I’ve even been to 2by2.net and can’t figure it out.
Okay, here’s what prompts the question: Cars in my area (Southern California) have been sporting various large decals (typically covering the entire side panel of a car) reading, simply, “2by2.net.” There’s no explanation of what it is beyond that. Basically, they’re driving billboards.
Billboards for what, I’m still trying to figure out. The website is vague and implies that these decals are free, and that there’s no monetary reimbursement for turning your car into a commercial. However, my hubby has seen a HumV and a Lamborghini with these decals–I can’t imagine anyone putting such large decals on their $150,000 car without it somehow profitting them.
What is this, the pod people? Some sort of secret society? (begins singing: “Who held back the electric car?..who made Steve Gutenberg a star?..WE do…WE do…”)
Can’t answer your question but do have a funny story…
A few months ago I saw a Porche with one of these billboards on it including a slogan that said something like “The Ultimate Internet Opportunity!” The thing that made me really laugh was that the car also had a Domino’s pizza delivery sign on the top. Apparently it wasn’t quite a “ultimate” as one would have hoped.
alright here’s the deal, I go to UCLA and a number of students who drive nice cars have these decals. One of these students lived on my floor fall quarter. 2by2.net is a online mall of sorts, but it more closely resembles a pyramid scheme. Basically you become a recruiter of more 2by2.net members. I’m friends with a couple of people who are very very profitable in this, hence the lamborgini. The people with the decals are not being reimbursed but are members who are trying to recruit more members to work under them, so like any good pyramid scheme they can make more money, I hope this helps. If you have any other questions I’ll do my best to answer them.
See, that’s precisely what I was wondering. It smells of some sort of PartyLite-Tupperware-CandleLite-Longaberger-PamperedChef deal, where people are trying to get YOU to join their special club and sell somesuch product, and better yet, HOST the thing so more people buy the product.
Not that all or any of the above companies are pyramid schemes, but you get the idea. SOMEone has to profit from this.
yea, I know a girl who is 21 years old and a college student who is number 8 or 9 in this company and she first bought a lexus crashed that, then she got a BMW, crashed that, now she drives a porche. So apparently if you play your cards right you can make a lot of money
If they do not, then I can see no way at all that a person would bother with the ads on the car, there is simply no way they will be able to return on the referal.
Duck Duck Goose, even after reading that quoted section I’m unclear about this thing. I get the idea that yes, as you stated, there’s some sort of cashback reward…but how exactly does this thing work?
If you get cash back for shopping online, just how much shopping are you doing to enable these people to buy the big new shiny cars?
you pay 300 some bucks for a piece in the pyramid (that was the price about a year and a half ago but im sure it has risen). for that 300 bucks you get a website linked to a cyber mall, and the opportunity to pawn this madness upon other unsuspecting money hungry fools. if someone who came in from your site buys something from the cyber mall, you get a small percentage as well as everyone above you in the pyramid. but thats only chump change… the big money is scammin other people to buy websites at 300 some bucks a pop (some buy 7 at a time). at the end of the week all the revenue from website spots sold is added up and divided up according to how many people you recruited. its not quite that simple, there are some rules, but its the gist. is it possible to earn a bunch of money? yea. but more people lose than win, how else do people drive bmws and mercedes? money has to come from somewhere
The Amway-type recruiting thing is not mentioned on their website. Instead, it says this, under the FAQ (scroll way down):
So, typically, they want you to talk to a sales rep in person, because that way they have a better chance of hooking you.
Ruffian, you’re not seriously considering these people as an ISP, are you? MSN starts to look better and better all the time. :rolleyes:
Browsing around on their website, under Terms & Conditions…There are LOTS of restrictions and limitations. For starters, they get to decide what you may and may not post.
It isn’t really “unlimited access”. And THEY control how much time you spend online, not you.
This next one is good. I’m like, “Huh?”
They can cancel your service at any time, and if you pre-paid, you are S.O.L. Presumably this would include your $300 “starter fee” or whatever it is, that you paid to invest in this.
They will not guarantee your confidentiality, and they retain the right to sell your information to third parties.
They aren’t here to be helpful.
They can change the rules whenever they like, and if you don’t keep up, it’s YOUR problem.
And if you do something they don’t like, you’re screwed.
[Margaret Hamilton voice]
And your little website, too…
So, for your $17.50 a month, you get an ISP that controls what you can post on your website, that will not guarantee any privacy, that can cut you off at any time, both temporarily and permanently, that can eat your website and refuse to give it back because you didn’t say “Mother May I”, and that can sell your information to mailing lists. Gee, where do I sign? :rolleyes:
So MSN will only cut you off if the check bounces, they don’t care what you post as long as it isn’t illegal (and I doubt whether they enforce the ostensible “no porn” rule–that’s only there to give them an “out” if they need it), and they won’t sell your information to anybody else.
Duck Duck Goose, NO…no way, no how, nuh-uh, and **NO…**I’m not considering this company for ANYthing.
I was just getting really curious why there are more and more cars in my area sporting the decals, and the website itself didn’t clarify anything. I have zero interest in getting involved with this company–I just wanted to know what the heck they’re about and precisely how their scheme worked.
What they’re about, apparently, is scamming. Big shock.
Wow. I thought only ricers put big ugly stickers on their car, since as we all know, the best way to trick out your Honda Civic is with big stickers and huge spoilers!
Yes, essentially they are a pyramid scheme. While they run other things like their ISP, etc. their main revenue comes from new people signing up at $300 (or more now) a pop for a website. When you sign up, you sign up under a referral system, where each person can have 2 people “under” them. Thus, if you are a member, and you convince a few friends to sign up, the first 2 will go directly under you. The next person you sign up will go underneath one of them. It’s a binary tree structure, hence 2by2.
For the people directly under you, you get a cut of their signup fees. The people lower down will give you progressivly smaller cuts. That’s why they don’t bother with referral IDs. The people who have cars have already filled their 2 spots, they just want you to sign up so that you end up somewhere underneath them.
My understanding is that since you have this website, which functions as a virtual mall, it’s technically not a pyramid scheme, since you’re just signing up people to help you sell merchandise. Everybody gets a percentage of what is sold on their website, and the people higher up will also get a fraction of the sales done on the sites underneath theirs.
In reality, the majority of the money comes from the ridiculous sign up fees. When you sign up, they convince you that if you just get 2 friends signed up, they will take care of recruiting the rest of the people, and all you have to do is sit back and watch the cash flow in.
To be trully effective, you need to arrange seminars and get large groups of people to sign up, all of them indirectly underneath you. I think when you reach 10 levels (2^10th or 1024 people on the 10th level alone, so- a total of 2047 people somehow underneath you) then you no longer get any risiduals. Even if this thing wasn’t borderline illegal, it takes a lot of work to convince people to shell out that kind of money. You need to convince them that their investment will be recouped in a few weeks.
They have a lot of sneaky clauses thrown in the contract too. You can’t back out after 3 days of signing up, and you have to pay renewal fees. Then you’re also supposed to convince people to shop at some site with an obscure URL rather than simply typing in amazon.com or buy.com, just so that they can pay higher prices that get distributed to the people on top of the pyramid.
MSN starts to look better and better all the time. :rolleyes: