I have been waiting for my last cashout request for Gagabux for over 10 business days.  The TOS says 5 to 7 business days so I thought to myself ah well its just a few business days, I’ll just wait.  However I decided to check the forums on Gagabux.  Low and behold what I saw was mass pages of posts where people are complaining that they have been waiting for over a month on their payout request.  Up until this point I haven’t had any problems with Gagabux, but after reading their forums I started to wonder.  Is Gagabux the next scam?

Besides the numerous posts of members not getting paid, another thing that bothered me is the fact that they changed the amount of ads you need to view to get referral credits.  This change is recent and may correspond to their lack of not being able to make payouts.  Previously you needed to click on 4 ads to get referral credits, which is pretty much standard amongst bux ptc sites.  Only  recently they changed it to 8 ads.  It never really occured to me until I read the forums that this could be a sign of the end.

In many of the other cases where bux sites have bit the dust, they will start to offer heavy discounts to memberships, referral purchases and advertising.  This will confirm beyond a doubt that they are done.  Already with the backlog of payout requests the outlook is gloomy.

Time will only tell, but for now it does not look good for Gagabux.

The king of PTCs has just introduced its security card slated for January 2009.  The security card adds an additional layer of security to an already dual password system.  The card is an actual physical card that you receive in the mail that will be used to validate numerous profile actions, including cashouts, jackpots, purchases, transfers, etc.

Here’s an excerpt from Neobux’s website on how the card works.

After you’ve received your card, activate it and choose your protection level.
Everytime the card is required, you’ll be asked for 3 random positions in the card’s matrix printed at the back. Failure to enter the codes after a few attempts will temporarily block your account and you’ll be warned by email.

Even if someone has your password, your secondary password and even your email password, they will be blocked to make changes, withdraw your balance, play jackpots, etc.

What you can block:

- Card settings (always blocked)
- Support (always blocked)
- Forum & Chat
- Personal Settings
- Advertisements visualization
- Cashouts
- Jackpots
- Purchases
- Balance Transfers
- Referral management (recycling, renting, etc)

Well folks it looks like another PTC site has bit the dust.  Honestly I really did think this was a PTC site that was Neobux’s nearest competitor.  The site had a great script that offered many of the same features, but was different enough to stand on its own.  The admin was very active and seemed genuine.  I received six payments without problems in its early life, but after the story broke of the death of Sandra, it was the beginning of the end.  My last article talked much about this event.  The question now is “was SandraClicks a scam from the start or did the death of Sandra cause its downfall, if in fact there was a Sandra to begin with”.  We may never know.

The admin of SandraClicks announced very bad news yesterday in the forum.  The admin’s fiancee Sandra, whom he named the site after, went into surgery for an operation on her stomach after coughing up blood.  Unfortunatedly she did not make it through the surgery and passed away.  It was later found out that she had stomach cancer, which is so tragic since she was so young.

Here’s an excerpt from the post:

Yesterday there was a great woman, the woman with whom I was going to marry in January …. we had a lot of plans together, but she is no longer here but … I feel totally shattered, made a complete $%*@ without knowing how to do … without knowing who will be in my life without it … not refuse to be without it … I am dead in life.

I am without sleep since yesterday, I came to my house to move to go to the funeral and only spent a few minutes here to let them know the reason for the absence of the manager …

What Will The Future of SandraClicks Hold?

Obviously the admin is under extreme pain and sorrow at the moment, so what should members now expect from the site.  I’m not an insensitive person myself and I certainly feel for the admin’s loss, but I wanted to know what the status of the site was.  I decided to try and cash out.  Guess what?  I couldn’t.  Now I am not gonna send the admin a support ticket for obvious reasons.  The admin has his concerns and priorities elsewhere which is understandable, but can the site survive if the admin is focusing on other things.  Is there other management besides him?  These are the questions that need to be answered if members are to keep confidence in the site.

