EPW Closes Doors

A couple of updates here, mostly bad as usual. There was a time in Feb when I was nearly gloating on my good fortune of having avoided most of the 'Storm' that swept thru the entire autosurf industry. While the buildings still stood withstanding the the storm, unfortunately the foundations they stood on were weakened considerably, and most have finally collapsed under the pressure they've been under.

EProfitWorks
I've removed them from the menu bar in this blog. If you don't already know by now, ASM is practically gone, and EPW has made the decision to make refunds and start from scratch, zeroing out all account.

Yup, you read that right, it went from never expiring to zeroing out accounts and reopening again. Shades of 4daily.com? You bet! I've had a good run here, but if you think I'm going back in and risk my money again, you gotta be kidding. There are times when I'm not the brightest being around, but there's absolutely no way I'm going to be THAT stupid.

However this is not a post bashing EPW, and the team behind them, although I would definitely love to rip them a new one. I think ASM dealt them a huge blow here. It's become apparent their size probably drew some unwanted attention, and probably fell under the same kind of trouble that has plagued the other pay processors. But without any concrete evidence, this is all speculation.

In any case, it's time to say a farewell to EPW. I had fund (pun fully intended) here and thanks for the good times.

GottaLottaHits
I've also removed this from the menu bar. I've completely forgotten about them. Gotta thank LHM for emailing me and reminding me that the program is no longer a paid to surf exchange anymore.

There has also been little or no news regarding refunds here. I'm still waiting but not keeping my hopes high.

NSFG
The doors are finally closed to new members for the pooled funds. I certainly hope the last min mad rush here isn't too overwhelming for Paul to handle.

With all that's happened recently with MPDW, I'm looking forward to opening a managed account. Yes, it's probably going to cost alot (especially withdrawing my money), but I want the security of having to control the money from my side. I'm not saying Paul and Kenneth are dodgy, just want to eliminate any unforeseen reasons/excuses to jeopardise my money here.

Autosurf Industry
Seems like the industry is probably in the doldrums at the moment. Nothing seems sacred anymore and reputations are well, pretty much non-existent. I've personally gone from over 40 autosurfs down to a miserable one. That's also due to the fact I've moved alot of my money into other programs cum investments.

I know that there are alot of new sites coming up, and some even look pretty darn good like PheonixSurf, WiredSurf and CompactSurf. The vogue now is going towards these short term surf sites, which may be good for the short term gamblers. I'm, however, keeping my distance for now. The industry is too volatile right now, and the future looks bleak to me (not even sure if there will be a future). I'm taking a back seat and taking a passenger's perspective until I find the direction I want to go.

More Procedures Delaying Withdrawals (MPDW) - The Solution

As you probably already know, there was a solution for disgrunted members who want out of this program. Unfortunately the solution is nowhere near ideal, and quite frankly screws those who have large amounts in the program.

Firstly, you get into a Q and wait for new or current members to buy you out. There is no mention of the money that's in trading. It basically says, for those who can't read between the lines, new money will fund the buy outs. I don't know bout the bulk of the people out there, but personally that's bullocks for a program which claims it does real trading. I can see why some members prefer to wait out the 6 months.

Secondly, I've tried on many accounts to get current members, or at least members who share a different view from me to purchase my 38.49 units at a heavily discounted price. Unfortunately no one is willing to step up to the plate to put their money where their mouths are. To add insult to injury, I've gotten a couple of pathetic profiteers who tried to lowball me.

Here's the problem with the solution. With everything they have done and the piss poor publicity generated, I can hardly see anyone willing to purchase new units, or even new players joining the program. Note I used 'players' because without proof of trading, or of any sort, this is no longer a viable investment vehicle. I know for a fact if any of my real investments pull a poorly conceived stunt like this, they would be getting hell from the investors.

So without substantial new money coming in, how would the buyouts occur? If you're a large investor, doesn't this already smell bad? And it gets worse. Since the large investors cannot get out, they would be doing everything in their power to withdraw everything they earn every month for the next 6 months. That translates to money going out of the system via withdraws every month. So if you're waiting for a buyout, the priority maybe to pay current members instead of members who are waiting for a buyout. Yes, it's beginning to stink right now.

