Achieve Success From Home

My Clixsense Review 2018: Legit GPT Site or Another Lost Cause?

Clixsense.com has gone through some major changes recently, coming from one of the top PTC (Paid To Click) sites, with a foothold in many countries, to a complete switch of their business model to a GPT (Get Paid To) site, and in this Clixsense Review 2018, I identify the key changes, but are they heading in the right direction?

This review probably isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last one you read on your way to trying to find reputable ways to make some extra cash online.

I know we all probably spend far too much time on the Internet especially looking for ways to make some extra cash, but are you looking in the right places? Are survey sites really worth your time and effort?

Some people think they are and some have earned several thousand dollars, but the amount of time and effort that goes into getting there is enormous.

There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of GPT sites out there. Some good, some ok and some really bad but they all have one thing in common.

They all have various ways (additional activities) for you to earn money from, but are these activities just there to keep you entertained and to stop you from signing out of their website?

Product: Clixsense.com
Website: www.clixsense.com
Price: 100% Free
Founders: Steve Girsky and John McConnell
Founded: 2007
Current owner: Jim Grago
Based in: US
Summary: Market research / Surveys and Rewards
Recommended: NO – Simply because you have to spend far too much time, for very little reward.

What is Clixsense About?

Clixsense survey invites

Clixsense.com started its life back in 2007 by Steve Girsky and John McConnell as a PTC (Paid to Click) website where as a member you could earn money by just clicking on advertisements.

Since 2011 Clixsense.com went through a change in ownership to James Grago who at the time was the CTO (Chief Technology Officer).

A few major issues that have taken place in the last few years which have dictated some radical changes in the way they now operate their business.

In August 2016 Clixsense.com’s data was hacked with around 6,000,000 members personal data compromised with account balances set to zero.

In February 2017 PayPal put a hold on Clixsense’s business account stating that they were in breach of PayPal’s user terms and agreement procedures, and as a result, stopped processing all payments, both incoming and out.

The reasoning PayPal gave was based on the number of PTC (Paid To Click) sites that were cropping up all over the Internet, even though Clixsense had been operating that business model since 2007 and with no issues.

In July 2017, they changed from a PTC website and removed the ability to make money from clicking ads, also removing Clixgrid, the 2 membership levels as well as the 8 level affiliate referral program.

Clixsense now operates as a GPT (Get Paid To) site where you the member get paid for taking part in a host of different activities, such as surveys, daily tasks, completing offers, watching videos, playing quizzes etc which I will go into in more detail later on.

What is Clixsense Forcibly doing?

Thought that might grab your attention!

Well, a little strong maybe, but let’s see if I can explain what I mean.

At the beginning as a PTC (Paid To Click) site, and incidentally one of the better ones, members were happy just clicking on ads and earning a little cash, along with advertising their own stuff too.

Since the problems with the data hacking and PayPal pulling the plug many have gone elsewhere. Seriously, who can blame them?

Only time will tell moving to a GPT site if PayPal will renew their relationship with Clixsense.com, but it looks like the new owner is trying extremely hard to revitalize the business and hopefully heading in the right direction.

Online Help

Major changes to a business model such as Clixsense.com moving from a PTC to a GPT site take many man hours with software changes that are required and I see that the “online help” documentation is not in-line with those new changes. Something to be aware of!

How Much Can I Make with Clixsense?

Clixsense payout

In the grand scheme of things that isn’t a great amount considering how many members have been involved.

Like with any business you get involved with and how much money you make, it is all down to the dedication, and the amount of time that you put in.

Like a real job where you know just where you stand with the hourly rate and the number of hours worked, with online opportunities it is just impossible to gauge how much you can earn and how long it will take.

The potential to earn a lot of money online is there if you know how and survey sites are just not going to cut it, they really aren’t.

At Clixsense there are too many parameters to take into consideration, such as …

How often you login to the website.
Your demographics.
Availability of surveys and whether you qualify or not.
The amount of tasks and offers you need to participate in.
Referrals and how often they partake in the system.

How to earn at Clixsense

Here I would like to show you the main 2 different ways (there are others) of how to earn money from Clixsense.

As you can see here “Piddles” has been a member since 2007 and managed to accumulate a whopping $11,610.19 by completing tasks and offers that accumulate 67,911. No referrals!

Clixsense earnings 3

“dsbe” has been a member since 2009 and earned $17,540.42 mainly by introducing referrals.

Both have earned through the 2 main methods Task and Offers along with Referrals, but as you can see to get to that total it has taken a lot of time and effort. Sure, there is money to be made but time spent in the right manner will serve you in the long run. More on that later!

How to Get Started with Clixsense

That’s pretty straightforward, just click here and it Read this before you start Clixsense should take around 10 minutes to complete the full registration and remember this is 100% free to join and take part in.

Just enter, your first and last name, a valid email address and a unique user id, and don’t forget to read the terms and click the 2 boxes.

An email will be sent to you to respond to and fully activate your Clixsense.com account.

Then all you have to do is fill in the “surveys profile”, which are your demographics covering 21 questions and you are ready to go. This is important and determines the type and amount of survey’s that are sent out to you.

Don’t forget to download the ClixAddon extension for your browser. A great way to keep abreast of things at the touch of a button.

As of this review, there is currently no app for the mobile phone!

Please note, only one Clixsense account can be registered from the same household!

Other Ways to Maximize Cash with Clixsense

Clixsense partners

ClixSense Daily Checklist Bonus

Completing the daily checklist will give you a bonus of up to 16% that will be credited to your account at the end of each day. Further details can be found here.

Figure of eight tasks

Earn by completing simple tasks where you can also earn additional bonuses and there are weekly contests for you to participate in also.

Clixsense Cash Offers

Clixoffers
Persona.ly
Trialpay
Peanut labs
OfferTorro
Wannads
Adscend
Adgate
Kiwiwall

Here you are met with a whole host of different ways to accumulate “clixcents” (which are converted to dollars) from taking surveys, joining casino sites, offers, through to entering competitions and playing games.

Just bear in mind that most of these offers require you to signup and in many cases, you will be asked to add your credit card details.

Offers usually exist for a period of time so don’t forget to cancel the offer otherwise you could be hit with costs debited to your card. So be careful!

Refer a friend

This is a great way to boost the amount you can make.

Why not refer a friend or family member and reap the benefits and watch your account balance grow. Earn up to 30% recurring commissions on anything your referral makes and that’s for life. They have some great banners and splash pages available for you to promote your campaigns.

Referral signup commission of $0.30 for 1st tier countries and $0.10 for all others and a one-off payment of $2.00 when your referral earns their 1st $5.00.

Continued commissions for life which is 20% of everything your referral earns as a member of Clixsense.

Top Tier Countries

How Does Clixsense Pay You?

There are a number of methods excluding PayPal.

Clixsense payment methods

Remember all funds are in US Dollars and therefore will be subject to a currency exchange rate fee.

All electronic payments are processed daily and usually take up to 5 business working days depending on where you are in the queue.

New accounts, which are registered within the last 30 days may be delayed by up to 15 days.

If you require payment by check then you must request your payment before the 5th of every month for the check to be processed before the 10th of the month. Remember that checks are valid for 60 days, and that once received at your bank will take a further few days to clear!

Clixsense Pros and Cons

For a company that was one of the top PTC sites and has been operating for over a decade, I was a little surprised to not find many reviews about them. You can check out Survey Police, Trustpilot and Sitejabber to get some idea for yourself.

Pros

Free to join

With so many, work from home opportunities that charge you monthly fees to earn yourself some extra cash, here at Clixsense it is 100% free to join and participate in, so really nothing to lose except your time.

BBB (Better business bureau)

The first port of call for many when checking out an online business’s trustworthiness and Clixsense is currently showing an A- rating

Professional looking website

Coming from a software development background I can see the amount of time and effort not to mention the cost that has gone into the Clixsense website.

Available Worldwide

Clixsense was once one of the top PTC sites online which has helped to establish the site worldwide, which covers many of the major countries. Just remember to check out which tier your country belongs to.

Cons

No PayPal

PayPal has been for a long time the main method for handling finances whilst on the Internet and most people recognize this as their number one choice.

PTC sites have been getting a bad rep and for good reason too so I see a switch from a PTC to GPT site a change in the right direction, and hopefully just a matter of time before PayPal come back.

Disqualified from Surveys

This seems to be the norm with these survey sites, that you click on a survey and start filling it in only to be told a few minutes down the road that you didn’t qualify.

Once I’d registered and set up my demographics I was met with 20+ surveys and I thought great, and I went straight to the highest paying and found 1 by 1 that I wasn’t qualified. I had just filled in 21 questions regarding myself so why were they even listed? 10 surveys selected and 10 I didn’t qualify for!

Very low earning potential

On average for the bigger paying surveys which are around $1.25, and they take about 20 minutes to complete.

$1.25 * 3 = $3.75 an hour

That’s if you manage to qualify for the surveys! As you can see I didn’t and I am from a tier 1 country!

Clixsense Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

I remember a few years back when Clixsense was a PTC site, I spent many hours trying to earn some extra cash, but the rewards were not worth it for me.

However, would I recommend Clixsense and I have to say NO, but that is simply on a basis that the amount of time it takes to earn some decent money is enormous?

It really all depends on who you talk to and whilst I have come across members that have earned several thousand dollars, the amount of surveys, tasks and offers to get to that point have taken many hours.

If survey and reward sites are what you are looking for, why not check out SwagBucks or Ebates but if you really want to learn how all these sites operate and start earning some real money then check out what I do for a living here.

Comments

Are you a member of Clixsense? Are you happy with the changes from a PTC to a GPT site? Thinking of joining?

Tell me what you thought of this review or maybe pass on some love and share with your friends.

I’d love to hear your experiences not just with Clixsense but survey and reward sites in general.

Just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.

Later,

Mick

What is Toluna: A Legit Survey Site with a Difference or Not?

Survey sites are up there at the top when it comes to people looking for ways to make money online, with promises of earning great amounts of dosh, so what is Toluna and can it deliver? Let’s see, shall we?

You are here because you have heard the stories that filling in surveys is easy and that you can make a good living, but are those stories believable?

The amount of money that you can make on these sites is usually over exaggerated and the reality is that you have to spend many hours online for very little reward.

I started my online career just like many others filling in surveys and after a while, you quickly get to know if a site is worthy of your time or not!

Take Toluna.com for instance.

When I registered my details and received an acknowledgement email which I responded to, I tried to sign into the site and my password wasn’t recognized, and when I tried to recover my password details and entered the same email address I didn’t even receive a response after many attempts.

What is Toluna Surveys About?

Founded by Frederic-Charles Petit back in 2000 and part of the Toluna Group who are registered in the UK at companies house with headquarters in Paris.

Toluna Influencers (as they are known now) are located throughout the world with near to 10 million members from many countries and work in the market research niche.

They cover 30+ countries worldwide which makes them one of the biggest online survey sites out there.

Toluna.com is a market research platform which is a little different to other survey sites I have come across.

Members are part of a community who are able to create their own content and take part in discussions with other members about anything, by creating polls and topics, and getting feedback in real-time for which you are rewarded points.

How Does Toluna Work?

Toluna.com act as a go-between, a sort of middleman, where Toluna members are connected to companies to take part in market research by way of filling in surveys.

Passing on your comments and feedback has a direct impact on how companies market their products and services to consumers just like yourself.

How Much Can I Make with Tuluna?

Really, this depends on a few parameters such Toluno survey as demographics which is the information you give the site when registering.

Availability of the surveys is all down to how quickly you respond to emails which are sent out. These surveys come on a first come first served basis and if you are not quick enough you will miss out!

Toluna works on a points system or a virtual currency that they like to identify with, which you are rewarded for taking part in surveys along with other activities and once you have reached a minimum threshold those points can be redeemed for cash.

Currently, the points to cash ratio is…

3000 points = $1

In order to redeem your points, you need at least 30,000 points which equates to $10.

