Reviews

Should You Become a Pink Zebra Consultant?

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If you’ve attended any kind of arts and crafts trade show, especially during the holidays, you may have already seen Pink Zebra. Or maybe you were approached by a Pink Zebra consultant and introduced to this company and its products.

Maybe at some point you even signed up to be a Pink Zebra consultant.

Regardless, I’m going to review Pink Zebra and go over the pros and cons of signing up with this company in order to work from home as one of its independent consultants.

What is Pink Zebra?

Pink Zebra is a relatively new business on the scene, having been founded in 2011. The company operates as an MLM direct sales organization, meaning that it sells through independent contractors, not employees. These contractors, who are called consultants, are compensated with commissions when they sell product and when they recruit other consultants. Because those recruited consultants eventually recruit other consultants, the original consultants at the top of this many-leveled marketing pyramid can make significantly more money from their recruits than their own individual sales.

Pink Zebra sells several lines of products focused on home décor, jewelry and personal care. One of its signature product lines is Sprinkles, which are fragranced soy wax beads used to create custom candles. The Sprinkles are sold in cylindrical jars, as shown below:

You can purchase several jars of Sprinkles and mix them together when creating a unique candle scent. Once all the mixing is done, you just add a wick and have your candle.

In addition to Sprinkles, Pink Zebra also offers scented jewelry, candle containers and shades, wax simmer pots, air freshener hangers and clips, and select bath products.

The company’s online catalog for these products is extensive. There’s even an outlet area, complete with clearance merchandise.

Other sections of the website are devoted to recruitment of independent consultants. Signing up as a consultant is heavily encouraged, and the rewards of becoming a consultant are also strongly touted.

What are Pink Zebra consultants?

Pink Zebra consultant are contractors who sign up with the company to sell its products via direct (person-to-person) sales. Consultants can sell Pink Zebra wares by hosting parties, by posting their products on social media platforms, or by conducting private one-on-one consults.

Consultants sign up to Pink Zebra by buying one of two starter kits. The smaller kits is $99, while the larger one is $199.

Inside these kits, the consultant gets small batches of Sprinkles products, marketing materials, invoice pads, catalogs, etc. The deluxe kit comes with the blue-gray Boho candle shade shown in the photo and Pink Zebra backpack.

Consultants are compensated at with 25%-35% commissions depending on their product sales volumes. This is a fairly good commission level given that it does not yet involve any recruitment.

However, if a consultant were to personally recruit someone else, s/he would earn quite a hefty 7% commission from that recruit’s future product sales.

Commissions continue to build as recruited consultants personally recruit other consultants.

Pink Zebra consultants earn an additional 2% on their team’s sales.

Pink Zebra also offers online training videos, monthly webinars and access to a Web-based workstation called “ZebraNET” for tracking orders, tracking your team’s progress and accessing your training tools.

Pink Zebra: As good as it sounds?

All the above-noted commissions and training materials make Pink Zebra sound like a really decent at-home business opportunity. Here’s my breakdown of the pros and cons of this business.

The good:

Good quality products– The soy candle Sprinkles and other products offered through this company appear to be of good quality. One of the company’s videos even goes over how eco-friendly and safe the products are for everyday use. The candle shades and holders offer some quirky yet applicable designs for home use to “out-in-the-sticks” cabin use.

Higher than average commissions– Pink Zebra states that its commissions are higher than those of its competitors, and it’s right. This is also one of the benefits of working with a relatively young MLM company. As you can see, no one has even advanced to the level of Presidential Director (as of 2015):

The not-so-good:

Low earnings– To its credit, Pink Zebra discloses the 2015 numbers for average consultant earnings in the above graphic. Unfortunately, this graphic also shows just how little money the average beginner consultant earns. Even managers, who have two downlines, don’t earn much more than $6K/year.

This hints that each consultant may only have recruited one additional consultant under him/her. As a result, the Pink Zebra marketing pyramid may be extremely thin.

Parties, parties and more parties– Pink Zebra is strongly based on a home party model. While it is mentioned that you can sell online or through fundraisers, the company emphasizes how much more money you’ll earn through parties.

The problem with having two parties each week is that that entails a lot of work. House cleaning, prepping food/drinks, inviting guests, post-party cleanup…there’s a big reason why people don’t want to host parties at their house. Even during those obligatory house party holidays like Easter or Christmas.

In the above graphic, Pink Zebra states that, somehow, having eight parties each month will take only 25 total hours or about 3 hours per party. Somehow, I find that hard to believe. Food prep alone takes a few hours. For a Pink Zebra party, I would also need time to prepare product samples, lay out ordering forms, process orders, etc.

Also, after hosting one or two house parties, who would be left to invite (again)?

eBay is booked– I did a quick search on Pink Zebra products for sale on eBay. To my surprise, I located over 70,000 listings. In some cases, the products being listed on eBay were going at far below their retail value on the Pink Zebra website. This tells me that some consultants are dropping out of the program- and creating a sales hole for other active consultants who still wish to sell their products at full price.

Buy Pink Zebra products, not the business

Pink Zebra offers quirky, unique and good quality products. However, its business model may not be as lucrative as advertised. Also, for the work you’ll be required to put in to make that $1,120/month in profit, you’re better off starting a different online business instead. Finally, even $1,120/month does not make for a full-time wage, so you’ll be keeping your regular job.

Have you experienced Pink Zebra as a customer or a sales rep? Let us know how it went in the comments below.

Does it Make Sense to Start a Scentsy Business?

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If you’ve ever been invited to a Scentsy party, you may already be aware of this company and its brand. However, you may not be aware of how the company operates and what the motivating factors of its consultants might be. If you’re considering becoming a Scentsy consultant, this review will help make your decision easier.

What is Scentsy?

Scentsy was started in 2003 by Orville and Heidi Thompson and is now headquartered in Meridian, Idaho. The company operates via a direct sales model, meaning that most product sales are conducted through word-of-mouth and product demonstrations at home. Scentsy is also an MLM because current distributors recruit new distributors and make a commission from their sales.

Scentsy, which used to be officially called Scentsy Family, offered three product lines:

Scentsy Fragrance– warmers, fragrances, stuffed animals, laundry products, greeting cards.

Velata– fondue warmers, chocolate.

Grace Adele– purses and bags, clutches, clothing accessories.

In 2014, Grace Adele was discontinued; in 2016, Velata was shut down. The company then became Scentsy Fragrance. The company changed its name to Scentsy Fragrance, but still operates under the Scentsy Family corporate name.

Scentsy Fragrance continues to offer scented lotions, scrubs, laundry detergents, room sprays, cards, etc. One of their best-known product lines is the wax warmers, which includes a plug-in warmer containing wax cubes. Once those cubes warm up, the room fills with fragrance.

