I will explain how and where I have done things, what worked and what didn't, so that you can learn from this experiment. To learn more about the sites I'm using during this experiment view the "blog page".
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| PTC Experiment Earning Tables and Charts |
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This is for obvious reasons the most important week this experiment will have. Decisions I make this week will have ramifications for the entire period of this experiment (which I envisage to be a minimum of 1 year long). I have to:
- Research the candidate sites to use.
- Sign-up to my chosen site(s).
- Learn how to use these sites.
- Start clicking.
After a day or so of searching through the dozens of possible PTC sites I decide on two: NeoBux and ClixSense. These sites are both big, have great reputations and are established, though they operate quite different referral systems:
- NeoBux
- You have to be a member for 30 days and have clicked on 100 adverts yourself to have direct referrals - these are referrals signing up by using one of your links or your name.
- You can "rent referrals". This means you can buy a referral and get paid 10% commission on the income they generate, as long as you click on adverts during this period too. Rented referrals last for 30 days. Each rented referral cost $0.2.
- ClixSense
- You can get direct referrals as soon as you start using the site, at a 20% commission rate provide you click on your links too.
- You cannot rent referrals - but there are more adverts for you and referrals to click, compared with many other sites which do have rented referrals.
Both of these sites have upgrade features (that you pay for) and seem to be worthwhile if you start getting substantial amounts of referrals. More will be said on these programs as this experiment progresses.
I don't want to put money into either of these sites, which hasn't been generated on that site (when you do this it is called "recycling"), so for the first few weeks I'm likely to be clicking on the sites to help generate money for renting referrals or upgrading my account.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Invested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
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WEEK 2 - 13th-19th February 2012
Things seem to be progressing relatively well on both sites.
Firstly on NeoBux where I have earned enough cash to rent 3 referrals, which cost $0.60. This was my first real look at the rented referrals area and I can see that there are some useful tools and statistics. I'm not going to go int too much detail here, as I want to let the the numbers build up before explaining them.
Anyway, my first 3 referrals didn't click a single advert between them in 48 hours! I know you are meant to have patience and give each referral 4 days, but I decided to recycle them all - costing $0.07 from my main balance (for 1) and 186 points (2 x 93, as I didn't have enough cash left in my balance). Note: this was the justification for recycling early - to make sure the good money would earn from the next few days didn't go chasing after the bad.
The recycling helped and I now have 3 active clickers, with 2 of them averaging 4 clicks per day and 1 averaging 6, so far. The break-even for a referral on NeoBux, for standard membership and 30-day rents, is 1.833. That means my referrals are currently very good and have helped me increase my earnings 5-fold from last week!
Note: people get hung up on the break-even statistics, but these are not important until you get 10+ referrals, as your own average (usually about 6 for me) can drag the average up enough.
My plan will be to buy more referrals when I can (21st Feb) and build up slowly, trying to save 10% of my lifetime earnings "for an upgrade later in the experiment" and 10% for cashing out. This can be done thanks to NeoBux giving a breakdown of purchases (currently $0.804) against my current balances (totalling $0.352), meaning I've so far recycled only 69.55% of my earnings (well below my 80% cap).
On ClixSense I've continued to build up cash on my own at a nice rate and I'll be looking to cash out the minimum amount ($8.00) in a few weeks. This could be sooner if I manage to obtain and referrals - an area I have not spent enough time on - and will be looking to address this week.
Well the experiment seems to show that rented referrals aren't really the money spinners, you are lead to believe. Sure enough, some make money but most don't and the constant recycling and renewing means that even putting time and effort into rented referrals won't guarantee any profit. I had good weeks and bad weeks, and on average was probably not going to make money with the rented referrals on NeoBux, so I've decided to cut my losses here and concentrate on seeing out the next few months and re-evaluating this experiment.
A much better week on both sites, as I am back from my short holiday and can click most days again, but this did get me thinking. Should I be clicking every day? You don't work every day, do you?