In theory, the longer the survey the greater the number of points awarded but in reality, it all depends on a number of factors.

Such as the client and the length of the survey and providing you actually do qualify for that particular survey. Sometimes you will find this out 15 minutes into the survey. I know, a nightmare isn’t it?

How to Get Started

It’s free to join and to register, you simply click Toluna.com which will take you to the Toluna login display and the “Sign-up” is in the top right corner of the screen.

Just enter a few particulars and you should be ready to go.

First name
Last name
Date of birth
Gender
Email address
Country
Zip Code
Password
Mobile number

Once you have signed up you will need to respond to an email that is sent out to complete the registration.

Just for signing up Toluna rewards you with 500 points which gives you a bit of a start. This is around $0.16. Not much but every little count!

Once registered, don’t forget to install the mobile iPhone App. This way you won’t miss anything when you are out and about!

Other Ways to Maximize Points with Toluna

Creating quality content within the community forum can boost your points total by up to 1000 points. Around 33 cents!

Earn points for participating in contests run by the Toluna team.

You are also encouraged to go ahead and create your own contests within the community and for that, you could be rewarded with a 5,000 points bonus as an incentive. That’s around $1.66

Why not create new topics and polls within the community allowing the members to take part in the discussions where you will be rewarded for your time.

If you can’t decide on 2 options then create what they call a Battle between the 2 and let the community decide.

If you are on the fence about something then create a Thumb It and let the members decide, whether thumbs up or thumbs down.

There is a daily millionaire sweepstake which you can take part in but the tickets will cost you 500 points, and to qualify, you must have a profile image and be an active member within the 30 days prior to the sweepstake.

Profile surveys come up all the time and can be found by clicking the “survey” tab at the top of the site and here you can find the “Profiles survey” option. These are there for your benefit and to improve the number and type of surveys you receive. Each profile survey is worth 100 points!

What about referring a friend which is always a good way to get rewarded for doing nothing. You will receive 500 points for a referral when the interest surveys are completed.

Rewards for comments – “Replies” to “points” to “cash equivalent”

These are the points rewarded for taking part in the community forum for replying to discussions.

20 = 500 = $ 0.16
30 = 1000 = $ 0.32
40 = 2000 = $ 0.64
50 = 3000 = $ 1.00
75 = 3500 = $ 1.16
100 = 5000 = $ 1.64

These are known as popularity points and could reach a maximum of 15,000 points in a month

That’s 300 comments within the forum for $4.92. That’s certainly a lot of work there for very little reward don’t you think?

You can also earn points for leaving 80+ word replies on other members opinions, 100 for each reply to a maximum of 5,000 a month.

How You Get Paid?

Depending on which country you are in determines just how you can be paid. There are 3 ways to get paid.

Electronic vouchers

Toluna rewards

Which will be sent to your Toluna account or in some cases directly to your email account.

Bank transfer

Check out your country of origin as some allow direct bank transfer whilst others don’t.

PayPal

Remember that there will be fees when transferring money through PayPal and to allow up to 4 working days.

Toluna Pros and Cons

This is the part of the review that most people will go straight to without reading all the gory details.

Here I will highlight what I believe to be the positive and negative aspects of becoming a member of Toluna.com, but what I am not finding are many positive reviews in TrustPilot or SiteJabber. You can see for yourself!

Pros

Free to join
A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau

Cons

Mobile app

When you are away from your laptop and using the mobile app, I have noticed a number of complaints with the app crashing or throwing you out part way through a survey with everything lost.

Not qualified for a survey

This seems to be a problem with many of these survey sites where you can be taking part in a survey for several minutes (in some cases 20 minutes) then all of a sudden the survey will end and you will be told that you didn’t qualify.

I can’t for the life in me understand why this happens because they should know all this before they send you the survey. I guess they just want the survey filled first.

Many are arguing that maybe they still use the data in order to get paid by the client!

Whilst I have seen some survey sites that offer you points as a way of compensation here at Toluna.com this isn’t the case, so I guess you have to grin and bear it.

Long wait for your cash

Another annoying thing is the time you have to wait for your rewards to be redeemed. Anywhere between 2 to 8 weeks depending on the country.

Remember to ensure that everything is filled in correctly otherwise you may lose those points as many members have reported.

Very low hourly rate!

These surveys take between 15 and 20 minutes and for this, you are paid anywhere from 15 and 50,000 points which all depends on which client the survey comes from and the length of time it takes.

Points expire

If you are like many members who hang onto their points hoping to buy something of value later then remember that those points start to expire after a 12 month period.

Meaning that not all your points will expire at once, for example, if you were rewarded 10,000 points on the 6th June 2018, then only those 10,000 will expire on 6th June 2019.

Not at all happy with this, because to get those points in the first place will have taken many hours, but lose them and Toluna.com will be saving money.

Not able to sign back into the website

Within 10 minutes of registering I found that I could not sign back into the site even though I copied and pasted the exact same email and password.

When I tried to recover the password I received no email from Toluna and this wasn’t the 1 time, it was several times and 2 days down the road.

I have received no response to my email either.

Survey’s don’t come quick enough

Like many of these survey sites, they work on a first come first served basis, meaning that you have to respond to the emails sent out by Toluna.com as quick as possible otherwise the survey’s fill up.

Sitting around waiting for the odd survey turning up is not my idea of fun!

Many members who come into these survey sites expect to be filling surveys in constantly throughout the day which isn’t the case!

What is Toluna – Final Thoughts!

You will find many people stating that Toluna is a scam but in my eye’s it isn’t and the reason for that is simple. It is free to join and you can make some money albeit in small amounts.

Granted, I wouldn’t think about jacking your full-time job in just yet and that goes with many of these survey sites.

Would I recommend this business? Absolutely not!

Yes, I have tried and tested many of these sites in the past but nowadays I have very little spare time on my hands since I found this training platform where I can now earn real money, but hey, if earning a little cash here and there is what you are looking for then who am I to question it.

Comments

Are you a member of Toluna? What do you think? Are you happy with the service? Thinking of joining? How much time do you spend on surveys? What is the most money you have earned filling in surveys?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this survey site or why not spread the word and share this information with your friends.

Just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.

Until next time!

Mick

What is HOTUKDEALS: A Deal Breaker or a Deal Winner?

What is HotUKdeals; in a nutshell, this is where members of the community help each other find great deals that they come across whilst surfing the net! Looking for a great deal then check out HotUKDeals first, you never know it could save you a lot of time.

What is HotUKDeals I don’t know about you but I love great bargains, but sometimes finding them takes a lot of research, but how cool would it be if someone had already found that great deal you have been spending hours looking for?

We are all searching for ways to get a little extra help when shopping online, especially when the internet today is where we tend to do all our shopping, right?

I guess you have spent many hours checking out those Cashback/Reward sites or have you had enough or are you just looking for something a little different, then you are in the right place.

You the members are in control here where helping each other finding those great deals goes a long way!

Parent: www.pepper.com (the worlds largest deals community)
Product: HOTUKDEALS
Website: www.HotUKDeals.com
Price: 100% Free
Founder: Paul Nickel
Founded: 2004
Based in: Arizona, US
Summary: Where members discover internet bargains and share them with the community.
Recommended: Yes

Some Facts about HotUKDeals

Currently over 2.4 million members.
Over 1.9 million deals created.
Over 30,758,209 comments.
Over 3.2 million followers on Facebook.
Over 87,000 Twitter followers.
Nearly 6k Google+ followers.
The leading deals platform in the UK where you the consumer are in control.

What is HotUKDeals?

popular hotukdeals groups

Another consumer saving site brought to you by Paul Nickel, the same person who is responsible for that other popular UK Cashback site Quidco.

Founded way back in 2004 so you would think comes with some credence, right?

Although HotUKDeals and Quidco have similarities in as much as they both help you save money and with Quidco a little cash too.

The main difference is that Quidco brings the retailers and offers to you, whilst you (the member) help bring the deals and offers to the HotUKDeals community, and of course, no waiting 90 days for cash back to arrive in your bank account either.

HUKD is part of the Pepper.com group, which is the world’s largest shopping deals community, covering 14 countries across 4 continents and used by 25+ million members each month influencing thousands of purchasing decisions every minute.

How Does HotUKDeals Work?

How HotUkDeals works A place where you the consumer are in control!

Those great deals are out there, you just need to find them, well the purpose of this site is to bring those deals, vouchers and other consumer info, and share them amongst the HotUKDeals community.

Here those deals can be discussed amongst the members by sharing their experiences and giving their honest opinions.

The idea behind the site is to help you the consumer get away from the marketing hype with popups and emails we are bombarded with in everyday life, and to get genuine honest advice from members about (hot or cold) deals.

By doing this you are in control of the deals pushing them into the “Hot” or “Cold” positions.

Retailers love their products pushed into a “Hot” position because it helps them sell more of that product, on the other hand, a “Cold” deal would be frowned upon and that is something the retailer does not want to see.

Whilst a “Cold” deal is bad for the retailer, it can be good for the consumer because the retailer will become aware of this and this could help drive the price down or some other added benefit.

Of course, you don’t have to go out and find those great deals to share with the community as there is an abundance of deals already available, but if you do see something that you think others might be interested in, then show some love. Remember giving is much better than taking!

How Does HotUKDeals Make Money?

HotUKDeals like most other sites similar work in the Affiliate Marketing domain, where normally they would get paid by the retailer for displaying offers and websites on their site.

They normally would be paid for Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising which means that HotUKDeals would get paid by the retailer for the member just clicking on a retailer’s offer or website where a product purchase doesn’t need to happen.

It doesn’t seem to be set in concrete just how HotUKDeals actual gets paid because I can’t find anything online stating this.

Most deals submitted to the HotUKDeals site tend to have an affiliate link attached and according to HUKD that is the only way they get paid.

That implies that they get paid for some product deals and not others, which in my eyes is not a way to run a profitable business.

How to Get Started

All that is required is a valid email address, Hotukdeals signup user-name and password.

Other options are to sign up using your current Facebook or Google account, but I would refrain from using those accounts.

I mean, do you really want family and friends to know what you are up to?

I would also check and subscribe to the newsletter and be kept abreast of all the new deals and offers that are being added.

Of course, you also need to read the rules and regulations too.

Communicating with other members of the forum is a major part of how this site operates, and HotUKDeals are very strict in how you conduct yourself, and therefore I would check out the code of conduct rules first.

Don’t forget to get hold of the HotUKDeals mobile app for when you are out and about. Your personal access to great deals, vouchers, freebies and a host of other great things. Installed by 30,000 members giving it a near perfect score rating.

All you need to do now is search your favourite brands in the search bar or click on the drop-down menu’s.

Remember, find a great deal anywhere online then don’t forget to share it with the community!

Some Suggestions to Get the Best out of HotUKDeals!

The site is literally crawling with great deals. A little helping hand to set you on your way.

Active deals and offers

Remember that when you first become a member, every deal, both active and expired will be showing. To see only active deals just change the filter in the top right of the display under “+ Submit”

Check the retailer first before purchasing

It pays to not be too comfortable with handing over your credit card details.

If you don’t recognize the retailer then a quick Google search should give you some piece of mind, and save you what could be a load of hassle!

Competitions

Why not check out the competitions that are constantly being updated. They are free to enter.

Don’t forget to check out the miscellaneous

Members are always adding some great deals and offers in the miscellaneous section and many are free too.

HotUkDeals miscellaneous

Become part of the community forum

This is where all the discussions take place regarding deals and all the great advice to help you find that bargain of a life.

Who doesn’t love a freebie?

Tell me that you don’t love freebies and I will eat my hat if, in fact, I had one!

Just checked this minute and there are well over 600 freebies, such as free breakfasts at Morrisons, games, and even get yourself a free smart tag for your dog and registration to microchip central.

HotUKDeals free breakfast HotUKDeals free smart tag for dog

Black Friday deals

Don’t forget to mark the 4th Friday of November in your diary, and see what great Black Friday bargains are on offer, especially with it coming up to the start of Christmas shopping. Both online and in-store.