The products are actually of a decent quality and do smell good. I know this because I have received some of the waxes as gifts. Comparable quality items would include those that could be purchased from stores like Yankee Candle Co or Bath & Body Works.

You can purchase Scentsy products by going online and shopping on the company’s website. However, the company strongly encourages those individuals who are really interested in the products to become “fragrance consultants.”

What are Scentsy Consultants?

Consultants for Scentsy sell products for the company by signing up and purchasing a $99 startup kit. The items includes in this kit “include EVERYTHING you need to launch your business, including fabulous Scentsy products and business tools…”

Not much more detail is provided beyond that.

Once you do become a Scentsy consultant, you are advised to sell company products by hosting house parties and advertising online, especially through social media platforms  like Facebook and Instagram. What’s in it for you?

The company compensates you with a 20% commission for your Personal Retail Volume (PRV) of up to $999.99. In other words, if you sell $999.99 worth of products, you earn almost $200. If you sell $1,000 worth of products or more, you make a 25% commission.

Because you don’t ever earn more than 25% on your PRV, you are motivated to recruit others into becoming Scentsy consultants. Through your downline, you earn anywhere from 2% to 9% via their product sales. In turn, those consultants are encouraged to recruit other consultants so that they also build their downline and kick up more earnings to you.

Is Scentsy a worthwhile business venture?

As with all MLM and direct sale companies, Scentsy requires that you be comfortable approaching others and selling products and/or consultant opportunities to them. Where does Scentsy excel in this arena, and where does it fall behind?

The good:

Product quality– The company’s products are of good quality, have a pleasant smell, and are fairly safe to use.

Product relevance– Scentsy markets its line of fragrance product to women, men and kids. So, you are cornering almost every portion of the available consumer base.

Rewards– If you like Scentsy products, one way to score a deal on them is by selling them to others. If you choose to do this online and have a large following, you could end up making several hundred dollars in party sales. In addition to making 20%-25% in commissions, you’d also gain access to the following rewards:

The not-so-good:

Commissions– The chart below is derived from 2014 data that appear with the Scentsy business disclaimer. Commissions are shown for all levels of Scentsy consultants, from Escential (beginner) to Superstar Director (a Scentsy god).

It appears that the majority of Scentsy consultants are placed at the Certified Consultants level. This is the level where a consultant has sold $1,000 or more of product but has no downline (other consultants). So, these consultants are basically pulling in 25% commissions on their sales.

Scentsy Commission Earnings

As noted in other direct sales/MLM reviews, a low commission makes it difficult to not only earn a sustainable monthly income from a business, it limits your ability to launch product promos and discounts. And, not to mention, recruit other (new) consultants too.

Recruitment– What’s really disheartening about Scentsy is that, no matter how much product you sell each month, you can’t increase your commission beyond 25% unless you recruit other consultants. In fact, at the very top level consultant position, you can earn up to another 44% in commissions from your downlines in addition to the 25% you already earn on your own sales. With that kind of money flowing in, it becomes much easier to run promos, ads, discounts, etc.- and still make a healthy profit from your sales.

Scentsy is a great product, not a great business

Scentsy products smell great and come in a number of attractive scents and unique designs. However, that’s where the greatness stops. By all means, shop Scentsy for your home, office, garage, car, etc. fragrance needs. But do not shop this company if your intent is to start an at-home business venture.

Have you started a Scentsy business? We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments below.

Should You Start Your Own At-Home Jewelry Business with KEEP Collective?

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Judging by its own descriptor, KEEP Collective sounds great: You get to design your own personalized keepsake jewelry. Also, you help others design their keepsake jewelry and make a commission from your sales.

KEEP Collective has a very catchy slogan: “Design your own jewelry business from home.”

So, is it worth your time and money to get involved with KEEP Collective? Let’s find out.

What is KEEP Collective?

This direct sales company was founded in 2014 by Blythe and Jessica, who, the website story goes, quit their corporate jobs to start KEEP Collective. The company itself sells personalized keepsake jewelry through a direct sales model, meaning that it hires independent contractors, called designers, who purchase company inventory and sell it to their personal customers. There’s also an MLM side to the business because designers can recruit other designers and make commissions from their sales.

KEEP Collective sells two main lines of products, called Keepers and Charms. The Keepers are the base of the jewelry item, such as a bracelet, earring, bag, key fob or necklace. To these Keepers, one can add specific charms like birthstones, engraved metal plates, lockets, timepieces, etc.

The Keepers range in price from $29 to $49 and are made from either leather or silicone. Necklaces range from $19 to $79. Bags are three sizes and range from $29 to $79. These prices do not include the charms.

Once you have your Keeper selected, you can purchase different charms for personalization. Charms range from $9 to $34.

While you can shop the website and purchase your jewelry online, the company heavily promotes direct selling to others by becoming a “jewelry designer.”

You become a jewelry designer by first purchasing a starter kit from the company. There are three sizes of starter kits. The Basics Kit retails for $99 and provides you with a personal website, training and support. You do not receive any actual products to sell, however.

The Essentials Kit costs $149 and includes everything in the Basics Kit, $500 worth of Keepers and Charms, a display tray and a leather swatch ring.

The Business Builder Kit costs $349, includes everything in the Basics Kit, $1,000 worth of Keepers and Charms, a display tray and a leather swatch ring. You also receive a foldable neck display, three display pillows and five gift bags.

Once any one of the kits is purchased, the newly-minted ‘jewelry designer’ can start her marketing. In this regard, most designers use social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to promote their jewelry. Of course, designers can also host parties, whether in their homes or online. Likewise, each designer has a website she can use for promotions and announcements.

What is the KEEP Collective compensation plan?

With KEEP Collective, designers make back 25%-35% of their sales volume as commission. As the below chart shows, designers can technically make enough commission money to actually replace their job income.

Designers also earn commissions by recruiting other designers and building their team (i.e., downline). Downline levels go down as deep as six levels, enabling designers to earn up to 6% from the sales of others.

Is KEEP Collective a worthwhile business?

The good:

The product is nice. Keepers and Charms, as well as the bags and other items from KEEP Collective, look very presentable and can be worn for both casual and formal events. They are each unique in that they are customizable, and so are perfect for events like weddings, graduations, etc.

The company is young. Because KEEP Collective was started only three years ago, it has not yet reached complete market saturation. So, if you can recruit others and/or sell a lot of product, you can rise relatively easily in the ranks. As the below map shows, there is still room to grow.

The not-so-good:

The items aren’t cheap. To create a single Keeper and Charm jewelry item for yourself, you’ll need to spend anywhere from $28 to over $100. The bracelet Keepers are made from relatively inexpensive materials such as leather and silicone, so it makes no sense why they are priced as high as $49.

