Monday, March 5, 2007

Pinecone Research-easy $5 guaranteed!

OPEN RECRUITMENT: Very cool!! I have been looking for this link for Pinecone Research for a few months. Sign up from the above Pinecone Research link. Usually it is up and then gone in a less than a few days or 24 hours because they fill their quota. They are usually closed to new members, so it is really hard to join their panel. People love working with them. Hurry folks-you have to sign up ASAP. It is a legitimate company that pays you $5 for every product you test or survey you take-even before you take them. It is really easy money-the surveys only take about 15 minutes so for $5 that is really great!! You can sign up here too Pinecone Research!


Read here for more info. Also, here is a great forum to read what others say about Pinecone Research: forum.volition.com or forums.dealofday.com

HURRY-easy money and you get to try new items!!



Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Continued...(almost) Free Trial....with Benefits! (part 2)

Please read this post (almost) Free Trial...with Benefits! If you have not already.

So I called to cancel one week after I began the trial, and they tried to get me to stay on with them.

Great fun offered to send me 4 $10 vouchers for anything I would spend money on such as gas, movies, dinner, etc. so I said okay. About 2 weeks after I called I told them I hadn’t received anything and that I just wanted to cancel it because by the time I got the voucher and sent it in for a refund it would be too late and I would have to pay the fee so they extended my free membership until April 2, 2007. Click here for the vouchers and notice that I can only use one $10 refund every 3 months. I should have figured it was some little scam like that but I can at least use one $10 voucher before I cancel my trial membership. That way I have gotten a $10 gift card to Circuit City and a $10 check and it only cost me $1 so my net payout is $19, which is not much, but it was more than I had before.

I called Traveler’s Advantage the same days as I did Great Fun (I think they are sister sites of a parent company thought not sure which one). When I tried to cancel the first week they told me they would send me a buy one flight ticket get a companion one for free. So when I didn’t receive it two weeks later I called to cancel and they extended my membership until April 2, 2007 so I have received the voucher for the free companion ticket and $20 in Exxon Mobile gas cards and only paid $1. So my net payout is $29 plus how ever much that companion ticket would be-maybe $200. We’ll see how easy it is to redeem the voucher. Click here for the flight vouchers.

I will continue to keep you posted on this deal. Write me with questions at zloofah@hotmail.com.

Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Thursday, March 1, 2007

EXTRA cash back with UPromise

So Upromise is having EXTRA savings for all of March. Go on and sign up and shop through their website. Here is just a sample of the types of increase in cash back:

Target- 4%, Now 5% through 3/31/07
Overstock.com - 3%, Now 5% through 3/31/07
Brookstone - 4%, Now 8% through 3/31/07
Dell - 2%, Now 3% through 3/31/07
1-800-FLOWERS.COM - 10%, now 12% through 3/31/07

For more info on rebate programs and information on UPromise, please refer to my previous blog here.


Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Mystery Shopping-some tried and true

I really like doing mystery shops. Before I go into listing shops I have done or my husband has done, I want to give some advice. In my opinion, some shops are a waste of time. For example, if there is a fast food shop that does not pay a fee but simply reimburses you for the cost of the food (~$8) then you have to account for the time you spent. Before the shop you had to find the shop (or it was e-mailed to you), then you had to read the instructions and be careful to comply with them all, then come home and spend about 1 hour filling the information out. That doesn’t sound like you get much out of it except for free food-but free food is free food-but it is even better when you get free food and a fee for doing it. However, if you were to do the same restaurant shop every month then you wouldn’t have to read the instructions all the time and you wouldn’t spend so much time filling the report out because you would know ahead of time what you needed to look for and what was going to be asked on the report.

Some companies require you to give your S.S. # which is for tax purposes (they only use it if you make over $600 with them, then you will be sent a 1099 form and have to have the taxes taken out on your own). I am very much against paying for a mystery shopping site, so that is why I am providing these links to get you started. So all in all they usually pay you a fee and reimburse you for your purchases up to a specific dollar amount that was specified by them. Also, many companies deposit your money into your PayPal account so you would need to set one up if you don’t have one already. These companies expect you to comply with all their rules and instructions. If you do not you will never be able to do shops with them again, or be on probation for a few months with them, or get a lower point scale (e.g. instead of being a 5 out of 5 you would be a 2 out of 5 which is not good).

Clicking this link will bring you to a page of certifications. Some companies you sign up for will ask you if you have a certification level. I don’t have any certification but I still have done shops. However, if you don’t have the certification you might not be a first choice for some companies but if you just want to do a few shops then I personally don’t think you need it. Plus the first certification level costs $15. Just something to think about.

