Widgetbucks appears to be cheating publishers

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Widgetbucks appears to be cheating publishers

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	November 11th 2007

Widgetbucks suspends accounts in unwarranted fashion

Excerpt from googlelady.com:

I was using widget bucks for a month, it was looking to me a good program because the click rate was higher than google adsense. Today when I loggined to my account i found they deleted all my one week earning without any reason, before this I had problems with ads, it was showing nothing I sent them email but still no reply.

Now neither its recording page impression nor showing me any warning or problem.

I haven’t got paid from this program and many people are also waiting.. its looking to me fake bucks than widget bucks.

I recommend you all to use this program with caution!

Thanks,
jcodemasters

It appears as though what seemed to be a good idea for publishers to make some extra money is turning out to be a scam. I remember hearing a lot about widgetbucks in the beginning. About how it was supposed to pay publishers simply for someone clicking on the ads. Ads that you got to pick. Word is that they are making claims of click fraud where click fraud isn’t happening. Could be just to avoid paying out so they can keep the cash to themselves. If this is the case they won’t last very long. Word gets around fast and they wont have any ads displayed anywhere. No ads= no $$
Dumb!

Widgetbucks claims some impressive numbers. 30k publishers with over 200 million impressions after 1 month of operation. These are self reported numbers, so their validity is questionable. I have seen their widget and even tried it out a bit. It is a glorified ad with some product search properties.
woohoo!

I believe they owe any success they get to the fact that people are grasping at straws to make some type of money online. Adsense hasn’t delivered to most publishers, at least in any sustainable way. So they tend to flock to any new revenue generating service that shows up with golden promises. Just to be disappointed or in this case, maybe deceived. This is too bad.
As a publisher, I too look for the ‘Golden Promise’. The one that actually delivers. I have yet to find the one that delivers the type of sustained income that would benefit me and equal out the amount of time I put into this blog.

I feel your pain!

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16 Comments »

My Friend and I just got our accounts suspeneded from widgets bucks.. no email or nothing saying we were in violation.. I hope others see this and word gets out that widgetbucks is not up to par!

Comment by Matt — 11-12-07 @ 12:04 am

I had put widgetbucks on my sites and they suspended them…never gave me a reason.. and so Im thinking that its like you say. I just wanted to let you know. I wanted to thank you for writeitg this blog, It helps me. It in a weird way makes me feel better…thank you
Ellie

Comment by Ellie Rawlins — 11-12-07 @ 12:09 am

It is too bad that this ‘would be excellent’ service is run by people that appear to be shady, sneaky and crooked.
The numbers appear to signal rapid success but the publisher stories of wrongful termination will ultimately spell it’s demise.

too bad.
-D

Comment by Derek Anderson — 11-12-07 @ 7:21 am

My account was banned for invalid clicks. LOL. I’m an adsense user for 2 years and I think I know not to click my own ads. Widgetbucks = SCAM

Comment by Style Snatch — 11-13-07 @ 7:34 am

I was thinking about quiting the system. And with this post, I will do just that. It pays off really bad, better stick to adsense.

Comment by Bogdan — 11-13-07 @ 10:55 am

Yup, got suspended as well: http://blog.bubble.ro/how-i-got-suspended-from-widgetbucks-because-i-had-500/
I use Adsense for more than two years as well, so yeah, Widgetbucks is a huge scam.

Comment by Indiana Jones — 11-23-07 @ 2:05 am

I had been waiting to hear what happened. Now I’m glad I waited.

Comment by Matt Ellsworth — 11-23-07 @ 12:47 pm

Oh guys,this widgetbucks is a pure scam.
I have been with them 2 months, today jan 30, when the time came to pay me, they suspended my account without pay, saying that each click must likely lead to a purchase from the ad your visitors clicking on at your site-otherwise it is a fraud.
My friend’s account was suspended too-same reason,and many others.
So my 1500 bucks are gone, i am sick and tired of these scammers like widgetbucks, so want more info-send me an email I will explain you their game.
In short ,this guys will get their money for my visitors’ clicks, but when time comes to pay publisher-they suspend the account and save his money too.
A pay per click rate is 3-6 dollars from the merchant, they promise 10-40 cents per click to the publisher, they do not pay you for the first 2 months/so that you do not understand the game, then they suspen your account and -ALL MONEY I THEIR POCKET.
WHY THEY DO NOT SUSPEND YOU AFTER 1 MONTH THEN?
NDERSTAND NOW?
Good luck-if you find something else-let me know
Eddie