Farewell Sandra, You Will Be Missed

My heart felt sympathy goes out to the admin and Sandra’s family.  The site only a few months old with so much promise, and the two were to get married in just a few months.  I don’t know what the future holds for SandraClicks.  I can only hope that the admin realizes that the best way to honor Sandra would be to keep the site alive and well, for it was she whom he created and dedicated it for.

Ever since the new admin at Crewbux has taken over, he has looked for a way to get new cash streams.  That admin is Jynchou.  If the name sounds familiar its because he has direct ties with another famous ptc, IsabelMarco.  Crewbux has been in trouble ever since the last admin supposedly had a freeze on his Paypal account and the payment delays started.  Before that Crewbux was a favorite of many because the site paid really fast, in most cases 24 to 48 hours.  But its never been the same since.  The new admin has his hands full trying to resuscitate a site on the brink of death.  Already the forums are full of posts forecasting the demise of Crewbux and rightly so.  Interestingly enough, before all these payment problems Crewbux was implementing an instant payout system that never materialized.

The Payout Grid

So what is this payout grid and why was it implemented?  Well Crewbux decided that the best way to infuse cash into the site was to have members invest 50% minimum of their payout prior to receiving it.  Basically you have to invest at least half of your balance before you can cashout.  You can invest by buying ads, purchasing referrals, upgrading, essentially anything where you are spending money into the site.  And by the way, when you buy ads, convert ads, etc, it has to be from Alertpay or Paypal, converting it from your balance does not count.  Once you have made the investment you must post proof on the forums where the admin will approve it and add you to the current payout grid.  You can view your position on the payout grid which is basically a list that is paid in numerical order and basically acts as the payout queue.  A new grid is created every week or so and posted in the forums.

Impact of the Grid

Obviously the implementation of the payout grid has had a great impact on the site.  Those new to the site are confused and likely shy away from such a complicated payout system with so many other ptc sites available.  The ones that approve the system are those that are already heavily invested and have no choice really, but to hope that others will reinvest so they can get their money back.  Others are caught somewhere in the middle and having to decide whether or not investing money into the site to get their balance out.

Conclusion

In the end, Crewbux looks to be headed to the PTC graveyard.  It has been a favorite of mine long before its problems, but now it seems the end is inevitable.  While Jynchou’s efforts to revive the site are admirable, it may be too late to revive it.  If he pulls it off I would be pleasantly surprised, but the writing is on the wall and I don’t really see it happening.

When it first launched Buxeast seemed to have potential.  Of course alot of that had to do with the promise of instant payouts which it did feature, but alot went wrong quickly.  The site was very popular at launch and featured the Gen2script which was supposedly very secure and hack proof.  Gen2script was produced by the makers of Secure-Bux which was notorious for its security holes, but this newer version promised to be different.  It was created from the ground up, not an upgrade to the old script.  They had a dedicated team of programmers working the script and this was suppose to be the newest and greatest instant ptc script.

Well things didn’t go quite as planned and now Buxeast is facing some tough challenges after only being around for a few weeks.  There is even an announcement on the forums by the admin that the site is for sale.  Currently the site is down and nothing is available.  Buxeast was the lab rat for the Gen2script and from what I’ve seen, the results are not too promising for the new script.

What was once one of the better PTC sites around is now just another casualty of the PTC world.  ClixMX had the makings of a great site, with its active admin, great features and good payout.  It was the only PTC site that offered insurance against your referral clicks which made investing in referrals a lot safer.  In the end, it was faced with too much adversity to stay a float.  It was one of the sites that got hit hard from DDOS attacks and experienced a long down time.  ClixMX never really recovered after the comeback as it lost much of its active members after being down for so long.  Reportedly they had over $100,000 in pending payouts yet only 19,000 members were active after the fall out.  With sad words, the admin decided it was time to call it quits.  These are the times that test the PTC community, when a respected site ends up goin down in flames.

We’ve all heard about how the DDOS attacks brought PTC sites to their knees several weeks ago.  Some sites were down for only a few days, and some for weeks.  When it first broke that a few sites had initially been hit with DDOS attacks, it was also learned that a blackmail letter accompanied the attacks.  Apparently, certain individuals claimed responsibility and wanted money to stop these attacks.  But this is not what intrigues me about the DDOS attacks.  What causes me pause for thought is how greatly some sites were affected and how some weren’t affected at all.