This means that it will be difficult to sell vast quantities of jewelry to all but the more affluent of customers who don’t mind shelling out a few hundred bucks on keepsake jewelry. KEEP Collective will not be an impulse purchase, that’s for sure.

The commissions aren’t high enough. Making 25%-35% in commissions is kind of ridiculous when you consider that you’re the one marketing the products, selling them, hosting parties, collecting payment and maybe even shipping the pieces out. If you’re going to perform three or more jobs for a company, you should start making commissions that are at least 50% (or higher.)

Also, without higher commissions, designers are limited in what kinds of promos and discounts they can offer. A designer can’t run a 50% off deal, for example, or at least not very easily, because then she’s making very little money for herself.

Are designers bailing? If you search for KEEP Collective on eBay, you’ll find loads of items priced at rock-bottom prices. Here are just some eBay listings for KEEP Collective items that are running way below retail value:

For a relatively young company, having over 1,000 eBay listings featuring heavily discounted merchandise is a troubling sign.

Don’t keep KEEP Collective

If you’re interested in creating custom jewelry for yourself and others, you could easily dropship many KEEP-like items from AliExpress and save yourself a ton of cash. You could even try selling off your excess items and see how well others like them. With AliExpress, you have lots of custom jewelry to choose from, as just this one listing indicates:

Quite honestly, you could even start your own KEEP Collective business, paying others a commission for each jewelry set they sold. But, that’s a subject for another blog post.

The bottom line with KEEP Collective is that there just isn’t enough of a bottom line to justify the work involved with selling this jewelry. Plus, the jewelry itself isn’t cheap, so many potential customers will pass on the impulse to buy. With so many other jewelry vendors out there, including custom jewelry vendors, the KEEP Collective unique value prop just isn’t that unique.

Will Selling Jamberry Nails Products Give You Financial Freedom?

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If you’re a regular on Instagram, or even eBay, you may have come across Jamberry products by now. In fact, it seems that as the economy improves, more and more Jamberry products surface on social media as well as selling platforms.

What is Jamberry Nails?

Started in 2010 by three sisters who wanted to curb the cost and time involved in a visit to the nail salon, Jamberry began as an economical and efficient solution to manicures and pedicures. The company sold products such as self-apply nail wraps, TruShine gel enamel systems (i.e., nail polish), and LED-powered nail heaters. Here is a sampling of the products that Jamberry offers:


These products are not available at retail stores; instead, Jamberry is a direct sales corporation that sells its products to independent consultants. The consultants, in turn, sell the products to individual customers.

As is the case with direct selling, consultants not only make money when they move product, they also earn “overrides” (i.e., commissions) on the consultants they recruit. Here is a breakdown of Jamberry consultant levels:

In this chart, the ‘legs’ are actually recruited consultants. Why would a consultant (C) want extra legs? Because extra legs equals extra commissions and rewards, as shown below:

Finally, consultants can also earn higher commissions if they push more product. The standard commission on Jamberry products is 30%. However, consultants who sell $3,000+ worth of product can increase their commission level to as much as 40%.

How do you get started with Jamberry Nails?

Jamberry consultants get started by ordering a $99 starter kit (plus S/H). The starter kit contains four nail wraps, 40 nail wrap designs, application tools, cuticle oil and a nourish hand crème. Once the items in that kit are tried and/or sold, the consultant can order more products from Jamberry, keeping 30% of the money as her own commission.

The full size sheets contain 18 nail wraps of different sizes, which can cover two full manicures. The wraps are individually cut, shaped and heated into place using either a regular hair dryer or the LED-powered nail heater.

Consultants are advised to move product by hosting parties. These parties can be performed at their homes, online (e.g., through social media sites) or via catalog (e.g., catalogs left at work).

While the business model sounds reasonable, and while at first glance, the 30% commission sounds high, here are some reasons why Jamberry Nails isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be:

  1. The market is oversaturated. Search for Jamberry Nails products on a selling platform like eBay and you’ll find over 22 thousand listings for these products. Many product listings feature items going for less than their retail price on Jamberry.com. This is not good because it indicates that Jamberry Nails sellers are selling their items at loss.

For example, Jamberry Nails nailwraps are supposed to be sold at $15/sheet, netting the consultant $4.50 in commissions. However, this eBay listing certainly didn’t alot for that 30% commission:

2. The products may have a fungal issue. Search for the keyphrase ‘Jamberry Nails fungus’ and you’ll find a host of results describing a fungal issue that develops between the cuticle and the wrap. Other issues have included cracked nails (from overdrying) and nails that won’t grow.

3. The commission is too low. Jamberry Nails claims that it offers women a way to make a regular yearly income from home. Let’s assume a regular yearly income is $40,000. If you crunch the numbers, that means you’ll have to sell $133,333 worth of product each year or $11,111 per month. Given that the nail wraps retail for $15 each, you’ll need to sell 741 of them every month through those aforementioned parties. That’s a fairly tall order.

Conversely, many affiliate products listed on Commission Junction or JV Zoo offer a 50%, 70% or even 100% (on intro products) sales commission. With no S/H fees to worry about, these affiliate products are arguably more profit-generating than fake nails.

4. The product was a recession hit. Jamberry Nails made its debut during the last recession, when people couldn’t splurge on professional manicures and pedicures. But that was seven years ago. Nowadays, people are more likely to be employed or involved in a business- and they would rather have someone else do their nails.

Why? Because doing a proper mani/pedi with Jamberry Nails takes quite a bit of time and skill to master. Read through Beauty Judy’s review of her adventure with Jamberry Nails wraps and you’ll see why. Don’t forget that self-administered manicures can only be performed with one hand, which further increases their level of difficulty.

5. The product just isn’t that good. What initially attracts people to Jamberry Nails is the fact that there are hundreds of really ingenious designs to choose from and wear. Unfortunately, that’s where the fun stops. Many Jamberry customers report how they were disappointed with how their finished nails looked, with the wraps falling off in just days or even hours. Even when the wraps stayed on the fingernails, they often had bubbling and lifting at their edges. Filing the wraps to make them more even with the underlying fingernail only served to fray the plastic.

Should you start a Jamberry Nails business?

Before you sign up with this company and fork over $99 on its starter kit, buy a few wraps on eBay and see how they work with your nails. You might find that you love them…or you might find out that this product won’t adhere or takes too much time to apply.

If you can’t figure out and showcase your own product very well, you’ll have a hard time selling it to customers.

Otherwise, you should consider the compensation model that this company offers. Is a 30% commission sufficient for your needs and the amount of work you’ll need to put in? Can you really sell hundreds of nail wraps each month? And how will you deal with customers who want refunds or exchanges?

As with any MLM, recruitment of others is often the name of the game if you wish to increase your earnings and gradually do less work for your commission money. Are you prepared to recruit and tutor others? Will you be available to help them out if they run into a snag or customer issue?

