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Nintendo 3ds For 1.00
Let's Play Legend of Zelda Ocarina of TIme [Part 1]
Nintendo 3ds For 1.00
Reviewing the Website Points2Shop by Michael
Hey there everyone, Mike here (or CrescentSkies if you prefer my Triond name) doing an article on the website, Points2Shop. As some of you may know but others may not, Points2Shop is a legitimate offer and survey website that connects you to various advertizers, market researchers, and social information companies in trade for money. It claims to be legitimate and from what I've seen so far (as I will discuss later) it really does work. Well that'll be for all of you to decide after this now won't it?
What Is Points2Shop? (in-depth explanation)
Points2Shop is a legitimate survey and offer website that makes money by providing other companies with customers, panelists, and data. These three sources are you, the Points2Shop Member. By completing the various offers and surveys on the website you are given a percentage of the money that Points2Shop earns which you can use to purchase various prizes and items. Points2Shop is not a "get rich quick" website and makes no claim to be one, in fact all the members, administrators, and some parts of the website itself will tell you that you have to earn the points and put some effort in to get anything.
Points2Shop has been around for several years and as the main site will tell you has handed out over 3 million dollars worth of cash and prizes. There are thousands of members in Points2Shop, but thankfully companies need thousands of resources as well. This system of supply and demand is the basis of Points2Shop, but that does not guarentee that it will be around forever. If the demand for opinions and social information drops then so will the reliability of Points2Shop.
So What Are The Good Things?
Well since this is a review I'll give you a short list of all the good things about Points2Shop, I may leave some things out but this is an article not a book:
- Legitimate Website
- Large Number of Available Offers
- Good, Supportive Community (anyone not either of those is quickly banned)
- Support Forums
- Large Selection of Rewards
- Many Reliable Offers
- Many Helpful Tips on Completing Offers
- A Moderated Shoutbox to Get Answers Quickly
- You can get a gas mask, do I need to say more about the diversity of available rewards?
Alright Shoot, What are the Bad Things?
Seeing as this is an objective review I'll give you a list of all the bad things I've found while using Points2Shop's features:
- The "Honor Levels" prevents you from accessing most of the better offers until you complete a lot of the less beneficial offers
- Many "Data Collection" Offers are just spam generators (though there are work arounds, secondary e-mails, k7.net phone numbers, all in the forums)
- Some offers just won't approve no matter what you do (try and avoid them)
- Surveys only give you credit if you qualify and finish them (which can take a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 30 minutes)
- Most of the Free Offers are just Data Collection (spam) offers
- Though I will say in the defense of the offers, most of your income from this site will probably come from Daily Surveys when you reach Bronze Level Honor (explain later). I've managed to generate 3-4 hundred points from completing daily surveys during my spare time after college classes.
You Mentioned Something About Honor Before?
Indeed I did, Points2shop works on a level system called Honor Levels. Higher levels get access to more features and more offers than lower levels as well as higher recognition and priority in support and forums. I'll briefly explain the first couple of honor levels here:
- New- if you have the "new" honor level, it means that you have just joined the site and have not become a verified member yet (not his doesn't mean you have to click on a confirmation e-mail). New members have access to a single daily survey offer, most free offers, and a few reliable daily tasks.
- Bronze- if you have the "bronze" honor level, it means that you bought an item from points2shop and had your real life address verified. Please note that you cannot use points to make donations to charities or get e-mail gift certificates until you are bronze level. I recommend buying one of the cheap Points2Shop items listed here to verify your address and level up your honor.
- Silver- after earning bronze level, completing 10 offers, having no more than 5% of your offers rejected (only occurs in fraud), and recieving at least $10 from completing offers you can become a silver member. As a silver member you can classify offers so that others and you can find them more easily. You can also access more reliable manual offers.
So What Is This "Points System"?
Points2Shop does not use any single currency, instead they use their own currency called Points. The conversion rate for Points is 100 Points = 1.00 USD and points can be traded in for rewards only, not cash. However the rewards are very diverse and numerous, you'll probably find the product you would've bought with the cash in the amazon.com section of the rewards anyway (I believe I've seen Wallmart cards which can be used for gas as well). So you can't use Points2Shop to pay your bills, but you can definately use it for that Xbox Live memberships you've been covetting or that Ultimate Game Card so you can buy some stuff in your favorite online game.
So How Do I Earn Points? Which Offers Work?