Troubled PTCs Have Much To Gain

What I found interesting in all of this DDOS hoopla was the fact that many of the sites that were supposedly hit hard and were down for a week or so, decided that when they came back they would increase the payout times in their TOS.  First of all, how would being down for a few days to a week cause you to be backlogged so far that you increase the payout days to 30 and 60 days from 7 days or less.  This seems very odd since if the site is down, it’s not having to pay anyone for clicks either.  Shouldn’t a site thats down come back with the same amount of payout debt as it did when it first went offline?  How did they get more debt and have to delay payments?  More probable is that these sites were already in trouble and this whole DDOS situation provided a good “out” for them.  Most of the sites that were based on negative advertising cash flow were the culprits.  Those sites that can survive with advertising alone such as Aurora sites and next gen bux sites, seemed to be less impacted or not at all.  [sarcasm] Wonder why those using DDOS attacks didn’t go after the succesful sites and went after the ones that have faulty revenue models? [/sarcasm]

History Repeats Itself

Remember when ptc sites were getting hacked left and right.  Were they really hacked or was it an excuse for some sites to delay payments to its members.  It all started the same way, one ptc site said they got hacked and they couldn’t pay its users and had to adjust their TOS.  Other ptc sites followed suit seeing it as a good excuse to delay their payments.  Once again we are seeing history repeat itself except this time its DDOS attacks.

Back From DDOS Attacks

I found other interesting things that happened when sites came back from being down.  Some had actually revamped their sites with newer features… hmmm.  Is that why our payments are delayed?  Those new scripts can’t be cheap with all them new promising features.  Some sites were even taking donations while they were down and returned with a whole new look.

Conclusion

While there are probably legit DDOS and hacker complaints, there are those that are not.  PTC sites have always been a big risk to invest in and they continue to be.  While the future does seem brighter with newer PTCs offering instant payouts verifying their legitimacy right away, there are those that still offer excuses and “shady” tactics.  I offer you no proof, only speculation.  So take it with a “grain of salt” and decide for yourself.

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.

A few days ago I wrote about how Neobux was facing some adversity with the freezing of its account with Paypal, which accounted for 72% of its cash reserves.  This put in quite a stir and scare to the ptc community.  Can you imagine the impact of Neobux going down?  The community as a whole would take a giant hit because of how everyone sees Neobux as the leader in PTC sites.  The confidence of everyone in ptc sites would definitely change.  It would probably have the same impact as say the collapse of Walmart would have on the stock market.  OK maybe not, but you get my point with the analogy.

In this desparate situation, Neobux turned to its members for help with donations and a petition against Paypal.   After just several days Neobux’s admin had spread the good news throughout the forum that Paypal had changed its stance and once again allowed Neobux to conduct business with the payment processor.  In appreciation for the support by its members, Neobux responded with a thankful gesture rewarding everyone who donated with referrals in the amount equal to referral cost.

The response by Neobux’s members was rather inspiring to the say the least and as it turned out, a success.  Very few PTC sites inspire its members the way Neobux does.  Neobux in turn values its members and has remained innovative since its launch.  Payments are still instant and everything looks to be running like a well-oiled machine.

It’s common knowledge that Paypal has regarded the PTC site business as somewhat shady as a result of so many complaints of scam sites that have taken users money.  But it’s also been a gauge of how legit a site is.  In order for a PTC site to actually be able to offer Paypal as a payout option, it has to be in really good standing and that’s very hard for most PTCs.  As you have probably noticed there are very few Bux type PTCs that actually accept Paypal.

Slow Decline

We have seen a gradual decline in PTC sites that offered Paypal since the beginning of the year.  Mostly notably was the demise of bux.to.  Still very popular, but having lost much of its appeal after Paypal cut its ties from them.  The site was forced to use other means of payout, and as a result, bux.to went into a tail spin having delayed payments up to 6 months.  One by one sites were being dropped by Paypal and the future with PTC sites was looking gloom indeed.

