If you do please contact us
Lets make 2008 the year of eliminating internet scams as much as possible!
Site Stats
The Price
The bidding starts at $400. I am expecting lots of interested because this is such a bargain so be sure to get your bid in fast! Each new bid must be $20 or more than the previous bid. This is to deter people from bidding “$401″ and is a flexible rule.
What Exactly do you Get for your Money?
I am effectively handing over the username/password for this blog, my Bluehost web hosting account (which in itself cost $160!) and the bonus blog (see below).
All the content on this site will be at your disposal to do what ever you legally please with.
You get my other blog as well for FREE!
The bonus blog is http://videogamesaddictions.com. There is little content on it but it currently sits on page 4 of the Google SERPS for the highly competitive term “video games addictionsâ€. It wouldn’t take much to reach page 1! This domain name is very desirable and grows in value every day. It could easily be resold in the near future for a profit!
Bundling in this blog for FREE ensures a quick and simple transaction and makes this an even more juicy deal for you.
Things to Remember
This site has a vibrant community who love to take part with little reward. On my AdRaker post there are over 60 comments and I don’t even offer a link to top commentators!
This site’s traffic has been doubling monthly but it is very close to the tipping point where traffic will explode. It sits on page 2 of the Google SERPS out of 25 million competitors for the phrase “affiliate programsâ€. The SEO Book tool shows that 500,000 people search this term monthly. Over taking those few sites to get to page 1 will cause a traffic explosion! It also ranks page 8 for the term “Internet Scamsâ€, and has a productive long tail, with almost every review ranking highly in Google, Yahoo and MSN search. This was largely due to Garry Conn who conducted professional search engine optimisation on the site to ensure a steady traffic flow, even without posting daily.
$400 is the price of a review on John Chow.com but for the same price you will get this entire blog!
Traffic Stats:
Payment
The transaction will be quick and simple. Ideally it will be made via Paypal. Contact me for my PayPal address. If you have a problem with uing PayPal paypal then Contact me as well and we can hopefully arrange an alternative payment method.
Any Questions?
If I have made anything the slightest bit unclear, don’t hesitate to ask with a comment or by Contacting me. I value every individual reader of this site and if I can ask one thing of you it is to spread the word with a blog post or even just a brief mention!
I will be answering comments and questions very quickly and updating this post with the bids. Let the bidding begin!
Update on Bids!
So far there have been 2 bids! Garry Conn expressed a very strong interest also but is yet to place an actual Bid.
Bids so far:
1. *Bidder doesn’t wish to be named: $420
2. Akoemi: $450 (Top Bid!)
The next bid must be $470 or more. Don’t miss out, Contact me with your bid. If you have been ‘out-bidded’ feel free to make another bid!
While reviewing Niche List Profits I actually got déjà vu. Perhaps it’s because it consists of yet another wise guy offering to sell his secrets, or it could be because the name “Niche List Profits “ is so similar to MoneyListProfits. Either way it’s a bad sign.
Niche List Profits is the stereotypical ‘Guru sells his secrets’ site. The entire homepage consists only of hype. There are screenshots of large sums of money and promises that with just a few minutes a week, for 8 weeks everyone can be doing the same thing. There is no evidence of his expertise apart from the screenshots and checks.
Niche List Profits costs a whopping $127 to buy his secret “8 week system” and for that amount of money I would at least expect a video-cast of “Amik” demonstrating his knowledge so we could know he is someone of substance. Allow me to compare it to Yaro Starak’s Blog MasterMind who actually did made video casts and as a result is much more trustworthy.
My take on it all
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Amik is going to ‘teach’ his sign-ups how to build a site just like Niche List Profits and other small internet businesses that apparently “require almost NONE of your time, no customer service and the best part - no product!“.
For me discovering that he thinks having no product is a good thing sends any vague hopes I probably didn’t have about Niche List Profits swirling down the drain. He clearly doesn’t value customer satisfaction and it makes me think that Niche List Profits probably doesn’t have a product either.
Hype Gone Wrong
Amik may have taking screenshots of money down to a par but some of the things he says are clearly not thought through:
” imagine being able to wake up in the afternoon, go to your real mailbox and find it stuffed with checks (from companies you don’t even recognize because it’s been so long!).” doh!
The only reasons it would have “been so long” is because either you made that money ages ago and they took a very long time to send it to you (a bad thing!); or you only just reached the minimum payout because your earnings were so slow and you forgot even signing up to them!
What does Niche List Profits Actually Offer?
For $127.00 you get 8 coaching calls. Part 1 is the Introduction, Picking Niche and Choosing Affiliate Programs, but there are many blogs (including this one) that give away this information freely. Parts 5,6,7 and are all about getting traffic, which again there are many blogs dedicated to. The other parts are of a small value but definitely not worth $127.