So in effect, they placed all the big investors in a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. While, not neccessarily a small investor, I'm glad I didn't pour in much in here, but I can empathise with those who are stuck in this Catch 22 situation.

Personally, I've taken the step of requesting a buyout, at the same time trying to sell my units to any willing listener. I may take the risk of having to wait more than a couple of months before I get a complete buyout, but it's a risk I'm willing to take.

I firmly believe this program is a ponzi and a scam waiting to happen. They have had the opportunity to dispell all such notions but have done nothing to suggest otherwise. In fact their so-called 'solution' enforces my beliefs. Hence I've choosen to try to recover any much as possible in the shortest possible time (that doesn't mean I'm willing to be lowballed by profiteers, I may lose more but I still have some pride). I don't believe by Sept, the program will still be running in it's current form, or even running at all. Of course feel free to return in Sept with a serving of crow, if it remains untouched.

The Good, The Bad and The Downright Ugly

Plenty has gone on the last couple of days and here's a quick update.

The Good

Hyping the HYIPs
I rarely touch hyips. For some reason, even after exercising good common sense, I still manage to lose money. Since I started trying to make money online somewhere in Mar 05, I've been losing money with hyips practically everytime I touch them. In fact it's gotten so bad I've practically tried not touched them since Sept 05.

But hey, you can't stop a gambler (yes I consider them a gamble). With all that's happening with autosurfs, I tried my hand at hyips all over again. Since the beginning of this month, I've been playing a couple of hyips and, quite frankly, am pretty impressed with myself. I made a whooping $700 from a $200 capital. Not too bad for an inexperienced n00b.

I wouldn't advocate anyone following my footsteps, hence no mention of what I dabbled in. I just wanted to toot my horn alittle. The risks involved are just too great. I'm not even sure I would want to continue playing with hyips. Maybe I'd dabble with it here and there, when the right one comes along, afterall they are mostly crapshoot. I got lucky this time and may not be as lucky the next time round.

EPaySurf
Got payment from Epaysurf this month. The screenshot has been updated in the Epaysurf entry.

Epaysurfmini is currently unavailable. The script's currently being reconstructed and hopefully would be available in the near future. In the meantime, earnings will continue to be credited. So far Kent has a good grip on both the programs and there has been nothing but positive feedback.

EProfitWorks
This probably neither falls into the good nor the bad catergory. Oh well, might as well make it good since I'm still making money here.

It's probably crazy, but it seems like the past month of restructuring turned out to be a waste of time. On hindsight, all they needed to do was to change the wordings and remove the cash balance. The whole creation of 2 sites and the complicated procedures involved ended up being somewhat redundant.

It's still a damn good site though. I'm in huge profits here and believe the site will still be around for at least another 6 months or so. However if you haven't joined the site yet, then you might want to know a few things.

With the implementation of their own pay processor (ASM), you may take 4-5 months before you even have a sniff of your capital. The other thing is that ASM is based in the US. You can be sure Big Bother will be sniffing around. The good thing ASM is currently inhouse and not used by any other program yet. When/if others start using it, it may face the kind of trouble/scrutiny Stormpay and EMO faced.

The Bad

AutoSurForex
This one bit the dust. Bona fide scammers. Hope no one lost too much with it. After paying off the rebates to my referrals, I made a grand total of $2. Well, at least I got away with something. Sorry to everyone who upgraded here.

LiliacUnicorn
Yet another site which has gone restructuring. Unfortunately there's been no email nor update from Laura yet, just a general message on the website. Hopfully she'd keep us informed on what the plan is.

The Ugly

MPDW
Yup things have gone ugly here. The solution provided was, well....anal to put it politely. As suspected, it was devised to screw those who want to leave.

Since I do have quite abit to say here, I'm going to pen it in another entry at a later time.

Market Professional Deliver Weakly

I've totally and utterly lost faith in these guys. And yes that means I'm removing them from my blog. No sense promoting something I refuse to believe in now.

First they impose a new set of terms without consent from members. Then they change their own terms and use it against us. Obviously something is going on behind the scenes that we're not aware of. Looks like accusations that they are a ponzi scheme could very well have it's truths behind them.