Have you sold with Jamberry Nails before? Please let us know your experiences with the company in the comments below.

Should You Start Your Own Younique Business?

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Multi-level marketing companies such as L’Bri, Avon and Monavie used to spread their direct marketing via home parties and trade show events. Recently, many MLMs have taken to social networks to spread their word (and sales). A large number of MLMs have chosen Facebook as their route, using Facebook Groups to advertise products via virtual product parties (i.e., sales events).

This is certainly the case with Younique. This MLM company, which was founded in September 2012, is unique (sorry) in that it markets almost exclusively through social media. Thus, many of its “presenters,” as they are called, use Facebook to host virtual product parties.

What products are offered through Younique?

This MLM company offers women’s cosmetics, with most items ranging from $20-$60. Some items, like the moisturizers, cost a bit more ($65). While these items are on the higher end of the scale (in terms of prices), they still aren’t grossly expensive. By comparison, L’Occitane sells their moisturizers at prices ranging from $60-$120, and Algenist face creams are similarly priced.

The Younique sales model is MLM-based. Presenters that join the company must pay $99 for a starter package. They must also make $125 in personal retail sales (PRS) within three months to remain in the program.

To move up to the next level (yellow), a $1,000 PRS amount must be reached. The following level (pink) requires recruitment of one presenter and company wholesale sales of $2,000; this means that the recruit is purchasing $2,000 of merchandise to sell. However, the pink-level presenter’s PRS amount is decreased to $250.

At level white, presenters earn 20% commissions on sales. At level yellow and beyond, 25% commissions are earned.

Regardless of how you cut it, Younique places a heavy requirement on pushing product. Presenters who can’t hack it and don’t sell enough product are deactivated. So, unless a presenter is willing to purchase product with her own cash, she had better be out there, selling Younique products.

As a result, many Younique presenters have chosen to reach wider audiences by having virtual parties on social media outlets such as Facebook. Here are just some of the products that have been featured at Younique Facebook parties:

Younique virtual parties on Facebook and other social media run a familiar course:

  1. The presenter creates a Facebook group devoted to Younique buy, sell and trade.
  2. Periodically, the presenter put an item or items up for sale- but not their prices.
  3. Viewers are asked to PM (private message) the presenter for product prices.
  4. The presenter PMs interested parties with prices.
  5. Viewers either buy or don’t buy the product(s).

By not showcasing the product prices, presenters can entice viewers with the product(s) first. Sending PMs to people also opens up communication channels, transforming a cold lead into a warm one.

While there are some testimonials from successful presenters, the truth of the matter is that 95% of new presenters in Younique quit the company after a few months. Only 1-3% of Younique presenters truly ‘make’ it, in that they make a reasonable (and regular) monthly commission without needing to buy their own product.

With such imposing stats, is the Younique business model worthwhile?

The good:

  • The $99 startup cost is fairly low for any kind of business, MLM or not.
  • The company not even five years old, which means fewer presenters and market saturation.
  • Many Younique product are made from organic and/or animal-free ingredients. Animal products, such as hairs used in the brushes, are harvested humanely.
  • Presenters receive access to their own selling website.

The not-so-good:

  • Only 51% of the population will use your products.
  • There is pressure to sell $125 in product (in the rolling 3 months) or be deactivated.
  • To maintain their levels, presenters must reach their sales goals every month.
  • Downline commissions can only be earned if presenters maintain at least one active presenter, reach $1,000 in lifetime PRS, and earn $250 in PRS each month.
  • Presenters must not only sell their own products, they must also come up with ways for their active presenters to sell their products.
  • With starting prices for Younique products being $20 and above, the items aren’t exactly in the “mindless splurge” category.

Thus, as you might infer from the bullet points above, Younique places heavy emphasis on recruitment, large downlines, and lots of product advertising and selling. If you have a bad month or get sick, you may lose out on your commissions. If you take a long vacation, you are similarly placed at a disadvantage and will need to hustle like mad to make up for your lost sales.

Virtual parties may seem like a great advertising idea at the outset, but the fact is that most of your social media friends will eventually tire of your party ads and ask Facebook to not show your announcements in their news feeds.

So, you’ll be spending extra money on Facebook Ads to get your products out there and noticed by people outside of your circles. If you decide to host actual house parties, such events will also cost you in terms of time, food and drinks.

Still, if you like having virtual and/or real parties and are a social butterfly by nature, this may be the ideal gig for you. There is also the potential for selling Younique products quite well in rural and isolated areas where brick-and-mortar stores are few and far between. Of course, this only works if those rural and isolated areas have money to spend on higher-end cosmetics.

Have you sold with Younique before?

As with all MLMs, we aren’t particular fans of the business model in general. With most MLMs, the first hurdle is having to sell inferior products at inflated prices. There is often heavy pressure to sell first within your social circles. Once you exhaust your sphere of influence, the pressure moves to recruiting the people you know to sell to their social circles. This model just isn’t sustainable in the long run.

Have you tried selling Younique before? Have you attended a party, virtual or in-person? Do you have experiences with their products? Sound off in the comments below.

An Insider’s View of TextBroker.com

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We received a tip about TextBroker.com on our freelance writing jobs directory page. Halina, who had signed up for TextBroker after reading the comment, has offered to share her experiences since joining the program. Here they are.

I’ve been writing freelance for two years now, starting with Helium, then moving on to Associated Content, Constant Content, and lately, Textbroker.com. I’ve also written articles for my company and even submitted a few pieces to local Madison newspapers. The pay has been decent but nothing for which I would quit my day job. At this moment, I’ve made over $1400 on Associated Content, about $400 on Constant Content, and exactly $10.87 since joining Textbroker two days ago.

I initially discovered Textbroker because of a comment about it on www.ivetriedthat.com. I decided to give the site a try and signed up. Textbroker requires that you submit a writing sample in order to be assigned an author star rating of 2-5, with 2 stars being considered average, 3 stars good, and 4 stars being excellent writing ability. The 5 star rating is reserved for professional writers, and I’m not yet sure how one obtains that qualification.

Within the same day, I received my author rating of 4 stars. This allowed me to claim and submit articles that requested a writing quality of 2-4 stars. The higher one’s star rating, the more one is paid per word, so it pays to submit your best writing sample. Currently, my pay is 1.5 cents per word.

My first submission was accepted within 12 hours of submission and paid me $4.90 for about 400 words. The next day, I submitted another article, which was also quickly accepted and paid $5.88. I then received two DirectOrders, which is when clients request that you write for them specifically. I have since submitted one DirectOrder, which was then returned to me for editing. I re-submitted the article today. Should I have the latest article accepted, I will make up to $6.00 (the article is 400 words).

Textbroker will also evaluate your accepted articles and assign them a rating. The better your articles, the higher your rating and payment per word.