No Privacy
The Disclaimer reveals this terrible truth about Niche List Profits:
“We may use your personally identifiable information to send you advertisements and other promotional information regarding our products and services or the products and services of our third party marketing partners and other communications related to the Site.”
In other words you pay $127 to get spammed. In addition the Disclaimer backs up my suspicions about the hype:
“The testimonials and examples used are exceptional results, which do not apply to the average purchaser”
Conclusion
Niche List Profits is in no way worth $127. I am tempted to add it to the Internet scams list but that would imply you get absolutely nothing for the $127, which probably isn’t the case. There are also a fair number of people promoting Niche List Profits who are revealed by a Google search. Nevertheless, I would not go there!
Affiliate money making programs can be tough to tap into when trying to make money online. There are a variety of questions that need to be answered when choosing which affiliate program to use which I have grouped under certain headings.
The Brand
If you are out to recruit ’second tier’ affiliates then the brand is especially important, but with any product being sold on the Internet it needs to have a certain image, E.g. modern, reliable, useful, honest, fashionable or a ‘brand of the people’. The answers to the following questions should all be positive ones:
Money Matters
People often make the mistake of putting too great an importance on the commission rate. Naturally an affiliate program that pays 50% commission has an advantage over one with a 25% commission rate, but it is not twice as lucrative because commission rates are only a single factor among many which influence overall earnings.
Relevance and User Satisfaction
With a blog, this factor has an added importance. A major power of blogging is building up a loyal reader base. Selling a product to a reader that they are happy with means they are more likely to return and may even buy again. Honesty is the best policy.
Help and Support
As with any hobby or business we are all at different places along the ‘learning curve’ and so a functioning support system is useful for everyone. There are two types of support system:
1. Those that actively teach new affiliates how to make the sales (like that of SFI)
2. Basic support every service should have where members can ask questions and have any problems they may be having fixed.
Payment
This simple part of an affiliate program has it’s own series of questions:
The final and most important question overall is will it result in conversions?
Conclusion
Given that all of that information is needed to be known about an affiliate program before making money with it, it’s no surprise that people have a hard time getting off the ground with affiliate programs. Nevertheless, with Adsense slumping affiliate programs are once again becoming a prominent way of making money online.
What other questions would you want to know the answer to before joining an affiliate program?
Plug-In Profit Site was designed by Stone Evans who claims to have made big money online. My first impression of Plug-In Profit Site was that is was yet another glorified package of e-Books and software that will apparently make us all rich. Upon reading through the site this initial impression was re-enforced in some ways, but I did find myself thinking Plug-In Profit Site has a clever system. It involves you signing up for a whole stack of affiliate programs in return for some affiliate marketing products.
What does Plug-In Profit Site offer?
There are a whole variety of ‘bonuses’ offered which are designed to persuade you that you are getting a good deal such as e-Books, basic training videos, software, a ‘website traffic generating system’ and access to an “internet marketing warriors site’. That site is different to the the Warrior forum where there is a members-only Plug-In Profit Site support forum, to which access is granted. Stone Evans claims this alone is worth $500 a year, but in reality having a forum for members really isn’t anything special (although it is useful).
As well as these pretty average products there are some slightly more interesting ones:
I was glad to see SFI is one of the affiliate programs Plug-In Profit Site requires you to sign-up for, although I struggle to see what the Plug-In Profit Site e-books and training could teach you that SFI cannot. Below is Stone Evans’ proof of payment from SFI.
Looking at Plug-In Profit Site for what it really is
All of the bonuses and frilly edges are all well and good, but what is the site really about?. Put plainly, Stone Evans has built a system where he acquires large numbers of affiliate sign-ups for affiliate programs (like SFI). He does this by bribing them to join with all of the ‘bonuses’ he offers, which cleverly have the added plus of teaching and helping his affiliates to make more money with the various affiliate programs, or at least encouraged enough to remain members.
What do I think of this method?
I would think that it’s a nothing more than cunning strategy for him to find success with affiliate money making programs. However, the ability to have your own Plug-In Profit Site is an interesting one and opens up all sorts of possibilities. I can see potential problems with this though, for example the duplicate content must mean search engine traffic is very limited for affiliates. That matter is very much open for debate.
Stone Evans kindly allows you to join all his affiliate programs (through his affiliate links) for Free!… There is a single fee of paying for web hosting for your own Plug-In Profit Site which costs $24.95 as well as the small cost for domain name registration.
Apparently the whole Plug-In Profit Site package is worth $1,250.00. However, as with almost all websites of this nature the given ‘retail value figure’ must be taken with a truck full of salt.
The Testimonials
I don’t normally pay much attention to the testimonials, but one was made by Jeff Schuman from Team-Schuman.com, who I have been in contact with before. I actually wrote a testimonial on team-schuman.com myself. However, in writing that testimonial I didn’t actually have to know very much about Team-Schuman.com, (i.e. it’s surprisingly easy to reel of a paragraph of how happy you were with something! - while avoiding lying). Testimonials are another thing where that truck full of salt will be needed.