As for the new terms, I actually agree with them. It makes good business sense to have a lock in period, and in fact in the real world of investments, that's the way most investments are carried out. Raising the minimum to enter the funds at 20 units makes sense too, to attract the more serious investors. However, I feel strong armed into a deal that I did not sign up for. Don't get me wrong, I've been with the program since Aug 05 and having my principle locked up until Sept this year just doesn't make sense to me.

In the past I could go by without proof of trading, as long as the updates were there and the payments were made. However with everything's gone on, I suspect their reputation has tanished to a stage where it's imperative that members ask for trading proof, or any sort of proof that the money put in has been put into some, or any use.

Here's what I suspect could be going on and I'm pretty sure it could be the rising price of gold that's making them make a decision like this. If they do real trading (no proof whatsoever), the funds we deposit in gold has to be outexchanged. When there is an influx of withdrawals/sell backs, gold has to be exchanged in. They would not only have to payout the profits generated, they would also have to pay a hefty price increase in gold. Of course that's where the reserve funds come in, if there is a reserve fund in the first place. But that's just speculation and part of my warped reasoning.

I don't even know why I'm bitching so much bout this program, since I hardly have over 35 units in there. Maybe because it's the trust I used to have in them that's getting me all cranky. Or maybe because I was going in in June with a large deposit. In any case, I should be counting my lucky stars this has happened now and not after my planned deposit. 35 units may not sound alot, but it sure beats the $5000 I was planning to throw in.

Anyway to end it all off, there's some piece of good news. Well, I'm not sure it's really good but it's news nonetheless. Joe (administrator) has said that there would be a solution for all those who want out of the program. Personally I believe there's going to be conditions attached to it that would make it very unfavourable to us, considering they were so adament on strong arming us to their new terms. Let's wait and see how this develops.

A Few Grouses

Damn, 2 posts in a day. Got quite alot to complain/whine about. Good thing it's not all bad.

MPDW
I've updated the MPDW entry with the latest changes. If you haven't heard, they've made drastic changes to the program. Taking an objective stand, the changes are mostly pretty good. However the changes made are of immediate effect. This means those of us who are in the program have our units locked up for a period of 6 months.

While I understand the need for the changes, I'm unhappy that my funds are locked up for the next 6 months without prior warning. I hope they do the right thing and allow members time to adjust and withdraw if they do not want to be part of the program. I'm personally hoping I can withdraw some my funds. I'll still leave something in there, just that I don't feel comfortable with the changes, especially the way they are handled.

Oh, and btw, the returns last week was a pretty nice 3.65%

GottaLottaHits
No news here. Unfortunately no news isn't good news here. I believe the demise of EMO in the last couple of days probably would have derailed their refunds plans quite abit. I'm still willing to give Christian time to sort the problems out. Like I've mentioned many times in this blog, he comes across as a geniune and sincere fellow, but perhaps not the best person to leave your money with.

StudioTraffic
The news outta this one was simply astounding. This was my first autosurf, the first program that brought me into this entire arena. It kinda saddens me to see them in the state they are in. Feels like the demise of an old family friend, and quite frankly deserves and entire blog entry on its own, instead of playing second fiddle in part of my weekly whines. Maybe one day when I'm feeling up to it, I might come up with an epitaph for it, if I can remember any good moments.

NSFG
Actually there's nothing to update here, just trying to make this entry longer. Oh and a reminder that pooled funds closes on the 25th of March.

EProfitWorks
Finally something to rejoice. The new site is up, my blog entry is updated and everything's looking as good as it was before. Things may have looked abit more complicated, but in essence, nothing's changed at all. And not for the first time, I'm glad that Dan Lund is at the helm here. I'm constantly questioned of his moves since May last year and every single time his reponse was to wait and see. And everytime the results speak for themselves. All I can say is ROCK ON EPW!

Beware, Big Bother is Watching..........

It's not a mistake and yes I delibrately used 'bother'. Looks like someone who has the authority to do something bout the Hyip and Autosurf industry, is doing something about it. If you haven't heard/read the news, EMO looks like it's down and out. This follows the footsteps of IntGold and a somewhat struggling StormPay. Apparently to stop the 'industry', the big guys up there have decided to hit where it hurts most, the pay processors.

It's impossible to hit out at the autosurfs and the hyips, there are just too many of them and most of them are outside US jurisdiction. In short, it would be a fiascal and logistical nightmare.

