One of the most popular and favorite PTC sites for a long time recently made a stunning announcement. They decided they would no longer make payouts to standard members. I myself had to read it four times just to make sure I wasn’t misreading it, but sure enough it is what it is. Now members have to upgrade to premium just to get paid. Here’s another caveat of the new TOS at IsabelMarco, you have to be premium not only when you request it, but up until you actually get the money. Why is this important? Well the new TOS states that members who are due payouts of $500 or less will get it within 30 days. This makes purchasing a month membership at IM very tricky since if you don’t get paid by the first month, you will have to fork over another month’s premium membership due of $9.00. If you are due more then $500 it’s even longer waiting periods before you get your money and forces you into buying two months worth of premium membership or the yearly.

I myself have been a long time fan of IM and to see such changes troubles me. Last month they tried to force members to load their toolbar and the response was immediate and fierce. They revoked that policy almost as soon as it was implemented, but already the harm was done. People were beginning to have their suspicions about the site and its health. IM has many other projects as well underway such as IM PiggyBank, IM Friends and others. One can only wonder if IM is losing focus in the site that made them who they are.

I hope we see a reversal in this new policy as well. A paid to click site cannot survive on premium members alone. Standard members make up the vast majority and it is no different at IM. With over a million members and an estimated only 60,000 of them premium you can see the trouble this policy may cause. Does IM really want to isolate almost a million standard members? IM’s response to the many complaints has been that this is a way to thwart cheaters and IM only wants to have serious members involved with its site. Well remember that old saying “becareful what you wish for or it may just come true”. If it comes true for IM, they may very well lose a million members and be just another notch in the PTC graveyard.