Looks promising (webrewards.co.uk)

Member Name: star500

Product:	webrewards.co.uk
Date:	27/01/01 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Send free text messages and earn 3 webrewards daily

Disadvantages: Still quite a new scheme but looks promising, cannot redeem webrewards for cash or vouchers

"Webrewards" is another internet loyalty scheme along the same lines as Beenz. For those of you who are unfamiliar with these types of rewards, basically you are given a certain amount of points or rewards for visiting websites, completing surveys and registering for newsletters.

Becoming a Webrewards (W) collector is very easy - you just log onto their site (www.webrewards.co.uk), fill in your details (name, email, user name, etc) and you can be a member in five minutes with 10 free (W). On their homepage there are a series of links leading to websites where you can collect (W).

Firstly, you should complete your extended profile for 25 free (W) and you can also register with some of their affiliates for more free (W) if you want. These include:

* Student World = 50(W)
* Sports.com = 25(W)
* Petspark = 10(W)

Unlike beenz, there aren’t very many daily (W) around to collect. However, if you send a SMS text message from their site, you can get 3(W). You can send as many messages as you want for free but you will only receive the Webrewards bonus for the first one.

Webrewards have also recently introduced "Lucky Surf" which is like an online version of the National Lottery. You have to register for this separately by filling in a standard form asking for your name, email, password, etc. For the game you have to pick a total of seven numbers from a grid. After these numbers have been displayed, you then have to click on one of the banner adverts on the site to "validate" your entry. The top two prizes are for US$ with the smaller ones for (W). ie:

7 numbers = US$ 1 million
6 numbers = US$ 1000
5 numbers = 500(W)
4 numbers = 150(W)
3 numbers = 10(W)

The Lucky Surf website itself can be quite slow and sometimes after clicking on the banner advert, it does not provide a message to say that your entry has been accepted. It does, however, remember
who you are and what you last set of numbers were. Each day you can submit different numbers or replay the last ones that you picked.

In March, the Webrewards team are offering 5(W) just for matching two numbers when playing Lucky Surf so if you are quick to sign up, you may get a few extra Webrewards as the odds of matching two numbers are 1 in 5 (so I’ve been told). I actually managed to match three numbers on the second time that I played it and pocketed the grand total of 10(W). Well, it’s better than nothing.

Another way to earn Webrewards which people overlook is to participate in Steve’s Soapbox. This is a messageboard where members can leave their views on topics such as "Great things on the web", "Reward Shop" and "Ideas and Feedback". If Steve likes your message he will give you 10(W), if he really likes it, you will receive 100(W) and if he considers it to be the best message in the whole wide world (well, for that month anyway!) you will get 1000(W).

However, probably the quickest and easiest way of earning Webrewards is to participate in online shopping from their affiliate sites. At the moment there are only a few but they are adding more sites in the coming months. Sites listed include Figleaves, Country Bookshop, Firebox.com and Carphone Warehouse.

You can also boost your total by referring a friend as you can earn 10(W) for each one. I haven’t referred anyone yet so I’m unable to comment on how long it takes for the (W) to be credited.

But once you have collected all these little (W)’s, what on earth do you do with them? Well, firstly you need to find out how many you have and you do this by logging on to the Webrewards site and clicking on the "Account" button. Here it informs you of your total balance and there is an option of viewing all transactions in the last four weeks or six months. Once you know how many you hav
e, you can start spending them!

Again, from the Webrewards site, you should click on "Spend" and it takes you to the Reward Shop. There are various categories ranging from "Home and Garden" to "Gadgets and Gizmos". Some of the products on offer include:

* Thornton’s Chocolates for 450(W)
* I-Zone Camera for 1250(W)
* Flying Lesson for 5000(W)

At the moment, the cheapest item on offer costs 200(W) and you will probably find that it will take you only a few weeks to reach this total if you send a text message every day and register with the various websites offering free Webrewards.

Unlike a lot of these reward schemes, Webrewards do not have the option of redeeming (W) for gift vouchers. I know that this would be popular with a lot of people as the majority of those who participate in reward schemes (eg Beenz) usually redeem them for either an electronic voucher (eg Amazon) or one for a high street store. Perhaps this is something that Webrewards may look to do in the future.

But is it all worth it???

Well, I have to say that it does look quite promising. I’m not sure how long the program has been running for but in the past few months that I have been using it, there have been a few more "earn" and "spend" opportunities added and the number of items for redemption has increased. I suspect that it is still early days yet and because of this I am only going to give it three stars. Hopefully, if it gets a bit more widely known then it could become a very successful reward scheme and my rating will improve.

But for the moment, I would certainly recommend that you join it even if it is just to send the odd text message to your friends. Obviously if you buy products from their partners, refer all of your friends, post a lot of messages to Steve’s Soapbox and have great luck on Lucky Surf, then your total will increase quite qu
ickly and you will be able to afford the Flying Lesson in no time!

For me, I have enough for a box of Thornton’s Chocolates but no, I can resist the temptation and keep my (W) for something else. After all, I just need another 200 more for an even bigger box of choccies!!

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