Shopping Genie

Your instincts are right this is a pyramid scheme all the way. Went to one of the meetings as well.

First of all the actual shopping genie app is a ball of sh1te.
The hook is, you buy the rights to distribute the application and then are supposed to give it away for free to friends etc. If it is then used by friends to search for goods or purchase anything you are meant to get a percentage of add click and sale revenue.

The first problem with this is the are X amount of price comparison sites that do this already. Secondly having tried the app I can tell you it doesn't even do a price comparison search. You enter a search term in google and the app then gives 5 or 6 links for amazon, tesco, pricegrabber etc which it just redirects your search term into those sites. Did you by the way see the app working at your presentation cause they didn't show it at mine, just a bunch of sh1ty slides. They claim that this will "Have more clicks then google" but they don't even show it working.

So the promise of add click/ good sale percentages revenue is the hook that gets you in. Now comes the pyramid side of it. To give the software away you have to become a distributor which costs €200 with a €22 a month subscription charge. They then say wouldn't it be a great idea that instead of giving the software away to your friends you sign them up as distributors also. In doing so you get a €100 of there signing on fee, two friends signed up and you have your money back. Anybody they sign you get a further percentage of that signing on fee and so you have your pyramid. They have set out levels where by if your TREE (their euphemism for a pyramid) grows to certain amount you move up a level and get more money.

The scary thing for me about this was that, about 95% of the people at the presentation were hooked on every word.

e04bf097 wrote: »

You only need to recruit 4 people as distributors to break even..

Sorry, but reading that all I saw was "Yes. It's a pyramid scheme".

If some of the false promises and unrealistic expectations outlined by whatstherush are true, then it's employing very questionable marketing techniques which again stink of a pyramid scheme.

As for the product itself, I've never heard of it before so can't comment with any authority. Having said that, it's a product I wouldn't use (even if provided for free) or be interested in investigating in any detail, so shows that instantly your 'target market' is limited (I'd suggest that there are MANY that would share my view of it).

Have you made 1 cent off add click or percentage sales from genie app?

Yes i have, the first (and only) cheque arrived last week and I received $40.21 which isn't great, but it has covered my monthly subscription of 22 euro. I have 31 genies installed on various pc's of friends and family.

The presentation showed an average of 3 dollar return per month per genie so in that case I guess i'm below what they would advertise as the average.

Sorry, but reading that all I saw was "Yes. It's a pyramid scheme".

When i say its not a pyramid scheme as such, i mean Its not going to put you into any great debt. It does however use a pyramid model without the need for an extortionate capital investment.

When people think of pyramid schemes (and what scares them) is they think of a scheme that they have to put an extortionate amount of money i.e 20,000 euro...

In this case its a small once off amount of money (200 dollars) and a 29 euro monthly fee and with a little bit of work you can make your return (+ a few quid extra). I'm not claiming that its going to make me a millionaire, its just a little bit of extra cash a month.

However i do agree that down the line it will eventually become unsustainable for new people coming along.

**So in a nutshell**

The good news:

• I have made my money back
• I have received my money for recuiting my distributors (50 dollar once off per person)
• I have received click revenue.
• I will continue to receive click revenue provided the genies are installed and are used occasionally
• I am receiving 10 dollars a month (every month) per person i have recruited as a distributor, and will continue to receive it.
• A small portion of my click revenue has been from genies that my distributors have given away for free (about 1/5th)

The bad news :

• This is unsustainable, there will come a time when it will saturate, though considering the nature of the product it may take some time

• I have not seen one that is "Ireland Specific", i.e the end goal of this is to have a comparison of local shops and retailers, should they submit their prices. This hasn't happened yet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-level_marketing is the correct term should have used earlier, apologies

I have to agree with the sceptical opinion on the shopping genie. These companies are no longer called "pyramid" schemes, but now they are called MLM (Multi Level Marketing) and there are many of them.

I was at a presentation in Dublin myself, and the present claimed and proved that he made over €20,000 in a month. Given that he is at the top and every person signing in Dublin and UK are under him, I can understand that.

However, what he failed to mention on the presentation is how much he spent over all renting venues in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and in the UK, he also failed to address expenses for flying to the UK. Lastly, given that a Canadian speaker spent almost a month in Ireland/UK attending the presentations, he too failed to disclaim those expenses. I reckon he spent close to what he earned making sure other people signed, so he can make more money.

On regards of the product itself, the system doesn't do what it says, it claims it can find you the cheapest price. What it does is opens other websites, none of which work in Ireland, and you have to sort the cheapest price from those sites. When you search for a product the program opens up and covers the right-side of the screen (sits on top of the Google ads), from there if you click on the compare button, the software opens between 5 and 10 sites on an interval between 1 second and 10 seconds. The sites that it opens are the real comparison sites (kelkoo, ciao!, Shopping, BizRate, Google Product Search, DealTime and others), at no point the product presents a list of the 10 cheaper prices or anything similar, all it does is saving you from having to manually open the sites and re-type the search.

