FREE CASH FOR ALL AT RPOINTS! (rpoints.com)

Member Name: coolcam7

Product:	rpoints.com
Date:	08/07/04 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: generous points for very little effort, low-level redemption

Disadvantages: length of time before points are 'awarded', must have an e-payment account

I?m reviewing something slightly different today; a website. In the past few years there have been websites popping up all over the place offering cash, vouchers, or other incentives in exchange for a few moments of your time. Participating in surveys, clicking on links, writing reviews; whatever your preference there?s a whole host of ways for people like you and I to earn money on the Internet and I think Rpoints is one worth mentioning.

The one thing that the majority of reward sites lack in my opinion is a community, perhaps that?s because on review websites the whole system is set up to promote an active community and the fact that you read and rate other people?s reviews makes it easier to get to know people whereas with reward sites where you are rewarded only for clicking or completing surveys there is no emphasis, and in most cases, no facility to get to know other members.

I?ve found that on Rpoints while there are numerous forums for discussion there is certainly not such a good sense of community as there is on some other reward websites. However I do keep going back there. Why? Well there is basically only one reason I can think of; to earn money.

A friend introduced me to the site via a link in an email. Knowing that I?m not a huge fan of reward sites I did take a bit of persuasion but once I?d checked it out for myself I decided it really was worth joining.

The reasons I don?t sign up to reward sites are:

? It?s too time consuming?
? ?for not enough reward
? the rebate level is too high and I feel I?ll never actually reach it

So obviously Rpoints fulfils none of these criteria.

Anyway onto what you really want to know about the cold, hard cash.

♦Ways of Earning Money♦

There are several ways of earning money on the Rpo
ints website. First and foremost my favourite way is the repeats section. In order to qualify for points on this section of the site you simply click on what of 4 search merchants. A window will then appear from Rpoints with a link on it which you then click so they can track you and credit your account appropriately. To earn points you simply search for an item and when it comes up with a list of merchant stores you click the link to the site. Simple! The points you earn for each Search Merchant are listed below:

? Dealtime- Earn 4 points per time you click through to an online store with a maximum of 5 per member per day.

? Kelkoo- Earn 12 points per time you click through to retailer within ?travel?, 8 points per time you click through to a retailer through ?mobiles and computing? and 4 points for all other sections.

? Price Guide UK- Earn 4 points per time you click through to an online store with a maximum of 5 per member per day.

? Pricerunner- Earn 8 points when you click on a 'direct link' to a retailer, links are found throughout the site with a maximum of 4 transactions per member per day.

At Rpoints 1point=1p so it?s easy for you to see how much each offer is worth to you. As you can see Pricerunner are being pretty generous here considering they?re giving you 8p every time you click through to a merchant store!

I?ve done the maths for you here and worked out that if you did the maximum number of clicks for each one you could earn 96p per day, £6.72 a week and if you were particularly dedicated £394.44 a year. That?s pretty good for very little effort on you part.

I don?t do this every day but whenever I have time to waste on the Internet and I don?t have anything better to do then it?s an easy way to earn a few pennies. I?ve found that you don?t have to wait for
the page to load either simply clicking on the link and closing the window before it?s fully loaded still earns you the points and so the whole process takes relatively little time. If you?ve got Broadband then it?ll be even faster you lucky people!

The next way of earning money is by registering at a whole host of different sites including free-to-play lotteries, dating agencies, and competition sites. These are all free to join and earn you between 5-950 points. the high number of points are for lottery sites where you play for free and earn points and then if you choose to place a wager then you get a lot more points, generally you get about 10-30 points per registration. Remember 1point=1p!

In theory you could sign up to everything on the list if you wanted to, you?d certainly earn a lot of points quickly but personally I haven?t bothered because I don?t want to clog up my e-mail inbox with a load of e-mails form companies I have no interest in. If you have a separate e-mail account that you don?t mind being bombarded then you could sign up the whole lot I suppose or at least make sure you click the box telling them not to go giving your details out to other companies.

The final way of earning points (money) is by shopping at one of the online stores they have listed for which you will normally get a certain % rebate on the amount you spend. The % rebate varies a lot between stores from about 1%-11% but some give a fixed number of points for a purchase of up to 3000 points. I?m not going to list the stores because there are simply too many but all the big ones are in there like Argos and tesco.com.

Rpoints also have a number of save as you earn partners such as Uswitch and Direct Line where you can save money on insurance etc and earn points at the same time (up to 2000) though I haven?t done this myself.

