I have heard of many sad stories about a site that promised to pay members who would post articles and who would react to posted articles. The site was abuzz with the countless of members posting articles not once but many times in a day so you can imagine the activity. The site paid the withdrawals and it looked even better so new members came in. And suddenly the admin declared a suspension of payments to redemption of their bank balance. What happens when a site that you are working on suddenly closes down together with your earnings? That's one issue in online work that cannot be resolved for now. Site admins have the sole right to do what they want with their site. They even change policies in a flick of a finger. That's why it is foolhardy to join sites and invest money. You have no protection.
Often, these sites begin with the best of intentions, but the administrator or site owner might have a business plan that doesn't work out the way he anticipated. Sites that pay for content are generally depending on one of two things to occur in order for them to be a worthwhile investment. One, they may hope that the content will bring visitors, and that the visitors will bring advertising revenue, either from affiliate or associate links or from direct sales. When doesn't occur, they might find that they are paying more out than they are taking in, and finally have to shut things down. Two, they might hope to bring in enough traffic to be able to sell the site at a profit. Of course, that's an investment in time and money, and there might be a point where they have to cut their losses. Then again, I suppose there are scams as well, who might shut down one domain to avoid paying for content already received, only to open up another where they use the content. I have not heard of this occurring, at least not on a regular basis, though. Or, like me, they might simply enjoy what they're doing and hope to break even. Twenty years ago, most people who had sites on the Internet were doing so because they enjoyed it. Today, it's probably fair to say that most people are trying to make a buck.
I've a current survey place called QuestMindShare.com that didn't pay me, still open. They are investigating it. I've read about this company. Mix reviews with very good to people like me. Still waiting upon their investigation about their payout to me. I was with another company shoptalk.com, online too, that suddenly closed down without warning. I had points in it for amazon gift cards, but not yet enough to cash out...lost out on it for they completely closed down. No cash per se was really involved, but they did close down and are gone. I also was doing music reviews slicethepie.com and almost went to the threshold to the payout amount...they kicked me off the site because I was too redundant in reviews. I thought I was specific to each song, but none the less I didn't get a penny of the money that I spent hours working on. That's life. Your site sounds like a bank site and it's not supposed to happen. Banks have brick and mortar mostly, with online service for convenience for customers. Thus it is different from a site closing like what I went through which is just life's ironies. Bank issues is a federal matter. International banking is something I know even less about, but here is a place to start: * https://www.federalreserveconsumerhelp.gov/ In America we have the federal reserve to go to for questions etc. about bank issues. If it isn't a fraud issue, which is an FBI.gov reporting or if internet fraud ic3.gov reporting issue. Good luck and keep documentation of things, date, time, who spoken to, log for your safety also, as you get your money and acct. back. Good luck! * http://www.helpwithmybank.gov/complaints/index-file-a-bank-complaint.html Please all sites at norton safe web check too: https://safeweb.norton.com/
I think all of us who work online have all been denied payment or treated badly, by one site or another. It sadly seems to come with the territory. All you can really do I think is to try to be as careful as possible when signing up with new sites. It is also important IMHO, try to choose those who have been established for quite a long period of time and have good reviews. They hopefully know what they are doing, and if they weren't reasonably fair, wouldn't be able to stay in business.
You can and sometimes that's the right thing to do. The problem with online businesses is that very often they consist of one person with a computer in his mother's basement and if they know what they're doing, it's hard to tell that apart from a corporation that might actually have assets to go after.
Well that's scary. I never believed in most of the make money online jobs that were always advertised when I first got on the internet. With people saying I made $500 in one day doing blah blah blah and so can you.
I make a few dollars here and there, and I'm always apprehensive about signing up with a new site. I've got one I've cashed out on a few times that is taking their sweet time reviewing my work, and it's making me very nervous. Many who do these types of 'jobs' need every penny they can get, and are dependent upon that meager income, so it can be a real hardship when sites close down without paying out. In addition, the workers are then left looking for replacement sites so they can make a little money, which can take quite a while nowadays.
I have a site that I have 30 dollars on and the cash out is 50. They are still around but they are such a pain to deal with..that I have stopped trying. Maybe, I should try to claim that money anyway though. Maybe someone will have a heart and send it to me. I haven't written on there for years, and they keep sending me email.. I wish I could just get my money and forget about them. Maybe I could send them a nice letter..and they would do so. I think they are not happy with me though so...hmmm.
I have written on the many blog sites run by GoodBlogs, but the way they pay is by having other members vote up your story. If your story is moved to the front page then you get paid, but if you get there at all depends on the fairness of all the members. I have seen many groups of friends cheating the system by only voting for their friends. Sometimes if the blog site is new the owners will decide to pay right away for a good story. I have quit several survey sites that require you to wait until a high limit is met before you can cash out. Some sites only want you to join other sites, and after a while it gets really dumb as they only have a limited amount of places and more than likely your already a member. One place in My Points. This site sends me emails to open and read. I get tons of them and the points add up quickly. I also watch video's and do surveys. I have cashed out many times mostly getting Amazon gift cards, but sometimes cash. Another spot is Pinecone research. they pay $3 a survey, and sometimes more. OpinionOutpost is also a good site they pay with points that add up quickly and all the surveys are interesting to do. all of these sites are fair and do not restrict your ability to cash out.
There's a new site recommended by a writer friend. Travelicious is obviously a site about travel where you can submit articles with a length of 1,000 and you get to earn $40. It looks attractive especially for good writers. But come to think of it, why would they pay you $40 for an article. My husband and I have been writing articles for a major pet magazine and our articles were only paid $20 that includes several photos. By the way, that travel site is based in Australia. I'm still awaiting for updates if the site is true to its word. In the olden days, my husband had joined a site that makes you earn when users post a comment on your posted articles. It was great going at first because withdrawals were being paid. But when it came time for my husband to withdraw $300 in his bank, there came the declaration that payment had to be suspended due to spamming. And then the site closed down. That was supposed to be my husband's first online earning.
Actually, $5-$40 dollars is low range budgets for smaller just getting started websites. Top magazines on and off line can pay from $50 to $1000, or more for an article or story if it fits their magazine and passes the editors desk. But the top magazines are highly competitive and mostly well known writers are the only ones who get picked. However, there are many websites and smaller magazines that are looking for well written stories. Even many collages put out smaller magazines and journals, and purchase stories from writers. Pay is different and I have always been happy with what I have received as it gets my name in print.
Yes, just having a byline is an accomplishment for writers, as so much online work goes uncredited. I would love to have an article in a print magazine, and not just something like Ezine for instance. I mean Ezine is a start, but it is not like seeing your name in a real magazine. That would be a sense of accomplishment, and something very interesting to add to your resume or Bio.
Plenty of people had this experience with a site called Bubblews. Shortly after the owners said they were looking forward to a prosperous new year, it closed without any warning. Individuals who had not reached the $50 payout minimum didn't receive anything, but the additional irritation was not being able to grab articles they'd written so they could use the articles elsewhere.
Someone commented in another thread about ghostwriting for blogs- same is true for Ezine. When I first started writing online, I wrote a handful of articles for clients who wanted articles to post under their own names on Ezine.