This Cactus Pricks! It's Search Cactus
Written: Apr 20 '01 (Updated Mar 03 '02)
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The Bottom Line
I can't recommend Search Cactus as either a search engine or a moneymaking opportunity.
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| Full Review |
The first part of this review was written a couple of months ago and never posted. I am submitting the original with an update and posting it now.
Part I: Search Cactus is one of the easiest pay sites I have found! This is how it works. First you register and that is a simple free process. You get $2.00 in your account just for signing up.
I open Search Cactus every morning and get my 40 cents before I do anything else. It isn’t a huge moneymaker, but after 2 months you will have more than enough money to cash out. You must have $20.00 in your account before you can request payment.
Once I open Search Cactus I click on Member Logon. If my computer crashes during my visit, I will log on again. After you log on you will see how much money you have accumulated. This site rewards you for referrals and you will also see if you have any referrals and how much money the referrals have brought in.
Then click the home button on the top left and it will bring you to 8 categories, business and shopping being two of them. The way you get money is by clicking on a category, which then brings you to a page with a list of other sites. Each time you open a site you will get 2 cents.
There is a search area if you do want to search for topics.
There are a few things to note:
1. Unlike Netflip, you do not have to keep the site opened for 20 seconds. Just let it load and when it is done, go to another site.
2. Unlike Netflip you can visit the same site two days in a row and get paid. You will see a color difference in the sites you have visited but that is only for the purpose of your knowing what you have clicked on in case you actually are visiting sites for some purpose other than making 2 cents! You have to keep track of the 20 yourself. Unlike Netflip which says "You have reached your maximum number of clicks" Search Cactus doesn't tell you when you have reached 20.
3. You will only get paid for sites that have, what looks like eyes, next to them. Some categories may give you a list with 20 sites all of which have eyes, some categories may give you a list that gives you 3. It changes and it is not a big deal. If the category only has 3 sites that will pay, click on the three then move on to another category.
Part II April 20, 2001: Those of you who have registered at Search Cactus have gotten a letter telling you about the great new site. Well, in my opinion, it isn’t so great and the above review is being updated and now submitted. Some of the above is still true. You will still get $2.00 for registering and can cash out after you have $20.00 in the account. It still is unlike Netflip* in that you don't have to wait 20 seconds and you can click on the same link two days in a row. You still get credit for referrals and more than one person in a household can register.
However there are changes that makes this site no longer desirable. When you log in you will not get a list of categories that you can click. You will find a short list on the right such as “yellow pages, stock quotes, entertainment and health.”
In my original “review” I told you that I was only earning 40 cents per day – certainly not a lot of money. But it was simple. Not so anymore. Now, rather than clicking on the category, “entertainment” and getting a list with 3-20 topics all with eyes next to them which will get me my penny, I have to guess! I might type in entertainment and get no eyes. That was a waste. I will type in health and get perhaps two eyes. And so forth. So it is no longer a really quick way to earn 40 cents a day and oftentimes after 5 or so eyes I will give up – it just isn’t worth my time if I don’t get my 20 clicks quickly. So from the 4 stars I would have given it 2 months ago, I am now giving it 2 stars as both a search engine and a moneymaking opportunity.
Let’s say you are using Search Cactus as a search engine, which I have only done a couple of times. As a search engine I rate it only fair. I am a www.Askjeeves.com fan and rarely will use any other site. For the sake of this review though, this is what you get. I click on health and get a good list of subtopics such as kids, women, and seniors. I also get a page that tells me what is in the headlines today around the topic of health. Then I click on women and get another good list of sub sub topics such as anorexia, breast cancer and childbirth. I click on childbirth and finally come to some articles which may or may not be helpful. That is a lot of clicking and sub topics to get to some information!
Note that with www.askjeeves I have never clicked on a site, which doesn’t exist anymore. Not so with Search Cactus or Netflip.* These search engines must keep their sites updated if they want people to use them.
In addition, I do believe this site might win the award for number of popups in any given second!
In summary, previously, it was hard to keep track of the 20 eyes but now since oftentimes I go to a site that has none it is even trickier especially if I have another window open and am doing something else at the same time. I really can’t recommend Search Cactus as either a search engine or moneymaking opportunity. I am afraid this .com won’t last much longer.
If you are interested in reading my review of Netflip, here is the url:
http://jobythebay.epinions.com/webs-review-97D-12540F66-39421F99-prod1
Recommended:
No
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