What I did is I registered with www.shadowshopper.com for their free month trial. ShadowShopper sends you e-mails from companies that need shops done. Then I signed up for the companies they e-mailed us that needed shoppers. I canceled with ShadowShopper before the end of the month and just worked off of the list of companies I took from the e-mails I was sent by ShadowShopper.

This site is great for discussion and offers some postings for mystery shops: www.lilaslounge.com.

Read here for some great articles: http://www.startupjournal.com/ideas/services/20050208-spors.html

DataQuest, Ltd. 1-800-292-9797 ext. 147 (no website exists to my knowledge; done 3-5 mystery hotel shops at Sheraton hotels, including the Sheraton Yankee Clipper in Fort Lauderdale, Florida: they pay you $25 plus you get for $50 room service, and $50 at the hotel’s restaurant and you are reimbursed tips for the bellman, valet, etc. *NOTE: there is a lot to report on but if the person you are bringing along knows what is expected they are an extra help to you-my husband always noticed things I may not have noticed).

www.satisfactionservicesinc.com (sign up online with them, wait a few days and call-they say not to call but to wait for an e-mail from them but in the 2 + years I have been with them they have sent me probably 2 e-mails. From calling them I have done numerous (5 or more) valet parking shops at condominiums (paid about $10), 2-3 Wing stop (paid $5 plus reimburse food-never would have tried them if it weren’t for this shop and they have delicious flavors of wings), a fun and entertaining water taxi through Fort Lauderdale Florida waterways, 3-4 Original Steakhouse restaurants (~ $5-10-it is a steakhouse with big tv’s that have sports on), an ice cream shop, Miami Subs (~ $5 plus reimburse food), and eyeglass world (~ $10).

www.baidata.com (my husband did a Harley Davidson shop for $19 and a Bank of America shop for $10 and didn’t have to spend money at either of them)


Some others that are similar in style to baidata.com are the following:
http://www.sassieshop.com/2kern/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.sassieshop.com/2sutter/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.athpoweronline.com/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.sassieshop.com/2ipsos/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

https://www.sassieshop.com/2sgmarketing/custom/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php?mode=&EmailH=&password=

www.sassieshop.com/2nis

https://www.shopnchekshopper.com/XP2/ (I did an Outback restaurant with them once)

http://www.sassieshop.com/2mysteryshopinc/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php

http://www.servicecheckreport.com/shoppers/LoginShopper.norm.php (got paid $7 and went to a movie with my husband and got a free meal)

http://volition.com/mysteryUSA1.html (sign up for these as long as you don’t have to pay-I have signed up for a few but not all because that is a lot-near the middle on the left side of the screen is 2 more links for an alphabetical list of mystery shops)

http://evaluator2.second-to-none.com/evaluator/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fevaluator%2fDefault.aspx

http://www.mymysteryshop.com/shoppers/LoginShopper.php

http://www.kinesis-cem.com/ShopperSignUp.html (I went bowling and got a free meal)

http://www.jancyn.com/work.php

http://www.gapbuster.com/xec/default.aspx?culture=1033

http://mysteryshops.com/ (their instructions look a little too confusing for me, so I have never done any shops with them before)


Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Friday, February 23, 2007

Ebates/Upromise, etc...Comparing Reward Programs

Through the years I have heard of numerous reward programs from UPromise and Ebates (coupons offered on their site in addition to cash back) to Jellyfish (the cool thing is it is a search engine so you can compare a product’s price from different stores and then get your cash back on top of that lower price and the referral system allows you to earn cash back when your friend purchases) and MyPoints. Currently I am only using UPromise (you can cash out with them as well but only up to 4 times a year and you have to send a letter and it is a little more trouble than Ebates). I was beginning to wonder which ones were the best so I began to do research, however, I have been saved numerous hours of reading and comparing online by finding this chart that compares reward programs. It even shows the percentage of cash back (or points) for the store you shop from. You need to note that this is from October 31, 2006 so the information will be somewhat different. The analysis is also discussed here. I encourage you to compare when you are about to purchase something online. I would compare the top three on her chart for the store you are shopping through and then look at the site online and compare for the most recent listed cash/points back percentage. It looks like Ebates, FatWallet , and Jellyfish are the top ones! If you have questions you can personally write to Becky Ford (writes for the Chicago Tribune) at comparerewards@yahoo.com.