Find some amazing deals on computers, tv’s, clothing and much more.

HotUKDeals Black Friday

Cyber Monday

Don’t forget to check in on Cyber Monday which is only a few days after Black Friday and only for 1 day with some massive deals across many popular brands.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday very close together, you could save yourself a fortune on Christmas presents!

Check out the current days amazing lightning deals

Have you ever been to one of those high street stores when they have had a massive sales day, where hundreds of customers have camped outside hoping to bag that bargain of the century?

Well, how about getting in first to Amazon’s lightning deals before the Amazon crowd does, but be quick because the deals are only showcased on HotUKDeals for 30 minutes before the mad rush, so get your skates on.

The only catch to grabbing that bargain before the mad rush is that you have to be an Amazon Prime Member. No problem though, most of us already are!

Lightning deals at Amazon

How to Create a Deal Amongst other Things?

What drives this business is the community and an eye for a bargain, and the fact that they want to share the deal amongst the other members.

Without your input then the site wouldn’t function!

Out there shopping on the internet and researching products and see a great bargain then share it amongst the community.

Deal – Share that great bargain you came across whilst searching for something on the Internet. WOW! Like a new Nissan Qashqai!

HotUKDeals New Nissan

Voucher – Any bargain vouchers that you come across just let the community know about. Like a saving of around £40 on an adult ticket at Flamingo Land!

HotUKDeals Voucher

or…

Discussion – Create a new thread within the forum.
Feedback – Let the site know about any issues you may have.

HotUKDeals Pros and Cons

As with all businesses whether online or not have their fair share of complaints, and whilst here at HUKD, there isn’t really much to shout about.

Pros

Free to join
Great deals
Check out the Freebies, you are sure to find something you like.
Get in first before Amazon users with the lightning deals.
Great deals on groceries.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

Cons

Some members have lost money by not checking out the retailers before purchasing. If you don’t know a retailer check them out first!

Bans come quick and thin

What is HotUKDeals – Final Thoughts!

I must admit that when I first came across HotUKDeals I thought it was some sort of gimmicky site, with little credibility, but since joining and reviewing this business, I can see a very worthy site that you should maybe consider.

Straight off the bat, I found some great deals as well as some brilliant freebies along with some very useful voucher deals. All in the space of 10 minutes of joining.

Affiliate marketing is the domain they operate in, which is a very straightforward business model and if you ever wish to turn the tables and be the one earning, as opposed to letting these sites earn from your participation, then why not check out this article I wrote explaining how it is done. Any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Comments

Are you a member of HotUKDeals? What do you think? Are you happy with the service? Found any great deals? Maybe you are thinking of joining?

What did you think of the review and did it deliver?

Love to hear your thoughts. I welcome all comments and will reply to them all.

Thank you, until next time

Mick

Mr Rebates Review 2018: Legit Cashback Site or Just Another Waste of Time?

Looking for a cashback site that you can trust then check out this unbiased
Mr Rebates review where I uncover everything you would need to know to determine whether it would be a right fit for you.

Mr Rebates Review 2018

With so many cashback sites around to choose from you have to agree that it’s just so difficult to find the best one to use.

All Cashback sites come with a certain amount of baggage, strong and weak points, and Mr Rebates is no exception.

In this review, I give you everything you would need to know with all the pros and cons so you can see both sides of the coin to allow you to make the right decision, so sit back and enjoy, or not, whichever comes first!

Product: Mr Rebates
Website: www.mrrebates.com
Price: 100% Free
Founder: Craig Cassata
Founded: 2002
Based in: Indianapolis
Summary: Get rewarded for shopping at over 2500 stores.
Recommended: Yes

What is Mr Rebates About?

Looking at the name and anybody would think this cashback site was related in some way to the very popular site Ebates, right?

Although they are 2 totally different companies they both operate in pretty much the same way.

Founded by Craig Cassata (you can find an interview here) back in 2002 and based in Indianapolis, the site offers its members cashback whilst shopping online.

In addition, they offer thousands of money-saving coupons, sales and deals to save you big money!

If you look hard enough you can find some cashback offers as high as 30%.

How Does Mr Rebates Work?

They operate in the affiliate marketing arena Mr Rebates brand logo where retailers pay Mr Rebates for advertising their sites on their website.

Another way would be to pay Mr Rebates for members clicking on the retailer’s website. PPC (Pay Per Click)

What this means is that the shopper (the member) doesn’t have to actually purchase anything from the retailer’s store. All that’s required is the member has to click on the offer or website for Mr Rebates to get paid.

There are currently over 2500 retailers promoting on Mr Rebates with many well-known stores such as Walmart, Amazon, eBay etc

Once you have clicked on an offer and been transferred to the retailer’s website store, Mr Rebates’ URL link along with the member’s unique tracking code ensures that when you purchase goods that the retailer knows about it.

Once the order transaction has been verified by the retailer then the retailer pays Mr Rebates an amount (undisclosed), which is passed onto you (the member) in the way of a rebate known as cashback.

Pretty straightforward right?

If all the links work as they should then it is!

How to Get Started

Mr Rebates and how it works

All you need is a valid email address and a password.

Once you have entered your details you will receive a welcome email with a link to get hold of the Mr Rebates cash back button for your browser. This ensures that you don’t miss any offers!

Why not download and install the mobile app for when you are out and about which include many great features.

Now you can start shopping!

How do you Make Money with Mr Rebates?

There are 2 ways to make money. The first you already know with shopping as a member of Mr Rebates and cash back. The next is…

Refer-a-friend

Mr Rebates refer a friend options

Why not refer a friend or family member, I’m sure they will appreciate you recommending a new way to save and make a little money especially as they already shop online.

Mr Rebates as a pretty good referral program where you can earn 20% of everything your referral earns as cashback. Most cashback sites pay a one-off referral bonus and that’s it!

Your referral will be happy too, as there’s a joining bonus of $5!

No restrictions either, as long as your referral is purchasing from Mr Rebates then you will receive 20% of the total cashback and that is for life if that is where it goes.

So click on the link below and start earning!

Some Suggestions to Get the Best out of Mr Rebates!

Purchase multiple products – When you order more than 1 product from the same retailer’s website you must do this one at a time, as a unique click-through link from Mr Rebates is required for each product purchased.

For example, place your first order at the retailers store through a Mr Rebates’ link, then come out of the retailer’s store and back to Mr Rebates, then click-through to the store again and place your second order. Long winded and time-consuming I know!

Cashback issue – Ensure that cookies are cleared on a regular basis as this has sometimes been the reason given for not receiving cashback on a purchase.

Lost connection or sign-in problems – If you encounter problems with signing into the Mr Rebates website or that you keep getting signed out, this could be caused by your cookie settings. Check here for further details!

Cashback link is broken – Once you have clicked onto a retailers website, refrain from surfing to other discounts or other sites as the cashback tracking code can get lost which will cause your cash back link to be broken, as a result of no cash back will be credited to your account. Apparently, this happens quite often!

Expiry time – When you have decided to purchase a product then it would be advised to complete the transaction ASAP, otherwise, if you leave the link to the retailer’s site for any length of time the click-through link may be lost.

The Different Types of Cashback Status’s Explained

- - “Pending Rebates”

Upon receipt of your order, the status will be set to “Pending”. These transactions can stay in pending for 90 days to cater for the different store return policies, order cancellations and to provide ample time for collection of commissions from stores.

- - “Available Rebates”

Which is when the retailer has confirmed the order transaction and they have passed on the cashback amount. At this stage, you are able to retrieve the cashback providing you have a minimum balance of $10.

If you still haven’t received the cash back after 90 days then get in touch with support.

The reason for this delay period of 90 days is to ensure that all eventualities can be met by the retailer regarding returns, and to avoid complications!

How You Get Paid?

There are 3 ways to get paid.

Request either a Check, Gift Card or PayPal

Checks – can only be paid to US and Candian citizens.

PayPal – All fees regarding the payment transaction are duly paid for by Mr Rebates which is very unusual, so I would double check this ’cause normally there are fees at PayPal. Allow up to 4 working days.

Please note that all payments will be processed at the beginning of the following month. For example, any cashback payments for the month of July will be processed on the first business working day of August.

Mr Rebates Pros and Cons

All businesses no matter who they are, have their fair share of problems, which can be down to a multitude of reasons and in many cases down to just not reading the small print and making assumptions. We all do it!

The Internet makes it so much easier for people to voice an opinion and whilst Mr Rebates has some issues; nothing to really write home about, and on the whole, they do appear to be on top of any member complaints.

Pros

Free to join
Large database of merchants.
One of the better refer-a-friend programs with 20% on all your referrals cashback for life.
Easy to follow website.
No restriction on demographics.
Better Business Bureau (BBB) A+ rated.
Support appears to be on the ball.

Cons

Cashback isn’t always guaranteed.

This is where a little more thought could be taken by following the terms and conditions of each merchant. Take for example Amazon only allows cash back on certain categories which can change at any time, and therefore you have to pay particular attention.

The system isn’t set up for multiple products against the same store.

If you want to purchase more than 1 product from the same store, they ask you to purchase 1 product then come out of the store and click back in so that your tracking link can be reset. Coming from a software background this should never happen and so easy to cater for, but I guess a good way to avoid paying the cash back out.

Issues with the store link.

Could be down to the store’s system dropping, communication problems, or leaving too many sessions open. Once again, the latter should not be a problem but another way to avoid paying out cash back.

No in-store facility, only online merchants.

Many people just like to hit the retail stores themselves and I think Mr Rebates as missed out on additional revenue here. Not like Ebates!

Length of time to receive cash back.

This varies from one merchant to the next, although cash back normally arrives just a few days from the actual order, whilst some merchants will hold back any monies due for up to 90 days to take into consideration their refund policies.

Bad review at Sitejabber for Mr Rebates

Mr Rebates Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

As you can see Mr Rebates is a legitimate cashback site and one you maybe should consider, especially if you are a regular online shopper.

Providing you use these cashback sites in the right manner then you should be able to save and earn yourself a few dollars, but you won’t be telling your boss where to go any day soon.

If you need a helping hand on the cash back front then you may consider checking out Ebates and/or Swagbucks.

Maybe you would like to learn how these cashback sites actually operate and maybe put yourself in their shoes.

I mean come on, if you think you are getting a great deal with cashback, just think about what the owners of these sites are raking in.

Just check out this review and see what you think and any questions then don’t hesitate to ask.

Comments

Are you a member of Mr Rebates? What do you think? Are you happy with the service? Thinking of joining?

I’d love to hear your thoughts or maybe you just want to ask me a question about Mr Rebates or anything for that matter.

Just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.

Have a great day, until next time!

Mick

My Quidco Review 2018 – With over £50,000,000 paid out in 2018 alone – Are they the Best UK Cashback Site?

Everybody needs a helping hand when it comes to spending, but are you taking advantage of cashback sites, and in my Quidco review 2018, I go into great detail so that you can make the right judgement call!

This site has been around for quite some time now, but what does that tell you? Well, maybe they are one of the best, especially in the UK.

I have reviewed many rewards and cashback sites and many are just not worth the time and effort, but Quidco seems to be a little different.

Shopping and rewarded with cash. No survey’s, watching videos, answering emails and no converting points into cash either!

They must be doing something right as they recently picked up an accolade from The Moneyfacts Consumer Awards. The UK’s Best Cash Back site for 2018. Check it out here!

Let’s take a look and unravel a few things and hopefully lead you on the right path.