Conclusion
Plug-In Profit Site has avoided the Internet scams section by it’s sound business model, but there is no way I can recommend it. This is because learning how to make money with affiliate programs can be done for free with sites like SFI and from blogs, whereas Plug-In Profit Site costs at least $24.95. All of the affiliate programs he recommends can be signed up for free, the information he gives can be found for free so effectively that $24.95 is for buying your own Plug-In Profit Site, which in my eyes is not worth it. If anyone tries it has tried it I would love to hear from you. What you do think about Plug-In Profit Site?
5. Look for unclear statements that contain large amounts of money. E.g. “All e-mails worth $300â€. Does this mean it costs the advertiser $300 or earns the PTR member $300? Statements like that are usually vague for a very good reason. A surprisingly large number of PTR Internet scams have bizarre (and often funny!) statements that they use for advertising. One of my favourites is this quote from Numenmail, “all honest members will be paid”. Who decides if they are honest, god? Santa?! If you find any funny quotes be sure to send them to me!
Those are the main ‘on-site methods’. They only take a few minutes to carry out and are well worth the effort. There are other ‘off site methods’ which involve a little research to find out what other people think of the PTR site.
Off-site methods
6. Google the name of the PTR site and have a read of the results. Look for the opinions of people who are not using their affiliate link which would mean they are only saying good things about the program because they are planning to make money out of your sign-up. Admittedly if they are trying to refer you they clearly think the program will pay out.
7. Google the name of the site followed by the word ‘scam’. This will mean your results are bias in favour of those who think the site is a scam but will allow you to dive right in to find out why other people think the site is a scam.
8. Ask on relevant forums but be sure to check the site hasn’t been previously discussed or you will probably only end up with a few angry responses. Many of the Google results from steps 6 and 7 may be forums but don’t believe every member who simply states ‘it’s a scam’ with out giving any reason for their opinion. A good forum to use for this is Scam.com and Mylot.
9. Do a ‘Whois’ domain search using this free tool. It reveals information about who registered the domain and for how long (as well as other details). No damming conclusions should be drawn from the Whois search but a genuine PTR site would plan to be around for at least a year. The longer the domain is registered for the better.
10. If all of those fail to leave you certain about whether a site is a internet scam then contact me with a review request! I will review the site myself and it will be put under the close scrutiny of the Affiliate Programs and Internet Scams community.
Those 10 simple steps can make all the difference in avoiding the scams. I am yet to add a PTR site to the recommended affiliate programs list, hopefully one will emerge soon!
Beyond the Pod affiliate programs is marketed by Johnny Fuery, who you will notice has taken a position on my ‘related sites’ blogroll. Beyond the Pod is an innovative new affiliate program (established in 2007) that makes a refreshing change from the usual ’sell our products at a commission’ or PTR e-mail internet scams which form the bulk of this site’s reviews.
What does Beyond The Pod do?
Beyond the Pod offer the simple yet desirable service of paying you for your old and even broken iPods. I was surprised that even broken iPods are acceptable, but Beyond the Pod do take this into account when judging the value of the iPod.
“We perform testing and cleanup on every single device we receive to prepare it for resale. Broken devices, in a certain sense, are simply devices that require additional cleanup. By performing the service ourselves or connecting with buyers who are interested in units they can refurbish or use for parts, we are able to unlock the value of a broken iPod.”
Beyond the Pod emphasise on their about page that when you use Beyond the Pod, you are guaranteed a “simple, fast, and fair transaction”. I am inclined to believe them, largely because they work with The Drop Spot, Ltd that has been around for years.
The practical side of actually getting the cash for your old iPod is surprisingly simple. There are 4 steps:
1. Select you iPod (say what model it is)
2. Calculate iPods value, by answering a few questions about the condition of your ipod.
3. Ship your iPod
4. Collect your Cash!
Beyond the Pod also have a blog which has handy tips about iPods such as improving sound quality on your iPod
The affiliate program
Affiliates earn on a ‘per lead’ basis. A ‘lead’ is half way between a click and a sale, i.e. If they click your affiliate link and take some sort of action like signing up (giving Beyond the Pod a lead) then you make money. $2 is earned per lead and there is a 60 day cookie allowing someone to click your affiliate link first , and then join Beyond The Pod via a different route in 60 days and still count as your lead. Johnny Fuery is happy do negotiate special fee structures for top end ‘super-affiliates’
There are a only a limited number of promotional banners available to affiliates with there being only 1 banner (the one at the top of this review) in 4 different sizes.
Have Beyond the Pod got what it takes?