Darlings of Paypal

After some time the dust settled and there were still some sites left.  These sites were deemed to be trustworthy and thus became favorites of many.  Crewbux, Thinkbux, and Neobux amongst the leaders.  Then without notice it started again.  The once “darlings” of Paypal began to have its problems with the payment processor.  First Crewbux, then Thinkbux.  How could these two sites who have a fantastic history of paying its members within 24 to 48 hours be cut off from Paypal.   This was very troubling indeed.

The Final Blow

There were still a few left, most prominent being Neobux.  Now we all know Neobux pays instantly and they have great support and involvement by their admin, so there is good reason why they have strong ties with Paypal and no need for worry.  But amazingly, just last night the admin had announced the bad news.  Not only had Paypal cutoff Neobux, but had frozen all its funds for a time of 180 days.  According to the site, that is 72% of its current funds.  A pretty disturbing number if you are a member and my guess is just about everyone involved with PTCs is.

Conclusion

This looks like the end of the relationship between Paypal and Bux PTC sites.  Now we turn to Alertpay.  A bit of a rough start by this payment processor, but it is slowly becoming more dependable.  We can only hope that Alertpay does not do the same thing Paypal has done or the PTC community may have its days numbered.

What once was one of the premier PTC sites around, is now struggling to keep its reputation clean. For almost two weeks now CrewBux has suspended payouts to upgrade the script version on its site, and its members are growing very impatient as the live date keeps getting pushed back. Talks of scam are littered across the forums as members can only wait to see if the payouts will once again start to flow. The admin is doing his best to assure its members with promises of a slick new look and features that mimic the next generation ptc sites like NeoBux. Instant payouts and rented referrals are slated for the upgrade. What should be an exciting time for CrewBux is overshadowed by the delays of version V4 and suspended payouts til it goes live.

To add to an already tense situation, two of the leading moderators at Crewbux forums are also leaving at this crucial time to go launch their own ptc site. This only adds further speculation of the health of CrewBux. Like pouring gasoline on an already out of control fire the situation only gets worse as, a few days ago Crewbux announced that its programmer who was in charge of this whole new upgrade to version V4 went MIA.

They say bad things happen in threes… Are we looking at the potential downfall of CrewBux or a site that will be better then ever with its new script and promising features. I have always been a big fan of CrewBux, but even I am concerned at this point. The new interface can already been seen at the site and some features are working, but the most important one, instant payouts still is not. My hope is that CrewBux will make the transition from “old school” to “new school” ptc with added features that it promises like instant payouts and rented referrals. If CrewBux keeps its promises, the wait for this new version will well be worth it.

Arguably the best ptc site that exists today has announced the launch of its new upgrade packages.  Initially they are offering a discounted pricing during its beta launch set to start on October 13 at 18:00 server time.  If you upgrade during beta you will still get all the benefits of the package, which includes pre-launch pricing to be cheaper then the official launch.  Also the one year timer on your package does not start until the official launch, in essence you are getting bonus time during the beta phase.

Pricing

These new upgrades are by no means cheap in any sense of the word.  The starting upgrades are priced at a whopping $260 and range all the way up to $810.  At first glance these prices seem astronomical compared to premium packages you may be used to at other sites that charge between $20 to $80.  However this is not your ordinary upgrade to premium.  This is an upgrade from premium membership or what NeoBux calls theirs Golden Membership.

Qualifications

The upgrades cannot be bought by everyone, in fact there are some qualifications that must be met before you can purchase any packages.  The first is that you must be an upgraded Golden Member.  Now if you were lucky enough to get this package early in NeoBux’s debut you only paid $30.  This price has seen increases several times including a bump to $60, then $100, before being dropped to its current price of $90.  Even at those prices the upgrade was a steal considering the great features of the site.  The second qualification that must be met is a minimum of 500 clicks.  That is your own clicks and does not count referral clicks.  This is will eliminate a lot of newer members who could afford the upgrade, but in no way can get enough clicks in time for the beta launch.  Bad news is for many is that they will have to wait for after the official launch to get their upgrades which will probably mean a higher price.  Good news for everyone is that this will probably cause a huge surge in activity to reach those 500 clicks for those who are close.

