Ad Flasher (adflasher.net) - SCAM
****SCAM site, use caution ****
After waiting for this site to gets it act together, we have decided this site is a potential risk to investors and has turned into a scam. We are moving them to the scam list . Here are the reasons why you should avoid this site:
1. Complaints - (see comment section at the end)
The site started off with high remarks. Then the site started to have problems with keeping up with the ad orders and making it available for all members. Shortly after, the site turned into a site for upgraded members. Then you still did not have enough opportunity to earn as much as you use to, even as a upgraded member the earning potential has gone down drastically.
Now it seems the upgraded members are complaining about long waits and not receiving payments. Even no response or reply from the staff at AdFlasher. You can see some of these complaints here:
http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/adflasher.net/comment-3045736#comment-3045736http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=120800http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/2130232.aspx2. No Forum - Forums can be a excellent asset to many sites since proof of payment can be posted freely by members. This site does not have one. They do have a testimonial section. But that is not a way to receive diverse feedback. All you will see is positive feedbacks.
You can find their twitter page here:
http://twitter.com/AdFlashernet3. Opposition & Claims of Theft? - Well there seems to be some outside advertisers out there who are calling this site a bunch of thieves and that if you are using this site you might be helping them from stealing money from the common web site owner who is already struggling.
There are claims that AdFlasher uses ads from yahoo and possibly google on their grids. Which I am not 100% sure how they could get away with that, since yahoo and google are very good about catching these violations. Especially Google. I am sure if that many hits were coming in there would be a huge red flag showing up at the other end at Google and Yahoo headquarters.
I would hope that this site is not stupid enough to put yahoo ads or google ads on a PTC site/incentive site. It is common knowledge for most that this against the terms of service at Google and Yahoo. So why would they knowingly risk putting up ads that could one day be taken away because of this violation? That would put their entire business at risk.
Maybe what is happening... a publisher who is signed up for yahoo publisher is using yahoo ads on his site and in return he is showing his site on Adflasher? Which is also a big no no, but many make that mistake. Bloggers will put their blog on a traffic exchange site and not realize their google ads showing on their blog is not to be used on a traffic exchange or PTC sites.
You can view these "fraud" claims here:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=12446700&postcount=134. New Site - This site was registered on Aug 3, 2009. Which means it has a ways to go before anyone can say it has withstand the test of time. The site already seems to have become very popular over a short period of time. Will it be able to stay on top? I guess we have to wait and see.
5. Raised the min to cashout - What was once $30 to cashout is now $100. No announcement or warning before it was made. This was the final indicator for us to move them to the scam list.
We would not recommend this site to anyone for the reasons previously described.
If anyone would like to share their experience that they had with this site, whether it is good or bad, feel free to do so in our comment section at the end of this review.
Old Updates:
On 9/24/2009 at 08:59 PM customer support wrote:
AdFlasher.net News, Answers & Updates - September 24th 2009
We hope all our members had a great week. Here are some important updates.
SITE HEALTH
First and foremost we want to thank all of our members for the tremendous amount of patience and understanding you have all displayed while we are shaped into the company you want us to be. We have been watching the numbers carefully and we are well on our way to being exactly where we need to be. We have made significant progress this week in clearing Ad Views and continue to do so on a daily basis. You can help us clear all these out even faster by buying Ad Packs. The demand for View Packs was off the charts and wasn't something we anticipated occurring. We continue to focus on improving all aspects of our site while the old model is being dissolved.
We've created an engaging, profitable and fun advertising delivery system that actually works. As time goes by there is no doubt that more and more advertisers will jump on board. One thing we realized is that out of all the Ad Packs that we have sold, not a single advertiser has complained about their results. This reinforces the entire concept of our site.
ADVERTISERS
We took two ad networks that have been running on the site and compared them side by side. One was generating revenue while the other wasn't. Why? Because one network had pages that were slow to load. Our members weren't spending enough time looking at the advertisements because the pages were just plain slow. We want to remind you that it's important that your landing pages on AdFlasher be as lightweight as possible and on a responsive server. We recommend avoiding redirects or using services such as tinyurl.com. Every second faster your page loads is another second a member can spend reviewing your offer.
As you may be aware we will begin distributing Ad Views under the new system on 09/27. Now is the time to create your landing pages and purchase Ad Packs. There will be a sharp increase in impressions and clicks when these Ad Views are released.
