HYIP Refund: how I got (some of) my money back from a closed HYIP program.

Wow, this was unexpected.

I checked my e-mail box in the morning today and there was an e-mail from AlertPay (which is a payment processor much like PayPal). At first, I thought it was in relation to my refund request from Kooday. It turned out that it wasn't - it was actually concerning my refund request from UniteTrade which I filed a while ago and completely forgot about.

UniteTrade was a High Yield Investment Program (aka HYIP aka pyramid program aka scam) that I tried participating in just for the experience. It was a pretty popular HYIP program, but just like the rest of these programs, it was short-lived. When it closed down, I decided I'll try to get my money back, so I filed a dispute with AlertPay, which is the payment processor that I used to invest my $5 into UniteTrade. I wasn't really expecting anything to come out of it, so eventually I just forgot about the whole thing.

Well, today (months after I initially filed the dispute) I received an e-mail from AlertPay saying that my account was credited, or in other words, I got a refund. However, it was not a full refund. I only got back 13% of the amount that I initially invested. That's perfectly understandable - HIYPs always grab the money and run in the end, so to recover any money from them should be considered a triumph. There was a line in their e-mail that said exactly that:

"Please consider yourself fortunate as not all members will be able to get reimbursed due to the nature of such programs"

So big props to AlertPay for giving me my HYIP refund.

Stay away from HYIP programs, people. They're all schemes and scams. If you really want to earn money online, just use legit and trusted programs. You can check out my paid survey sites list and GPT sites list for some ideas.

MyTesterJobs: just don't bother with it

I've been looking through my traffic stats and I noticed that a significant amount of people end up on this page because they are looking for MyTesterJobs-related information. Well, this entry is targeted mostly at those of you who are here to see if MyTesterJobs pays people or not.

Is MyTesterJobs a scam? It's hard to tell. I did a Google search for 'mytesterjobs payment proof' and I did not find a single site, blog, or forum that claimed to have received any sort of payment from MyTesterJobs. In fact, the majority of the pages I visited say the same thing I just told you - nobody has seen anyone post an actual MyTesterJobs payment proof.

Does this mean that MyTesterJobs doesn't pay? I don't know. In fact, it seems that nobody does. If a website has been around for more than half a year and not a single payment proof can be found through Google, that should raise a red flag in your head.

But lets assume that MyTesterJobs actually does pay. The minimum payout threshold on that site is $50. An average offer or task or 'tester job' that they give you is only worth a couple of cents. I just checked my account on there prior to writing this post and I still have the same old 3 'jobs' available to me that were there months ago. The biggest paying one is a few cents shy of a quarter. So how long do you think it will take you to reach $50 on MyTesterJobs?

Do yourself a favor and just don't bother with MyTesterJobs. It's not worth it, even if the site is legit. You will never reach the minimum payout threshold.

Instead, you can join one or two GPT sites that pay you to complete offers, take surveys, and do other tasks. Here is an entry I wrote about my favorite 3 GPT sites.

Best GPT sites: a quick overview

There is a number of reputable and time-tested GPT (Get-Paid-To) sites where you Get Paid To complete different tasks like completing surveys, signing up for offers, receiving cash-back from shopping online, and other similar tasks. There are actually tons of these sites on the web, but some are better than others. I myself am a member of a couple of GPT sites, so let me tell you which ones are my favorites:

CashCrate 

With CashCrate, you can earn cash or you can earn prizes. CashCrate pays you cash for filling out surveys, signing up for offers, shopping online, watching videos, and getting referrals. You can also earn points by doing other activities, like playing games on their site, and these points can be converted into gift cards and actual items (iPods, digital cameras, etc.).

Payout minimum is $20 and they pay by check via mail.

Treasure Trooper



Treasure Trooper is just like CashCrate, but it has a really cool treasure hunting theme a la Indiana Jones. That's what makes the site really engaging and fun. Sometimes it almost feels like a game, really. Along with cash, you can earn points in the form of silver coins, gold coins, pearls, golden keys, and fun things like that. These points can be exchanged in Mabutu's Trading Hut (I told you they have a theme going..) for gift cards, actual items, or other items that play into the treasure hunting theme (map fragments, secrets, etc.). So yeah, Treasure Trooper is pretty damn fun.