- Parent Company: Maple Syrup Media
- Product: Quidco
- Website: www.quidco.com
- Price: 100% Free
- Founders: Paul and Jennifer Nikkel
- Founded: 2005
- Based in: Sheffield and London
- Summary: A shopping cashback website where members can shop at their favourite retailers and be rewarded with cash.
- Recommended: YES

Some Facts about Quidco

Owned by Maple Syrup Media and the same co-founders, who cater for the UK, France, and Germany

Other brands included are…

Shoop Germany founded in 2010
Shoop France founded in 2016
CheckoutSmart founded on 2012
2012 and the first UK cashback site to include grocery shopping.
Over 4,300 retail partners
Over 7,000,000 members.
Voted best UK cashback site for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018
Over 53,000 Twitter followers.
Over 160,000 Facebook fans.

What is Quidco About?

Join Quidco Today

Quidco is a UK cashback rewards site without all the “BS” with other activities such as surveys, reading emails, playing games and a host of other things just to keep you engaged on the site.

Quidco cuts through all of this and keeps things simple and straightforward.

With over 4,300 retail outlets to choose from you are sure to find your favourite retailer amongst them.

Just shop and be rewarded with cash. It’s as simple as that!

In the years 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018 they have been recognized by the consumer Moneyfacts Group as the best UK cashback site with TopCashBack a close runner-up.

How to Get Started

That’s pretty straightforward.

All you need to do is enter your first and last name along with a valid email address.

There are no confirmation emails to answer but you will receive a welcome email from Quidco and a few pointers to get you started.

Now you can start shopping!

Before we get into the review, why not check out what the local newspapers have to say about Quidco.

They are actually running free ads for them so check them out here. Might find yourself some great deals without browsing the Quidco website!

Whilst Quidco is 100 % free to join and take part they do have 2 levels of membership.

Quidco memberships

Whereas the Basic membership is free with no costs, Premium members do have their first £5 cashback retained for a higher level of customer service along with an additional range of offers coming from faster-paying retailers. A yearly cost of £5!

Premium might be worth looking at as timescales for receiving cashback appear to be not so good!

Steps to Follow to Get the Best out of Quidco!

These do’s and don’ts should be followed, otherwise, you may encounter issues later on within the cashback processing like many others appeared to have done!

To get the best out of Quidco

How do you Make Money with Quidco?

OK, so we know that Quidco rewards you for shopping through their partner’s websites, but there are a number of other various ways to achieve this.

ClickSnap

Check out the featured products at one of many top supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury, Waitrose and many more and purchase that product either online through the Quidco site and once verified then cashback will be automatically awarded through to your account

Purchase instore, keep the receipt and upload through the ClickSnap app within 7 days and receive cashback once verified.

Quidco High-Street

Out shopping in the high street, then why not link a credit or debit card to your Quidco account then all you have to do is activate the retailers online offers then pay in the store at over 7,000 locations in the UK and the rest will be taken care of by Quidco.

Quidco Compare

They have even got their own comparison site to check out the insurance, energy and broadband for the best offers.

Get the Quidco App for your iPhone or Android

Away from the laptop then don’t miss an offer with this app and keep a track of your purchases and account balance.

Cashback Reminder

Don’t forget to install the cashback reminder extension to either Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari and take advantage of all the Quidco offers that are constantly updating on a daily basis.

Highest Cashback Guarantee

If you find on any other UK cashback site, a cashback rate higher for any product you wish to purchase, then Quidco will match it. Not bad eh!

Refer a Friend

Why not pass on the word and refer a friend or family member.

Once they have signed up and earned a minimum of £5 cashback, then you will be rewarded with £10 which is not bad for doing absolutely nothing, right?

That goes for every person whether it just the 1 or 100.

Just think about it, nowadays with the internet and social media such as Facebook, we all have a bunch of friends and just think if 100 of those friends took up your offer. That’s £1000, not bad for sending out an invite!

If you are the generous type then why not split the £10?

Refer a friend at Quidco

The Different types of Cashback status Explained

Don’t forget to keep a track on the activity of your purchases through the activity page.

This way you can keep a close eye on just what is happening with regards to your purchase and where you are in the cashback process before you start a good old rant!

A good idea would be to become familiar with the different types of cashback statuses between Quidco and the retailers as there do appear to be a number of complaints regarding this particular area.

If there is an issue then you need to know how to process that discrepancy with Quidco.

Tracked

When you have made your purchase through the Quidco site the activity status will be set to “Tracked“. This tells you that you have made a purchase and waiting for the retailer to confirm that the terms have been met before the money is passed onto Quidco.

Confirmed

Once the money has been received from the retailer, that is converted into cashback and your activity status is then set to “Confirmed“.

This tells you that the money is available to withdraw.

Declined

If for some reason the terms and conditions for the cashback offer were not met, then the money will be declined and the activity status will be set to “Declined”

It, therefore, pays to take your time and read each and every retailers terms and condition before you purchase from them, and this way it will save you a lot of hassle. Time-consuming I know but has to be done!

Submit a Claim

I see many complaints regarding declined cashback amounts where the terms and conditions have not been adhered to, and if you want to raise this issue then you need to do so in your activity under the claims tab.

If at all your claim does get approved then this will be highlighted on your claims tab as “Successful” and a waiting period of up to 90 days will commence from the date the claims tab was set.

the claims tab will be set to “Unsuccessful” and an email will be sent out to you to explain this.

How You Get Paid?

There are a number of ways that you can withdraw your cashback but the 2 main ones are PayPal (which takes up to 4 working days) or a Bank Transfer which is free.

You need to check the terms of Paypal because whilst there are no monthly fees to use PayPal, there are fees for across currencies and incoming money which is dependant on where and what type of transaction. Check under goods and services.

There is a minimum withdrawal which currently is set to £1.

The other ways would be through the numerous retail stores which you can find here! which when used, will give you a percentage increase on your cashback amount.

Quidco Pros and Cons

Quidco reviews at trustpilot

All businesses come with a certain amount of baggage and Quidco is no exception to this.

Looking at Trustpilot as of this review I can see that if you take the Poor and Bad reviews, that is only 5% which out of 46,700 reviews that amount to around 2,335 complaints which in my book is pretty good. OK, it could be better but these issues appear to be down to the retailers and their policies!

Pros

Free to join
A massive database of over 4,300 retailers
Offers on supermarkets since 2012
Professional looking website and is very easy to follow
Good support
They have a refer a friend
Minimum withdrawal of just £1

You can check out the reviews on Trustpilot yourself here

Cons

Length of wait for payments

This appears to be one of the biggest issues, where retailers can take several weeks to acknowledge the purchase.

It’s obvious the reason for this is down to the returns policy!

It would appear the retailer is waiting for the returns policy to expire first before cashback is sent to avoid any confusion and complications.

My Quidco Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

Every little helps when it come to shopping!

People will tell you no matter which cashback site it is that they used to be good but not anymore!

Well, you can factor many things into the whys?

Competition is one, and the fact that the internet is currently available to around 3.8 billion people all looking for ways to earn a little cash and save a little money here and there. More people, more issues!

Cashback or Reward sites are not one of my favourites because there are so many really bad ones that let the side down, and punish the ones that are established and been going for a number of years.

I think you can see here that Quidco is legit and one that I do recommend!

Used in the right manner, along with reading and following the terms and conditions of both Quidco as well as their retail partners, then this site will work for you.

Just bear in mind that just because this is a cashback rewards site with offers on thousands of products, that you can’t find better deals elsewhere. Do your research, that’s what I always do first!

As I mentioned earlier Quidco is currently voted the best UK Cashback site for 2018 then maybe you’d like to also check out TopCashBack another top UK site.

Making a few extra £’s here and there with cashback sites like Quidco is great when shopping online, but they are not real money making opportunities!

If you are interested in what could be a life-changing experience and learning how to build an online business and become part of a community that is successful on many levels.

Just check out this review and see what you think?

What’s cool about this is that it is also Free to join. No Catch!

What have you got to lose? So much to gain!

Comments

Are you a member of Quidco and how as it been for you? Are you happy with their service?

Maybe you have had a bad experience with cashback and rewards sites in the past?

Thinking of joining and not sure which one is best? Well in the UK you have Quidco and TopCashBack to choose from or become a member of both and widen your shopping experience.

Tell me what you thought of the review or why not share with us your experiences or anything for that matter.

Just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience.

Your friend

Mick

MyPoints Review 2018: Is it Legit? All you need to know!

Searching the Internet for ways to earn a little cash can be tedious and especially frustrating when there are so many out there offering you this that and the other, and in this Mypoints Review we discover if it is up there with some of the better reward sites.

MyPoints Review 2018

You would think that as Mypoints as been around for quite some time now that they must be doing something right, or are they fleecing their members without you even knowing it?

What appears to be the norm with many of these reward sites is that they start off with good intentions, where members could actually make some decent money.

Reports from long-serving members are that accumulating $1000 was not out of the realms but nowadays forget it. Not going to happen!

Over time like many things in life, more and more similar sites get on the band-wagon and make it harder for the original sites to really progress which mean cutbacks.

Squeezing profits which should be passed onto their members!

Many declare that they are scamming you, well, in fact, they aren’t and you can save a little cash but the time and effort isn’t really worth it at all.

- Product: MyPoints
- Website: www.mypoints.com
- Parent: www.prodege.com
- Price: 100% Free
- Founders: Dan Kihanya and Noah Doyle
- Founded: 1996
- Based: San Francisco
- Summary: A shopping rewards website where members can partake in a number of activities and be rewarded with points that you can redeem for cash at a later date.
- Recommended: No

Some Facts about MyPoints

What is MyPoints about?

MyPoints was founded way back in 1996 by 2 guys based in San Francisco.

It is basically a website that you can join for free and allows you as a member to participate in various activities and in return you are rewarded with points that can be redeemed for gift cards, travel air miles or cash at a later date.

We shall take a look at the different ways you can be rewarded later on.

Another very popular rewards site that as the same business model and is one of their partners is SwagBucks which you may want to check out as well.

If you plan to use these reward sites then I would check out and register with a few, this way you cover more of your shopping requirements.

How to Get Started

That’s pretty straightforward.

First and foremost to become a member you need to be resident in either the U.S. or Canada and be at least 13 years of age, and you must have a valid email address for confirming who you are first.

Once you have acknowledged the email that you are a real person then you are ready to go.

It may be a good thing to download the Daily Scope app for your mobile phone. Whilst you are away from your computer and on the go, earn points watching movie clips and other entertaining videos.

Once you have become a member you can immediately start earning points, and they offer quite a substantial number of ways to generate points that you can later turn into gift cards, airline miles or cash.

How do you Make Money with Mypoints?

There are a number of ways that you can be rewarded, from shopping online to filling in surveys and answering emails.

There are many other ways in which I have tried to highlight in the list below.

Your Bonus for joining

Don’t forget that once you have joined as a member if you spend $20 within the first 30 days of joining then you will receive a $10 bonus into your account.

Shop Online

There are over 1,900 retailers, with many popular ones available to you and sure to find what you are looking for.

Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Nike, and Armani just to name a few!

The website search criteria make it pretty straightforward to find what you are looking for.

Read Emails

Reading emails and just opening them will get you a maximum of 5 points, which equates to around $0.030 per email, but taking action and shopping via the emails will obviously be higher.

The amount of emails received is all based on the information that you entered into the system.

Need more emails then just go into “My Account”, edit the email subscriptions and add more categories.

Share your opinion

MyPoints, partners with market researchers who are responsible for handling surveys sent out to you.

Surveys sent out to members are based on specific demographics which you entered into the system and these positions fill up quickly so it is a first come, first served basis.

These can take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes and what happens quite often is that you could be 10-15 minutes into a survey and kicked out stating that you haven’t qualified.

If you do not qualify for a survey, you will still receive 5 points, so all is not lost and you can earn up to 25 disqualification points per day.

You can earn anywhere from 50 to 600 Points depending on the length of the survey.

Watch videos

Videos on the website can only be watched either by the desktop or laptop but you can accumulate additional points watching videos on your mobile phone or tablet through the MyPoints app.

Everybody loves watching videos like on youtube, but you go looking for them, right? Here you really don’t have much choice!

Earning just a few points for playing some video about how to make a cake is not my thing!

