AW Surveys

I came across this site from one of my friends. This site offers a very lucrative policy but what moved me was that it was absolutely free. You only needed to have a Paypal account(If you are not a US citizen). The stats were as follows

• On joining, you get a welcome survey worth USD $ 6.
• Other surveys will earn you USD $ 4 each.
• Every month you get a bonus survey worth USD $ 1. This survey qualifies you for a monthly lucky draw which they say is worth USD $ 500. It expires at the end of each month if not taken in time.
• For every referral you get USD $ 1.25. You can get referrals either by direct referring link or HTML image codes that you can paste in your emails, websites or blogs.

Each survey consists of two websites. You need to view each website and give your reviews in not less than 3 sentences. Payment is made either through check(For US citizens only) or Paypal. The minimum payout is USD $ 75. Having more than one account per household is not allowed. I searched about this program on public discussion forums, as I do usually. It returned a mixed opinion. Many said it was a scam but few others claimed that they got paid(hmmm...I doubt). I still took a chance and joined it. But certain things made me suspicious...

• The graphics and layout of the site didn't look professional enough.
• The registration procedure was awkwardly simple and short. This was unlike other programs that truly pays.
• Even if you provide a wrong email ID it accepts your application. This was definitely odd. Other professional e-commerce sites usually insists on email confirmation. I came to know about this from one of the forums and tried it myself.
• Furthermore they never send any registration details to our email even though in the registration page they wrote-"Please provide a valid email address, your log in information will be sent to it. We will never give out your email address or other personal information."
• The image verification code in the registration page seemed to repeat and not auto-generated.

So is it a scam really???On joining I completed all the available surveys with haste and saw my account balance rising instantly after completing each survey. I completed 5 surveys + 1 welcome survey + that month's bonus survey to see the account balance reading USD $ 27 in less than an hour. It felt great. But, since then I never received a survey to take part other than the bonus surveys of each month which pays only USD $ 1. It has been 4 months since I joined. I recognised that referring friends was the only option. So even before ensuring that it was not a scam I started referring my friends and relatives. Slowly but steadily I saw my referral count and balance rising and rejoiced over it. Immediately when I saw my balance above USD $ 75(which was the minimum payout amount via Paypal), I hit the redeem button. You wont believe, they deducted USD $ 25 as their service charge and put the transfer of remaining USD $ 50 pending for their verification. After two days, they send me an email saying that my payment was terminated because of fraudulent activities. Not only did they waste my time and energy but also made me refer my friends and family to this cheat. Now its up to you to decide whether it is a scam or not.

Google Checkout

Watch out Paypal and Alertpay, here they come...!!! The showstopper that everyone is pinning their eyes upon is...Google. Already in the arena with Google Checkout, which is an online payment service for online purchases, I am looking forward for a big takeover. One interesting though very effective ploy that Google uses often to kill competition is to acquire its nearest competitor. This was how they conquered the video sharing platform by acquiring YouTube, which was the sole challenger for Google Videos. Another example is that of Google acquisition of Double Click. Google AdSense was reigning with a great margin from similar programs of giants-Yahoo and MSN. The only competition was from the side of Double Click. With Double Click in their pocket, now there is no stopping for Google, as far as online advertising is considered. I am eagerly looking forward for a similar story here. But it may be too early to say because unlike Paypal and Alertpay, Google Checkout doesn't support person-person transfer, fund storage, etc YET. Joining Google Checkout is simple. You can sign in with your Google account. As simple as that.

Alertpay

The relatively newer player in the block, Alertpay is rapidly gaining popularity in online payments. It is a Canadian based privately owned and managed company founded in 2004. As of now, it supports 22 currencies and have over 2 million accounts spanning over 206 countries. It also has localized banking in about 46 countries. It offers two types of accounts-Personal and Business. Personal account is further divided into Personal Starter and Personal Pro. Personal Starter account allows you to send and receive money absolutely free. But the catch is that of a monthly receiving limit of USD 400$ and a cumulative yearly receiving limit of USD $2000. To remove these limits, you can upgrade to Personal Pro account at any time. But Personal Pro account charges low receiving fee of 2.5% + $0.25 per transaction. This is the same for business account. But you get access to a number of business tools to help your online business like mass payments, business sub accounts. After signing up you will be asked to become verified by uploading 2 documents-A proof of address document and a photo ID. Alertpay also comes with a referral program. Each time you refer someone to Alertpay you earn up to USD 10$. You can refer by three ways.