These sites require very little time, but it is time every day... and that should be something to keep in mind if you are going to try and earn money on Paid To Click sites.
Well my rented referrals are on the decline, as can be seen on my statistics page, after I discovered that investment would be the only way to make referrals pay regularly. This idea of investing money into a site does not site well with me and I would suggest that everyone stays away from it.
I'm getting a clearer picture of NeoBux vs ClixSense and with a low number of direct referrals on both this experiment could turn into a competition to see which of the two pays most. NeoBux is a little behind, but will have a boost as the rented referrals are still working their way out of the system.
WEEK 19 - 11th-17th June 2012
Firstly on NeoBux where I have earned enough cash to rent 3 referrals, which cost $0.60. This was my first real look at the rented referrals area and I can see that there are some useful tools and statistics. I'm not going to go int too much detail here, as I want to let the the numbers build up before explaining them.
Anyway, my first 3 referrals didn't click a single advert between them in 48 hours! I know you are meant to have patience and give each referral 4 days, but I decided to recycle them all - costing $0.07 from my main balance (for 1) and 186 points (2 x 93, as I didn't have enough cash left in my balance). Note: this was the justification for recycling early - to make sure the good money would earn from the next few days didn't go chasing after the bad.
The recycling helped and I now have 3 active clickers, with 2 of them averaging 4 clicks per day and 1 averaging 6, so far. The break-even for a referral on NeoBux, for standard membership and 30-day rents, is 1.833. That means my referrals are currently very good and have helped me increase my earnings 5-fold from last week!
Note: people get hung up on the break-even statistics, but these are not important until you get 10+ referrals, as your own average (usually about 6 for me) can drag the average up enough.
My plan will be to buy more referrals when I can (21st Feb) and build up slowly, trying to save 10% of my lifetime earnings "for an upgrade later in the experiment" and 10% for cashing out. This can be done thanks to NeoBux giving a breakdown of purchases (currently $0.804) against my current balances (totalling $0.352), meaning I've so far recycled only 69.55% of my earnings (well below my 80% cap).
On ClixSense I've continued to build up cash on my own at a nice rate and I'll be looking to cash out the minimum amount ($8.00) in a few weeks. This could be sooner if I manage to obtain and referrals - an area I have not spent enough time on - and will be looking to address this week.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
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WEEK 3 - 20th-26th February 2012
On NeoBux I managed to rent a further 3 referrals (bringing my total to 6) and keeping the average number of clicks per referral above 2 (despite having to recycle a referral). NeoBux is earning twice ClixSense, though I have looked at posting in forums in a bid to get some referrals.
Each new NeoBux referral seems to bring in $0.1 per weeks and I expect to have my first withdrawal within 8 weeks, taking out 20% of my earnings ($2 dollars from a total earning of $10).
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
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WEEK 4 - 27th February-4th March 2012
NeoBux continues to grow faster than ClixSense thanks to another 3 referrals being rented (now 9 in total).
Despite having to recycle a number of referrals this week, I have made steady money on NeoBux thanks to active referrals. Taking into consideration that each referral click counts as $0.005 (the lowest it can), then 60 clicks equates to 1 referral being paid for over a 30 day period. My referrals have clicked over 200 times (at the time of posting) so they are paying for themselves.
Both NeoBux and ClixSense have "prizes" available for viewing extra ads. You get 25 on ClixSense and 3 per click you make on NeoBux. This week saw me win $0.25 on ClixSense and this morning $0.50 NeoBux (though that will count towards next weeks earnings).
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
WEEK 5 - 5th-11th March 2012
I've been trying to encourage people to sign up to my ClixSense but without much look, so that continues to grow slowly, but without referrals I'm questioning whether I'll have the heart to keep this going for a full year - hopefully I'll get a referral before my first cash out ($8), which is when I will make that decision.
