TheBanyanTree: Zeek Rewards as a Business Model?

Sat Aug 25 17:48:09 PDT 2012

Amen!  And thank you!
J

--- On Sat, 8/25/12, Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com>
Subject: TheBanyanTree: Zeek Rewards as a Business Model?
To: "Banyan Tree" <thebanyantree at lists.remsset.com>
Date: Saturday, August 25, 2012, 11:47 AM

Earlier this summer I was contacted by someone who was interested in my
book and who wanted to meet me. Naturally I was flattered, it being my
first book and me prone to flattery. So we set up a time to meet, and she
asked me for two books to sell to her.

We met, and we talked, and it was good. Such a nice woman, but I think that
of everyone who shells out money for my book, so what do I know?

Towards the end of our conversation she started talking about a business
opportunity. I run from business opportunities because I’ve been so lucky
to have been approached numerous times for business opportunities.
Instantly my positive feelings about this woman were replaced with
suspicion – did this woman really buy two books just so she could inveigle
me into listening to her sales pitch?

Since she had bought my book, two even, and expressed such interest in it,
I felt I could at least hear her out, and she asked that my husband and I
come to her condo to meet her partner and talk about it.

And show up we did, though late. It was pouring rain, and when we got to
the building it turned out to be one of the condo buildings we’d looked at
once. On the river, with a great view, but with hallways that went on and
on and on . . . and hers was at the very end, on a corner.

After our twenty minute hike down hallways we arrived, and the presentation
was in full force, and the room was filled with people, all eager to make
some money or coerced into attendance. Or maybe a little of both.

It was the same multi-level marketing scheme that I’d heard before. The
business model was sort of like this (I say sort of, because the objective
is to make it as confusing as possible): As an “affiliate” (read: victim),
one “buys” bids for the Zeekler auction site and gives them away. This
drives traffic to the Zeekler auction site, where people purchase things at
pennies on the dollar.

If you’re not familiar with penny auction sites, the reason you can get
things for cheap is because 1) you’re not really paying in pennies, and 2)
“people” bid on items. Bid vouchers are used, and they cost more than a
penny, but we’d rather say penny because it makes it sound like you’re
getting a good deal. And maybe you might, and maybe you might not, because
by the time you win the bid, you’ve spent who knows what. And if you don’t
win the bid, you’ve just spent all those bids that you paid for on nothing.

Anyway, so the scheme works like this: Affiliates post links to the Zeekler
site to drive traffic to it, and then buy bids to give away, to drive
traffic to it.

What they don’t tell you is that the Zeekler site has very few items to bid
on, and it’s not a very active site. All those links that are being posted
are being posted on sites that are set up to host spam like this. No one
looks at them. No one clicks on the links.

They say the money comes from all the people bidding on the products on the
site – the profit is distributed to affiliates on a daily basis, or to
their accounts, or something like that.

That’s what they SAY, but the money is really coming from the affiliates
who buy in to be a part of this great money making scheme. Of course, the
more you invest to get started, the more money you’ll make, so go all in!

Let’s say you give me five bucks because I told you it’s a good way for you
to make some money. Then I have my five bucks, and then you say, “Where’s
my money?” That’s when I tell you that in order to get your money, you have
to get 5 or 10 people to give you 5 bucks. “Okay,” you say, “That makes
sense.” So you do, because you’re charming and you can sell this product
like nobody’s business.

So you get your money, and by the way, I get a share of the money they gave
you too, because, after all, it was my brilliant idea that started it.

Then those people have to sign up people to get back the money they
invested . . . and every time I get a share, and you get a share, and
everyone along the line gets a share, which means we need more people at
the bottom. This is why it’s called a pyramid scheme.

Anyway, the presentation was confusing because they were trying to sell us
on the idea that it wasn’t a Ponzi scheme, that it was a real product, but
since it wasn’t, obfuscation was the order of the day. I didn’t like the
sales tactics either, especially of the woman’s partner, but that’s normal
for me. I’ve worked with high pressure sales people who sell air for big
commissions, and I generally find them vapid and annoying.

And not terribly bright, when it comes down to it.

We left at the end, acting like we cared just so we could get out without
being talked at some more.

A day or so later the woman texted me, asking when we would be signing up.
I responded with my own text, which went something like, “No, we’re not
going to.”

She responded with, “May I ask why?”

And that was the end of it. What was the point of responding? So she could
counter whatever I said with more talk of how this was too good of an
opportunity to pass up?

A few days ago the SEC shut Zeekler down. Because guess why! It’s a Ponzi
scheme! That just really made my day. I know, I know, there are affiliates
out there screaming, “but I was making money!” And the people who made
money, who pulled theirs out before it was shut down, are saying, “hah! Got
mine!”

Look, I know we live in a culture where many people are struggling
financially, and I know many people are just looking for a way to make some
money. But how do people not understand that money isn’t free? How does it
even make sense that people just handing money to other people and then
getting other people to hand them is a valid business model?

There is no product being produced. There are no services being rendered.
There is no utility, which is an economics term and doesn’t mean the lights
aren’t on.

There’s nothing there. It’s just people giving other people money, and the
people at the top get the most, and if you’re lucky you’re not one of the
suckers at the bottom when the entire thing collapses in on itself, which
it will, because eventually there will be a shortage of victims to draw
upon.

But people want to keep doing this, and they’re looking for other schemes
to buy into even as they bemoan the loss of their money. There’s a whole
class of people who truly believe that buying into something that produces
nothing is a valid business model, and that as long as they get theirs, all
is good.

All I really wanted to say was: this is not a valid business model. You
want to make some money? Go produce something, provide a service, do
something useful. Live a little.

Monique Colver
An Uncommon Friendship: a memoir of love, mental illness, and friendship
Now available at
Amazon<http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Monique+Colver>
and
at www.AnUncommonFriendship.com <http://anuncommonfriendship.com/>
www.ColverPress.com
monique.colver at gmail.com
(425) 772-6218