Your experience in Internet business ventures?

[Pavel Sokov]

Hey, I was wondering is there anyone here that ever joined an internet money making venture of some sorts? And if so, what was the idea behind it and did you succeed?

I am asking because i just joined one today, and im currently in the 7 day free trial of this company called GDI:

http://website.ws/pavelispaid (there is a flash animation in here that explains how it works to those that are interested)

The idea is that for 10 bucks a month the site provides you with an internet site domain so you can set up your own website for whatever use you want, but the big thing is that you get a dollar for every person you reffer to the site. And when those people reffer someone to the site you get paid a dollar for that as well, meaning you earn all the money the people under you earn. My friend that reffered me claims he made 126 dollars the first month.

seems a bit too good to be true, does anyone have any experience with similar sort of things and could give me advice on it's safety?

[stoph]

you just want me for my moneys!!1

[0kelvin]

Besides being unsustainable, exploitative and illegal, it sounds like a great scheme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme)!


Eric

[Slash]

There's no such thing as a free lunch. And by linking to this you're actually spamming.

[emily g]

This looks like pyramid scheme, with the "product" being the website domain.
The problem with this is that it's unsustainable. Eventually you will run out of people to refer and the people you refer will run out of people to refer.

Read the link that 0kelvin posted. It fits the description perfectly.

[Pavel Sokov]

Besides being unsustainable, exploitative and illegal, it sounds like a great scheme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme)!


Eric


There is absolutely no way this is illegal. This program has been mentioned in entrepreneurial magazines (they have the issues you can order to prove to ur friends), tv, as well as being the world's 38th fastest growing company, it is completely legit. It is also the world's only possible company that registers .ws domains. so any site you will see with a .ws will belong to them. it just seemed to me to be much more legit then other crap i saw,

and its not spam, i posted the link so u guys can see what im even talking about, i am genuinely interested in what others with experience have to say about this site. Because if there is a veteran who has been attempting these schemes for years now and knows what he is talking about, i can get solid advice on whether to keep on going with this, or delete my account.

edit: but emily, the thing is whether or not you keep on reffering people, you are still getting the same check every month, thats what drew me in. that once i break the 10 bucks per month and get profit the first month il never have to worry about it again, unless they will steal money from me. the income comes every month for old efforts, it doesnt expire. so my friend right now got himself up to 130 dollars his first month, which means he will get this amount AT LEAST every month untill he deletes his account or the website dies. i say at least because it could be icnreasing without his effort thanks to his downline. your thoughts?

[Blue]

If it looks too good to be true, it is.

[Alzorath]

What's the name of the "entrepreneurial magazines" they'll show evidence with?

Currently, it sounds slightly shady - basically though it comes down to for every person you recommend to them for registering a domain name - they get $9, you get $1. Would wager somewhere they have a clause that states you only get paid so long as those you recommend remain customers (at least if the "business venture" is going to be stable and sustainable).

There are ways this could be legal, and honestly there are quite a number of businesses that skirt the legal border (ie "almost pyramid scheme" type deals) - even some to the point as we had a few recruiters that on the 'simplification' of their businesses they presented to students that could be easily read as pyramid schemes (I even had a 15 page document of one of these for a while).

Reason I comment is due to the fact that I was a Business Admin Major for 2 years (Concentration - you guessed it - entrepreneurship), and it constitutes the majority of my "major-specific" university credit hours (with art being 2nd, and comp sci being 3rd). I may not have started a business, but I have worked through many of the issues when it comes to structuring and developing usable business plans (even with regards to several legal issues).

My advice, going simply by information you've provided (not really up to skimming their site honestly - have to be at work not long after posting this) - I would say tread carefully, and try not to get burned.

[Qitsune]

Well it sounds like an affiliate program, which is legal, but why would anyone want a WS domain in the first place? And it's likely that in order to make any apreciable amount of money you will have to spam a lot of people, now, THAT is illegal.
I personally have yet to make any kind of money with my 1&1 and with Amazon affiliate programs simply because I couldn't be bothered to spam ppl with them.

[emily g]

They are probably just on the edge of legality because they have an actual product to sell. There are legitimate multi-level-marketing companies out there (NuSkin, Mary Kay Cosmetics). But just because you have a "product" to sell doesn't mean it's legal.

From the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme):

In 2003, an internet-based "pyramid scam"[3] was uncovered by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), where customers would pay a registration fee to join a program and purchase a package which included Internet mall and related goods and services. The FTC's complaint states that the company assured consumers who purchased the package would allow them to earn significant commissions for every WebSuite sold.