As for NeoBux, it's been a mixed week. Winning $0.50 on the prize draw and getting 3 more referrals is good, but the average clicks have been a little low and I've had to recycle (i.e. spend) more this week than normal. The long and short of this is that I still need to clicks on more than 4 ads-a-day to keep in profit, but with a bit of luck the referrals will keep a bit more active this week. I am still spending less than the 80% of earnings I wanted (actually only 67.38%), so there's slack in my balances for a week or two like this.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
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WEEK 6 - 12th-18th March 2012
This week I managed to get my first referral on ClixSense, which has invigorated me to keep going on that site. It is a great site and one where I'll make a good profit over the year if I can keep going and picking up referrals.
NeoBux had a much better week were my rented referrals clicked on their ads, I gained not 1 but 2 direct referrals (who are both very active) and managed to exchange back referrals for NeoPoints rather than money. I have over $2 in my account, but will hold off from withdrawing until I have nearly $3, so that I can cover the costs of buying a further 3 referrals, recycling inactive referrals and extending the referrals time on ones running low on time.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
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WEEK 7 - 19th-25th March 2012
No more referrals on ClixSense, so that site continues to tick along at about $0.50/week. I might do a few of the tasks on the site so that I have more to report on in the future.
Once again NeoBux had a much better week, in terms of revenue, but not necessarily profit. Referrals are expensive to recycle and renew and with increasing referrals comes increased costs. Because I don't want to spend any more than 80% of my revenue, I have tried to resist the urge to spend any money I have saved - and I believe my slower growth strategy will be more sustainable in the long-term.
I have managed a successful $2.00 withdrawal from NeoBux (there's a $0.04 fee) a week early than expected - possibly thanks to another direct referral and will report on the trustworthiness of the payment process this on the blog.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $0.604 (from a total earnings of $8.479 minus reinvestment of $5.875 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $3.205
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WEEK 8 - 26th March-1st April 2012
A great week on ClixSense in the sense that I won on their free prize draw, meaning my earning were almost double the average, but without any extra referrals I'm still yet to be convinced that ClixSense has long-term growth.
NeoBux has shown great growth potential over the last few weeks but this has now become an issue. The extra referrals (another 3 this week) means there's growing expense on renewals and recycling. This seems to be leading to an effect where any extra income is easily spent. There needs to be a good week of many clicks, as I'm expecting to increase my extra weekly referrals, from 3 to 5, in a couple of weeks time.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $0.748 (from a total earnings of $9.587 minus reinvestment of $6.835 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $3.813
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WEEK 9 - 2nd-8th April 2012
I had a costly week at NeoBux last week with lots of recycles. This week I took some time off from re-cycling to let the numbers settle. I rented another 3 referrals.
A slower week on ClixSense with my direct referrals not being active and talking of being active I have a 2 week break coming up, so whilst the numbers will be recorded there's going to be a couple of slow weeks expected and a few missed days.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $1.416 (from a total earnings of $11.080 minus reinvestment of $7.660 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $4.047
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WEEK 10 - 9th-15th April 2012
It seems as though all my direct referrals have stopped clicking on both sites, and I can't invest any more time at present to keep hunting for new ones, which means I'm reliant on myself for ClixSense and rented referrals for NeoBux.