Some can take as long as 20 minutes!

Earn up to 500 points per day.

Search the internet

Why not use their own search engine with a chance to win up to 170 points, and rewarded just for searching for things you would normally do on Google.

Restrictions are that the search engine only covers Yahoo.

Play games

2 Categories exist here for your pleasure!

World winner cash tournaments, earn up to 4 points for every dollar you spend.

With Casino games, you can earn up to 8 points, mind you when you are on the casino sites you will be pestered with other gambling stuff as well.

Refer a friend

Why not refer a friend that’s if you don’t want to be friends anymore!

No, joking aside.

This is a one-off payment which requires your friend to register and spend at least $20 within the first 30 days of joining through the MyPoints.com website, email and/or BonusMail, other than Amazon and Games.

For your efforts, you will be rewarded with 750 points and your friend 1,750 points.

All it takes is 100 friends * 750 points = 75,000 points

Depending on which offer $1 equates to between 118-175 points

If we take the upper level as $1 = 175 points

75,000 / 175 = around $428

Not the best referral program I have seen but every little helps!

Some other ways to reap the benefits!

Get Score

Download the MyPoints score extension to your browser and never miss out on a point earning opportunity or discount.

Whilst this could be a good thing, in order to take advantage, you would have to still sign into MyPoints.com through your computer.

Local deals

These can be accessed through the top menu on the homepage, and here you can view the current daily deals by category.

You can also find local deals here too along with Living Social and Groupon Deals.

Categories such as Health and Wellness, Sports and Leisure, Toys and Hobbies and a host of others to wet your appetite.

Why not check out vacation deals along with flights, and car rentals

Discover content

nCrave activities which can be found in the Videos drop down which allow you to earn additional points whilst introducing you to relevant sites and videos.

Print coupons

Yes, you can even be rewarded for printing off original coupons whilst signed into MyPoints.com and will be credited to your account within 90 days of redeeming the coupon.

MyPoints Score

This is a shopping browser extension which alerts you of promotions and up and coming deals so that you don’t miss anything. This can help you earn points you didn’t know about.

How You Get Paid?

Mypoints and how you get paid

There are currently 3 ways that you can use to redeem your points.

Gift cards

Choose from over 70 top retail and restaurant brands with gift cards ranging from $3 all the way up to $500

Please note that not all gift cards are valid for Canadian residents.

PayPal

If you haven’t set up your PayPal account then you can go here. It’s free and pretty straightforward.

Ensure that your MyPoints name and email address are an exact match to your PayPal account.

Allow up to 5 business working days for the transfer to complete.

Travel miles

Points can also be redeemed for MileagePlus award miles by acquiring the required number of available points and selecting the required option under rewards. Miles are posted directly into the members MileagePlus account within 48 hours

Please note that any points that have not been redeemed over a period of 2 years from the day you were credited may be deemed as expired and will be removed from your account.

Mypoints Pros and Cons

Unfortunately, all businesses come with their problems and MyPoints is no different.

You name it, a member will have complained about it and going into detail would take me a month of Sundays.

Pros

Free

A big plus is that MyPoints is 100% Free to join and participate in, but then again so are many other sites, and besides if you did have to pay then you’d stay away, right?

A large database of merchants for you to choose from

Goes without saying that the number of merchants registered is extensive with some of the big ones such as Walmart and Amazon.

Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accredited

Accredited under the parent name of Prodege with an A rating.

Cons

Not qualifying for a Survey

This is a common one on all survey sites and extremely frustrating for members, especially when answering questions on a survey for 10 minutes only to be thrown out and told you didn’t qualify.

Amazes me really, as they should already know beforehand whether you would qualify for a survey or not!

Maybe you have already completed the survey and this is their way of avoiding paying you out. In the very beginning, this never used to happen so you be the judge.

MyPoints complaints 1

This is a good website for reviews on survey sites so check it out here

Customer Support

This is where the buck stops and if you can’t get issues resolved pretty quickly then that says a lot about a company and something I always look out for.

It’s all very well me displaying annoyed members reviews but it all depends just where you look and it isn’t all bad, but more than enough issues for you to make the right judgement call.

Check out…

Mypoints Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

These sites may be OK for what they were designed for and that’s shopping.

Watching videos, answering emails, playing games and filling in surveys as far as I am concerned is an afterthought.

The whole point of all the different types of categories is to try and keep you on their site for as long as possible!

Seriously, if you are thinking of scraping together a few dollars through the vast amount of different activities, then my recommendation would be to stop wasting your time.

MyPoints is a legit company where you can pick up a few dollars here and there but looking at members who have been a part of the company since the very beginning, they will tell you that things used to be good and you could earn a reasonable amount but not now.

According to many, problems started when Swagbucks became a partner and MyPoints tried to replicate what Swagbucks has and this is evident here. Almost a mirror image!

If you check out the “facts” at the beginning of this article you will see that there has been a lot of money exchanged hands over the years and just a shame their members aren’t looked at more favourably. I guess hard times are here for everybody!

Reward sites might be OK for saving a little here and there whilst shopping.

I mean we all need a helping hand in that department, just don’t be fooled into thinking that these sites are a money-making opportunity because they are not. They will drive you up the wall with frustration!

If what you are trying to do is make money online and are sick and tired of these sites and looking for a way to a better future then I might have a solution and the beauty about this is that it is also Free to join. No Catch! Just take a look at this article and see what you think?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Comments

I am sure there are many frustrated readers out there who have been or are members of rewards sites like MyPoints or maybe you are thinking of joining one?

I know the frustrations of trying to make these sites work because I have tried, but nowadays I have better things to occupy my time with, like helping others like yourself to avoid these and only recommend sites that I truly believe in.

If you have any questions about MyPoints, reward sites in general or anything for that matter just leave me a comment below and I will get back to you.

Take care

Mick

Make Money from Blogging for Beginners – Best Online Training for 2019

Had enough of trying to work out how to make a living online with all the false promises, costs going through the roof and buying stuff you don’t really need, then lets see in this make money from blogging for beginners article, if we can point you in the right direction and show you that it isn’t really that difficult.

make money from blogging for beginners

I am not here to pass judgement on all those make money online opportunities that send you down the wrong path, because there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.

It’s not too long ago that I was in that very same position thinking, wouldn’t it be great if I could make a living online, but ended up bouncing from one opportunity to the next, learning absolutely nothing of value. Not to mention the costs!

Talk about sole destroying and frustrating until I found by accident a way forward, but we shall get to that a little later on.

Why would I need a Blog?

I’m not going to get heavy into the why would I need a blog because the article could end up taking a number of hours to complete so I choose 2 of the main reasons.

Business owners

If you are a business owner there is no better way to connect with your customers. Forget about sending out flyers or newsletters via mail, that is a thing of the past.

Creating content is a personal thing and allows you to keep in touch with customers to inform them of any ongoing changes.

Expanding the business by seeking out new clients by identifying what people are searching for that relates to your business.

With around half the world population that has access to the Internet, getting your business website in front of that crowd of people is not as difficult as you may think with the right tools at your disposal.

Affiliate Marketers

Affiliate marketing is a very simple business concept and extremely cost-effective as there are no overheads and you hold no stock.

You are basically the go-between.

Merchant – Affiliate Marketer – Customer

You promote other peoples products and once you have made a sale, you as the affiliate would get a commission, and that’s it!

This business model is by far probably the best one you can adapt to for earning a good living online and the most cost-effective.

What would I Blog About?

This can literally be anything.

It could be a hobby or an interest which you are passionate about.

If you are thinking of starting a blog and turning it into a thriving online business, then a little research has to be done first to establish whether your interest or hobby is going to have a big enough following for it to be worthwhile doing.

Is there a big enough crowd out there searching for things related to your hobby or interest?

Just off the top of my head, I have managed to list 10 massive crowd-pullers when it comes to what people are looking for when they hit the Google search engine.

Anything relating to…

Fitness and Weight Loss
Health
Dating and relationships
Pets
Self Improvement
Building Wealth Through Investing
Make money online
Beauty
Technology
Personal Finance

We would describe those as “Niches”

There are 100’s if not 1000’s of categories that you could use and make a great business from.

Those highlighted categories are at the very top of the tree, and within those are related sub-categories or sub-niches.

Such as…“Fitness and Weight Loss”

Within that category, there could be 1000’s of smaller categories that you could use.

Where do People go for their Information?

The 4 major search engines as of 2018 are…

Google
Bing
Baidu
Yahoo!

With Google taking the bulk of the market share with around 74% then a good start would be Google and just a little research here tells me that there are over 65,000 Google searches every single second.

This amounts to more than a staggering 5.6 billion searches every day.

Each one of those individual searches as the potential to become a Niche that you could use as your business. Your New Hobby or Interest!

Just think, 5,600,000,000 – Quite a large number right?

All you need to do now is research what those people are searching for that relates to your Niche.

How do you make money from blogging, well let’s take a look at the steps required!

The Basic Steps that you need to know

Choose an Interest or a Hobby, which we call a Niche

As we mentioned earlier, this can be literally anything, and although I have just highlighted 10 great niches, it may be that you need further guidance then why not check out an article I wrote here.

A good suggestion would be to try and choose a Niche that you like or better still have a passion for.

This makes developing your Business so much more enjoyable.

Remember this business of yours is going to be around for a number of years to come!

Once you have found your Niche then it is time to start building your website.

Build a website

Before you mention or even think of it for that matter, building a website nowadays is extremely easy, I mean if I can build a website then anybody can!

10 years ago or maybe not that far back, creating a website required all sorts of skills, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to name a few. Now with the advances in technology, we have all kinds of tools to help us.

In fact, I know a Website can be created in less than 1 minute because that’s how long it took me to create mine!

Choosing the right blogging platform is our next step and what I use like many others is WordPress, without a doubt probably the most popular and reliable blogging platform there currently is!

With WordPress as your blogging platform, there are literally thousands of themes to choose from along with over 50,000 plugins to help you.

Themes are a sort of graphical interface and its what gives your website that all professional look and uniqueness. It modifies the way the site is displayed without modifying the underlying software.

Plugins are computer programs that you install and attach to your website to do all sorts of techie stuff that a few years ago you had to program. That’s when things took weeks and sometimes months to do something relatively simple.

Creating a domain is your own private little piece of the Internet. Where you give your business a true name where your website will reside, just like www.Amazon.com. The name should be catchy and refer to your chosen Niche.

Choosing a theme for your website all goes hand in hand with what your Niche is about. With 1000’s of WordPress themes to choose from and most are free. I’m sure you’ll find one that best suits your needs!

Get Rankings & Visitors to your website or Traffic as it is known.

Getting ranked is a term that Google uses when you publish your blog posts and over time Google will rank your post according to many different parameters. The higher the page ranking in Google the more chance your posts are likely to be read by future subscribers which hopefully would mean future sales!

Getting visitors to your website can be done 2 ways. Paying for Traffic or SEO (search engine optimization) and sourcing the traffic organically for FREE.

Here we are going to focus on SEO because it will save you a ton of money and it is the best solution for long-term success!

It all starts with…

1. Targeting the keywords that people are keying into the Google search engine that relate to your Niche.

Let’s say our Website and Niche is about “Dating and relationships”

To get an idea of the keywords that people are keying into the Google search engine we need to go back to Google and research this further, and how we do this is by using a very useful feature…

Google Instant

Just by typing “online dating ti“ into the Google search automatically displays suggestions for keywords that we can use that relate to our niche.

Google instant feature

We could also go to the last page of the Google query to find some additional keyword suggestions like…

Google keyword suggestions

What started off with an idea as now exploded into many suggestions for doing very little!

We can then take several of the Google suggestions (if needed) and research those potential keywords further.

So for this example, I am using the keyword “online dating tips for guys”

We research those potential keywords further by using a Keyword Research Tool.

In this case, we are going to use a tool called Jaaxy to see if there is a big enough crowd of people searching for “online dating tips for guys”

Looking at the results of the Jaaxy search query and we see a bunch of numbers associated with our keyword.