There are various types of offers that let you earn points. I'll provide you another little list of the various types of offers Points2Shop has available for you. On top of it I'll throw in which offers to trust and which offers to shy from:
- Marketting Research - normally legit companies looking to get you to sign up for survey panels or participate in a research study. I'll estimate that this is an about 80% useful category
- Download Offers - you download software or toolbars onto your computer, then you get points. There "are" workarounds to protect your computer from the obvious threat of viruses, but even so I don't recommend this type of offer at all. Estimate about 10% useful and even less virus-free
Service Introduction- so you sign up for a trial of a service or a use of a service and get points. This includes anything from Auto Quote finders to registering for newsletters. Generally has a decent payout, I'd rank it at 50% useful - Video Offers- You watch a video from youtube or some other site, then you get some points. It's not a high payout, not even 2 points a video sometimes, but it's completely safe and legit, 100% useful for sheer ease.
- Daily Tasks- You complete a task ranging from categorizing a series of products to looking up search terms about a person, place, or thing. After completing the task you recieve points. General difficult and long (takes 30 minutes) but fair payout, about 80% useful
- Daily Surveys- the most legit part of the site, you complete surveys for real companies and get paid if you qualify and complete. 100% useful (but only qualify about 60% of the time)
- Click Offers- Webmasters pay you to click through on the banner in their website, you get paid something very small but it only takes a minute. 100% useful
- Trials and Paid- companies either sell products or trials to you and you get a cashback bonus. If you're already planning on buying the service (say you're planning to buy a subscription to netflix) this is a great way to get a cashback discount, but otherwise about 50% useful.
- Data Collection- companies pay for your personal information and the right to sell it. Normally they'll only ask for e-mail and phone number but sometimes they'll ask for addresses. I recommend avoiding these offers and give it a 10% useful rank.
Alright So What "Can" You Buy With Points?
I was getting there, I promise! Before I start the list I'll warn you that I'm just listing the most Popular transactions or the most likely to be popular transactions. Also I'd like to note that by Amazon items, I mean ANY item that Amazon sells.
- Amazon Items
- Xbox Live Memberships
- Xbox Live/Wii/Playstation Points Cards
- Ultimate Game Cards
- Runescape Memberships
- Minecraft Gift Codes
- Itunes Cards
- Best Buy/Gamestop Gift Cards
- Facebook Credits
- Game Consoles (yes that includes Xbox 360s, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, etc.)
- Video Games (well those that are sold by amazon)
Okay But How do I know You're a Member? Show Me More Proof.
Bound to come up sometime, well you can check out my profile in the link below:
As for evidence, there's a lovely forum section on the Points2Shop website where everyone posts up proof that they recieved their items or whatever they ordered:
If you want some examples upfront, let's see. Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360 Console, a Free PS3, wow someone actually bought a Macbook (I didn't notice that until I went to fetch the link, new stuff is posted up daily). Well also I've gotten an Ultimate Game Card ($10 version) from Points2shop and used it on my favorite game, Dynasty Warriors Online, if you need a personal tidbit.
Wait What About Those Paypal Proofs? Points2Shop Doesn't Deal in Cash!
Nice eye, and you're right. Points2Shop does NOT deal in cash as I stated earlier, but it's sister site Cashle does. Cashle is linked in with the same offers as Points2Shop except that certain offer providers allow the website to pay you in cash instead of in points (so it's an offer provider controlled switch). With Cashle you can retriever your money via Paypal, a mailed in check, gift cards, or if you want you can even use it to buy points (with the $1 = 100 points conversion).
IMPORTANT: if you use Cashle, please keep this in mind, you may convert cash into points but NOT vice versa. Also all Cash to Points transactions are non-refundable. It's a subject of much despair when a new member doesn't realize it until too late.
Alright Say I Want to Sign Up, What do I Have to Do?
Signup is easy, you follow the link below and submit your valid e-mail address (preferably linked to your paypal account in case you ever want to use cashle for paypal withdrawls). After you test the site out and make sure it's genuine you can complete registration (information regarding that is below).
I'm Still On the Fence...What Information is Required to Sign Up?
Well Points2Shop will only require one thing to start your trial period (a short period you can use the site to test out offers and see if you like it) and that's an e-mail address. Once you've tested it out and seen more of the site, you can register fully which requires your name, e-mail, address, and date of birth. Remember Points2Shop will never send you anything without your consent or sell your personal information anywhere, EVER. Unless you ignore my advice and submit your personal information to the data collection offers, in which case that's not Points2Shop sending you junk mail, that's the company you gave your information to. I've had my information on record at Points2Shop for over 3 months now and I haven't gotten any junk mail (well anymore than I did before I joined).
If you still feel uncomfortable, that's fine. Being cautious on the internet is a good thing and can save you a lot of headaches later. Feel free to follow my blog:
I may not make daily updates but I try and keep regular updates in between college.
About the Author
I'm a college student born in 1991, I've been searching for ways to feed my various gaming addictions and increase my general savings while still having time to study and make good grades. I post articles and blogs sharing my various methods with all of you.