It doesn't grease my palm enough (greasypalm.co.uk)

Member Name: abbadabbado

Product:	greasypalm.co.uk
Date:	27/11/07 (125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cashback for clicks

Disadvantages: £25 pay out minimum

I can't remember how or why I found Greasy palm, but no doubt it was the lure of some possible easy money. Well let's face it no money can be earned that easily, so please don't be fooled into thinking it can, however much the website may promise.
It does however have potential to boost those internet earnings slightly, especially if you get clever when purchasing on the net, if that's your thing.

*What is Greasy palm?*

Essentially Greasy palm is a reward site. They promise to pay you cash back for your purchases across the internet. These can be anything from credit cards to online gambling.
There isn't a lot about them that make them stand out against the other online reward sites, except maybe some of the shops they are affiliated with might just be the ones you shop in more regularly than others.

*The site*

The site itself is very busy and full of too much information and banners flashing at you from all angles. It's nothing to get excited about, and you may even get a headache if you stare at it too long. However the main purpose of the site is to get clicks, so for that particular reason, the images fit the site and it's nothing short of what you would expect to see.
Despite all the content, it runs quick enough for me, and pages do seem to load very quickly.

To get you started, the site offers you 2.50gbp just to register, and a further 0.35gbp to set the site as your home page. Of course you can only do these kinds of things once per registration. It's a good start to your account balance however, and gives the overall feel good factor that you're actually earning money.

There are various sections within the site if you are looking for something specific. You can search for retailers, or choose via category. There are so many to choose from, and all credit to them they do tend to add more often. These get displayed in a separate section, which is a lure to see what offer is attached. I always spend a couple of minutes there as you can sometimes find a good offer without spending money.

They have just introduced a section of loyalty points which is an extra. You can use these points to swop for prizes. I don't rate this section of the website at all as I feel it's trying to be more like their competitors when they seriously don't need to.

*Registration*

The standard nosey questions are asked here, valid email address, name, address, shoe size etc. Again this site is no different to similar ones, they all pry for your information, and they know if we want to gain the money from it, we shall supply that information. For this reason I would suggest using a hotmail account for these purposes only, so your regular inbox isn't filled with junk.

*How do you boost your account balance?*

Primarily this is a cash back offer site. The affiliated sites, when visited by clicking on the banner on Greasy palm, will earn you a cash back percentage on any purchases made. Cash back varies from banner to banner, and can range from 1% to 10%, or even offer a lump sum. All these amounts are deposited into your Greasy palm account not your bank account, and can take up to 30 days from date of purchase to reach your cash back account.

It certainly isn't all easy money, and I wouldn't advise taking believing the home page when it shows you all the top earners of the month. Some of them have earnt in excess of 500gbp. I seriously can't understand how you can rack up this kind of money unless you are a serious internet shopper and have more money than sense. In that case why shop via Greasy palm!

Some offers are better than others, and are worth taking the ten minutes and earning a few pence. After all those pennies do add up. Some however aren't worth your precious seconds.

Examples of good offers include registering for an online gambling site and playing a free game to earn a pound in your account. That only took minutes and my cash back was deposited within a few days.

Some bad offers include things like a price comparison site will pay you three pence per click. You can only click a few times per day however, and it seems too much hassle to me.

*Spam?*

I haven't been unlucky enough to get my inbox flooded with junk. There is probably one email from them every other day, which on the grand scheme of things isn't bad at all. It's always an email from Greasy palm, not a third party site.

*Do they pay out?*

Greasy palm promise you a cheque once your account balance has reached 25gbp. My first month somehow I managed to gain 57gbp. The cheque took about two months to arrive to me as they pay out 30 days in arrears, but yes I did receive it and it cleared in the bank! - Bonus.
Since then I have received one more cheque for just over 25 quid. Reading the small print on the invoice, the cheque is only valid for 30 days from issue, so don't forget to bank it quick.


*Worth joining?*

Yes if you shop online. I don't use this site every day, but if there's something I want or need, I will check out Greasy palm to see if the site is affiliated to them. I have managed to gain some cash back when I wanted a new credit card and managed to wangle a few pounds for something I would have applied for anyway.

The trick is, don't get sucked into buying things for the sake of it, but remember it's there if you need something.


*Overall*

Personal choice leads me to prefer Greasy palm over the other cash back sites. For me I think it's the general layout and speed. You don't have to turn points into cash here either, which always makes me feel a bit wary. The option however has been introduced recently.

A few problems you may encounter when purchasing via this site. There's a possibility you may not gain your cash back. You can test your tracking facility via the website, and I do tend to do this once every couple of weeks just to make sure it's all working as it should. I'd hate to earn a couple of pounds and then find I'd lost it due to a glitch.

*** A few months later***

Since my last cheque over a few months ago of just over 25gbp, the cash back has been very slow to add up. My poor balance has been sitting at just over 17gbp for a few months now. It's a depressing thought when you know you have money sitting there but can't actually get at it to be able to earn interest on it.
It's almost too tempting to sign up to another one of the hot offers of the online gambling sites just to gain an extra tenner in cashback, but it really isn't worth anything as more often than not you will lose your real cash you deposited and still only have the tenner or so Greasy palm will pay you, but it's sitting earning interest in their account not your own.

I have also found since recieving my last cheque that other cash back sites such as Quidco actually offer better rates of cash back for your purchases. Lets face it you can't belong to all of them and if you did you wouldn't remember what you bought via where and would lose track of all the valuable pence earnt in cashback.

A few good clock throughs do come up on Greasypalm however and it's worth the logging in process just to see if new ones are added to gain an extra 25pence or so, as eventually I will get my 25gbp cheques, but probably for the last time.

All in all I don't think I will use Greasy palm as a cashback site in the future but just as an extra way of gaining those pennies when the offers come up.
It's still a good site in my opinion but not as good as others that require less work and money spent to reap bigger rewards.

*Please note this review has also been published on Ciao where I am also a member*

Summary: a not so great cash back site