That I like most about Textbroker is that you do not have to write long articles. Many client requests are for 150-250 word articles. Coupled with the higher than average payment per word, that means I can easily turn out 2-3 articles in one evening and make a quick $15 or so. What I don’t like about Textbroker is that you need to wait a long time for payout; the site pays everyone only once a month, on the 10th of the month (update: as of now, Textbroker pays out weekly. Thanks Jennifer!).

This post was written by Halina. When not hunting out money-making opportunities online, Halina can be found making money on Associated Content at the following site: Associated Content.

Can You Get Paid to Drive? Review of paidride.com

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Will Companies Really Pay Me to Drive My Car??

You’ve seen the ads online or maybe in your email inbox: Earn hundreds of dollars per month by driving your car! Or get a free car to drive! Companies pay good money to have you drive a car wrapped in their advertisements!

Just like you, we thought it sounded good. With the price of gas what it is, getting paid to drive would be sweet! I might even drive the weinermobile if it meant more money coming in to my pocket than going out.

If you search online for get paid to drive, you find lots of companies willing to sell you a list, or access to an exclusive member’s area, where you can learn all about the advertisers who will pay you to stick their ads on your car and do your normal driving. It’s simple, you learn. A no-brainer money making activity.

We Tried Paidride.com

So we forked over the $15 to paidride.com. Our $15 bought us a “membership,” which was actually access to the site’s directory of companies that are hungry for drivers. I was imagining what kind of awesome ads companies would rush to stick on my minivan. (Car seat ads? Children’s Book Club? Trojan condoms?)

What’s Inside Paidride.com?

The membership area is a clean list of 14 US companies, three Canadian companies, and five UK companies that allegedly either give free ad cars to drive or pay you to drive an ad around on your car. The list looks good, but it isn’t what I would call high quality. The first link to the very first company is bad. The second link, to the same company’s sign up form, takes me to freecarmedia.com where I read this:

What if I PAID to find out about your company?
If you paid ANY fees to get information about FreeCar Media and our programs than you need to immediately ask for your money back. Registering with FreeCar Media is 100% FREE and always has been. There are many scams being run to capitalize on our name, so please do not be fooled.

The second company listed manufactures the vinyl wrap that goes on ad cars…it doesn’t actually hire drivers, as it states right on its website: “We do NOT offer compensation for driving ads.” Hmm…two pitches, two strikes.

And so on, and so on. I could give you a run down of each company in the directory (for one of which I need to own a semi), but it’s not necessary. I can already see the writing on the wall.

Can You Get Paid to Drive Ads on Cars?

In a word, No. Here’s why:

  • Simple numbers. How many people do you think have signed up for these get-paid-to-drive programs? Thousands, no doubt. Tens of thousands, maybe. Have you seen tens of thousands of ad cars on the road? That means the odds are not in your favor.
  • Demise of the medium. Ads on cars peaked in popularity in the 90s. They are now the domain of very specialized niche advertising campaigns, so fewer drivers are needed.
  • Demographics. Imagine yourself as an advertiser. Say you’re the ad executive for I’ve Tried That and you have a fixed budget to spend on advertising each quarter. You decide you’re going to wrap someone’s car in I’ve Tried That ads and pay the owner to drive it around. To get the most bang for your buck, you want to reach the largest possible number of people in the target demographic. That means you’re looking for a car and driver only in densely populated urban areas with lots of stay-at-home moms and others looking to supplement their income by working from home. With that in mind, are you interested in a driver living in Casper, Wyoming? Of course not. How about a driver who owns a 2000 Ford Taurus? No way. (Because Steve and Joe only want their ads on really sexy cars.)

If you don’t:

  1. live in a large city
  2. drive a cool car
  3. AND drive lots of miles every month

forget about it. Your lottery-like chances have just been reduced to zip.

Don’t Pay for Get-Paid-to-Drive Information!

Also, the common denominator I found in all the companies I looked at that actually do hire drivers was this: it is free to sign up for them, and you can find them on your own. There’s no need to pay for “an exclusive list.” There are no exclusive lists because the information is available everywhere. That’s like paying for “an exclusive list of McDonald’s restaurants in your area!” Why buy that list when the phone book is free?

One of those loooooong-shot applications could take you up to 10 minutes to fill out. In the same 10 mintues, you could respond to legitimate job ads that our ebook teaches you how to find. And your chances of being hired for those jobs are much MUCH better than the chances that Fox TV will pay you to drive an American Idol-wrapped PT Cruzer around Podunk, Iowa.

How Does PaidRide Compare?

I’ve Tried That has been reviewing products since 2007. In that time, there’s one program that stands above the rest. It’s free to get started, has no ridiculous hidden charges, and will help you build a sustainable income from home.

Click here to see our top recommendation.

My Review of ‘Paid Surveys at Home’

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Completing online surveys as a work-at-home opportunity has been touted quite heavily this year, and several of our reviews have focused on paid and free survey sites.

Taking online surveys will never replace your full-time job, or even your part-time job, for that matter. However, there are plenty of sites popping up with claims to the contrary.

One such site is ‘Paid Surveys at Home.’

The survey sales page is rather short, at least in comparison to other survey sites. The Paid Surveys at Home site also features no big splashy claims about making $3,000/week or other such nonsense. There are some items I didn’t like, however.

1. The potential earnings calculator.

Many scam sites feature potential earnings calculators to give you a dopamine rush while you consider how much money you could potentially earn. Of course, all this money is theoretical, and even the disclaimer at the bottom of the calculator says so. In my opinion, these calculators just waste valuable sales page space while giving you false hopes of big earnings.

Paid Surveys at Home

2. The claims of easy money for little work.

Paid Surveys at Home has sales copy that states the following:

Paid Surveys at Home1

It’s highly doubtful that you’ll make money in just “a few minutes” with online surveys. The basic pre-qualification survey alone often takes several minutes to complete- and that’s just to get you into the paid survey. High paying surveys, which are defined as surveys paying over $2, can take 15-30 minutes of your time. That translates to an earnings rate of $8/hour.

Finally, it takes more than “a click of the mouse” to deposit money into your bank account. Most survey sites have threshold amounts that must be reached before a deposit can be made. So, you don’t see your funds for weeks or even months.

When you fill in your information and go to watch the sales video, you are told that you could, for example, make an extra $1,000/month. Kevin, the presenter, says that he easily makes hundreds of dollars each month with Paid Surveys at Home.

Paid Surveys at Home2

Again, if all you’re doing is filling out online surveys, earning this much money is highly unlikely.

3. Paying a fee for publicly available info.

When you reach the bottom of the sales page, Paid Surveys at Home asks you to pay $68 to sign up to its program. For this money, you are promised access to over 300 survey companies, a bonus called “Get Paid to Drive!”, and another bonus that contains 300+ work-at-home opportunities.

