29 replies to this topic

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG]

Hi,
Yesterday someone had made a post at AstaHost ( http://www.astahost.com/index.php?showtopi...indpost&p=29114 ) about this referral + search site name netbux.org that pays you $0.02 for every search you made through their page. Out of curiousity I dropped by and opened an account there. First of all - it isn't even a search site - it simply redirects your search to another popular engine, which you get to pick from a dropdown box along with your search string.

Ever since then, I've faced quite a few problems with them:
1. Not all searches get counted properly - this might be a flaw of their script. They do say that repeated searches won't be counted - each search has to be unique. But their script is SO BAD, that it ignores searches even if they contain ONE common keyword.
Say, I searched for "VB.NET Aqua Button" and then searched for "VB.NET Custom Dispose Method" - goddamned thing ignored the second search completely - I ask you, What's common to both, other than the fact I searched for something to do with vb.net but for completely unrelated types of code ?

2. Second problem - today morning - it completely disregarded 3-4 of my searches - never credited them to my account. My account balance stands at what it was due to 5 searches yesterday.

3. And now, it's gone for a complete toss. Everytime I do a search I simply land up with this message: Paid searches must be conducted from the Netbux homepage.

• I reloaded their page and tried - thinking it was a problem with session cookies. DIDN'T WORK.
  
• I tried at least 20 different (completely unique) search strings with NO COMMON WORDS. DIDN'T WORK.
  
• I tried logging out of my account and logged back in again. Searched. DIDN'T WORK.
  
• I've been trying ever since - STILL DOESN'T WORK. Always gives me that same message.

What the hell is going on ? Do they seriously intend to carry forward this so called paid search business - or is it just another internet scam to draw a lot of hits to their page ?? I think it's more of the latter. Tell me about your experiences.

A very very angry & pissed m^e


P.S. Still if anyone wishes to signup for this service, I'd be obliged if you use my referral link: http://netbux.org/?r=16884
I want to see what comes out of it.

Edited by microscopic^earthling, 19 April 2005 - 08:45 AM.

[odomike]

Well, the problem is basically from their bad scripts as you said. I have never even heard of this website. Infact, this is my very first time of hearing abou it.

Maybe I am gonna give it a trial and see what happens.

[spawn_syxx9]

I will check it out and see what it going on with it. I don't trust these making money things online and so we'll see just how easy it is. Do you have to pay anything?

[serverph]

too bad it pays via PAYPAL only. i don't have paypal (nor is it offered in our country anyway), so even if can register, i won't get paid.

anyway, it smells of a scam with all the loopholes enumerated above. a program which promises to pay net users BUT disregard proper functioning of it's scripts is bound to fall and fold in due time because it cannot deliver its promises. it would not be worth the frustrations one expereince. better stick with trusted and well-established programs.

[brainless]

I'm giving it a try, too, since I didn't verify my PayPal-Account via a money transfer from my real bank account (they don't even have my real one) nor via any other way.
I suppose I'm good enough at making up unique search strings but we'll see how it works out...

[rustypaulin]

i tried it for a day and it seemed to work ok for me but the pay out is too high and i could never be bothered to do that many searches

[gregster]

"... the pay-out is too high ..."

That's the point with these GPTs (get paid to ...)

They offer to pay you only if you reach a certain payout level.
Do the arithmetic: If they pay 0.02 per search and the payout
is say $20, how many searches do you need to do? 1,000! and
they have all these tricks in place so that a lot of your csearches
are not counted. Wait until you are nearing the payout level and
see that you'll almost never get there because of technicalities.
Then you realized you've been had. After days and days of
wasting your time.

My advice. Don't bother. Concentrate on improving your websites
and placing CPM/CPA ads instead (or AdSense). You'll get real money
from legit sources, guaranteed.

[spawn_syxx9]

It would require 2500 searches to finally get the $50 so yeah. It kinda isn't worth it. I'll use it and then if I happen to get 2500 searches at some point in time that would be great but until then

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG]

It seems to be working now - I'm still checking it out. Lets see what comes out of it. Meanwhile, someone had gone to their forums and posted a link to this thread. Guess what - they moved it to their SPAMMAGE forum, because it's a negative review ??? What kind of attitude does it portray ? If I were them, I'd keep it PINNED somewhere in public view and improve my service to prove the accuser wrong. That'd have been the perfect slap-back !
Sheeeesh !!

[MrMan]

microscopic^earthling, on Apr 20 2005, 05:28 PM, said:

It seems to be working now - I'm still checking it out. Lets see what comes out of it. Meanwhile, someone had gone to their forums and posted a link to this thread. Guess what - they moved it to their SPAMMAGE forum, because it's a negative review ??? What kind of attitude does it portray ? If I were them, I'd keep it PINNED somewhere in public view and improve my service to prove the accuser wrong. That'd have been the perfect slap-back !
Sheeeesh !!

www.Netbux.org DOES work, although I don't know for how long. So far in 3 days I have made $8. You only make 2 cents a search but that is a lot more than most payout search sites. You are limited to 40 searches a day x 2cents = 80 cents a day. Not much but you get paid for each person you refer to the site as well, they get thier 80 cents a day and you get 80 cents for them as well

So, if you have 10 users at $24 a month thats $264 a month for searching...not bad. Payout is $50, so if you dont have anyone under you it will take you 3 months to get to payout.

There was a forum but its down now, inside there were users post how much money they made, some made decent cash each month. Reason I said I was not sure how long it will work is because I am not sure HOW the owner (chad something) gets his income. Ads are only paying $100 a week and so far I have only seen 3 or 4 at most. You can also buy unrefered users for $1 each. I forked over $10 for 10 users but I have yet to see them, the waiting period is 'at least 7 days' notice 'at least'

Anyhow, if you try it, post your results. I'm hoping to get to the $50 mark to at least get my $10 back.