[puravida]

Quote

The answer is: they're either unsustainable and headed toward the wrong direction, or they're scamming.

Nicely put. Sad, but true in most cases (possibly all).

-Brandon

[puravida]

That's a very accurate assessment, Cashier.

In fact, there are many variations of that type of scheme (i.e. pay to surf program, investment schemes, etc).

There was one here in Costa Rica where the people were promising to pay 100% profit each year and got millions upon millions of dollars. They had a lot of money to start, so they paid everyone monthly for years ...yes, years.

Then, when they had $80 Million (...yes, Million!), they disappeared.

It must be nice to have no conscience.

-Brandon

[APesT]

Sorry to sound so rude but paying into these sites that you know are going to vanish with everyones cash, even if you pull out sooner then they disappear, in my books this makes you not much better then them. You are just encouraging them to continue to steal from others.

Yes, there may be a few legit ones out there but if you know that a site is gonna run with everyones cash why would you or should I say how could you be a part of that with a clear mind? Don't you feel like you are stealing from others also?

This is just my opinion and I don't mean any hate from it I just don't understand...

APesT

[puravida]

Hi Shavon,

Welcome to the forum! I am sure everyone -including myself- are very appreciative of your kind words.

We all hope to see you around more often!

-Brandon

[tdonald]

In the USA the FTC has ruled that HYIP's are illegal. Many of them and the autosurfs are shutting down because Paypal put a freeze on their accounts.

This has even affected the legitimate manual surfs because Paypal lumped all the traffic exchanges together in the SCAM category and froze their accounts.

[nightfall]

I have to agree on Cashier's assessment, HYIPs do pay, but you have to get the timing right.. and just like the stock market you can't possibly time it correctly each time..

Some one mentioned Feeder Fund in a post dated 2005, that my friend is also gone. So much for the 'good guys' huh?

There are no such thing as a straight HYIP based on investments, if they are paying more than 1% p.a per week GUARANTEED.

If they are doing that, then it is almost guaranteed that it is a pyramid scheme where funds from members who paid to sign up are use to pay existing members.

Just to share my experience.. my biggest committment about 2 - 3 years ago was in this autosurf site called XXXXX (I decided not to name it, in case I get sued )

What I did was use my own money to loan a friend to be my downline, that was $1000USD. For that I get a commission of $200USD, and the thing about autosurf is that you get back what you "invested" in plus the so called "interest" that is earned..

The end state? I got my commission, my friend got his cut. We all got our money back plus commissions.

I only had the balls to do this once because you never never know when they will "introduce" problems, more like excuses why you cannot get paid or why there is a delay.

We stayed with the program until it finally collapsed...for those who had been in the scene then I am sure you know what I am talking about.

Yes, you can make money in HYIP / Autosurf etc..but more often than not you will get burned.

For me during that time, I was involved in several of such sites, and the net gain I got was only at most 10% of what I had to come out of my own pocket to begin with.

In my opinion, the uncertainty and all is not worth the risk, especially when you have to fork out cash of your own.

The latest scheme / scam these days are OLD AGE Insurance, claiming that you invest $45 and will earn $55,000 when enough people sign up...

Do your math...you must learn to identify bull crap when you see it.

Good luck !

[puravida]

Good post, Patrick.

nightfall, on Jan 10 2008, 06:39 AM, said:

I only had the balls to do this once because you never never know when they will "introduce" problems, more like excuses why you cannot get paid or why there is a delay.

We stayed with the program until it finally collapsed...for those who had been in the scene then I am sure you know what I am talking about.

I think I even know which program you are talking about. lol. I just posted about it in another forum recently.

Like you said, the trick is to get in and get out. So far (over my 7 years experience), ALL of these high-paying programs go under. The thrive on those who do not plan on this eventual failure.

[Abraham]

Wow! those experiences are overwhelming! How about mlm? do you have lots also of mlm experiences? I am interested in stories of those in mlm for many years. At least, I can learn something!

[nightfall]

Abraham.

The first thing to note is that there are several MLM companies out there claiming they are MLM but in essence they are just another pyramid scheme.

Pyramid schemes are illegal in most countries..

I will write more about MLM later cos I did write a long reply but no idea why it never got posted and I am just to tired to rewrite it again..

Cheers!

[puravida]

nightfall, on Jan 10 2008, 10:50 PM, said:

I will write more about MLM later cos I did write a long reply but no idea why it never got posted and I am just to tired to rewrite it again..

Ouch! That sucks. Sometimes if you lose your Internet connection -even briefly- while posting, that can happen. That's also not to say that the forum might have "glitched" for some reason. I haven't had any issues, but I've known other forums to lose my "novel of a post" at times.

I *always* copy my posts to the clipboard before submitting.. just in case.

Abraham, on Jan 10 2008, 10:35 AM, said:

Wow! those experiences are overwhelming! How about mlm? do you have lots also of mlm experiences? I am interested in stories of those in mlm for many years. At least, I can learn something!

I haven't had direct experience with MLM, because I haven't found one that I truly believe in. However, before I begin to talk about MLM at all, let me clarify that what I mean by MLM is a "Multi-Level Marketing" company that actually has a product or service. If it doesn't have a product or service that you can identify in less than 10 seconds and sum up in just one sentence, then it is a ponzi or pyramid scheme. I think that's probably what nightfall had posted about before he lost it.

Now, my thoughts on MLM are this... I've been turned off of even trying an MLM because the people I've seen promoting those (in Starbucks and Borders and places like that) tend to be the "used car salesmen" type. They are telling people how they are super wealthy and made so much money, but you can tell by looking at them that they are lying. As I watch those guys drive off in their beat up little Yugo's (sarcasm there), I wonder to myself how people can be convinced. The answer is that people believe whatever they want to believe. A good salesman identifies what people want to hear and tells it to them. A great salesman will do this but only tell the truth and then improve his product/service to be exactly what the customer wants. The "great" salesperson is the one that gets repeat business and makes his fortune.

However, while I was living in Costa Rica, I was about to become an Herbalife reseller. The reason I was considering that was because that product was not known there but the locals were very interested when we gave them product samples. We sold quite a few bottles but then I came back to the U.S. and dropped that idea. Now, I have other priorities. The point, though, is that there probably are some MLM out there that are worthwhile --if you can sift through all the junk to find them.

-Brandon

[nightfall]

Brandon, I did thought of copying it to the clipboard, and I thought 'nah..' it will get through.. damn I hate it when Murphy sits next to me. .

Abraham, I decided not to hijack this thread and start another one named MLM - Is it worth your time?

[Abraham]

thank you guys for those enlightening answers!

If "pyramid" per se is illegal, then most companies we know today are illegal. Look at the set-up in many organizations, they are pyramid in structure: President, Vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, employees, etc.

The employees work so hard, at least 6-8 hours a day. But comes payday, the one's at the top, usually the president, or manager, gets the big cut of the pay. I dislike that! But it's not illegal, it's how it is in reality!

[puravida]

Abraham, on Jan 11 2008, 03:55 AM, said:

If "pyramid" per se is illegal, then most companies we know today are illegal. Look at the set-up in many organizations, they are pyramid in structure: President, Vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, employees, etc.

This is a little different... when we said 'pyramid', we were not referring to the corporate structure or 'tree'. What we meant was that the people at the top are referring others for money. In a company, the ceo is not referring someone for cash and then the vp refers some managers for cash... you see? They "hire" people to do a job so the company can offer a service or product.

Check out nightfall's thread too: http://www.get-paid-...?showtopic=5151