Luckily, there’s a coupon code right on the website that reduces your membership fee to just $34. Even better, if you try to leave the page, your fee is reduced again to $17.

While $17 isn’t a lot of money, it still doesn’t justify the idea of paying money for publicly available information such as this:

paidsurveys

How do I know that such information is offered by Paid Surveys at Home? Because if you click away from the sales page a second time, you are offered free access to the site. The only hitch is that you receive a “Lite” version of the site, sans benefit of the two bonuses.

4. Dubious work-at-home opportunities.

Let’s assume that you are more than willing to pay $17 for those two advertised bonuses. The question is, are they actually worth $17? My thought is no, and here’s why. When you click around the Lite version of Paid Surveys at Home, you encounter these additional work-at-home opportunities:

paidsurveys1

Both the ‘Project Payday’ and Dwayne Brightman systems go to another survey site aggregator called ‘Product Report Card.’ Both systems are hyped up and make exaggerated claims of big money. However, both of these seemingly separate systems only give you additional survey sites.

The ad about how “Paul just made over 1 million dollars” leads to an online gaming site. Online gaming isn’t even defined as a work-at-home job.

If these “jobs” are even a sampling of what you obtain when you pay for the bonuses, you will gain nothing useful for your money.

5. Sparse contact information.

Paid Surveys at Home offers only a ticketing system for contacting “Kevin,” or whomever is behind this operation, in case you have questions or want a refund. A ticketing system is not email, nor is it a phone number. What this tells me is that it’s going to be difficult to get a hold of someone following your purchase of this system.

The Bottom Line

Filling out online surveys just won’t make you the hundreds of dollars you are promised, no matter how much survey sites promise you otherwise. While filling out surveys is a good way to make a few extra bucks, especially when you are in line at the grocery store or on a train, it is not a viable source of income for someone who has a mortgage and/or other bills to pay. Furthermore, many survey site aggregators, including Paid Surveys at Home, charge you money for information that is of low quality or plainly available online.

My advice is to save yourself the hassle and spend your $17 elsewhere.

CashCrate.com Review: It’s a really small crate!

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I’ve Tried That reader Alfa, who recently profiled our site on her blog, Flood of Dollars, suggested that we take a look at Cash Crate, another site claiming to pay you for trying companies’ products and services. I signed up. Here’s what I found out.

Cashcrate.com functions on the same premise as Inbox Dollars and Fusion Cash: sign up for promotional memberships and offers and get paid a small fee per sign-up. It also has a referral program so that you can get paid for the offers and memberships of people who sign up “under” you.

Cash Crate shotI like cashcrate better than Fusion Cash just because it is less obnoxious in its promotional graphics and text and because the site is faster loading. You go to the members area and can choose from offers using simple text, not full-on logos like Fusion Cash uses. The screen shot shows only the first nine of many, many offers. The site also warns you which offers require a credit card to sign up for, a nice feature.

I spent an hour taking surveys and signing up for offers at Cash Crate and have earned about $3.50. At that rate, it would take me a lifetime to earn a crate full of cash unless it’s the size of a Tic-Tac box. Cash Crate pays out at $10, so I’m sure someone with more time and patience for advertising than I have could make some pizza money. Good for students, maybe? It could definitely supplement the Taco Bell fund. If you spent enough time with it, you could probably learn to work its system faster than I did and therefore make more than $3.50/hour. If you’re looking to make more than just pocket change, though, I suggest spending your time elsewhere.

How Does Cash Crate Compare?

I did a review of a program called SwagBucks a few months back and just wanted to give you guys a little update on my progress, show you how much I’ve actually made with the program, and give some tips on how to quickly start making some money with them.

A quick overview: the concept behind SwagBucks is that they’d pay you for using their search page to browse the web. They make money through Google’s sponsored results and then pass some of their earnings on to you in the form of SwagBucks. You can also make money by filling out surveys, shopping online, watching videos, and many many more ways.

All you have to do is use their search page and every so often, you’ll be awarded SwagBucks which you can redeem for cash or gift cards.

The best part is the SwagBucks search bar uses Google, so you’ll get the same results you’re used to, but now you have a chance to make some extra money. It takes no extra effort on your part either. It’s a fun way to make some extra money each month.

And you can join today and see for yourself why I rate this program so highly, absolutely for free. Plus, you get a free $5 bonus just for signing up.

There are a lot more ways to earn, but searching is by far the easiest and the quickest. You’ll see the other ways in just a minute, but first…

Proof SwagBucks Actually Pays

Here’s an inside look at most of the orders that I’ve placed with SwagBucks since I’ve joined. This is a look inside my own personal account. I’ve cashed out and received $890.00 worth of gift cards so far.

Now, there are thousands of items you can spend your SwagBucks on or you can even redeem them for cash. I chose the giftcards because they’re a little bit cheaper than the cash redemption so you get more value for your SwagBuck, so to speak. Plus, I shop at Amazon often and this really helped cut down on costs.

Here’s a look at my total earnings so far: SB earnings

1 SwagBuck roughly equals 1 penny. So I’ve made approximately $928.78 since joining!

And here’s a look at just some of my rewards so far!

SB Cashed Out

Oh, and did I mention this was all free?

The Bottom Line

SwagBucks is a scam free way to make extra money online. It’s an excellent alternative to Cash Crate and you’ll make money much faster. I’ve been a member for about six months now and I’ve been paid over $890. It’s completely free to join and will help you bring in some extra cash by doing things you already do online. What more could you want from a program?!

SwagBucks is awesome and I highly recommend you click here an create an account right now. You get a $5 bonus offer just for signing up.

A SwagBucks Update (Over $400 Cashed Out So Far!)

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I did a review of a program called SwagBucks a few months back and just wanted to give you guys a little update on my progress, show you how much I’ve actually made with the program, and give some tips on how to quickly start making some money with them.

A quick overview: the concept behind SwagBucks is that they’d pay you for using their search page to browse the web. They make money through Google’s sponsored results and then pass some of their earnings on to you in the form of SwagBucks.

All you have to do is use their search bar and every so often, you’ll be awarded SwagBucks which you can redeem for cash or prizes. The best part is the SwagBucks search bar uses Google, so you’ll get the same results you’re used to, but now you have a chance to make some extra money. It takes no extra effort on your part either. It’s a fun way to make some extra money each month.

There are a lot more ways to earn, but searching is by far the easiest and the quickest. You’ll see the other ways in just a minute, but first…

Proof SwagBucks Actually Pays

Here’s an inside look at every order that I’ve placed with SwagBucks since I’ve joined. This is a look inside my own personal account. As of May 2011, after joining for less than six months, I’ve cashed out and received $420.00 worth of gift cards.