Not sure you want to trust one person’s comparison, then check out www.probargainhunter.com.

Here is a cool program too: www.mytroops.com. It is like all the other reward programs but you can sponsor a person in the military and they are the ones that receive the rewards like gift certificates to online toy stores or flower shops. There is also an ongoing blog www.mytroops.com/blog/. Or for moms (and dads too) there is ClubMom in which you can earn points as well and share stories and pictures and advice with other moms-a whole network!

Since reading this, it looks like I am going to most of my shoppinng through Ebates (plus the fact that you get $5 bonus for signing up and I do too!) or Jellyfish but I will compare before hand. However, UPromise is good for shopping in person at stores. It is so easy to redeem cash back at certain restaurants, traveling (like booking a flight or cruise or rental car), grocery and drug stores. It is great because I don’t even have to think about it to get money. The reason is because on their site I register my credit and debit cards along with those grocery savings cards you get to put on your keychain. So when you use those cards at participating stores (which are a lot by the way!) then a certain percentage gets put back in your account. The list goes on for the things you can get money back on-moving services (Atlas and Allied Van Lines), mortgage (CitiMortgage), gas stations (Exxon, Mobile), food (McDonalds, Schlotzsky’s Deli), etc.
Good luck and have fun saving money while you shop!

Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

For US, Canada, and Europe: Get Paid to Drive Facts and Info: HERE!

Attn: Americans, Canadians, and Europeans:
Here is another great way to make money. It is car advertisements. Before you stop reading because you don’t want your car to be fully covered (full car wrap) there are companies I will list where you can opt for a magnet or cling on. (Most people need to drive at least 1K/mo and live or work in a big city area that you drive to). Just sign up and if they need a person in your demographics then you’re in luck. Apparently, I haven’t been in that luck but I still sign up anyways just in case they need me or someone can’t do it and I am next in line. Both the car wrap and magnets or cling on’s are done by the company and will come off without damage to your car. Also, some of them offer free cars that all you have to do is insure and pay for gas-SWEET! I would beware and never pay for a “membership” fee to get in a database for the possibility of your car being wrapped. With some companies you have to allow them to install a GPS tracker (not for your personal directions) so they can keep track of where you are going. When you sign up they ask you what day and what time you travel, for example Mon, Wed, & Fri you drive to school and Tue & Thur you drive to work, and on Saturday you drive to the gym, etc. Some companies require a contract for a year (could be more or could be less) and often times the stipulations required you to wash your car twice a month and meet once a month with a representative of the company that wrapped your car. If they ask you to have your car wrapped but you don’t agree with the advertisement you can opt out. The variation in pay, such as $40-120 is dependent upon what the advertiser says.

http://www.mangomoose.ca/ (for Canadians but I don’t see a sign up area, so please call 1.866.939.7274)

http://www.ad-wraps.co.uk/ (for Europeans)
Between £66 & £200/mo and GPS tracker

http://www.ad-wraps.co.uk/free-car-scheme.htm#x (for Europeans)
Free car scheme

www.adsaroundtown.com
All states aside from Texas
Applied on rear or back side windows (not a cling-on)

www.adsmartoutdoor.com
Free Nissan Xterra or a Volkswagen Beetle offered
$350/mo for a car wrap (only available in select cities), GPS tracker

www.drivingpromotions.com
Up to $300/mo & at least 1K miles/mo, GPS tracker

www.autowrapped.com
Free car program offered (no details listed)
From $200-$400/mo for full wraps or $100-200/mo for partial wraps
800-1200 miles/mo and GPS tracker

http://drivers.freecarmedia.com/
Up to $400/mo for full car wrap

www.alienadvertising.com
Advertisement (window cling) is applied by you on only 2 back windows
At least 1K miles/mo and paid $40-120/mo

http://www.ad-wraps.com/
Desn’t give much info about payment or miles

http://www.adwrapsmedia.com/ (looks similar to the ad-wraps.com but not sure)
Free car program offered
U to $400/mo


www.autowrap.com (BEWARE: do not use the listed sites from this link-they charge you a fee which is ridiculous when there are companies that don’t charge a fee)



Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)

Monday, February 19, 2007

How to get Gift Cards for little cost to you

Here is an example of what I signed up for that I wrote in this post (almost) Free Trial...with Benefits!



You pay $1 for the trial and get a $25 Visa Gift Card. I did that with GreatFun and Traveler's Advantage.



Don't forget to sign up for free at http://www.agloco.com/r/BBBS4943 (refer to post A New-Internet Craze?...or Just Hype in January)