• Using a unique referral hyperlink.
• Using a text link.
• Using a banner image.

The withdrawal charges are USD 0.50$ for Bank Transfer(2-5 business days), USD 15.00$ via Bank Wire(3-4 business days) and USD 3.00$ via Check(1-2 business days).

Paypal

Most of the sites that I am going to discuss here pays in the form of either checks, paypal, or alertpay. Let me discuss about paypal first, as I beleive I need not tell anything about checks. Paypal is an american based e-commerce website that allows you to securely send and receive funds, pay online electronically, shop online, etc. Your credit card and bank account information are not revealed. It operates in about 190 countries and is completely free to join. Its also free to add and send funds. For other services like credit card payment, you may have to pay low fees. The minimum withdrawal limit is USD 10$. In India, its free to withdraw Rs 7000 or more. Otherwise you'll be charged Rs 50/transaction. The return fee is Rs 250. Paypal also comes with a referral bonus program. You can either use a personalized referral link or a referral logo that can be pasted on your website or blog. Once your referral starts receiving or sending money, you'll earn 0.05% of the new merchant's revenue for the first 12 months that the merchant has his Paypal account. After sign-up you may be prompted to input credit card details. But you need not do that. You still can send and receive funds.

Simple Formula!

From experience, I derived this very simple formula to identify scams. If you find very bold and colourful captions saying

"Earn 20k At Home!"

"Work In Your Off-time!"

"Be Your Own Boss!"

"Earn Money On Web Free!"

"Turn Your Computer Into A Money-Generating Machine!"

Wait! Don't get excited. Just scroll down and see whether they are asking for any payment(Don't care to read what lies in between. They are just fake ideas,as in most of the cases). If you find an "Order Now" (or anything of that kind) button, just close the window and never ever think of opening that site again. Don't even hesitate to add that site to the "Restricted Sites" list. They may show testimonials and proofs from their so called "Rich And Successful" members. But do remember these are not that hard to imitate. Nevertheless if you find a program true enough to join, don't take a rapid decision. Make a thorough analysis of that program from the net and public forums. Don't forget to contact me if in need of help. Once you are fully convinced go ahead and register. I say this because I have myself fallen pray to one such site and have lost money.

Beware! ! !

"Online Income".Sounds very interesting. But is it really possible. My answer would be "Yes". But hey, wait a sec. The point is in making the wise decision and choosing the right program. All my fellowmen be warned that there are many frauds doing the rounds in World Wide Web. They loot away your money and invaluable time and energy. I dedicate this blog of mine to help protect my fellow beings from getting cheated from such frauds and to avoid mistakes that I committed. Let us together create a fraud-free Internet environment.

Can I Make Money Online...? ? ?

Ok....Ok....I am not drifting away from the core subject. Let me come to the point now. I might have spent hundreds if not thousands of hours on the net just surfing some unwanted stuffs like "Million Dollar Car Launched", "Fastest Bike On Road", or some controversies or gossips....What did I earn from all this....?.....Wait!Wait!....Did I say "Earn"....Hmmmmm.....Can I earn money from the net? I stumbled upon this notion very recently. I saw an ad in one of the websites that I surf which said "Earn Big Fortunes Working At Home!!!". My initial response was WOW!!! and immediately subscribed for it only to find that it was a scam. But this urged me to think deep into the subject. Since then I have been doing a research on this for the past few months. I have found many such e-commerce programs and an equal number of scams or may be more. I will discuss all of it in my future posts and help my fellowmen to make a good source of income from the net. For any details feel free to contact me. My email is sree100.money@gmail.com. You may also post comments. I shall reply at the earliest.

i For Internet

Internet has been such a wonderful media that it has completely redefined what entertainment is all about. Chatting, browsing, streaming audio/video etc,etc are no new terms for not only the young generation but also the elder ones. Internet has also become a vast environment of information. News, dictionary and encyclopedia have become electronic which makes it faster, reliable and more specific than ever before. Services like e-banking, e-cheque, paypal etc have completely changed our perceptive about banking. With more and more services becoming online, Internet has become a vital ingredient in our day-to-day life. I have been using the net for the past few years now. Chatting, email, orkut......I have become addicted to it. It helped me keep in touch with my family when I was away. My friends at school.......I would have long lost them if not to orkut. This unique social networking program has helped me keep in touch with all my treasured friends and recreate those magic moments. Online banking, ticket reservation and trading has made life easier than ever before...