We would like your help. Our advertiser landing page isn't doing as well as we would like. This means that we are not effectively communicating the value of advertising on AdFlasher. We would like you to review it in your spare time and tell us what you would need to see in order for us to convince you to advertise. The address is:
http://adflasher.net/online_advertising
We have another favor to ask as well. We would like to rank high on search engines for the term "online advertising". If you have one or more websites and are willing to do so, please place the following code on as many of them as you can.
Effective online advertising from AdFlasher.net
You may modify it slightly as you see fit. You will receive referral commissions from any sales generated by your link. Please remember to insert your user name into the URL so you receive credit.
AD VIEW DISTRIBUTION
We have hammered out the details of the new Ad View distribution system. The way it will work is that the system will take the total number of Ad Views that you have received and divide that by the number of weeks you have been a premium member. The result of this is the average number of ad views you have received per week. The system will then allocate Ad Views first to the members with the lowest averages. Ad Views will be distributed in packs of 25. So each week you will receive a minimum of 25 Ad Views or none at all. If you do not receive any Ad Views in a particular week the system will auto-extend your premium membership by another week. We believe that this is the fairest way to distribute them. As time goes by and our Advertiser base increases we anticipate these numbers increasing.
Remember that you also receive $0.05 cents for every Ad View your referrals complete. This is a very generous payout and we anticipate our members earning quite a bit from this.
BUY REFERRALS
There are still referrals left that you can buy for $5.00 each. Since your earnings are $0.05 cents for every Ad View they complete we feel the price is definitely reasonable. We will be introducing a system in the near future that will allow you to directly contact your referrals to promote AdFlasher.net or your own program.
MAIL OPT OUT
We don't send mail very often. Generally announcements are made through our support ticket system. We have created a way for you to opt out of receiving mail from us however. Simply login to your account and in your "My Profile" section you can change the "Receive Email" option to No.
All for now!
Happy Flashing
AdFlasher.net On 9/21/2009 at 02:10 PM customer support wrote:
Member Update:
Our legal team has advised us to stop accepting PayPal as a payment source until further notice. PayPal has been removed as a payment option effective immediately. We will update all of our members as to our progress as it unfolds.
On 9/20/2009 at 05:08 PM customer support wrote:
Just a few quick updates for all our members.
TWITTER
You may now follow us on Twitter. We won't use this very often. Only for important updates.
http://twitter.com/AdFlashernet
This is our official account. Any other Twitter user claiming to be us is impersonating us.
BUY REFERRALS
Due to our new referral payment plan there as been a high demand for the ability to purchase referrals. AdFlasher.net now pays 5 cents for every Ad View completed by your referrals. Because this can add up to be a substantial amount of referral commission we have had many members asking if they can purchase referrals.
We have created a buy referrals page so that you can purchase referrals using your balance, pending balance or the payment processor of your choice.
These purchased referrals will be selected randomly and assigned to your account. They are a mixed assortment of free and premium members. In the future we will create a system allowing you to contact your referrals in order to promote AdFlasher.net or your own programs.
Once purchased, these referrals will continue to remain under you and you will continue to earn 5 cents per Ad View they complete for as long as they continue to use the site.
PREMIUM MEMBERSHIPS
Our programmers are completing the finishing touches on the new Ad View distribution system. Remember, Ad Views will be allocated to all of our Premium members first. Ad Views will begin to be distributed 09/27. If you haven't upgraded yet be sure to do so. View Packs are no longer available for purchase.
All for now!
Happy Flashing
AdFlasher.net On 9/19/2009 at 12:41 PM
customer support wrote:
AdFlasher.net News, Answers & Updates - September 19th 2009
We hope all our members had a great weekend. Here are some important updates.
SITE GROWTH
Our new business model is doing very well and has allowed us to clear a significant amount of pending Ad Views caused by the overwhelming sales of View Packs. We are working diligently with PayPal to restore out ability to send our members payments from that account. Once this issue has been resolved we will be able to clear a very large number of pending Ad Views.
SPONSORS
We realize that sponsors were left out in left field with the restructuring. We didn't forget about you. All Ad Views under the new system completed by members you have referred will earn you $0.05. This has the potential to drastically increase the amount you can earn. If you have 1,000 referrals who complete just 10 Ad Views a week you will see potential earnings of $2,000 a week. We believe this is very fair. In the future we may look into possibly increasing this amount to $0.10.
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
We understand it's important for us to answer your questions as quickly as possible. We try to answer support tickets and emails 24/7. The volume of questions, comments and tickets we receive is substantial and it takes a toll on us. We will be closing customer support from 12:00 AM (CST) Sunday morning until 9 AM (CST) Monday morning. Please do not email us during this time unless you feel it is something very important.
That's all for now. Have a great weekend.
