Are paid to click (PTC) websites legit? Do you need to worry about getting scammed when trying out these make-money-online sites?
Many reputable companies offer legitimate paid-to-click jobs, but there are also many scams.
What Are Paid-to-Click (PTC) Sites?
Paid to click sites are websites where advertisers pay for each visitor they (the PTC site) send to the advertiser's website. Although some may charge a membership or fee per click, many are free to use.
The primary purpose of these websites is to generate traffic to advertisers' websites.
PTC sites work by paying users primarily for watching ads. However, some also provide additional earning opportunities such as answering surveys, playing games, watching videos, taking polls, etc.
The more members a PTC site has, the more leverage it has to attract advertisers. Therefore, some also offer referral programs where existing members can refer others and receive a commission for each new member they bring into the program.
The best PTC sites pay their members on time every week and have a low payout threshold. As a result, members should be able to withdraw their earnings at any time without having to wait for weeks or months. And they shouldn't have to wait until they've accumulated a significant amount of earnings.
Is Paid to Click Legit?
Getting paid to click is legit, and paying for clicks is also legit. However, not every paid-to-click website is legit, so you must be careful of scams. Here are some things to do when searching for legit PTC sites:
1. Check Reviews
Some important things to look for when reading reviews are:
- How long has the site been around?
- Is it selling a lifestyle (get-rich-quick)?
- Is the reviewer trying really hard to convince you to join?
Also, some review sites will simply tell you, without providing evidence, whether it's a scam or legit. Instead, look for reviews that take you through a process and explain why it's legit or a scam.
2. Look for Paypal Payouts
A site is far more likely to be legit if it has been verified by PayPal. On the other hand, if they use relatively unknown payment processors or ones associated with fraud, that's a bad sign. It could indicate they've been declined or kicked off of the better-known and established payment sites because of fraudulent activity.
3. Read The Terms and Conditions
When joining a paid-to-click site, you should carefully read its terms and conditions. This will tell you what exactly you are signing up for. Watch for inconsistencies or unrealistic requirements like the example below…
4. Read The Privacy Policy
Another important thing to look for when joining a paid to click website is their privacy policy. This will tell you how it collects information and whether it sells it to third parties.
5. Check Their Pay Out Procedure
As mentioned earlier, you want to make sure they are using a legitimate payment processor (e.g., PayPal), but also pay attention to how they pay their members.
For example, some sites pay instantly and have a small payout threshold. Others might only payout when you've accumulated a significant amount of money which could take many weeks or months.
6. Verify A Physical Address
Many legitimate companies use virtual addresses, so it's not a “smoking gun” if they don't list a physical location. However, not having a physical address is a reason for extra caution.
Keep in mind that legitimate sites don't only pay money to members; they also receive money from advertisers. Reputable advertisers are not likely to give money to a shady operation out of someone's basement, halfway around the world in an unspecified country.
7. Look for Legitimate Contact Information
If the only way to contact them is through email, this may be a red flag. Again, they are accountable not only to their members but also to their advertisers. Reputable advertisers will not deal with PTC companies they can't get in touch with.
Therefore, they should also provide support ticket forms, live chats, and/or a phone number.
Also, don't hesitate to ask questions before joining, even if just to see how (and if) they respond. If they don't get back to you or provide a thorough answer, it could mean they are a scam or, at the very least, offer poor customer support.
8. Be Skeptical of Unrealistic Claims
Advertisers do NOT pay a lot of money for views and clicks. They may pay a few cents per view or less. And rarely will they pay more than $1 or $2, with some exceptions. For example, a dental equipment supplier gathering behind-the-gatekeeper leads (a dentist's personal email).
So, if a PTC site claims to pay YOU much higher amounts, there's a good chance they're lying to you. They are not receiving large amounts of money from the advertiser, so they can't afford to pay large amounts of money either.
9. Be Cautious of Ponzi Schemes
Most PTC sites have referral programs, which is fine, but if the majority of the money in the program is generated from selling “memberships” rather than clicking ads, it might be a Ponzi scheme.
Members who pay to join are effectively investors. They are “investing” their money into the PTC site, believing they'll make a return on that investment.
Because a Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors, you could potentially find yourself in an illegal scheme if your earnings are coming from new investors (members).
10. Stay Clear of High-Pressure Marketing Tactics
PTC sites need members, so it's natural that they market themselves to you. They may even offer incentives like sign-up bonuses. However, if they start pressuring you to buy something right away, it could be a warning sign.
Also, avoid sites that use scarcity tactics like countdown timers or “only X number of spots left in your area” type tactics. These are used to get you to sign up fast because they know if you leave the site, the chances you'll ever return are low.
However, they are also used so that you join quickly before you have time to research the company and find out they're something shady going on.
Finally, if you are an advertiser or an investor investigating legit paid-to-click sites, you should also consider the ten suggestions above. And, if you're planning on spending a significant amount of money on paid-to-click programs, the SEC provides an important warning for investors.
Advertisers should also start with a small campaign and monitor traffic for engagement and conversions. If you are getting an unusually high number of clicks and few (if any) conversions, it may be bot traffic.
You can also monitor your time on page, bounce rate, etc., and use heat maps to detect fake visitors.
Hello, I just wanted to ask what to do on the swingbux.com site the administrator closed the site and I had a lot of dollars there and now I do not know what to do, you can advise me what to do now, thank you in advance for the advice and I wish you a nice day best regards Havel
Hi Havel, that’s a great question. I see that their site is down, and their hosting service has posted a message for them to pay their bill. Depending on the amount of money they owe you, it may or may not be worth the cost to track down the owners and take whatever actions necessary to recover your earnings. You should keep an eye on various review sites, Reddit, Facebook groups, etc. to see if there are other’s having similar issues and perhaps you can do something as a group. You can also file a consumer complaint with the FTC.
Generally speaking though, it’s difficult to collect money in these situations. Legal action is costly and time consuming, so the amount owning needs to be significant to make it worthwhile.
Another possibility is that their website comes back online in the coming days or weeks. Sometimes it’s just an administrative error that causes a billing error, which could be why their site going down.
Hello, thank you very much for the answer and in various places I found out that there will be a lot of cheats, because I think it was a promo and 2 days after that the site no longer worked and three weeks before he introduced a swingbux membership for $ 420 so he withdrew the money enough to close the site, only I came about $ 300-500 and if I calculate that he had 16,000 members so it will be several million dollars, thank you very much in advance for the answer and I wish you a nice evening greetings Havel