Now, there are thousands of items you can spend your SwagBucks on or you can even redeem them for cash. I chose the giftcards because they’re a little bit cheaper than the cash redemption so you get more value for your SwagBuck, so to speak. Plus, I shop at Amazon often and this really helped cut down on costs.

I’ll save you the trouble of adding it all up. I cashed out $200 in Southwest Airline vouchers (paid for my round-trip flight to Orlando!) and an additional $220 at Amazon.com!

Oh, and did I mention this was all free?

How to Quickly Start Making Money at SwagBucks

Step 1. Click here and create your account now. It takes 30 seconds and it’s completely free to join.

Step 2. Once you confirm your account and login, you’ll see the menu at the top of the page. Click on Earn, then search and you’ll be taken to a page that looks like this:


Click on the link that says ‘Make this my homepage’

Step 3. Use SwagBucks like you would Google, Yahoo or Bing, but now, you’ll actually make money doing so. As a matter of fact, I was planning on taking a screenshot of the search results when I was rewarded with $7 in SwagBucks. Not bad at all!

Swagbucks Reward

Step 4. That’s it! Browse the site to find out more ways you can earn, but searching is by far the easiest and it’s something you probably already do a lot during the day. Now you can make some extra money while doing so.

The Bottom Line

SwagBucks is a scam free way to make extra money online. I’ve been a member for about six months now and I’ve been paid a total of $420. It’s completely free to join and will help you bring in some extra cash by doing things you already do online. What more could you want from a program?! Swagbucks is awesome and I highly recommend you click here an create an account right now.

Can You Make Money with Project Payday?

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This is the last scheduled post we’ll be doing with Project Payday. This post will provide you with an in-depth look at the process Cheryl went through in order to make money with the program. Can you make money with Project Payday? Absolutely. Is it worth the trouble? Well, keep reading.

Making Money with Project Payday

As a follow up to my prior story about Project PayDay (PPD), I wanted to let others know about the process. I did make money, but it wasn’t much, and it wasn’t easy.

On January 7th I paid $34.95 to PPD for access to their program. Since this money was reimbursed by I’ve Tried That, it will not be included in my final total.

On the evening of January 7th, after reading the materials provided by PPD, I decided to do a few things to protect myself. First, I created a e-mail address just for the purpose of PPD. I then registered with Rememberthemilk.com to keep track of my offers, opened a spreadsheet to keep track of my transactions, and then registered and logged in to a forum recommended by PPD. I also made sure my PayPal plugin was up to date. Now, I was ready to start making money right away.

Going Green

I went into a forum called “Paying for Referrals” and started clicking links. There were hundreds of them, all claiming they helped newbies, or offering bonus payouts, or the biggest payouts. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I picked a name that sounded friendly. I sent her a private message and offered to “go green” for her. While I waited for her response I found another buyer who would pay bonuses on any referrals after the first one. I also sent a private message to her, picking two of her sites.

In the meantime, the first buyer had responded with a referral link and instructions on how to confirm the trade agreement between us. She offered very explicit instructions on how to go green as quickly as possible. It is a complicated dance of emptying the cache in your browser, waiting 5 minutes or more once the offer is completed, etc. I took the referral link, signed in, completed an offer and “went green” within an hour. I reported back to her that I was green, and she confirmed this, but informed me that the site was “pay on approval” which meant she wouldn’t pay me until the site approved her gift, which would take 3-4 days. She had a good trade rating, so I was irritated, but not overly concerned.

The second buyer responded and gave me links to both of the sites that I had requested for her. I logged in to the first one and completed an offer within minutes. I reported back to her right away, but she informed me that this was a “one credit” site, meaning that I had to complete one full credit worth of offers before I would be green. The offer I had completed was a one-third credit, so I still needed to do two-thirds more credits worth of offers to go green.

The site had 50 or so offers on it, and most of them either (1) cost more than I was making on the trade or (2) were less than one-quarter of a credit. I was frustrated, but completed three offers on one site, and two on the other by 10 p.m. that night.

Unfortunately, in the world of trading, most “instant credit” offers don’t credit instantly to your account (and some never credit at all). By the time I logged off at 11 p.m., I had still not greened on either site for the second buyer, and the first buyer wouldn’t be paying me for 3-4 days. Not counting the PPD program fee, I had spent $18.89 in offers and made exactly $0.00.

The site went green overnight, so I sent a private message to the buyer and she sent me payment of $35.00 (less PayPal’s take of $1.32). I was finally in the black, to the tune of $14.79. For 5 hours work the night before, I had made a whopping $2.96 per hour.

The $68.00 Headache.

I completed the rest of the offers for that buyer on the second site, and received payment for that site and the original site, as well as for a third buyer during the weekend. By Sunday, January 11th I had paid out $24.88 in offers, been paid $90.00, and paid $3.42 in PayPal commissions, which meant I’d cleared $61.70 from Thursday to Sunday. Only I hadn’t.

When I logged in Sunday morning, my PayPal balance was $0.00. How could this be?

I noticed a charge from a jewelry company for $68.00 that hadn’t been there before. I checked the name of the company against my notes in Remember the Milk and looked at the terms and conditions. According to those terms, I would pay $9.00 for a sample piece of jewelry, which would arrive in 10-14 days. If I liked it (or did not cancel), they would send me another two pieces in about 14 days from the initial order all for the low, low price of $68.00 per month. I had copied and pasted these terms to the notes section of the calendar. Sure enough, I had only placed the original order just four days prior.

Monday morning I called the company and canceled the order, asking them to refund my money immediately. They did, but only the original $9.00 I spent on the introductory piece. This credited 3 days later. When I called to find out where my $68.00 refund was, I was told that the second shipment had already gone out (I hadn’t received the first shipment yet!) and I needed to return it in order to get the refund. The introductory piece arrived that day, and the second shipment a few days later.

In the meantime I had completed another $3.95 worth of offers, received a $25 payment less the PayPal commission of $1.03. My grand total after seven days work? $22.72. Not exactly stellar income.

During the week I was also doing the second part of the job: canceling all of those offers. Since I had kept pretty meticulous records, this was rather simple. When completing an offer, I would copy and paste ALL of the terms and conditions into the note portion of Remember the Milk, then set a reminder for 1-2 days before the drop dead date to call and cancel the offer before those “monthly membership fees” kicked in. The vast majority of those offers were very easy to cancel. All I had to do was call the toll free number during the regular business hours and the operator would cancel and give me a cancellation confirmation.

So far, no additional charges have appeared on any of the accounts used to complete the offers. And what about the jewelry charge? I finally got a refund, a full 33 days after they charged my account.

The Bottom Line

Grand total earned: $84.42.

(Our recommendation: Your time is better spent at a free site, like SwagBucks, where they offer $5.00 just for signing up.)

I also got over 1,500 spam e-mails and more than 30 phone calls from the companies that I had placed orders through. The e-mail I set up for this purpose now gets over 400 spam e-mails per day.