This reminds me of the Battle of Hoth in the Empire Strikes Back. The Rebels needed to take out the AT-ATs but the Snowspeeders were effectively useless against the thick armour, instead they used the harpoons on the legs (or Payprocessors in this analogy) and effectively took out large numbers of snowtroopers. However this is like the Hoth situation, it is just a temporary set back for the industry. There are just too many gamblers like you and me out there to support the industry and too little resources the goverments have at their disposal to stop us. Not to mention, we all knew how the Battle of Hoth ended, the empire won and the rebels lost. Unless the www (wild wild west) can be regulated effectively, we can't be stopped.

The old players who have been bitten would probably stay away, while the new players would still enter the fray as long as there is a promise of easy money. New processors will rise from the ashes of those fallen, probably as offshore entities. Some people will make money, and most will lose (and probably be none the wiser from it either).

So happy hunting everyone. There are still diamonds in the rough, if you look long and hard enough. And when you do find them, drop me a note. ;o)

EPaySurf Family

EPaySurf is run by Kent Black. He posts using the handle wasatch9 in both MMG and Talkgold forums. Although I hardly know him personally, I've been pretty impressed by the knowledge shown in discussions he's been involved, prior to setting up this autosurf. His contact information is widely available on the public forums. Since I'm no stalker, nor am I personally acquainted to him, I do not have his personal contact information, but I shouldn't have a problem requesting it from those who do have it.

The program is run on a dedicated server with 256 SSL encrytion. The script's been heavily modified from the standard autosurf script. Time, effort, extensive research and most importantly, money has been invested to create EPaySurf. Overall, a very impressive effort put in here.

The site uses e-gold, but there are other methods of upgrade are available.
Payment Processor Information:

-PayPal: paypal@wasatchnetwork.com
Add 3% fee of total please
-Asian Pay: kent@wasatchnetwork.com
Add 3% fee of total please
-Money Bookers: kent@wasatchnetwork.com
Add 3% fee of total please
-Money Orders Mailed to: Epay Surf
779 East 9400 South #443
Sandy, Utah 84094

Please email the corresponding addresses and ask for further instructions if you're unsure on how to go about it.

Screenshots of Payment

Mar 06
Apr 06

EPaySurf
Here are the statistics of the site:

No sign up bonus
5% daily
Upgrades last 30 days
$5 per upgrade
5% referral commission
15 sites to earn 5%
Minimum payout at $15
Pays out automatically within 7 business days of expiry
Maximum upgrade $1500 (in 2 upgrade packages)

If interested, please use the links below.

No referral link
My link

EPaySurfMini
EPaySurfMini is a site designed to help EPaySurf members upgrade and max out their accounts. 40% of the payouts from the offspring site is used to upgrade the parent site, while 60% is paid out to members.

Statistics of the site:

No signup bonus
6% daily
Upgrades last 30 days
$1 per upgrade
3% referral commission
6 sites to earn 6%
Minimum payout at $1.40
Pays out every 7 days
Withdraws : 60% to client, 40% to EPaySurf as upgrades
Maximum upgrade is $150

If interested, please use the links below.

No referral link
My link

Updates and Payments

1. Sigh, this is slowly becoming a nightmare with GottaLottaHits. My pending refund was denied. Apparently their paypal account was frozen due to members requesting chargebacks. Looks like the alternative is to send an email requesting my refund via e-gold.

2. EProfitSurf has been down for restructuring over the weekend and isn't back up yet. Since upgrades here do not expire, I'm not the least bit worried. The forums are rife with speculations on how the restructuring will go. Some are unconcerting while others are just plain stupid. I'll wait for the program to return before passing judgement on how/what it's evolved into.

3. LilacUnicorn had their paypal account frozen. Somehow the administrators never really learn from the mistakes of other owners. How many paypal accounts need to be frozen before they actually have a clue?

Payments this week :

AutosurForex - Just got paid by these guys twice within a week for 2 upgrade packages. While I'm still weary, things are looking up here.

MPDW - Got 3% gain for this week. Also managed to make a repurchase from my backoffice.

GottaLottaNonsense

Looks like I've made a mistake on my loss here. It's alot more than I reckoned. While I'm not at all happy, it's part of the risks being involved in this industry. I'd just write it off as a loss here. However this latest update simply takes the cake.