The FTC alleged that the company deceptively represented that consumers who participated in their scheme would earn substantial income, when in fact most consumers lost money in the operation, and that the defendants provided deceptive marketing material to affiliates - providing them with the means to deceive others; and finally, the company failed to disclose that a substantial percentage of participants would lose money, and that the scheme was actually an illegal pyramid.

Let's look at the signs (http://www.mlmwatch.org/01General/recruiting.html):


1. Recruiting of participants is unlimited in an endless chain of recruiters recruiting recruiters.

Ask whether unlimited recruiting is allowed. When a given market is saturated, and the program must move on to another location or introduce new products or divisions to continue, the opportunity for each new person to make money becomes less and less as the programs expands.
Your company allows unlimited recruiting.

2. Advancement in a hierarchy of multiple levels of "distributors" is achieved by recruitment, rather than by appointment.

Ask whether participating "distributors" advance their position (and potential income) in a hierarchy of multiple levels of "distributors" by recruiting other "distributors" who in turn advance by recruiting distributors under them, etc.? If so, the result is self-appointment through recruitment to ascending payout levels in the distributor hierarchy. If the only way a person can profit significantly in the scheme is through recruiting to advance to higher payout levels (or to buy another's downline), this strongly indicates a pyramid scheme.
This is true of your company.

3."Pay to play" requirements are satisfied by ongoing "incentivized purchases." These are purchases of goods and services that are required to participate in commissions or to ascend in the distributor hierarchy. If they are required to participate in the "business opportunity," then whether they are used, sold, given away, or stored is irrelevant. They should be considered a cost of doing business.

Ask whether prospective "distributors" are encouraged to make sizable investments ("front loading") in "incentivized purchases" in order to take advantage of the "business opportunity" and later to continue qualifying for advancement or higher payout in overrides (commissions and bonuses). This practice, can result in large losses if the products cannot be resold. Also be wary of plans that require minimum periodic purchases ("pay to play") to qualify for commissions or advancement. Do not sign up for continuing product purchases on auto-ship through an automatic bank draft or credit card, rather than making occasional purchases as needed. Such purchase requirements may be disguised investments in a product-based pyramid scheme or a clever attempt to disguise pyramid investments as product purchases.
I saw two areas where this is applicable:
1. You are required to pay $10 a month for the hosting service.
2. To qualify for the weekly bonuses, you must purchase at least 10 of their DVDs.

4. The company offers commissions and/or bonuses to more than five levels of "distributors."

Ask whether the company pay overrides to distributors in a hierarchy of more levels than are functionally justifiable. Even in major corporations, the entire world marketplace can be covered in five levels of sales management - branch, district, regional, national, and international sales managers. Paying commissions and bonuses on more than five levels in an MLM program primarily enriches those at the top at the expense of those at the bottom. You would be wise to avoid any program that pays overrides on more than five levels. Breakaway compensation systems are particularly exploitive, as payments are on a hierarchy of "breakaway" organizations of whole groups of participants, not just individuals -- creating an extraordinarily high loss rate, except for those at the top of a "mega-pyramid of pyramids."
Your company has this as well. It's called the "Infinity Bonus."

5. Company payout per sale for each upline participant equals or exceeds that for the person selling the product, creating inadequate incentive to retail and excessive incentive to recruit -- and an extreme concentration of income at the top.

Ask whether a "distributor" purchasing products "for resale" would receive about the same total payout (in commissions, bonuses, etc.) from the MLM company as participants several levels above who had nothing to do with the sale. If so, the company's payments to the person retailing the product would be pitifully small, while those at the top of the upline can compound the small commission per sale by the sales of hundreds or even thousands of downline distributors. This is great for the upline leaders but lousy for those attempting retail sales. Avoid any MLM company that pays less than half of all distributor payout to the person actually selling the products to outside customers.

Never accept income projections of retail sales at full retail prices, especially for products that are overpriced and not competitive in the marketplace. Also be wary if you are asked to choose between two options or "tracks" -- one for those who want to "retail" the products and another track for those who are serious about "building the business." This sales pitch usually indicates that the incentives are heavily weighted towards recruiting
This is true, too, and I definitely think the product is overpriced.

Where valid data are available, recent research has demonstrated that when all five of these red flags are found in an MLM, the percentage of participants who lose money is 99.9% -- even worse than the loss rates for typical no-product pyramid schemes and for games of chance in Las Vegas.
The problem with these things is that you only hear the testimonials of people who have done really well. Nobody takes a survey of all members showing X% made money and X% didn't. The ironic thing with these things is that they make it sound like the math is on your side, when it's actually against you.


edit: but emily, the thing is whether or not you keep on reffering people, you are still getting the same check every month, thats what drew me in. that once i break the 10 bucks per month and get profit the first month il never have to worry about it again, unless they will steal money from me. the income comes every month for old efforts, it doesnt expire. so my friend right now got himself up to 130 dollars his first month, which means he will get this amount AT LEAST every month untill he deletes his account or the website dies. i say at least because it could be icnreasing without his effort thanks to his downline. your thoughts?
This is not true. What if the people below you drop out? You won't be getting money from them anymore.

Some resources:
WTTW Chicago Public TV report (http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=1,17,1,4) on internet pyramid schemes. This reminds me of your situation a lot.
www.mlmwatch.org Lots of good information.

[Pavel Sokov]

here is a screenshot of the members area, its currently on the news page, but all the options are on the left (well i only got half the screen though). This screenshots includes one of the magazines, gdi's business cards, dvd's, and maybe you even catch a glimpse of their flyers.

I will read all the comments and reply shortly

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8707/insidegdijy6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Alzrotath you guessed right, I only get paid for refferals that stay after the 7 day trial ends and have send GDI their 10 bucks.

Emily, we are allowed to recruit limitless amounts of people, but we are only limited to 5 layers deep in terms of our refferals getting refferals and so on. This mean we can have layers under us, no more. but it is true that we can recruit infinite people in terms of width.

Allright I read the remainder of your post, and you pretty much destroyed this company. Well il stay untill the end of the 7 days and maybe il accumulate for then 10 contacts, if not i will probably leave. I will talk to my upline and see if he can help me. but ya, im not very enthousiastic at this point.

[JL.Alfaro]

Manslauter- I can understand were you are coming from with this, sometimes the "quick buck" schemes are tempting, specially when you are in a need of cash.
But let me tell you about a program that worked for me, a program which has hundreds of testimonials and incredible individual results. Such a program would not be available to the open public, for if it were to become publicly known, it could devastate our economy. It is meant for a certain number of individuals per year, to balance the scales sort of speak. you could have this program available to you. There is but one spot left on the roster, and it has your name on it. You could have this money making program today and start earning today as well. your profits are limitless, you make as much as you want to invest time into it. you can receive this program in the mail today, for 6 easy payments of $39.99.

I can guarantee you that withing 2 hours of running your program, you will receive $39.99 dollars in your account. Find out how!! Pay today!!

manslauter- nothing works better than working hard, playing hard, and investing in your own future- what ever that may mean to you bud. Good luck

[Form]

NEW!!!! got me pretty sus...

[Blue Severin]

I was hanging out with the Quixtar crowd for a bit, online shopping business network. People were making money if they invested time and effort into it. I decided I'd rather make money investing time and effort in art.

[Pavel Sokov]

Manslauter- I can understand were you are coming from with this, sometimes the "quick buck" schemes are tempting, specially when you are in a need of cash.
But let me tell you about a program that worked for me, a program which has hundreds of testimonials and incredible individual results. Such a program would not be available to the open public, for if it were to become publicly known, it could devastate our economy. It is meant for a certain number of individuals per year, to balance the scales sort of speak. you could have this program available to you. There is but one spot left on the roster, and it has your name on it. You could have this money making program today and start earning today as well. your profits are limitless, you make as much as you want to invest time into it. you can receive this program in the mail today, for 6 easy payments of $39.99.

I can guarantee you that withing 2 hours of running your program, you will receive $39.99 dollars in your account. Find out how!! Pay today!!

manslauter- nothing works better than working hard, playing hard, and investing in your own future- what ever that may mean to you bud. Good luck

Haha, that first part about the money making program was a joke right? You are trying to show me how ridiculous it is of me that i signed up for GDI?

[JL.Alfaro]

Haha, that first part about the money making program was a joke right? You are trying to show me how ridiculous it is of me that i signed up for GDI?

yes. unless you want to give me 6 easy payments of $39.99, and then I'll tell you how to get people to send you 6 easy payments of $39.99 ...:P

[Pavel Sokov]

Hahaha, it would be ridiculous if you could actualy pull it off and make someone send you 40 bucks at least once, that would already be an achievement.