♦The Site♦ r>
I?ve found the Rpoints site is pretty easy to navigate a lot easier than some reward sites and everthing is explained clearly. A section I found particularly good is the help section which explains everything in detail. There?s an FAQ?s section and detail on earning points etc and an option to contact them if you can?t find the answer to your query. I like it when sites tell you what you?re actually getting points for and at Rpoints I?ve found that this is really good. If you compare it with places such as mutualpints.com where their list of merchant stores does not tell you what you are earning points for Rpoints is a lot better giving a brief description for each site telling you what you have to do to earn the points so there?s no ambiguity.

There is a section of the site entitled ?community? while I have perused through the forums on a couple of occasions I haven?t actually posted anything there yet myself. It seems to me that the community is nowhere near as good as a Ciao and in the forums most of the posts are from a small number of members so there?s no real sense of a community over there in comparison with Ciao. It has been commented that the community at dooyoo is not nearly as good as at Ciao so for the benefit of those who have experienced both, I?ll just add that from my experience there is even less of a community at Rpoints. If you become actively involved in the forum I?m sure you can get to know a few people though.

There are about 10 forums I think but the best 2 in my opinion are the freebies and coupons section. Here members are free to share links to freebies and coupons with other members and I did actually find a couple of good freebies on there. The coupons section is alright but most of the coupons I probably wouldn?t end up using. My only complaint is that some of the posts are a little d
ifficult to understand, perhaps I need to learn the freebiers lingo!

On the ?Features? section of the site you can find gift ideas and latest offers but I don?t tend to visit that area of the site really so I can?t really comment on how good the features actually are. I did take a look at the gift ideas once but I can?t say there was anything there that I would actually have bought. I should imagine it is mainly there to raise a little extra cash for Rpoints if you buy something they feature.

♦Claiming the Cash♦

The statement section of the site is fairly clear; it lists the retailer and the number of points earned, the date and time you earned them, the status and the reward date. Let me just explain those last two. Unlike other points sites you don?t receive your points instantly or overnight, instead they appear on your statement after a few days (I?m not entirely sure how long it takes but it is less than a week) at that time they appear as ?pending? the award date for my points from clicking links though the search merchants is 2 months and 9 days after I actually earned the points. This seems a long time to wait and is one of my only complaints about the site, I don?t mind waiting to receive the points but the length of time you have to wait just seems a little excessive.

Having said that I do like the way they appear on your statement as pending because at least then you know that you will get the points eventually and you can add up the number of points you have earned. Anyway I suppose it?s not that much of a problem having to wait until you can redeem your points as long as you remember to visit the site regularly.

To redeem your points into money you need a minimum of 1000 points (£10) which is lower than most points sites, that?s one of the reasons I particularly like Rpoints. I feel like 
3; have an achievable target to reach before I can redeem the points. Also to a considerable extent the speed at which you accumulate enough points is down to your level of participation. If you clicked on the 4 search engines every day you?d have enough points in no time but you would have to wait over 2 months for their status to appear as ?awarded? and therefore be eligible for redemption.

The one thing that may put some people off is that fact that they only pay your money through the e-payment systems paypal or moneybookers so if you don?t already have one of these free accounts you?d have to set one up. It?s very easy to set up an e-payment account though, and totally free and secure so you can?t really complain.

I haven?t actually put in for redemption yet so I can?t comment on the speed of processing transactions etc yet but I will update this with details as soon as I can.

♦My Opinion♦

I think this site is better than most points sites mainly because of the generous amount of points they give you for clicking links on the merchant sites. For very little effort you?re getting points which quickly add up. A penny a point is also more generous than many sites around.

I like the layout of the site too; it?s easy to navigate and everything is made clear to you so you know exactly how to earn the points.

The forums are good for members who want to participate in the discussions there and also good for people like me who just want to see if there are any good freebies going! At least the opportunity to make friends on the site is there for those who wish to get involved.

I think my only complaint would have to be the length of time you have to wait for points before their status becomes ?awarded?. However this doesn?t really put me off because the point earning process is fast and I keep going back there so I
; will know when I?m able to make a redemption.

Overall I think this is one of the better points sites around or I wouldn?t bother going back there. I still prefer Ciao for the community but Rpoints is a nice way to earn a bit of extra cash.

♦My Referral♦

If you follow my link to the Rpoints site and sign up then you will earn 100 points (£1) upon joining which people who just go straight to the site won?t get. Plus I get points for it too so we?re all winners!

For the link see my homepage.

I will also add that there is no age limits for joining and the whole family can join up and long as they have their own account to pay the cash into!

Thanks for reading!