Is FreeIPod.com a scam
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I've been arguing about this with my buddy for days now, I beleive it is a classic pyramid scheme like Amway (and hence a scam) According to dictionary.com pyramid scheme n. A fraudulent money-making scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them. Eventually the number of new recruits fails to sustain the payment structure, and the scheme collapses with most people losing the money they paid in. In the case of FreeIPod.com, they have substituted payments with free ipods (among other items). I think its completly misleading to call it "free". Because it requires recruiting 5 people to buy DVDs or wtvr. This should be illegal!!! Everything is free if your friends are buying it!!! I'm interested to hear what you guys think.. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
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I've been arguing about this with my buddy for days now, I beleive it is a classic pyramid scheme like Amway (and hence a scam) According to dictionary.com pyramid scheme n. A fraudulent money-making scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them. Eventually the number of new recruits fails to sustain the payment structure, and the scheme collapses with most people losing the money they paid in. In the case of FreeIPod.com, they have substituted payments with free ipods (among other items). I think its completly misleading to call it "free". Because it requires recruiting 5 people to buy DVDs or wtvr. This should be illegal!!! Everything is free if your friends are buying it!!! I'm interested to hear what you guys think.. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that the "scam" comes in only if you pay for something and don't get it. In other words, Amway isn't a scam, since you get products for the money you pay. (The fact that there is a pyramid-like payment structure isn't really all that relevant. You can go to a name-brand store and pay more for an item than it is worth, too.) So, while you don't have to like these setups, unless you pay money without getting the items you thought you were buying, I don't believe they are technically a scam. John
"You said a whole sentence with no words in it, and I understood you!" -- my wife as she cries about slowly becoming a geek. -
I've been arguing about this with my buddy for days now, I beleive it is a classic pyramid scheme like Amway (and hence a scam) According to dictionary.com pyramid scheme n. A fraudulent money-making scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them. Eventually the number of new recruits fails to sustain the payment structure, and the scheme collapses with most people losing the money they paid in. In the case of FreeIPod.com, they have substituted payments with free ipods (among other items). I think its completly misleading to call it "free". Because it requires recruiting 5 people to buy DVDs or wtvr. This should be illegal!!! Everything is free if your friends are buying it!!! I'm interested to hear what you guys think.. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
It definately sounds like a scam, but Amway's marketing system is not. It was actually used by the US government as an example of what is NOT a pyramid scheme. In Amway, you could make more money than the people above you. Steve Maier, MCSD MCAD
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IANAL, but I'm pretty sure that the "scam" comes in only if you pay for something and don't get it. In other words, Amway isn't a scam, since you get products for the money you pay. (The fact that there is a pyramid-like payment structure isn't really all that relevant. You can go to a name-brand store and pay more for an item than it is worth, too.) So, while you don't have to like these setups, unless you pay money without getting the items you thought you were buying, I don't believe they are technically a scam. John
"You said a whole sentence with no words in it, and I understood you!" -- my wife as she cries about slowly becoming a geek.I agree Amway is not scam in that sense. But freeipod.com in my opinion is slightly, because they misrepresent their product as free. It clealy is not, your friends pay for it. Imagine Ford offers a Free car, just get 5 friends to pay %10.. you may be getting a good deal but its not FREE. You are right it may not be a complete scam but its very shady. Plus I beleive they use your contact information for marketing purposes. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
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It definately sounds like a scam, but Amway's marketing system is not. It was actually used by the US government as an example of what is NOT a pyramid scheme. In Amway, you could make more money than the people above you. Steve Maier, MCSD MCAD
interesting, I did not know that. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
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I agree Amway is not scam in that sense. But freeipod.com in my opinion is slightly, because they misrepresent their product as free. It clealy is not, your friends pay for it. Imagine Ford offers a Free car, just get 5 friends to pay %10.. you may be getting a good deal but its not FREE. You are right it may not be a complete scam but its very shady. Plus I beleive they use your contact information for marketing purposes. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
Joshua Nussbaum wrote: It clealy is not, your friends pay for it. That's beside the point, as long as you are not out any money, it is, by definition, free. Joshua Nussbaum wrote: Imagine Ford offers a Free car... The car is being offered to you, not your friends. Joshua Nussbaum wrote: ...but its not FREE. It was for you, the target of the offer. How is this any different from a retailer having a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" sale? While the free item may not have cost you anything, it did cost someone, most likely the retailer, something. Here are some other sites on the topic: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/12/13/41bd3ec4ae1e6[^] http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/11/23/41a34adea1df1[^] http://www.engadget.com/entry/1771223899144212/[^] http://people.bu.edu/jbrock/ipod_analysis.htm[^]
"Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who put them into action are priceless." - Unknown
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I agree Amway is not scam in that sense. But freeipod.com in my opinion is slightly, because they misrepresent their product as free. It clealy is not, your friends pay for it. Imagine Ford offers a Free car, just get 5 friends to pay %10.. you may be getting a good deal but its not FREE. You are right it may not be a complete scam but its very shady. Plus I beleive they use your contact information for marketing purposes. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
Joshua Nussbaum wrote: Imagine Ford offers a Free car, just get 5 friends to pay %10.. You'd have a half price car, not a free car. Levi Rosol NTeam Project[^] Blog By Levi[^]
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I've been arguing about this with my buddy for days now, I beleive it is a classic pyramid scheme like Amway (and hence a scam) According to dictionary.com pyramid scheme n. A fraudulent money-making scheme in which people are recruited to make payments to others above them in a hierarchy while expecting to receive payments from people recruited below them. Eventually the number of new recruits fails to sustain the payment structure, and the scheme collapses with most people losing the money they paid in. In the case of FreeIPod.com, they have substituted payments with free ipods (among other items). I think its completly misleading to call it "free". Because it requires recruiting 5 people to buy DVDs or wtvr. This should be illegal!!! Everything is free if your friends are buying it!!! I'm interested to hear what you guys think.. 60% of statistics are made up on the spot
It's a type of affiliate marketing scheme, not a pyramid scheme, because you don't receive any payments from the people you refer. As to it being free, it is totally free. At no time does money have to be spent by you or the people you refer, the money for the free stuff comes exclusively from the advertisers (pay-per-action advertising). They run opt-in schemes such as 'free AOL for a month', etc, which can all be cancelled before any charges are incurred without affecting your free gift.
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