The ones we are interested in are…

Avg = 96 – (The average number of searches in a month)

Traffic = 17 – (Our potential crowd if we ranked on Page 1 of Google)

QSR = 51 – (Quoted string results, the number of websites with reference to that exact keyword phrase – “online dating tips for guys”

Ideally, you would like Avg and Traffic to be as big as possible!

With

QSR less than 100

As you can see by our results that “online dating tips for guys” would be a good keyword to use for our new “blog post”

2. Writing the content for our Blog Post

Now with the keyword “online dating tips for guys” that we have decided will be the heading to use for our next blog post, we would start writing the content.

Just like we started off with researching keywords that people are keying into the Google search engine we would research things related to this New Keyword – “online dating tips for guys”

That’s easy and just be typing the keyword back into the Google search engine we have a whole lot of things that we can research that are ranked on pages 1 and 2 of Google to give us some ideas.

There are really no restrictions on the size of a “blog post” in terms of the number of words.

Saying that though, Google loves unique content with posts in the 1,500 to 2,000-word count range.

You would create great content by giving useful advice and then suggesting solutions, which would come by the way of affiliate products.

Where would I find those affiliate products to promote?

You can find 1000’s of affiliate products online that would relate to your niche.

Pretty much all are free to join which is a simple process.

Select the affiliate program you want to join then promote their products.

Why not check out Amazon, they are the biggest online retail outlet with over 500 million products.

Earn revenue is when you get paid.

If you have carried out steps 1 to 3 correctly then it is only a matter of time before you start to see an income, and when you do it will come in floods.

These are commissions paid to you by the product owner.

To Recap!

Each keyword that you use targets a certain group of people and if you have done your research thorough enough then you will find some great keywords that have plenty of Traffic with very little competition.

Over time you will publish 100’s of blog posts and as a result, the traffic will get bigger and bigger, meaning more and more people are going to get to see your website.

More traffic means more subscribers means sales!!!

How long will it take for me to start making a living?

Obviously, this is not a “Get Rich Quick” scheme and if that is what you are looking for, forget it because there isn’t one. Maybe chance your arm at the Lottery but we all know what the odds of that happening are, right?

Just like the saying, “the more you put into something, the more you will get out of it”

Everybody is different so the harder you work the quicker you will get there.

Eventually, you will be in a position where you could ease off with that “boring full-time job” and even replace it with this new online business you have been developing.

The beauty of this business is that it will be running in the background 24/7/365 and you can run it anywhere. All that’s required is a laptop and an Internet connection.

Want to know how you can learn all this and more?

As I mentioned right at the beginning of this article, I came across a training platform quite by chance and to be honest can’t remember how it all came about.

I know I had been looking for quite a while, but not quite sure what exactly I was looking for until I found it.

Now, you don’t have to bounce from one so-called opportunity to the next because I have the perfect solution right here!

If you would like to directly contact me about anything then you can do it here

Comments

Hopefully, you have clicked on some of the article links which should have given you a thorough understanding of just what this blogging is about and that it really isn’t that difficult.

Time-consuming it maybe, but starting and running a business takes time and done right with the right training and you can really benefit beyond your wildest dreams.

Don’t forget to leave a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts

Your friend

Mick

TopCashBack Review 2018 – GREAT CASH BACKSITE or NOT?

We spend enormous amounts online with our flexible friends so why not get a helping hand in these hard times; every little helps right, so let’s see if this company holds up to its end of the bargain in this TopCashBack Review 2018.

Shopping nowadays is just so easy with around 50% of the world population with access to the Internet, that’s around a staggering 3.8 billion people.

Searching for anything and everything and these are potential Internet Shoppers. Pretty much why the high street traders are dead in the water!

Those days are almost gone where we would get up on a Saturday morning and venture out to the retail high-street for our shopping fix.

Everything is online nowadays, which makes life so much easier but also so very easy to just spend for the sake of spending. A little like someone I know who was addicted to QVC, the TV Shopping Channel!

If you are looking for some help in the Shopping arena then why not do yourself a favour and find a Cash Back site that could help you save a little cash here and there.

TopCashBack is a well known Cash Back site that has been around the block and has a little street cred, although my number one recommendation would still be Ebates.

Product: TopCashBack
Website: www.TopCashBack.com
Price: 100% Free
Founders: Oliver Ragg and Mike Tomkins
Founded: Bolton, Lancashire, UK
Founded: 2005
State-side- Since 2011
Summary: A shopping rewards website where members can go and purchase products and in return receive cashback.
Recommended: Yes

Internal Summary and Links

Some Facts about TopCashBack
What is TopCashBack About?
How does TopCashBack work and how do they make their Money?
How to Get Started with TopCashBack
How to Make Money with TopCashBack
How Much Money can you Make with TopCashBack?
How You Get Paid?
TopCashBack Pros and Cons
TopCashBack Review 2018 – Final thoughts!
Comments

Some facts about TopCashBack

Founded by 2 computer programmers from Bolton, the UK in 2005
Steady growth saw 45,000 by the end of 2007
1 year later in 2008, the number of members had reached 174,000
Reported to be the UK #1 Free Cashback website
8,000,000 members worldwide
No minimum payout threshold
Cas paid out whenever you choose.
Over 4,300 online merchants
Biz startups in the US in 2011, India in 2012 followed by China and Japan
Refer a friend and earn yourself $10
Commissions as high as 17% and sometimes more!

What is TopCashBack About?

Been around since 2005 and started life in Bolton which is in the UK, and expanded the business in the US back in 2011 and since then over in India, Japan, and China.

Their aim is to save you the consumer money on all your purchases online and then give back all of the merchant’s store commissions back to you as a member, which also means they don’t charge any fees for doing so either.

They are free to join, free to use and also free to cash out, and they don’t have a minimum payment threshold meaning, you can cash out when you want and as many times as you want.

With, over 4,300 stores to choose from, including well-known ones such as Walmart, Amazon, eBay, to name a few. I’m sure you will be able to find one that suits your shopping needs.

They also offer a large selection of coupons, which offer extra instant money off discounts along with free shipping to use with earning cash back too.

The more members they have means the higher the commission rates are and the better the coupons they are able to negotiate with their merchants.

One of the top cashback sites in the US and Canada, on a par with Ebates.

How does TopCashBack work and how do they make their Money?

Simply they are supported by sponsored adverts and promotions which you will find all around the site, and sometimes the merchants will pay them a bonus for sending lots of shoppers their way!

They will also be paid on a PPC (Pay Per Click) basis, which simply means that if you click on a merchants store and come straight back out without purchasing anything, TopCashBack will still be paid for that click.

This is the basis of Affiliate Marketing and how TopCashBack operates their business, and why the merchant takes the full brunt of costs and the reason why TopCashBack can be so favourable when it comes to their members.

Be aware that if ever you come across a Cashback site that charges its members for anything then stay well away! There is far too much greed about!

How to Get Started with TopCashBack

Topcashback, it's as easy as 1 2 3

To sign up and become a member is very simple and straightforward and costs you absolutely nothing. Not even administration costs!

Just remember when you are looking to purchase anything, that you make it “your first port of call” to see if there is a merchant selling goods you are looking to buy.

Don’t forget to download the free mobile app, available for the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Android phone. This will enable you to earn cash back when you are out and about and will inform you of the latest offers and deals.

How to Make Money with TopCashBack

All you need to do then is search out your favourite brand to view their current deals and cash back offers or look at the exclusive offers that are currently on offer for cash back, coupon codes and seasonal sales.

The merchant’s details will be displayed along with the cash back percentage.

Just click on the “GetCashback” button to the right of the merchant which sends you through to the merchant’s website.

From here just browse and shop as you would normally and once you have purchased your product the cash back transaction will be tracked and show up in your Topcashback account as pending until verified by the merchant.

Once the transaction has been verified by the merchant your account will be credited with the cashback amount. This can take up to 7 days for verification to be finalised.

Why not check out the stores which are currently trending and the place where most members are shopping or why not take a look at the current exclusive offers, which are only for limited periods.

Why not Refer a Friend to TopCashback?

Topcashback refer a friend

Another great way to make a little extra is to tell your friends by sending them your referral link and once they sign-up and become a member of Topcashback you receive $10.

If you have a big following on social media then this could be a nice little earner.

Just think, 100 friends = $1000 for doing nothing!

How Much Money can you Make with Topcashback

I’m not going to “beat around the bush” here but common sense should prevail!

These Cashback sites aren’t money making opportunities, neither are they a way of skyrocketing your financial status either.

Although you receive cash back for your shopping, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you are making money because you are not. In order to get cash back, you have to spend, so use wisely!

The Internet makes it so easy to shop and like gambling, you can end up spending beyond your means and buying stuff that you didn’t really need.

Whether you are a heavy shopper or just now and then, Topcashback could end up saving you a lot of money. Just be careful!

How you get paid?

There is a number of ways that you can redeem your cash and the 2 main ways are either ACH (Automated clearing house) and direct debit or the trusty Paypal.

The other ways are gift cards, through the likes of American Express, Walmart, Amazon amongst others.

Remember there are no restrictions so you can cash out whenever you want and as many times as you want too.

TopCashBack Pros and Cons

Just to recap what we have gone over within this review, and have highlighted what I think are the main points that you need to know.

Pros

Completely free to join and take part in with no hidden costs.
Great selection of categories
Largest Cash Back site with over 4,300 stores
Better business bureau rating
No threshold, meaning you can cash out whenever you want and as many times as you want
100% commissions received
Referral program for introducing family and friends.
You can earn cash back without spending a dime with the Free Cash Back offers.
Great reviews on Trust Pilot. Check them out here.

TopCashBack Trustpilot review summary

Cons

Cashback has to be approved by each merchant before you are able to withdraw it and this varies from a few hours to sometimes a few weeks before the cash reward is passed onto the member.

Bit of a pain when you know just what you want and where to buy it but find it difficult to find a similar store on TopCashBack. Can be time-consuming!

All businesses come with their fair share of complaints no matter how good they are, but at TopCashBack they don’t appear to be many and the ones there are seemed to be trivial. Thought I highlight a few here and as you can see, support is on the case which is a great thing, right?

TopCashBack Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

OK, so what do I think?

Well, with the vast amount of terrible products that are out there on the Internet, it’s a nice feeling to be able to be in a position to recommend something like Topcashback.

It doesn’t cost you anything to join so why not become a member and see for yourself?

It goes without saying that like me, you probably use the internet a whole lot of the time especially when purchasing goods, so next time before you do, just check it out. What have you got to lose?

Don’t take these Cashback reward sites for granted thinking just because they are offering discounts and in some cases good discounts that this is where you are going to find the best deals.

In a lot of cases you won’t, so remember to research first.

The way TopCashBack operate is under the premise of Affiliate Marketing, which is a simple concept and maybe the best business model there is online.

If it’s a real opportunity that you are looking for where you will be taught everything about Affiliate Marketing from what I deem the best training platform you will find on the Internet today, then you can check out a review I wrote here.

The beauty of this training is that it is also 100% free to join and you won’t be asked for any credit card details either!

If you have any questions and would like to get in contact with me personally then you can contact me by clicking on the link here or just leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Comments

Tell me, are you an avid online shopper and do you use Cash Back sites? Are you a TopCashBack member? Had any bad experiences using them? Are they everything they say they are?

Why not share with me your experiences, I’d love to hear them.

Tell me what you thought of this review.

Just add any comment at the bottom of the review, I’d love to read them and of course, I always get back to answer them.

Speak later!

Mick

Ebates Review 2018 – A Great Legit Cash Back Site?

We are all interested in saving money right, especially cashback sites, well in this Ebates Review 2018 we are going to be unravelling a number of things to give you a better idea of who they are, so that you can determine whether they are worth signing up for.

