Shop to Earn is a Scam

A very nice, credulous person just asked me if they should join "Shop to Earn" or "Shop to Earth."

Don't join it. It's a multi-level-marketing scheme (MLM). The promised rebates are up to 70%, but most of the rebates are in the 2-4% range, which you can easily get for free through ebates.com or dozens of other places on the internet.

If we generously assume a 5% rebate on everything you buy (which is highly optimistic, since you'll probably get substantially less than 5% on average) you would have to spend $9,000 online in order to break even. On top of that, you have to pay a $69 yearly membership fee. So after you spend $9,000 online in year one, you'll have to spend $1,380 online every year thereafter to break even, and you have to do all of your shopping through their website for the products that they carry in order to do so. So that's a 24 month, minimum $10,380 commitment you're making by signing up and paying $450. And, of course, $1,380 every year in perpetuity.

As with all MLMs, the only way to have a shot at making your money back or making a profit is by recruiting others to buy in to the scheme. When you recruit someone else, you get a cut of their initiation fee.

It's a pyramid scheme, and you'd be throwing your money away by getting involved in it. The only people who profit are the ones who started it. Everyone else just has to play catch-up forever, or get bilked out of their initiation fee.

Use ebates.com instead.