Comment by Eddie — 01-31-08 @ 2:19 am

I just had the same problem as Eddie. My November earnings along with the $25 bonus was $55. I got paid that to my paypal account on Jan 4th. I started WBmidway through Nov, so I could hope for better right? Dec., my earnings, after being audited, were $114. Awesome right? Due to be paid today right? Last week, prior to the end of January I get an e-mail saying I am suspended for click-fraud. CLICK-FRAUD for $114!?!?! They have people who were banned for $900 in a month…maybe a little suspect, but $114? I called the company, MPIRE, and spoke to a secretary and said she would call me back. NO-call and no one answers the phone today. BTW, here’s the phone number: (206)706-5588. I am planning on starting an e-mail campaign to all of WB’s advertisers. This, on top of you all being proactive in keeping people from falling for them could be a big help.

Comment by mack — 02-4-08 @ 3:09 pm

It looks like WB is still going strong in their 5th month. Makes me wonder if the scammers are the people delivering shitty content and throwing ads up hoping to make a quick buck.
I run a quality blog that updates regularly and I have received my payments from adsense and WB.

Comment by steve — 02-20-08 @ 11:38 pm

steve » Hey, how about sharing the link to your blog so we can enjoy your content as well.
Also…you may be right about the scammers. I would like to see something from Widget Bucks on this as well.
It is, in my opinion, weird that “scammers” would bother to comment on the fact that they got busted cheating. Seems that they would be too busy figuring out the next scam.
But who knows…stranger things have happened.
-D

Comment by Derek Anderson — 02-22-08 @ 6:40 am

Well, I went to login to my account at Widget Bucks and lo & behold, I too was suspended. I emailed them and am waiting for a response. My site currently doesn’t have a lot of traffic and my earnings from WidgetBucks might have been a hefty $7.00 a month, so one can hardly accuse me of “click fraud”. Perhaps it was finally time after about 4 months using WidgetBucks that I would get a small payout. So, they suspend my account so they don’t have to pay? I’ve emailed them and hope they have the professionalism to respond.
I hate to think this company is behaving fraudulently.

Comment by PureAgeless — 03-9-08 @ 8:04 am

Well, it has now been more than a month, and Widgetbucks has been very good to me. They rectified the situation with the suspicion of click fraud, and to date I have been paid over $300 for 3 months.

Comment by Mack — 03-10-08 @ 11:04 pm

WidgetBucks answered my email inquiry. They said I had an 83% click rate on one of my widgets on one of my pages, but that all the other widgets were behaving naturally.
However, the widget was on a page about anti-aging skincare, the widget was about anti-aging skincare and it was located at the top of the page. I have suggested to Widgetbucks that it is entirely possible that an 83% click rate was possible because the widget is exactly about what my readers were searching - anti-aging skincare.
The more I think about it - the more possible I think it could be. Anyone looking for anti-aging skincare information is going to click on the eye-catching widget to see what products it contains.
So, Widgetbucks answered my email and they reinstated me. But I’m still concerned about the anti-aging skincare widget.

Comment by PureAgeless — 03-11-08 @ 5:43 am

Widgetbucks scammed me too. I tried to login and my password wasn’t working and the request password function didn’t work so I used their contact form. After almost two weeks and several contact forms later,they finally responded and said my account was terminated. Great, I had just passed the payment threshold.

Comment by Ray — 07-5-08 @ 12:31 pm

So, here I am again commenting here…for the third time now. The first time I commented because they suspended me for an unwarranted reason, then I posted again to say I was re-instated and everything was goin great. Here I am again for being suspended for click fraud when I have not even made $50 a month for the past 3 months. Whatchya gonna do?

Comment by Mack — 07-7-08 @ 12:24 pm