I don’t know about you but as I tend to do all my research online before I purchase anything, then don’t you think it all makes perfect sense to check out the best cashback websites that are available to you, especially as they are free to join?

You should be able to decide which cashback sites are the best without too much hassle.

More and more people are turning to the Internet because it is too damn easy to find what we are looking for.

With comparison sites shooting up all over the place, then cashback sites have to be your number one for all you’re shopping requirements. Just be careful when choosing the right one!

Parent Company: Rakuten
Product: Ebates
Website: www.ebates.com
Price: Free
Founder: Alessandro “Sandro” Isolani and Paul Wasserman
Founded: 1998, Website launched in 1999
Based: San Francisco, CA
Summary: One of the oldest and best Cashback sites out there.
Recommended: YES

Internal Summary and links

Some facts about Ebates
What is Ebates about – Not just another Cashback site are they?
How to Get Started with Ebates
How to Make Cash with Ebates
Easy Ways to Earn More by Doubling on Cashback
Other ways to get Cashback with Ebates
How You Get Paid
Who is Ebates for?
Ebates Pros and Cons
What is Ebates About – Final thoughts!
Comments

Some facts about Ebates

Started by 2 former deputy district attorneys
In September 2014 Ebates was bought by Rakuten for $1 billion
February of 2017 they acquired ShopStyle and Cosmic Cart
Paid out over 800 million dollars to its members so far.
Microsoft includes an extension app for Microsoft Edge, their new browser.

Partner sites to expand your shopping experience.

Canada
Korea
Japan
BFAds – Get advanced warnings of Black Friday promotions
Cartera – Major airlines to top banks and more…
Shopular – Get latest promotions straight to your phone.
ShopStyle – Fashions such as Gucci, St Laurent, Jimmy Choo, etc
Shop at Ebates – Household, food, Electronics and more…

All accessed at the bottom of Ebates website

What is Ebates About – Not just another Cashback site are they?

3 Steps to how to earn cash back with Ebates

Ebates is simply a cashback website founded back in 1998 and steadily grown into one of the best and largest free member savings programs in the US.

In just 20 years they have amassed a following of more than 11 million and have already paid out over $800 million in Cash Back to their members.

A cashback site with a difference and straight off the bat I see positive things with this company.

Somethings that aren’t going to change and that is the Internet is not some sort of fad, here today and gone tomorrow!

It is expanding at such a rapid rate and the main reason why our high street shopping days are numbered. Retailers just can’t compete!

Businesses like Ebates offer you the consumer a way of shopping with peace of mind.

As you are already online and just part of around 3.8 billion potential shoppers then why not use cashback sites like Ebates where you can save some cash? Every little helps right?

That’s basically free cash in your pocket and the beauty about this is that it is 100% free to join and they give you back 100% of the cash and sometimes more, it all depends on the offer.

Ok, so you are not going to get wealthy using these Cash Back sites but that is not what they are for, are they?

You might want to check out the Ebates sitemap first before pursuing further!

Why not check Ebates out and if you go through this link here, then you will receive $10 as a sign-up bonus.

How to Get Started with Ebates

To join is simple, and is 100% free.

To create an account all you need to do is enter your email address and a password.

What I wouldn’t suggest doing is signing up using your Facebook or Google accounts. I would keep it separate, I mean you really don’t want family and friends to know your business, do you?

Once, you have created your account which takes seconds you will receive a welcome bonus of $10 and to qualify for that bonus all that is required of you is to spend at least $25 within the first year of joining.

“Not only do you receive $10 but whoever introduced you to Ebates (if indeed someone did) they will also get a bonus which comes under the Refer-A-Friend link”

Don’t forget to install the Ebates Cash Back button to your Google Chrome!

How to Make Cash with Ebates

It is easy and straightforward.

To start a shopping trip, all that is required is for you to click on any Ebates merchants’ store before you make a purchase.

Once, you arrive at the merchants’ store, a pop-up confirmation will appear letting you know that you are ready to shop and earn Cash Back at their store.

Once, you have made a purchase like you would do at any store then that payment is tracked by the store.

When the Store or Merchant has informed Ebates of your purchase which can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, then your account will be credited with the Cash Back amount.

That’s it.

Depending on how you set up your payment process with your account determines whether you receive a Check or through PayPal.

Maybe refer a friend

Ebates refer a friend

This is great and one of the best I have come across with a Cash Back or Rewards site.

“Just remember this current referral fee of $25 is on a promotional period and can change at any time!”

Just refer a friend and when they spend $25 you receive $25 as cash back and your friend receives $10.

No limitations either. As many friends and family as you wish!

Just think about it, invite 100 friends and once they have spent $25 you will receive a tidy sum of $2500.

Not bad for doing absolutely nothing.

I’m sure you can find at least 100 persons to invite.

Easy Ways to Earn More by Doubling on Cashback

Another great way to increase your Cash Back is by taking advantage of the Double Cash Back Stores”

Granted there isn’t a massive amount of stores to choose from but some major ones that should be very useful such as, Oakley, Banana Republic, Amazon, and RayBan to name a few.

Some discounts are as high as 42%.

Other ways to get Cash Back with Ebates

The Ebates mobile app.

Just install this useful app for free to your iPhone, Android or IPad where you can use in-store coupons, as well as scan products and compare prices and get real-time deals.

The Ebates cash back button.

Don’t forget to install the Cash Back button when you become a member.

This is a Chrome Extension and once installed you will get informed when and where there are discounts by finding them for you.

Cool eh?

The Ebates Cashback Visa Credit Card.

Ebates credit card

Why not apply for an Ebates Cash Back Credit Card and increase the amount of Cash Back by an additional 3%?

In-Store Cash Back.

As well as reaping the cash rewards online you can also take it to another level and get Cash Back whilst you are out and about on the retail high street.

Just check out the offers online, see which stores are in your area, add your card details and that’s it.

Ensure that you have Email setup correctly.

You will be notified by email and can always activate an Ebates shopping trip by following links, and if the link sends you shopping, then a window will open which lets you know that Cash Back has been activated.

Through Ebates.com.

Through the website home page, members activate an Ebates shopping trip by clicking on any Ebates link, which can be found in buttons, coupons, store links, banners and more.

When you click, a new window will open and this window will let you know that a shopping trip has been activated and will send you along to the store’s site to start shopping.

How you get paid

Unfortunately, there are restrictions on when and how you get paid.

Ebates will pay their members every quarter.

Either by Check or PayPal

Ebates payment periods

Ebates Pros and Cons

You can have the best product or service in the world and something you won’t be short of and that is complaints.

Whilst there will be an abundance of negative aspects there will also be a fair share of positive ones too.

What I have tried to do is highlight what I think are the main issues so that you can decide for yourself whether Ebates is worthy of your membership.

The Pros

Free to join

We all like something for FREE, well that’s exactly what you get with Ebates. Also means that you will not be hit by any administration costs either.

Cash Back Rewards

We are all using the internet to shop nowadays and there is no better reason to use a site like Ebates. It doesn’t cost you anything except a little of your time to log-in and find what you are looking for.

If, you do a lot of shopping on the internet then why not save yourself some cash?

Partners

With Ebates they have expanded your shopping experience by partnering up with companies such as…

BFAds – Black Friday Ads.
Cartera – Earn Air-miles, points or cash back at 900+ stores
Shopular – A mobile shopping experience.
ShopStyle – Take you’re shopping in fashion.
Shop at Ebates – Another shopping experience.

A bunch of additional ways to shop!

Customer service

If you check out Better Business Bureau (BBB) website you can see that any complaints have been dealt with in a professional fashion.

These are mainly about payments!

There are always going to be issues with not receiving payments on time and this goes with every cashback site.

All issues take time to resolve especially with the number of members they have, you just have to be patient and Ebates seem to get on top of any issues that they have.

Great reviews

Just check out the Trust Pilot review stats and currently out of a total of 664 there are only 19 that are average or worse.

Ebates review stats at TrustPilot

Check out the Trustpilot reviews for yourself here

Professional Looking Website

Just by checking out the website tells me that they are not a tin-pot outfit.

Everything is so clearly laid out which explains in detail everything you need to know. Nothing is hidden!

All the merchants’ are easily identified by the cash back percentages that you get and is also displayed on the merchants’ website just in case you happened to forget.

Refer a Friend

One of the best I have seen for a cashback site.

Support

A very good way of judging any business is to look at support and what you tend to find is this is what usually lets the side down.

Checking out the issues that members have reported on the various review sites including Better Business Bureau I see that support seem to be on top of things, which is a good thing.

The Cons

Despite some glowing positives, there are some obvious negatives ones too.

Missed Payments

As the company currently only pays out every quarter then you would think that they would have their payment strategy sorted, but unfortunately, there are some issues, but that is to be expected, I mean no company operates a flawless business do they?

No excuses I know but the odd glitch here and there is to be expected, especially with the number of members they currently have.

For a payment process to work perfectly there are so many parameters to take into consideration.

Even computer programs screw up sometimes, but very rarely!

You will find that missed payments are the main cause for complaints and this will be evident on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website, but you will also see the support team trying to rectify those issues.

Amazon Category Restrictions

Although Amazon is the biggest online retail outlet it surprises me that there are only certain categories that Cashback is allowed on.

I have noticed that this list has grown slightly over the last few months and therefore I would assume that it will continue to grow.

This list to the right is when this article was published.

You can check out the category list here to so see if Amazon has been so kind as to extend their list.

Disgruntled members

With good reviews also come bad so I thought I’d include these here just to show you that nothing is just black and white.

Who is Ebates for?

If you are a big shopper online then Ebates could the perfect addition.

If you are the total opposite and you only shop now and then, Ebates would be a complete waste of time!

Don’t take these Cashback sites for granted and expect that because you are getting cash back that you are also going to get the best deal.

Still, do your research and check out other avenues as well.

Some people just like to spend no matter what it is and having a site like Ebates displayed in front of you might encourage you to spend unnecessarily. Use wisely!

A big no would be not to use these sites as a way of trying to earn some extra cash. Remember you have to spend first!

What is Ebates About – Final thoughts!

OK, so you now have the rundown on Ebates and whether this could be a cash saving opportunity.

I am always a little sceptical when it comes to any online opportunities because most are just not worth you getting involved with, but with this Cash Back site, I think it is one of the best.

I don’t like putting my name to anything without thorough research and based on my findings I try to give an unbiased opinion as well.

I know there will be some who disagree but that is life and we all have our own opinions so we’ll leave it at that.

I’m sure you have seen many reviews with “Scam this” and “Scam that” which quite honestly I don’t agree with.

To label a product or service as a “SCAM” has to be absolutely terrible where something is costing you and you are getting absolutely no value at all.

Ebates is a legit cashback site that costs you nothing and as you are already shopping online then why not sort out a few of these cashback sites to cover most of your shopping days.

Swagbucks is another Cashback site where you accumulate points and have to redeem those points for cash, although you might find this site a little more entertaining. You can check it out here!

Ebates operates their business in the Affiliate Marketing arena, which is, if not the best business model there is when it comes to building an online business.

If you want to know more about affiliate marketing and where you can learn all this you can check out a review I wrote here. The beauty of this training platform is that it wouldn’t cost you a dime to check it out and you wouldn’t be asked for any Credit Card details either. What have you got to lose?

Comments

If you are a member of Ebates or any other Cashback site for that matter I’d be interested in your personal experiences both good and bad.

Tell me what you thought of the review.

If you have any questions at all don’t forget to drop them in the comments below.

All the best

Mick

What is InboxDollars and Is it really Worth Your Time and Effort?

What is InboxDollars and can you really make some extra cash or should the company be really called InboxPennies, anyway let’s take a look and see shall we?

When it comes to the Internet, I wonder just what people would be doing with their precious time nowadays, if a British scientist at Cern hadn’t come up with the Internet idea in the late 80’s!

As it is, we all spend a lot of time online looking for ways to make some extra cash, for that next purchase or just a way to supplement your income.