Thursday, 3-2 - Refund Update: We would like to offer some additional thoughts:
1. Refunds are being given based on the upgrades in our program. This means, if you have already been paid 25% of your upgrade in our monthly payout, we will be refunding you another 25%, not 50% over what you have already been paid.
2. We are refunding 50% for now. IF, we have money left over we will refund another percentage. Additionally, IF we are able to get any of our StormPay funds, we will offer a third round of refunds.
3. We have two choices in doing these refunds; 1) refund paypal and egold users 100% each and not stormpay users, or 2) spread the loss so that everyone gets paid. No matter which of the two options we choose, some are not going to be happy which leaves us in a 'no win' situation. We have chosen to spread the stormpay loss to not further 'pick' on those who have already lost to stormpay.
4. If you, our members, will give us the opportunity, we are trying to create another site/program to help you still make money surfing. So, this change could be temporary; but, we have been advised that we cannot continue until this additional funding is in place.
5. We do ask for your understanding in this matter as it is out of our control. We are doing the best we can given our circumstances.

I understand Christian's point of view of trying to be fair to everyone, the SP upgraders and the non-SP upgraders but refunding all involved is silly.

I've never kept up to date with the entire SP fiasco since I hardly ever used it. For starters, no one knows for certain what is going to happen with all the SP funds. All we know is that SP is now under investigation, and quite rightly so. So let's just for argument's sake say that after all the investigations are over, all SP upgrades with GLH get eventually refunded to their rightful owners. Wouldn't the members who upgraded by SP get more in return? With everything's that's transpired, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the final resolution.

Let's not forget in the month of Feb, members who upgraded via SP were given the option to withdraw via other pay processors. That in my opinion was already a crucial mistake. Looks like another mistake is in the making.

Just for the record, I'm not against the members who used SP. I can take my losses like a man, but there are considerable loopholes with the proposed plan. Looks like a plan proposed hastily is a plan that's doomed to backfire.

A proposed solution would be to keep with the original plan and refund accordingly to other upgrades other than the SP upgrades. Keep the funds originally to be refunded via SP and put them in an escrow account, like what EPS has done (or invest these funds productively). When a resolution occurs with SP, then decide what to do with these funds accordingly. That, to me, should be the fairest result, although not the popular one.

My faith in Christian doing the right thing has gone down considerably. His heart is in the right place, but I question the mind. What looks like gold has very quickly turned to fool's gold. I don't even think I would join their new site. I fail to see how this one can rise from the ashes, with such dubious decision making.

Counting my blessings for Feb

Despite the stormpay fiasco, I actually had a pretty damn good month in Feb. Almost all my gambles paid off with the exception of one. I made a nice profit in the process as well.

I was just paid over $170 from Lilacunicorn and am happy to reintroduce the program back onto the blog. When I took it down from the blog, I feared the worse for the program. Laura has done a commendable job in the past month, considering most of her money was stuck in StormPay. I would still expect everyone to exercise caution when you sign up with the program. While things are definitely looking up here, I still have doubts over it's future.

EProfitSurf is back functioning with a spanking new pay processor, Auto-Surf-Money. While things may not be running at full tilt, the future looks bright here. At least the admin took the bull by the horns here and made some really tough (ie. unpopular) decisions. What makes Dan and Colette stand out amongst the rest is their ability to take the rougher road and not the more popular route. While there would be grunts of discontent in most of the forums, one can't help but take a longer look down in future and say this is one of the few that could stand the test of time.

GottaLottaSurf was a huge disappointment. They just shockingly announced that they would no longer be a paid-to-surf site. I would be getting a 50% refund on my spends. Personally this would put me slightly in the red here, which is disappointing considering I did alot of promotion for this program. Not to mention I was one of the earlier ones to join the program. At least I'm still getting back a 50% refund. That should bring my total losses down to a few dollars on my 4 digit gamble here. Will wait to see how much I would actually be getting back.

My long term investments are going strong and looking good. I've been able to add to them with the profits from my short term gambles in my autosurfs. Will be looking forward to adding more in the month of March.

Overall Feb has been a pretty fruitful month. I'm still currrently testing a couple of seemingly nice looking programs and hopefully will be able to introduce them here sometime in the next few days.