TheBanyanTree: Zeek Rewards as a Business Model?

[Woofie]

Yeah.. Exactly Mo!! Luckily those particular schemes are now illegal in 
Australia. However, I know how annoying they are... an ex boss sprung 
one on me once. Wanted to know if I wanted some extra paid work after 
hours. Naturally I thought he was talking about IT type work, but when I 
turned up it was to a roomful of ppl who were about to be scammed by a 
similar scheme.
Of course I declined and changed jobs soon after;)
W:)

On 26/08/2012 2:47 AM, Monique Colver wrote:
> 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

-- 

/*"The one constant in life is absurdity" - Woofie – 30/4/02*/

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