Like we all do; you probably search endlessly for things, read and send emails, play games, watch videos and much more. We do this without even thinking about it!

Now, just imagine someone pays you for doing what you are already doing on a daily basis? Sounds cool, right, but wait until you have read this review and then see if it really is worthwhile you spending your time doing!

Product: InboxDollars

Website: https://www.InboxDollars.com

Price: 100% Free to join and take part in

Founder: Darren Cotter

Founded: 2000

Summary: Earn money for participating in activities, such as surveys, searching the internet, watching videos and a host of other things.

Recommended: No (There are much better money making solutions out there worthy of trying)

Index

Let’s take a look at some facts first before we dive into the review
What is InboxDollars about?
How to make money with InboxDollars
How much money can you make with InboxDollars?
How to get paid with InboxDollars
Pros and Cons
What is InboxDollars and Final Thoughts!
Comments

Let’s take a look at some facts first before we dive into the review

A legitimate website where you get paid for taking part in various activities.
Pays cash as opposed to points
Has over 17,000,000 members
Paid out more than $50,000,000 to its members
Recognized by inc.5000 for outstanding growth
Has over 2.1 million Facebook likes
Based in the UK, US and Canada
SendEarnings acquired in 2005, which is a similar site to InboxDollars
Cotterweb Enterprises formed in 2005
They expanded and launched InboxPounds in the UK in 2012
They expanded and launched DailyRewards in Canada in 2014
BBB (Better business bureau) A+ rating.

What is InboxDollars about?

InboxDollars partners you know

InboxDollars is an online rewards club also known as a “GPT” site which means “Get Paid To”. Which offers its members money for taking part in online and mobile activities?

InboxDollars connects consumers and advertisers in a way that benefits both, and in return members are rewarded for taking part in activities such as reading and acting on emails, taking part in surveys, playing games, watching videos and TV commercials, and signing up for offers amongst other things.

The number of surveys that are sent to you depends on your individual status and the way you filled in the questionnaire when you first signed up.

They take a lot of stats into consideration when deciding what surveys and who they send their surveys to, and the reason why you will see some people getting more surveys to complete than others.

One thing you’ll notice when you look online and that’s apparent when you check review sites like Trust Pilot is that some folks are having a lot more success with InboxDollars than some others, and this is obviously down to your personal demographic.

How to make money with InboxDollars

Creating an account is pretty straightforward and once you have you will be able to take part in the various online activities that are on offer and get paid for doing so.

Taking Surveys

Surveys will appear on your dashboard and the type of survey depends on how you filled in the questionnaire when you first signed up to become a member.

Emails will also be sent to you on a regular basis to notify you when surveys are ready.

Each survey listed will give you an estimated completion time along with how much you can earn.

I have seen surveys offered for something like 10 cents for 20 minutes of your time and even seen the odd one offered at $4 for 25 minutes of your time; mind you when I saw this I thought my luck had changed. Sad to say that I spent 15 minutes filling this in only to be told that I didn’t qualify. Yes, really!

Just think you’re sat down in the evening trying to earn a little extra cash and you spend 20 minutes filling in a survey only to be told that you didn’t qualify.

Ok, no problem, I’ll try another then, right?

After 4 surveys you are met with the exact same message “you didn’t qualify!”

As, you can imagine, not only is it frustrating but you have spent 1 hour 20 minutes of your life and for what? Nothing to show for your efforts!

Unfortunately, this happens a lot more than you think!

Reading and responding to emails

You will receive several emails on a daily basis, and get paid for reading and by clicking on any links in the email or taking action on whichever promotion is on offer.

Just by accepting that you have seen the offer means you will get paid, but by doing this will mean you will receive 1 or 2 cents.

100 more emails and you have earned yourself a dollar, hum!

Logging in

Every time you log in to the website you will earn yourself a few extra cents.

Signing up for offers

Offers will appear on your homepage and in order to get paid you will need to sign up for the ones that interest you.

There’s a multitude of offers to choose from, such as online casinos, mobiles, insurance, magazines, become a product tester, betting etc.

Remember that when you sign up for some that you may be passing over your Credit Card details, so be wary of this!

Watching Videos and TV

Bored with taking surveys then why not break it up a little and watch some short videos and TV commercials from their advertisers. Check out how to make a curry or pizza!

Playing Games

We all like playing games, well how about getting paid for doing so, with popular games like bejewelled etc.

Searching the Internet

We spend hours online searching for things on Google so why not use the search engine on the InboxDollars platform and get paid.

Shopping through the website

Get cash back for your purchases from hundreds of merchants including Wal-Mart, Target, Old Navy, and more

Referring Friends

There is a referral program available once you sign up, where you can use your personal link and send to friends and family asking them to join. This way you can receive a percentage of that persons earnings. Mind you this might be a good way to lose some friends also!

How much money can you make with InboxDollars?

How much depends on how much of your precious time you want to dedicate to the website, your location and how many opportunities are available to you.

To cash-out you will have to earn at least $30 and reaching that limit is going to take some doing!

Below is an estimate of what each activity can pay you.

For signing up you receive: $5

Reading and responding to emails is around $0.10 per email.

Taking surveys, you can get between $0.10 and $4 (if you are lucky) and times vary accordingly.

Logging in will get you a couple of cents

Signing up for Offers, anywhere from a few cents up to $20 I have seen.

Watching Videos and the TV commercials –each video can earn you up to 15 cents per viewing and after the TV commercial you can find out if you have earned anything through a scratching coupon.

Doing internet searches – 3 cents for any four searches you make through the website.

Referring friends will get you 10% of anything your referral earns through the site. Just think how you can benefit by doing just this.

How to get paid with InboxDollars

Once you have reached your target goal of $30, you can request a check or a Visa Cash Card.

It can take around 2 weeks for payments to be processed for the first time cashes, but after this, your account is upgraded automatically to a Gold Member which speeds up the payment process to 1 week.

Payments are issued in US dollars regardless of where you live.

Once you have achieved Gold Member Status you can enjoy additional perks, including faster payment, more loyalty rewards, more sweepstakes and additional referral rewards.

InboxDollars reviews

Pros and Cons

All products come with a certain amount of baggage no matter how good they appear or you are told they are.

Here we come to a summary of the positive and negative aspect of taking part in something like InboxDollars which I have tried to highlight below.

Pros

The site is a legit way of earning some extra cash, but just how much will depend on you.

It is 100% free to join and take part in.

Getting paid for what you would normally be doing whilst on the internet.

There is a referral program where you can invite friends and be compensated for, by receiving 10% of what the referral earns.

High profile clients use such as eBay, Netflix, Target, ADT, Disney etc. and these can sometimes pay good money for just signing up, but be careful because you will have to have your credit/debit card at the ready. Remember to cancel free trials as you will be billed after a period.

InboxDollars positive reviews

Cons

The minimum amount of $30 that you have to reach before you can cash-out is going to seem like an age to get to, especially when the rewards for some surveys are going to be around 10-20 cents to complete a survey of 20 or so minutes

Offers are not updated enough and to make money you will find yourself having to spend money first.

Many members are complaining that in some cases they are 10 minutes or more into a survey only to be told that they haven’t qualified for that particular survey. Some members have even completed a 20-minute survey when this has happened. I can testify to this!

There have been instances where personal data such as credit card and bank account details, telephone numbers and addresses have been stolen by third party sites.

If you are not active for a few weeks, accounts have been suspended and you may find that you are bombarded with emails from advertisers, in other words, spammed!

Payments are not forthcoming and can take a couple of weeks before you receive payment.

Tasks are restricted so if you actually wanted to do more and try to build your account balance you will be held back.

InboxDollars medium reviews

What is InboxDollars and Final thoughts!

OK, so now you know the rundown on whether InboxDollars could make you a little extra cash, and the simple answer to this is yes you can, but not in large amounts which we’ve come to learn.

It certainly isn’t any sort of scam which many people are indicating, because straight off the bat, it will not cost you a dime to join and take part, although it may do if you decided to partake in their offers!

As you can see, you are not going to be breaking the bank any day soon!

What these websites tend to be for many is just a bit of fun and a way to earn maybe a few extra bucks, and you shouldn’t focus all your time and energy in trying to do anything other.

I joined up and gave it a try, and whilst I managed to be accepted for the $5 bonus which everybody will do, this is only paid when you manage to reach your cash-out total of $30.

I didn’t manage to reach that $30 threshold (sorry to say) although I did manage $15.

I guess then to redeem that amount I will have to spend many more hours which I am not prepared to do. I tend to value my time much more nowadays!

Taking survey after survey and spending 15-20 minutes only to be told that I hadn’t qualified is enough to drive anybody mad, so I’m afraid that’s it as far as I’m concerned with InboxDollars or should it be renamed to InboxPennies?

If partaking in these types of “Make Money Online” sites is something that you are happy with doing then why not check out Swagbucks which is a little better, but only just.

Before I started my online business I spent many hours searching these sites out until I found a training platform that teaches you how to build an online business, and I can tell you that was the best decision I made.

It won’t break the bank either because it is Free to join and you won’t be asked for your credit/debit card details. Mind you it isn’t some magic button either that you can press and become instantly rich.

It will take hard work, but enjoyable and very rewarding, and this training platform was designed with the Newbie in mind.

Just think long term, but not too far down the road. This time next year you can be earning anywhere from $1,500 – $7,000 a month and that is a conservative figure. It all depends on each individual!

If you are interested then check out an article I wrote here and see for yourself. What have you got to lose? But so much to gain!

Tell me what you think and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them.

Comments

Tell me, are you a member of InboxDollars and is it working for you? Have you had issues with getting paid? Are you finding it frustrating? How long did it take you to reach $30? Could your time be used in a more constructive way? Feel that you are wasting your time for the little pittance you get? Looking for a challenge and a different direction?

Tell me what you thought of the review and any questions at all please don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be only too happy to answer them all.

Your friend

Mick

Internal Summary and Links

What is Clixsense About?

What is Clixsense Forcibly doing?

Online Help

How Much Can I Make with Clixsense?

How to earn at Clixsense

How to Get Started with Clixsense

Other Ways to Maximize Cash with Clixsense

ClixSense Daily Checklist Bonus

Figure of eight tasks

Clixsense Cash Offers

Refer a friend

Top Tier Countries

How Does Clixsense Pay You?

Clixsense Pros and Cons

Pros

Free to join

BBB (Better business bureau)

Professional looking website

Available Worldwide

Cons

No PayPal

Disqualified from Surveys

Very low earning potential

Clixsense Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

Comments

Internal Summary and Links

What is Toluna Surveys About?

How Does Toluna Work?

How Much Can I Make with Tuluna?

How to Get Started

Other Ways to Maximize Points with Toluna

Rewards for comments – “Replies” to “points” to “cash equivalent”

How You Get Paid?

Toluna Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

What is Toluna – Final Thoughts!

Comments

Internal Summary and Links

Some Facts about HotUKDeals

What is HotUKDeals?

How Does HotUKDeals Work?

How Does HotUKDeals Make Money?

How to Get Started

Some Suggestions to Get the Best out of HotUKDeals!

Active deals and offers

Check the retailer first before purchasing

Competitions

Don’t forget to check out the miscellaneous

Become part of the community forum

Who doesn’t love a freebie?

Black Friday deals

Cyber Monday

Check out the current days amazing lightning deals

How to Create a Deal Amongst other Things?

HotUKDeals Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

What is HotUKDeals – Final Thoughts!

Comments

Internal Summary and Links

What is Mr Rebates About?

How Does Mr Rebates Work?

How to Get Started

How do you Make Money with Mr Rebates?

Refer-a-friend

Some Suggestions to Get the Best out of Mr Rebates!

The Different Types of Cashback Status’s Explained

How You Get Paid?

Mr Rebates Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Mr Rebates Review 2018 – Final Thoughts!

Comments

Internal Summary and Links

Some Facts about Quidco

What is Quidco About?

How to Get Started

Steps to Follow to Get the Best out of Quidco!