I've been trying to collect my current balance since January. Since I'm such a prolific writer (ha!) I waited until January so that I wouldn't go over the IRS's limit. When January rolled around I tried again and got the familiar, "High-Earner IRS Requirements
As a major contributor to Epinions.com, you have earned over $600 this calendar year. If you redeem over $600, US law requires that we file a form 1099 with the IRS on your behalf.

To file this, we will need your Social Security or Taxpayer ID number. Until we have appropriate security measures in place, we will not collect this information over the Internet. Our secure server will be coming soon.

We will be happy to call you to collect the number securely. You may email epi_redemption@epinions.com with your telephone number, or leave a message at 650-616-6525.

We will get back to you as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

So, being the ever-so-right-on-it-kind of girl I waited a month or so to see if the secure server would indeed be "coming soon". My second try in Feb or March resulted in the same error message. This time I sent and e-mail to the address listed above--it came back as box full. Hmmmm.....so I waited some more and tried it again a few weeks later. This one didn't bounce back so I thought I was on my way. Nope. What I got was a reply saying I was right, it was a new year so I shouldn't have to provide the information, and he/she would get the bug to the appropriate person.

Tried again in June or so--still couldn't do it so this time I called. I got voicemail so I left a message with my problem and let them know I'd e-mailed twice. No response.

Time marches on so I called again in July. Voicemail again--left the same message. I'm starting to wonder if I'm scaring them. :)

Here it is August and I'm not going to come even close to reaching the $600 limit this year and I guess I should be glad they're keeping the money safe for me but I'd really like to get it out to start some holiday shopping (through Epinions of course!). Now I'm not complaining, I've VERY happy to be paid for my tawdry writing skills, I just want to know if this will be fixed soon and if not, what else can I do short of driving down to visit the Epinions offices? I live in Seattle so this wouldn't be my first choice. :)

Thanks for giving me one more way to ask this question--I can't be the only one with this problem--can I?

Sincerely,
Connie

I know another member with your same issue. I'll have someone look into it. I apologize for all the hoops you've had to go through. We'll see if we can fix some of those as well.

Garrett

Garrett,

It's so nice to hear back from someone on the otherside of the screen....sometimes it's very lonely on this side. :)

Connie

I've sent you an email.

GG

The same problem is occurring now, some several years after the original post..... and yes, the long-awaited "secure site" still does not exist...... The phone number listed in the original post is no longer there.

Obviously, the problem has not been corrected. What's worse, is my earnings accumulated over several years, not the one calendar year listed.