The AdFlasher.net Team
On 9/18/2009 at 01:33 PM customer support wrote:
Members with Pending funds may now use them for a Premium Membership. Simply access your My Account homepage and click "Upgrade Now" to complete the process.
On 9/17/2009 at 07:30 PM
customer support wrote:
AdFlasher.net Important Update - 09/17/2009
We have been listening to feedback and reviewing the situation with View Packs. Since View Pack sales are limited based on Ad Pack sales it has become nearly impossible to purchase them. We understand it's not fair for us to create a situation where members have to constantly check the Buy View Packs page to see if any are available.
Consequently we have explored numerous other options. These options included auctions, reservation systems, random allocation and a few others. We were not satisfied that any of these options were the best solution.
We have reviewed our business model and have decided to make Ad Views free. Each completed view will pay $0.10. These free Ad Views will be assigned to members on a weekly basis based on Ad Pack sales from the previous week. Members may now upgrade and create a premium account. Premium members will receive free Ad Views with a higher priority. Premium memberships are $60 and expire 1 year from the date of purchase.
Additionally, we are aware that none of you are happy about the pending funds. With this new system your earnings from completed views will be available immediately. There will no longer be any pending funds.
If you still have pending funds in your account please be advised that you will be paid as per the original terms. AdFlasher.net is a new concept in advertising delivery and we might not get things right the first time. We are confident that this new model will allow us to grow and will dramatically increase the speed that pending funds are released.
Normally with a change such as this we would release advance notice. In our case it was important that we move fast in order to do what was best for our existing user base. Referral commissions have not changed. You will receive referral commissions on all premium membership purchases at the standard rate of 10%.
Happy Flashing
The AdFlasher Team
On 9/17/2009 at 12:14 AM
customer support wrote:
During a routine security check we discovered 98 users who were cheating. It bothers us that this happened because we have worked hard to be generous with payouts. These 98 accounts have been suspended. We wanted to let everyone know because they will certainly be posting on message boards all over the place claiming that they weren't cheating and we suspended their account without cause. These members can contact us if they desire. We will review each account and either reinstate the account or provide proof of the cheating.
This has had a negative affect on all of us. The methods used to cheat the system were the cause of the slow loading pages and service outages that we all experienced recently. This has cost the site members, advertisers and sponsors. It made us look bad. We will accept responsibility for this and will implement even more security features into our code base to prevent this from happening again.
Per our terms of service:
"If a member is found to be promoting, offering or using any unauthorized third party software or services used to "auto-click", "auto-surf", "ad-alert", or circumvent or defraud the AdFlasher system in any way, such account will be terminated immediately. Legal action may also be initiated. Note that our system is very sensitive to cheating and it is easily detected. You explicitly agree that you forfeit any funds paid and earned by you in the event you are caught attempting to defraud AdFlasher. "
We will be refunding all page views generated by these false clicks to the Ad Packs that they originated from.
On 9/16/2009 at 01:42 AM customer support wrote:
Bored? Just want to play with the Ad Viewer or practice? We've created a free Ad Viewer just for you. It's the same as our original Ad Viewer except it's free to use and there are no earnings from using it.
Many more flashy features to come! Happy Flashing!
On 9/14/2009 at 11:31 PM customer support wrote:
Due to the volume of View Packs sold we have been forced to implement a limiting system. This system is in place to ensure that AdFlasher.net remains a stable, legal and long lasting program for years to come. We are working with major advertisers who are very excited about the AdFlasher Ad delivery system and anticipate running some test campaigns soon, possibly within the next few days. With this new limiting system View Packs will only become available based on the number of Ad Packs sold and advertising dollars coming in. The more Ad Packs are sold, the more View Packs will be available.
Please note that this will increase the length of time it takes for pending funds to clear. Ad Views are paid in the order received and we cannot predict how long it will take your funds to clear. AdFlasher.net has become a very valuable tool for Advertisers due to the amount of traffic we receive, the ability to target demographics and the wonderful user base that we have.
Although we originally stated that this change would be made on 09/20 we had no choice but to implement it sooner. The response to our program has simply blown us away. We never thought it would be this popular and expand so rapidly. The statistics are astounding.
We have been listening to all of your comments and suggestions and we ask that you please be patient with us while we work to make AdFlasher better, faster and stronger.
Thank you everyone!
PS: Buy an Ad Pack – Every sale helps.
On 9/14/2009 at 12:29 AM customer support wrote:
Due to consumer demand PayPal has been reactivated as a payment processor. Withdrawals will still be paid to Alertpay or Liberty Reserve until further notice.