I plan on examining the use of rented referrals much closer on NeoBux, because with less people clicking and less time spent on ClixSense I'm earning slightly more. This simple analysis makes me think that rented referrals aren't worth having for basic members.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $2.230 (from a total earnings of $12.054 minus reinvestment of $7.820 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $4.471
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WEEK 11 - 16th-22nd April 2012
Being on holiday makes it difficult to click and earnings on both sites have suffered. My rented referrals are being run down on NeoBux and most of my spend there is now on keeping those who do going, though I have noticed that eventually they all drop below an average of 1.8 clicks/day which is when they stop being profitable. However, if they click 60 times in a month then you have earned you money back with profit, so the maths isn't quite that simple.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $2.521 (from a total earnings of $13.110 minus reinvestment of $8.585 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $4.727
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WEEK 12 - 23rd-29th April 2012
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $3.320 (from a total earnings of $13.879 minus reinvestment of $8.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $4.886
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WEEK 13 - 30th April-6th May 2012
These sites require very little time, but it is time every day... and that should be something to keep in mind if you are going to try and earn money on Paid To Click sites.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $3.662 (from a total earnings of $15.011 minus reinvestment of $9.345 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $5.348
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WEEK 14 - 7th-13th May 2012
I'm getting a clearer picture of NeoBux vs ClixSense and with a low number of direct referrals on both this experiment could turn into a competition to see which of the two pays most. NeoBux is a little behind, but will have a boost as the rented referrals are still working their way out of the system.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $4.159 (from a total earnings of $15.668 minus reinvestment of $9.505 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $5.497
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WEEK 15 - 14th-20th May 2012
But we must note that I have withdrawn $2 from NeoBux, so there was a little extra profit.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $4.676 (from a total earnings of $16.245 minus reinvestment of $9.565 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $5.759
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WEEK 16 - 21st-27th May 2012
I'm going to look to get direct referrals if possible for both of these sites.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $5.008 (from a total earnings of $16.617 minus reinvestment of $9.605 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $5.910
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WEEK 17 - 28th May-3rd June 2012
There's been a lot on the past few weeks with the creation of a new blog and Android application, so I've been a little relax with my clicking. One area I've not done much on is the "bonus" clicks. These are the ones you don't get paid for, but can win prizes on.
Both sites offer this service and if you are into PTC sites, it's worth spend the extra few minutes to use these.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $5.183 (from a total earnings of $18.852 minus reinvestment of $9.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $6.310
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WEEK 18 - 4th-10th June 2012
Both of the referrals came through this website, without any prompts or blog post asking. This is fantastic news, as the blog hits are really starting to increase lately. WIth that there's been a pick-up in AdSense revenue, but this is a comment for another time.
The experiment is a third of the way through and only looks to be bringing in $40 over the year! Not much, but there's time for things to change, so keeping coming back.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $5.340 (from a total earnings of $17.009 minus reinvestment of $9.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $6.695
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WEEK 19 - 11th-17th June 2012
The pattern continues with ClixSense being a better click-for-click earning site than NeoBux and in a few weeks time I might have to look at comparing rented referrals, to see if they can be employed in a different way.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $5.557 (from a total earnings of $17.226 minus reinvestment of $9.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $7.102
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WEEK 20 - 18th-24th June 2012
I missed a day of clicking this week and whilst that would be bad news if I had lots of referrals it's not too important at the moment. In fact I did pick up 2 more direct referrals for NeoBux recently (one this week week and one last week) but these referrals only clicked for a day or two and then stopped. I have a handful of NeoBux referrals and two ClixSense referrals but only 1 ClixSense referrals is clicking everyday, which helps to explain why that site outstrips the other.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $5.647 (from a total earnings of $17.316 minus reinvestment of $9.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $7.473
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WEEK 21 - 25th June-1st July 2012
Another average week for both sites, with a steady pattern forming. Neither site looks like a big earner over the year, but a lot of useful data is being gathered, so I hope you appreciate the effort.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $5.839 (from a total earnings of $17.508 minus reinvestment of $9.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $7.781
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WEEK 22 - 2nd-8th July 2012
Three significant events happened this week.
Firstly ClixSense passed the $8 mark, which means I can request a payout and test how long this takes. I'll probably do this in the next few days and have a blog post up shortly after that.
Secondly, NeoBux provided me with a $0.25 prize to boost my earnings for the week.
Finally, a new direct referral for NeoBux has been clicking regularly and often, helping to nudge my earnings along there.
All in all, a good week.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $6.352 (from a total earnings of $18.021 minus reinvestment of $9.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $8.055
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WEEK 23 - 9th-15th July 2012
With weekly NeoBux earnings being significantly below ClixSense I looked again at the concept of this experiment and the setup of each site. Whereas ClixSense is based on personal effort NeoBux requires you to recycle income to improve your earnings. Our statistics prove that rented referrals will increase your weekly earnings, but what isn't clear is whether the "initial outlay" is recouped.