So can you make money with PPD? Yes, but I’m convinced you can’t do it with Method 1.

You definitely can’t make money through PPD without thorough record-keeping and an excellent reminder system. Even with those things, some of the offer programs do not abide by their own terms and conditions. You end up doing business with companies like Google Profit System and Free Government Grants (both programs I’ve Tried That has railed against in the past month). Just today on the forums I read a story about someone who signed up for a trial offer and had the full $300+ taken from his account just days later. His mortgage payment and his car payment both bounced, and the company’s only response was that it was a computer glitch and they would refund the money. Meanwhile, this man has late fees and returned check fees to pay.

PPD’s trade program is risky business. From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t seem to be worth the cost.

Still interested? Click here to check out Project Payday.

Cheryl is a writer located in Southwest Florida. She’s been great to work with. Be sure to send some love and check out her blog at: http://www.cliopatra.net/

A Deeper Look into Project Payday

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It’s been about a year and a half since I wrote my first Project Payday review. Since then, it has grown to be quite popular. In fact, it’s the fifth most popular post here at I’ve Tried That. I have since been called a number of names for not actively trying the program, but still offering my opinion on it. Well, we decided to take a deeper look into the program. To do so, we brought in Cheryl to act as a secret agent for I’ve Tried That. Her article is a brief look into what you receive when you sign up for Project Payday. Cheryl has agreed to do a followup post later on with more details on her specific earnings. Stay tuned.

A Look into Project Payday

When I was offered the opportunity to try Project PayDay, I figured why not? I had nothing to lose, right? So many people had commented on the original blog entry that they were making money through PPD, there had to be something to it.

I signed up on 01/07/2009 and paid the $34.95 fee to join. I was provided with a login and password to access Project Payday’s training site with resource materials. Throughout the signup process and training I was offered the opportunity to purchase additional materials such as step-by-step video tutorials or reference books for additional charges (usually $19.95 or more), but I opted to take the traditional route.

So, what is Project Payday?

Project PayDay (PPD) is a resource for finding out how to make money by working those “Click Here for a Free iPod” or “You Can Win a Free Wii” banner ads you see everywhere. PPD teaches you how to make money by becoming a paid referral for someone who wants that iPod or that Wii, and eventually becoming someone who pays for those referrals and cashes in on the profits from these free items.

The instruction manual is clear and concise, with videos peppered throughout to make some concepts more clear. Project Payday has a 3-step process, called “methods” that claim to get you making money quickly and keep you making money.

Method 1 is where everyone starts. The manual explains that to get started making money, you must participate in a referral forum. It gives you several to choose from, and even shows you what to do to start managing trades and “going green” to earn money right away. You log in to the forum, find someone who is “buying” referral opportunities (Buyer) and selling your services. You set up a trade agreement with the Buyer through the built-in trade manager, and then they give you their referral link. You use the link to log in to the site and complete enough offers or credits to “go green” or show up on the Buyer’s list as a qualified referral. Say the Buyer wants to get a $400 television from one of these sites. If they need just 4 qualified referrals, they could pay 4 people $25 each to sign up and become a qualified referral, and they’ve just paid $100 for a $400 TV. This is where you make money – you offer to be a referral, go on the site, sign up and complete the offers required. Once you have met the requirements, you let the Buyer know, and they verify it with the site, then pay you the asking price for the referral.

Sounds easy, right? There is a catch. In order to become a qualified referrer, you must sign up a certain number of offers. There are many to choose from, including makeup, pantyhose, credit reporting services, money making services, jewelry, coffee and more. Some of the offers are free to try, while others can cost from $1 – $50 or more, depending on what you are purchasing. This is usually an introductory offer, and must be cancelled within 7 days in order to keep recurring monthly fees or dues from being charged to your credit card. These fees can range from $7.95 – $79.95 or more per month.

The trick is, you can’t cancel too quickly, or you might end up “going red” and being forced to return any money you’ve earned back to the Buyer. If you sign up for the trial offer and cancel it a day or two later, you risk losing your referral pay. Most Buyers recommend cancelling on day 6 of a trial offer, just to be safe.

It sounds simple enough: earn money just to go on a site and be a referral. Just remember that nearly every referral fee will cost you something, whether it’s a trial fee, a membership fee, or the like. And if you don’t keep meticulous records of your transactions, you can end up paying through the nose when those monthly dues and fees start piling up. A $25 referral fee on a site could end up costing you $5, $10, even the whole $25 or more.

You also can’t just stay at Method 1 forever and continue to make money. Every site has numerous offers, but all sites have virtually the same offers. In addition, some offers are actually the same company. For instance, there might be six different credit report offers on one site, but they are all the same company. Try to sign up for two or three of them and you’ll get rejected for duplication. At that point you might as well move on to Method 2.

Method 2 builds on Method 1. You’ve already signed up for several sites to “go green” and earned cash. Now you become the Buyer, buying greens from people who are working Method 1. You pay them to complete offers for you, usually a small percentage of the amount of the product or money you are receiving from the referral site. For instance, you want a $500 PayPal cash payout. If that payout requires 10 referrals, and you pay $20 per referral, then you’re paying $200 for a $500 payout, for a profit of $300. Not too bad. Just one of those a week will net you about $1200 per month in extra income.

Method 3 builds from Method 2. You go from buying referrals for cash to buying referrals for other items like electronics, which you can then sell. This method is described by Project PayDay as somewhat more lucrative than the other methods, since electronics may have a higher profit margin per referral than cash.

The Bottom Line

Project Payday itself is an information source. You find out where to go to make the money, and what to do once you get there. (Our recommendation: Your time is better spent at a free site, like SwagBucks, where they offer $5.00 just for signing up.) Once you’ve gotten comfortable with Method 1 and 2, PPD even provides a mentor or two that can help you increase your income.

PPD also keeps in regular contact with you, e-mailing once or twice a week with “special offers” just like the ones you’ve been signing up for. These are generally offers such as a $1.97 trial offer on how to make money on eBay, and PPD refunds the trial fee back to you. Of course, there is no mention of the exorbitant monthly fees that program charges (for which PPD most certainly receives a kickback).

Money can be made with Project Payday, but the work is tedious, time-consuming, detail-intensive and risky. You must provide personal information (including your phone number), thus increasing your spam e-mails, junk mail and phone calls. You must also provide credit card information to sites that may not be strictly legitimate. Failure to note the details of the offers and keep track of orders and cancellations can result in significant financial losses.

I have been working the PPD program for the last 3 weeks and will report what actually happened in my next article, including how much money I made. Yes! I did make money.

Click here to read our third and final update on Project Payday.

Cheryl is a writer in Southwest Florida.
You can read her blog at: http://www.cliopatra.net/