Do yourself a favor and STAY FAR AWAY from Desktop Dollars!
Written: Apr 16 '01 (Updated Apr 18 '01)
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The Bottom Line
Desktop Dollars is a rip-off, plain and simple! Don't waste your time.
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| Full Review |
Desktop Dollars (http://www.desktopdollars.com) is a program that (supposedly) pays you for watching banner ads while you are online. To do so, you have to download a small software application that will display the ads, either at the top or on the bottom of your computer screen.
Every 15 minutes or so, a message box will pop up asking you to continue or to log off to prevent people from simply leaving the bar running indefinitely while they are not on their PCs. Once you've watched enough ads, you can request a check for $30 ($100 for international members). Sounds easy enough, at least in theory.
The fact is that you would have to watch almost 150,000 ads to get that far, something that would take 138 days of using the program 24 hours a day, seven days a week, non-stop. And that is obviously impossible! Their referral program is even more laughable - while 15% for people you refer personally may sound like a lot, you get a whopping 1% for a 4th level referral... No matter how often you use the program and how many referrals you have, it would take many months before you will have earned enough points to request a check, and many more until you will actually receive it.
Another thing to keep in mind that the ad bar software you need to install not only displays ads, but also logs your web surfing habits and supplies this information to various advertisers. As with all reward programs, it is important to read their privacy policy very carefully if you object to being "spied" upon!
Desktop Dollar's web site seems to have not been updated in months. As I am writing this, in mid-April of 2001, the home page still displays the news that September's checks have been mailed on November 29, 2000!
Members do receive a monthly newsletter, however. The latest one announced that checks for November had been mailed in early March, a delay of no less than four months. How the average amount can be over $65, as they claim, is beyond me, given their payout rates.
When my account was updated with my February earnings, I couldn't believe the low numbers I was seeing, so I wrote an e-mail to the program's customer service department. A few days later I wrote another one, and a third one, without ever getting a response.
To be honest, I cannot find anything positive to say about this program.
If you are looking to make some extra money on the web, stay with programs like Freeride.com or Epinions. They won't make you rich, but at least you can be sure that you are not completely wasting your time like with Desktop Dollars.
Note: This review was updated on April 18, 2001, to include the URL for Desktop Dollars.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Central Florida
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me: Loves theme parks, roller coasters, the outdoors, and computers.
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