On 9/13/2009 at 01:49 PM customer support wrote:
AdFlasher.net News, Answers & Updates - September 13th 2009
We hope all our members had a great weekend. Here are some important updates.
SITE GROWTH
We really aren't sure if there has ever been a site on the Internet that has grown as quickly as AdFlasher.net. For all those who are curious to see the stats and for anyone who doesn't believe us when we talk about capacity issues have a look at them here:
http://adflasher.net/analytics
The site has gone from 0 to around 1,000,000 page views in the course of 12 days. At one point our data center thought we were under a Denial of Service attack and blocked every member who was using the Ad Viewer. At the current rate of growth the site will be handling well over 18,000,000 page views next month. Double that for the month after. As you can see we have reached our goal of becoming a great place to advertise.
ADVERTISER LANDING PAGE
We have added a new referral URL to your account home page. This referral URL is for generating advertiser sales. You will earn the same 10% commissions as you do for consumers. The landing page will allow for instant sales and is located at:
http://adflasher.net/online_advertising
OUR GOALS & FUTURE
We understand that there are many Get Paid To sites on the Internet. We also understand that none of them pay enough to make it worth the time spent on them. Our goal when creating AdFlasher.net was (and still is) to create a place where anyone can advertise a product directly to their target audience and consumers can earn a decent amount from reviewing the advertisements. We figured there was a way to create a program like this so we spent a lot of time thinking about it and created the site you see today.
Advertising on AdFlasher is the perfect place to advertise products to consumers who aren't searching for your product. The site allows advertisers to expose their products to a targeted audience who might not be aware their company, service or product even exists. We see a lot of value in this and this is what will keep AdFlasher a productive place long term.
SUSTAINABILITY
The volume of View Pack sales has been astounding. Seriously. But they have exceeded Ad Pack sales. Without enough Ad Pack sales the system is not sustainable. We are currently negotiating with major ad networks and hope that they see the value in the system we have created. Once a few of those jump on board there is a very good chance AdFlasher.net will become a household name. Without them it will be more challenging. We will continue to sell View Packs until Sunday September the 20th. Depending on what happens after this date we may have to programmatically limit View Pack sales to the same ratio of Ad Pack sales. This means that the system will only allow you to purchase as many View Packs as there are Ad Packs to support member earnings. This may significantly increase the length of time it takes for pending funds to be released but it's something that morally, ethically and legally we have no choice to do. Our hands are tied.
AdFlasher.net isn't going anywhere. We are here to stay. The thing to remember is that this is an entirely new concept that no one has ever done before. There are learning curves involved, price points that may need to change and segmented growth that needs to occur.
OUR MEMBERS
Our members trust what we tell them and it's important that we do not let them down. We have a very diverse member base. There are elderly members trying to earn a few extra dollars to buy food. There are members in countries around the world who see this as their only opportunity to earn US dollars to support their family. There are children using it to buy toys. We care deeply about our members and we are doing everything that we possibly can to ensure the system stays sustainable in the long term. We can't tell you what AdFlasher will turn into. What we can say is that we are going to make it the best Get Paid to Site and one of the best places to advertise on the Internet.
We will have more news next week. Until then...
HAPPY FLASHING!!
AdFlasher.net Management On 9/13/2009 at 08:58 AM customer support wrote:
Due to the high volume of orders we receive PayPal has grown concerned about our account. We can still receive payments through PayPal however they have restricted our ability to send them. We are in the process of providing PayPal documentation that they have requested and expect to re-enable them as a processor shortly. We have temporarily disabled accepting PayPal payments.
In the meantime we will need to send all withdrawals through AlertPay or Liberty Reserve. AlertPay is virtually the same as PayPal and is very reliable. Please use the following link to create your AlertPay account and add it to your AdFlasher.net profile:
https://www.alertpay.com/?evh6V0NZykwSSiak7CQYSQ%3d%3d On 9/11/2009 at 09:16 PM customer support wrote:
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
A $0.75 credit has been applied to your account and has been used to purchase 5 Ad Views. Once you complete these Ad Views you will earn $1.50. Please note that if you do not purchase an Ad Pack or View Pack within 10 days from the date of this message, the $1.50 will automatically be debited from your account. Click on the "Consumers" link above to launch the Ad Viewer.
If anyone would like to share their experience that they had with this site, whether it is good or bad, feel free to do so in our comment section at the end of this review.
Please note, the information in the review was posted at the time and date from above. If the site changes its policies, please kindly let us know in the comment section and we will update or change the incorrect information as soon as we can.