Packages and Features

Official Pre-order Details

· The pre-order will allow you to reserve your chosen pack before anyone else.
· This pre-order will end on October 13th at 18:00 (server time)
· You’ll receive your pack when the pre-order ends with the features already available in a beta test status.
· During the beta test, every feature you use from your chosen pack will reflect in your account.
· When the Packs are fully functional and ready for general sale, you’ll have your pack for a year counting from that date.
· To pre-order your pack, you’ll need to first fund your Pack Balance to the amount you need for the pack.
· As soon as the pre-order ends, you’ll be able to choose your pack depending on the amount you have in your Pack Balance.
· The Pack balance cannot be used for other purchases nor it will be available to cashout.

NeoBux has made several changes to its Terms of Service that have impacted its referral policy in four ways. The first is regarding the amount you earn from your referral clicks. The old policy stated that in order for you to receive credit for your referrals clicks, you must have clicked ads the previous day. The formula was that you would get credit for the number of ads you clicked on the previous day multiplied by two, i.e. if you clicked on two ads the previous day, you would get maximum credit of four ad clicks per referral. So if one referral happened to click five ads that day, you would only get credit for four. The new policy now states that you must still be active and click on ads the previous day, however you now must click at least four ads if you are a standard member and nine ads if you are a premium member to get full credit for all your referral ad clicks. If you click less then the required clicks you only get credit for the amount of ad clicks you made the previous day versus twice that amount in the old policy.

The second change is an increase in the price of recycling referrals from $0.05 to $0.10 effectively doubling the cost. This seems like an extreme measure, however NeoBux insists that it needs to be done because the recycling activity is so great that it consumes 50% of the referral pool.

The third change is an increase in the renting referral price based on how many referrals you have. The table below sums up the changes:

From 0 to 250 referrals: Current price
From 251 to 500 referrals: Current price + $0.01
From 501 to 750 referrals: Current price + $0.02
From 751 to 1000 referrals: Current price + $0.03
From 1001 to 1250 referrals: Current price + $0.04
From 1251 to 1500 referrals: Current price + $0.05
From 1501 to 1750 referrals: Current price + $0.06
After 1751 referrals (inclusive): Current price + $0.07

This change also affects the autopay price. The change was put into effect because of the high demand of rented referrals.

Lastly is the change related to giving users with little to no referrals with extra days to be able to get them. There will be three extra days on top of current times for members who have less then 501 referrals. The table below sums up the changes:

Day 1: Only users without rented referrals can try to rent on this day
Day 2: Only users with less than 201 referrals can try to rent on this day
Day 3: Only users with less than 501 referrals can try to rent on this day
The rest of the week: Everyone (including the mentioned above) can try to rent referrals

All these changes are meant to have a positive impact via more active members. It is yet to be seen whether this will help or hinder what already is a great site with active members. The success of NeoBux has already caused many sites to mimic its features. The question is now whether NeoBux will dictate the future of all paid to click or PTC sites with its policy changes.

It has only been a few weeks since Buxout kicked off its official launch and already it has increased the price to become a premium member. The initial price was $59.00 and even then it seemed a little pricey compared to other sites who are very popular like CrewBux and ThinkBux. Both those sites have premium membership prices below $30.00. According to Buxout, the demand is so great that they decided it was time to increase the price to its premium membership to $85.00. Quite a hefty increase when you consider NeoBux charges $90.00 to upgrade from standard.

When you consider the payout options at Buxout with standard members receiving $0.01 per click and $0.005 per referral clicks compared to premium members $0.0125 per click and $0.0125 per referral clicks, you are practically forced to upgrade. That breaks down to a loss of $7.50 per 1000 referral clicks if you don’t upgrade.

To those that got on board early congratulations and to those that didn’t, it’s a bigger hill to climb before breaking even. Another thing to think about is that there is also a chance that they could raise the price again later.