The payout minimum is $20 and they pay to PayPal.

DollarForest



DollarForest is just like CashCrate and Treasure Trooper. They also give you a $1 bonus just for signing up. The best thing about DollarForest is that the minimum payout amount is at only $2. They pay via PayPal.

Well, there you go. I may add a few other sites to this list as time goes on, but these GPT sites here are my favorite ones. Check them out and pick the one that you think is best for you.

Time to change my approach

I did some thinking last night on whether I should keep writing this blog or not.. It never really took off, plus lately I've been busy with a bunch of other projects, so I pretty much have had no motivation to keep writing updates here. Only very few people ever read them anyway..

Well, I've decided to keep it going. I decided to make this blog more honest. Not that I've been lying or tricking people, no. By 'honest', I mean I will no longer hold back my concerns and skepticism about certain programs. This way, my entries will not seem promotional like some of the past ones do.

I believe this is the result of my experience with Kooday. While I truly thought that Kooday was going to be a legit, successful program, I've always had a thought in the back of my mind that maybe Kooday is just a big, elaborate scam, which is what it turned out to be in the end, it seems.. But I never mentioned these concerns in my Kooday entries on here. To be honest, I guess I didn't do it because I did not want to scare away my potential referrals. And I had a lot of people join Kooday through my referral links. Thankfully, though, none of them ever invested any money into it. Good for them.

So from now on, more honesty and less hype. Useful content is what people look for when they want to learn to earn money online, so that's what I will provide. I will post updates whenever I have time, so check back every now and then!

Tagvillage update - the Bazaar has been launched.

Wow I really haven't been here in a while, have I? Maybe I should post more updates like in the old days, what do you think? Hmm..

Anyway,

Tagvillage finally launched the Bazaar last week. Currently, only the Tag Bazaar is operational. They say the Item Bazaar is due to launch very very soon. I hope that's true because the Item Bazaar is pretty much what everyone has been holding their breath for..

But yeah, the Item Bazaar has been live for about a week and Tagvillage has been monitoring it closely. So closely that the already have a bunch of changes and improvements that they will introduce very soon! This is what they had to say in the latest update:

1. Auctions Page Sorting
We are going to change the auctions list page into a sortable list. We are adding buttons at the top of the page. These buttons will say "Live", "Pending", and "Ended". If you click the "Live" button, you will only see the auctions that are live and taking bids. If you click the "Pending" button, you will only see the auctions that are upcoming. If you click the "Ended" button you will see the auctions that have cancelled, sold, or closed from the Buy It Now feature.

2. Limited Live Auctions
We are going to set a limit to the number of live auctions at one time. We will start with a low number and increase with time as our membership grows and activity within the Bazaar grows. Therefore, members will only have a limited number of Tags to bid on at one time.

3. Pending Auctions Queue
We are going to make a page called "Pending Auctions". On this page, all upcoming auctions will be announced. There will no longer be a "Starting Time" counter. Instead, each Tag will be placed into a queue on a first-come first-served basis. When a live auction ends, the next auction in line will begin.

4. Limited Number of Tag Auctions Per Member
We are going to set a limit on the number of Tags a member may place into the Bazaar at one time. This number will start low and increase as our membership grows and activity within the Bazaar grows.

5. Name Your Own Reserve Price
We are going to add an option for members to name their own Reserve Price. For example, you may have a Tag for over 200.00 Credits and you want to sell it. You may decide you would take less than 200.00 Credits for the Tag. So, we are going to allow you to name your own Reserve Price point.

6. No Reserve Price Auctions
Some members may wish to take a chance by running a Tag with no Reserve Price. We are introducing a new type of auction to the Tag Bazaar. If you wish, you can place a Tag into the Bazaar with NO RESERVE PRICE! In this case, the Tag will begin in the 30 second count-down stage and will continue until the timer reaches zero. We will still limit the number of timer resets, but it will be controlled by a different formula that respects the sellers and the bidders.

7. Feature Tag Auctions
We will announce a special Feature Tag Auction into the Bazaar. This auction will begin in the 30 second count-down stage and will continue until the timer reaches zero. There will be a reduced limit on the number of timer resets that will make these Tags very desirable.

There you have it; expect those updates to go live in the Tagvillage Bazaar soon.