I have not examined the product further, but I am guessing that when the compare button is pressed and the comparison sites are opened, a payment is processed between the sites and Shopping Genie's parent company, same technology used by any advertisement on the web. (I can dig dipper if people wants me to do so)

Now, for the MLM business; as said by other people before, the money comes from selling the license and building something that in paper looks like a pyramid, I sell to two people (2 on level 2), they each sell to two people (4 on level 3) they each sell to two people (8 on level 4) and so far, this grows exponentially by level if every keeps the sales. Per-click-payment are "mentioned" at $3 per month, and this could be truth at the start; people is curious and start 'playing' with it until they get bored. But the question to be asked is how often is people going to use the product. This is great for expensive purchases (TV, laptop, perfume [the expensive one], sim-free phones,...) but not every day items, I would not compare my soup prices, my soap prices, my bread,.... so again, how often does a person by an "expensive" item, once a month? if that often.

On the presentation as said by another person before, they show slides, so you never get to see the product on-action, imagine going to by a car, looking at the brochure and saying YES I take the car. This is similar, the presentation show "sort of " how it works, but fails to address the opening of other pages; further more, since the main guy is from Northern Ireland, all the examples are in £, a convenient way to avoid the awkwardness of explaining it does not work in Ireland; although he mentions that it will work "better" in the future.

Anyone joining a MLM company will make money, that is a proven fact, but is not a job where you get thousand of Euro (or Dollars) for little or no work, which is what most MLMs "trick you to believe". They always promise to make you money with little work; just doing it part-time. But as with any JOB, the harder you work the more you make. You will earn money, that is been proven on this post, but you will have to put the time and expense to earn money, you will have to do phone calls, you will have to travel places, you will have to meet people over lunch or coffee. If you are joining thinking that you are going to make thousands a month just working few hours a month, you will be in for a surprise. [e04bf097, you got $40, but how much did you spend on phone calls, petrol driving to meet people,...? and how much time did you put onto the program?]

My conclusion is to avoid any company the uses the MLM system, where you are selling a license to either sell a product, or in this case give it for free, none of these companies have a sustainable future. As with everything on life, these companies fall in the 80/20 rule; 20% of the people (those on the top) make 80% of the money while 80% of the people (those on the lower levels) make 20% of the money. The company is structured so you spend time and energy chasing to get onto higher levers by selling more, the more you sell they more the top people make and the more you make, but like an ass after a carrot, you will never get the carrot, not matter how fast you travel.

PaulPinnacle;

You are 100% sure, at no point on my post I said that I person will recover there initial or monthly investment.

The difference between a REAL pyramid scheme (outlaw on many countries) and a MLM, is that in a MLM a person HAS to make money.

In this particular case, If I buy the license and pay the monthly fee, and I am the only user and use it "as intended" (and regularly), I should get my $3 (or there about) for pay-per-click every month.

Yes, I am paying $30 monthly fee and I am getting $3 back, but I am making money. I am also loosing $27, plus the $199 license fee (because I don't sell licenses or I give the software to other users) but I am getting paid; thus, this can't be considered a pyramid scheme.

I do hope this clear some of the confusion.

P.S. I am covering my behind, I don't want to receive legal letters.

PaulPinnacle wrote: »

Does that not look a little odd to you? How can you be 'making money' if you're losing money?

The scheme is generating a residual income, but one that doesn't meet the overheads required and is resulting in a net monthly loss. In that case, the scheme is losing money not 'making money'.

Actually, you are making money.
You are not recovering your money, as Carbayon said, but you are MAKING money. It's not worth the original investment (and so it is a sh**y scheme) but if you were able to get looooots of people signed with your license, you would be making money.
But as Carbayon said, the program is not customized for Ireland, and on top of that, there is not enough market share in here (3 million people market, against UK or any other european market where (if the product where worth it) you could really make a profit.

But as discussed, it will saturate too soon, and on top of that, after seeing it in use, I would maybe use it myself once or twice, but as it doesn't really does anything else than open a search page on amazon, etc, I would not botter with it after one week, and like me, lot of people.

So, e04bf097o, it could be that you do those 40 euros this month, but next month, when people gets tired of the novelty, how much will you get?? Or the following month...

My opinon.

My point is the a MLM company will send you a cheque, while a 'pyramid scheme' will not pay you any money.

This is a whole new discussion and I could start a new posting, but this is moving away from the initial topic.

The initial posting was about Shopping Genie and if it is a SCAM.

Is it a SCAM?
- No, is a MLM company. If it was a SCAM the government would (and should) stop it.

Does it work?
- Depends on how much time and effort you put onto it. Some people get their investment back, some won't.

Is it a sustainable income source?
- No really, the main money is earned by selling the licenses.
Eventually the sale of licenses fades away and the income drops
Residual income will drop off with time, leaving you with no income.

Will it make you reach with little work?
- No, it will require work, time and investment to give a return
Return depends on time and investment given to the scheme
A small (VERY SMALL) number will make lots of money, but those are at the top.

Is it as simple as explained?
- Depends; this is a SALES scheme, if you can sell ice to Eskimos it will work.
If you can't sell (and not everyone can) it will be difficult and uphill battle.

MLM people don't run it as a business, so they failed to count the investment of time and expenses and subtract them from their income (this is the technique used in the seminars). They are promised $2000 a month (just to say a number) but they have to subtract mobile phone bills, petrol (and car expenses), lunches and meals and of course, taxes that they have to pay on income earned.

Conclusion, as with any business, it will work, but I will not make you a millionaire. You will get payments, but the amount depends on how hard you work. Saturation will happened, so don't expect income for years to come.