friend requests from people who don't actually bother to write reviews. I wish that there was an Ignore button.
Doing the math:
At an average of 40 cents per day, I should reach payout in around 9 days. If I make closer to 70 cents per day, it will be around 6 days.
From what I have gathered, you can make a maximum of $3.00 per review, not counting the Premium Fund (which I will talk about in later posts). I spend an average of 15-20 minutes writing a review. If you stop to think about it, that could amount to $3.00, total, for 15 minutes of my effort. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that I will make the maximum amount of money off of a review. Once it gets too old and nobody reads it any more, it stops earning (except maybe very occasionally). A review might only ever earn me 50 cents.
Still, all said and done, that's not a bad. Still, I do not wish to misrepresent Ciao. Although it's panning out well for me, it seems like it will only be good for a little bit of extra cash. I'll consider myself lucky to make $5.00 a week - assuming I don't have trouble cashing out. Remember: at this point in the course of this blog, I have not yet hit payout.
My observations:
I've noticed that there are a few reviewers who seem to speak somewhat-broken English, but their reviews are still pretty good. Then there are some who write their review entirely in text-message shorthand, which irks me to no end. I know it's a review about a cell phone, but that doesn't mean you need to type out the review AS IF you typed it on a cell phone.
Finally, there appear to be a few who have simply copied and pasted the product specifications into the review box. Nonetheless, there are a LOT of very good reviews and reviewers. I can see how writing a good review that stands out in the crowd could become exceedingly difficult.
I'll write more about how bad the issue of spam and plagiarism is on Ciao, but for now, I'll state this: It's bad, it's annoying, it may threaten the longevity of the website. Still, I'm not having trouble earning money at all so far. Out of all of the programs I'm describing, Ciao may be the best so far.
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