There are happy people out there talking about Beyond The Pod. I found this comment on tuaw.com very encouraging:
“I sent my 30GB iPod video to Beyond the Pod on Monday and I live in BC. Since I live in BC my payment will be in Canadian dollars right?!? Anyways they gave me great offer for my iPod. $110.00!! It was so great. I’ve never had a company offer me that much! Thanks BTP.”
Conclusion
I am sure Beyond the Pod is a genuine program and so they have escaped the grasps of the internet scams section. I think as an affiliate Beyond The Pod has the potential to be very lucrative given the ‘iPod boom’ that’s happening and with the impending release of the iPhone more and more people will want to trade in their old iPods for Cash. For this reason Beyond The Pod has made it into my recommended affiliate programs section!.. I’ll just go and send them my busted iPod mini…
Why CompactMails falls swiftly into the Internet Scams section for all eternity
Those massive promises of riches have become the trademark signs of PTR e-mail internet scams. The simple rule is if the minimum payout is more than $100 (and even that’s pushing it!) almost definitely an internet scam. If you’re uncertain be sure to check here!
TreasureTrooper is an Internet PTO (paid to complete offers) program that also has a referral program. See my Review of TreasureTrooper to find out what used to be wrong with TreasureTrooper.
In the past I have always placed CashCrate in higher regard than TreasureTrooper. This is because I’ve found there to be a few more offers available with Cashcrate for UK residents (which I am) and a slightly more attractive referral program. However, TreasureTrooper is quickly closing the gap.
New UK section
A few weeks ago on May20th TreasureTrooper launched their UK members’ section. There are only a few new offers available to UK residents but the main improvement is that existing offers are automatically sorted so UK residents don’t have to go through the entire list and get rejected by most offers, which is what used to happen.
TreaureTrooper has a vibrant forum full of happy members and so although they have not paid me I can be sure they are not an Internet scam. Recently in this forum a referral contest was announced:
“For every UK member that you refer who goes on to earn at least $5 during the month of June, you will get a $1 bonus in your account. In addition, the top 3 referrers for the month of June will receive a $100 bonus! Remember, this is all still in addition to the 20% referral commission that you will make on every dollar your UK referrals earn.”
From my experience with CashCrate these contests work very well I have no doubt TreasureTrooper is, and will continue to experience a boom in members and earnings. The screenshot below shows some of the offers I have available:
Verdict
The rivalry between TreasureTrooper and Cashcrate is now stronger than ever and it is difficult to choose which one to back. Both can be used to make money on the Internet and so I have decided to add TreausreTrooper to the Recommended Affiliate programs list!
Make Money with Treasure Trooper
JobsOnlineToolkit was created by Leslie Truex, a telecommuter who has also worked online for 8 years. It is supposed to help telecommuters to find online work at home jobs.
The JobsOnlineToolkit contains:
Some of those were presented as ‘bonuses’ but they are all the same package. It costs less than $20 and has a money back guarantee, but surprisingly that doesn’t mean it’s worth it.
Useless Software?
I fail to see what software you could possible need to create a resume other than Microsoft Word and as for, “applying online” surly you just need an e-mail account? This software may make it slightly easier in some way but who would try to get a job at an Internet company where they only accepted specially formatted resumes that can’t be sent via email?
Another list Bites the Dust
The list of 100s of website definitely has some value but there are a couple of problems here also. The JobsOnlineToolkit was released in November 2006 which is not all that long ago but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if several of those companies had gone out of business or at least changed their hiring policy. Many must have found enough applicants by now and there is no mention of free updates being made which is something I would defiantly have if I created an e-book of such a volatile nature.
There is no way of knowing (without purchase) what exactly is in the, “40 page resources booklet†but again I am sceptical of it’s value. There are meant to tips on how to answer the interview questions for online telecommuting jobs but this information can be found for free online.
Conclusion
I have been pretty harsh to JobsOnlineToolkit but I struggle to find $20 of value in it. If a Telecommunicator is looking to work from home and online then presumably they have had some experience with the Internet and know how to write a Resume. JobsonlineToolkit doesn’t have an affiliate program and a Google Search reveals a pitiful number of results, which consist of press releases Leslie Truex issued.
This leaves JobsOnlineToolkit in a bit of a no-man’s-land, left in limbo between the affiliate programs section and that of the Internet scams. Because The JobsOnlineToolkit is nearer to being an Internet scam than an affiliate program (it costs money) it will sit in the Internet scams section.
My Confession
I confess I have an inherent bias against ‘real’ work at home jobs. This is because I feel having a job at home where you can’t set your own deadlines, ‘be your own boss’ and channel creativity takes away the whole point of it. If you can’t do any of those things then surly a ‘real offline’ job is better. Blogging is therapeutic and satisfying, and staring your own business is exhilarating. Telecommuting and working for a person you’ve never even met is none of those things and I’m glad I don’t do it!