So, if you are a daily reader of DatMoney.com, you might have seen the post where I introduced (to those who haven’t heard about it) ClipBook.us in which is a new “Social Bookmark Exchange” website. But here’s the question, is it as good as they make it to be?

I have done my research and done my share of time exploring their site and also participating in their “exchanging” and quiet frankly, I’m not as impressed as I was when I first signed up.

I understand that it may work better for some, but personally it has not gotten past the hype that I suspected it would. (And yes, I hyped it up too.)

If you haven’t read the article on what it is, please go here.

But here are some flaws that I have noticed:

Referral Program does not work

First, if you have gone through their entire website to look for information on referrals, then you’d be just as confused as I am. If you click on the “refer others” button, then it’ll show you how many people you have referred and it says something like:

“Invite new members and get 50 points for each referral who buy an ad-pack Also earn 1 point for each 4 points your referrals make (25%)”

But on the other hand, if you click on the “Referral Program” tab up top, it states:

“Copy this link and refer as many people as you can ! Each new member come thorugh your referral link will bring you 5 credits(equals to $0.25) and each member purchasing a pack from your referrals will bring you 50 credits! You can make mail forwarding or put your referral link to your blog/site or you can post in forums. Support us to gain more ” Well, now you must see why I’m confused. On one of them, it states I will “earn 1 point for each 4 points my referrals make” and the other “each new member come thorugh (yes, a spelling error from their site) your referral link will bring you 5 credits.”

Just incase they decided to change it sometime between now and the time you read this, below are a couple of screenshots.

In addition, I have 15 referrals and have yet to gain ANY points. It’s pretty hard to think that NONE of my referrals have gained 4 total points at any given time.

Inconsistency of Site’s Information

Besides the one I mentioned with the referral program, there are other ones. For instance, if you were planning on cashing out your “points” for money, have you noticed that they reduced the conversion ratio? Yet, they haven’t updated all of their pages to be consistent with that information.

If you click on the “FAQ’s” they state:

“How much can I earn with this system? The only limit is yourself. The more you bookmark, the more you earn. For each bookmark you will get 1 point which equals to $0.05”

If that statement is true, then how is it that when I tried to cash out, the conversion rate is $0.02 per point? And when I first signed up, it was actually at $0.03, though, I couldn’t get a screenshot in time. Especially given the fact that I didn’t think I had to write this article.

Please see the images below for proof:

Lastly, People Are NOT Really Stumbling, Digging, etc:

I liked the idea of making sure people commented when they Stumbled, Dugg, etc, but if you have noticed, some people are getting past that without actually Stumbling, Digging, etc.

How are they doing it? Well, the only example I can give on this is through StumbleUpon. It seems as though people go directly to their required page to leave a comment WITHOUT actually needing to Stumble the article.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to bash the site or anything, just pointing out some of the flaws I have noticed. I believe this site can do wonders if it’s fixed up a little bit.

Before you guys judge me, I did take the initiative in contacting them with their “Contact” form regarding the referral program. I did get a quick response within 24-hours, and they did explain the referral program to me. They stated (copied from e-mail):

“Hi jay

Your referals will earn you 1 point for every 4 points they earn provided that they are active. You will also recieve 50 points if any of your referals purchases a points package”

And I did mention their “Referral Program” tab was wrong and I haven’t heard back since January 30th. And apparently, they have not changed it either.

So, before you commit yourself to the site, just keep some of these things in the back of your mind.

BloggingClipbookSocial Bookmark ExchangeReferral ProgramStumbleUponDigg