Well this experiment required 80% of NeoBux income to be recycled and with that in mind I have re-invested $5 of our total earnings on 25 rented referrals. This brought our operating total down to about $1.37. With 0 referrals I can earn a little over $0.2 per week. So in 4 weeks (rented referrals last 30 days) the operating total and without bonus/prizes these 25 referrals will need to push that $1.37 up above $7.20 to show a profit.
I won't recycle any of the referrals in the first week and will re-evaluate after that.
Well this experiment required 80% of NeoBux income to be recycled and with that in mind I have re-invested $5 of our total earnings on 25 rented referrals. This brought our operating total down to about $1.37. With 0 referrals I can earn a little over $0.2 per week. So in 4 weeks (rented referrals last 30 days) the operating total and without bonus/prizes these 25 referrals will need to push that $1.37 up above $7.20 to show a profit.
I won't recycle any of the referrals in the first week and will re-evaluate after that.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $1.370 (from a total earnings of $18.243 minus reinvestment of $14.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $8.170
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WEEK 24 - 16th-22nd July 2012
The first week of the extra referrals on NeoBux starts well, but I fully expect this to fall off later in the month, as this is the usual pattern of referrals.
I should be able to click most days over the next few weeks, even though I am going away for a week.
The first week of the extra referrals on NeoBux starts well, but I fully expect this to fall off later in the month, as this is the usual pattern of referrals.
I should be able to click most days over the next few weeks, even though I am going away for a week.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $3.105 (from a total earnings of $19.978 minus reinvestment of $14.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $8.346
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WEEK 25 - 23rd-29th July 2012
Withdrew $8 from ClixSense and will post the proof of this on the blog soon.
As expected the rented referrals on NeoBux have stopped clicking as much, but we are still on track to have a profit on our mini trial.
This week I did miss one day of clicking, but this is fair enough as it is more "life-like" than being online and clicking everyday.
Withdrew $8 from ClixSense and will post the proof of this on the blog soon.
As expected the rented referrals on NeoBux have stopped clicking as much, but we are still on track to have a profit on our mini trial.
This week I did miss one day of clicking, but this is fair enough as it is more "life-like" than being online and clicking everyday.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $4.760 (from a total earnings of $21.633 minus reinvestment of $14.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $0.648 (from a total earnings of $8.648 minus withdrawals of $8.000)
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WEEK 26 - 30th July-5th August 2012
I won a few cents in prizes on both websites this week, which I haven't done for quite a while. Clicking for referrals was relatively similar to last week's.
I won a few cents in prizes on both websites this week, which I haven't done for quite a while. Clicking for referrals was relatively similar to last week's.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $6.327 (from a total earnings of $23.200 minus reinvestment of $14.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $1.133 (from a total earnings of $9.133 minus withdrawals of $8.000)
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WEEK 27 - 6th-12th August 2012
The rented referrals have now finished on NeoBux, and the trial shows that these are not very profitable for standard users. To be above a standard level you need to pay, which does not seem to be an inviting option with referrals being so inconsistent.
Whilst I did make a small profit, a short-break or a few days missing from clicking would completely ruin any profits. I would recommend staying away from rented referrals and spending more time on direct referrals.
The rented referrals have now finished on NeoBux, and the trial shows that these are not very profitable for standard users. To be above a standard level you need to pay, which does not seem to be an inviting option with referrals being so inconsistent.
Whilst I did make a small profit, a short-break or a few days missing from clicking would completely ruin any profits. I would recommend staying away from rented referrals and spending more time on direct referrals.
Current Balances = (Total Earnings - Withdrawals - Reinvested Earnings - Upgrade Costs):
- NeoBux = $8.177 (from a total earnings of $25.050 minus reinvestment of $14.665 and withdrawals of $2.004)
- ClixSense = $1.308 (from a total earnings of $9.308 minus withdrawals of $8.000)
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