Hi everyone

Okay, so I've been through the ringer. I've been scammed. I've lost in disappearing act businesses. I've spent countless hours promoting only to get nowhere. I've spent money on clickbank garbage. I've done MLM and have a basement full of products. I've bought useless e-books. I've tried adwords and adscents and ad-blah-blah-blah. The absolute worst part is my parents joined one of the businesses (it WAS paying me at the time) and lost over $1000. I feel guilt over that one daily - especially since my Dad died and Mom is alone now. She definately could use that $1000 back.

And here I am - looking again! Am I a sucker for punishment or what?!?

I am no better ahead than I was 10 years ago. I'd kill to get all the money back that I've lost online. And I think there are countless others in this forum who read the above paragraph and thought I was writing about them!

Now I see the big deal of the day is gifting programs. First - please don't PM me with any links or bizopps (gifting or not). I'm interested in opinions only about gifting programs.

Has anyone here had success with these? Are they legal? Do they start big and dwindle out?

Anyone??

Thanks in advance,
V

I am very much like you - I started out with various MLM companies and stocked my garage with tons of products that I cannot move. I lost a lot of money on them. then I tried HYIPs and thought I can be rich doing them. I tried the best ones around that has been in existense for long periods of time and invest up to $3,000 - and then - WHAM!!! the company folded.

Now I have been seeing these gifting programs where they say you can receive $100/day, $500./day, $1,000/day - All you have to do is send out the money first then when other people join the programs then you will recieve money. I do not think I want to try it - because I have been burned many times already and do not want to waste any more money. Nowadays, I am just sticking to low cost programs that work.

No, they aren't legal, at least in the UK and USA. In the UK the Women Empowering Women disaster helped spawn a law that specifically criminalized gifting, Gambling Act 2005. In the USA, I've heard rumors that the FBI is in the middle of a sweep arresting cash gifters. Something about Cash Gift University in California got the whole industry in trouble.

Might want to pm me for a link for a loan! Evertything is a gamble!! You would not be here if you were not looking for something that would help you!!! Read my back posts in my profile!!

In reality every thing is a gamble. But if you do nothing at all. you will lose by default. The best advise that I would give to anyone is to NEVER EVER GIVE UP ... Best Wishes.

I am really trying to get my head around the whole Cash Gifting Genre and will try and keep people posted on what I find out.

I am not a lawyer, but I believe Cash Gifting, true gifting, is not illegal. There is a point at which you will have to pay taxes on what you receive, but, most programs stay below this threshold, which I believe is $12,500 per calender year.

Some programs out there are flirting with illegality by offering promises, saying they are a business, giving away stuff, etc. that turn it into something other than "true gifting"

I define "true gifting" as someone giving something of value to someone else with no compulsion to do it, no promise of profit has been made, no guarantee, just a gift out of the goodness of your heart.

Now before the pseudo lawyers start telling me it is illegal to gift (true gift), let me ask them if they have ever given cash to a place of worship or how many televangelists have they seen asking for gifts of money. It is not illegal, in my opinion. It is also not a Tax deductible item, meaning you can't write off your gift as a tax deduction.

I hope this helps.

I'm not an attorney, and I don't know about the laws in UK, but gifting is legal in the U.S. at this time. The big difference is how one goes about gifting.

The above mentioned programs were organized structures, although I was not a member of any of them, but it appears there were meetings and a sort of hierarchy involved - which put them into a pyramid/ponzi scheme.

There are two gifting programs that I have been involved in that are more anonymous - which is more in line with what gifting should be, imho. Also, in answer to your question about longevity, the more expensive of the gifting programs I am in has been going fairly strong for 5 years now - and is only slowing down because of the economy.

The U.S. gov would have to get the tax laws changed in order to go after everyone who participates in gifting. With the programs I know of, there are no "offices" or administration per say. But the sites are run by someone, so I suppose officials could go after them and get the records of everyone who is in the database. But if the gifts given by any one individual stays under the legal threshold of 12,000 annual, then I can't see where a person would be in trouble.

As far as the amount of gifts a person can receive annually - I'm not sure how the law addresses that. It appears that how these gifting groups interprete the law is that a person can be the recipient of unlimited gifts without tax penalty as long as they do not receive more than 12,000 from any one person. My question would be - if 1000 individuals gift me $25 each under the Gift Law (that would be nice ) - how is that $25K handled at tax time? Under the law, it looks like I wouldn't have to pay taxes on it. It looks like a very fine legal line - and that's what I pay my accountant big bucks for .

The below is from the official IRS site -

IRS Tax Tip 2008-15

If you gave any one person gifts in 2007 that are valued at more than $12,000, you must report the total gifts to the Internal Revenue Service and may have to pay tax on the gifts. The person who receives your gift does not have to report the gift to the IRS or pay gift or income tax on its value.

Gifts include money and property, including the use of property without expecting to receive something of equal value in return. If you sell something at less than its value or make an interest-free or reduced-interest loan, you may be making a gift.

There are some exceptions to the tax rules on gifts. The following gifts generally are not taxable and do not count against the annual limit:

* Tuition or Medical Expenses that you pay directly to an educational or medical institution for someone's benefit
* Gifts to your Spouse
* Gifts to a Political Organization for its use
* Gifts to Charities

If you are married, both you and your spouse can give separate gifts of up to the annual limit of $12,000 to the same person without making a taxable gift.

Alternatively, with consent from your spouse, you can make a gift of up to $24,000 ($12,000 x 2) to the same person without making a taxable gift. This is commonly known as splitting gifts between spouses. Essentially, it means a gift by you or your spouse to a third person can be considered as made one-half by each of you provided there is consent by both spouses.

For more information, get the IRS Publication 950, Introduction to Estate and Gift Taxes, IRS Form 709, United States Gift Tax Return, and Instructions for Form 709. They are available at the IRS Web site at IRS.gov in the Forms and Publications section or by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

If you join one of these programs (there are only 2 well-run programs online currently - as far as I have been able to research), then all you need to do is invite others and let the site do the talking for you. For me, it is nice to receive these gifts by people I don't know - these gifts help pay the bills.

Well, I hope my babbling didn't confuse you too much. Stick with the programs you feel comfortable with and enjoy that extra financial help every once in a while from strangers and family alike.

Cris

Sorry - double posted somehow - deleted this duplicate post..... Cris

Hi ezyhobby, ezyway2cash and everybody else!


You should never put anymore into the HYIPs(Get Paid to Surf with Ad Pack purchases) than you can afford to lose. HYIPs are high risk, and for a reason. It is well know for them to crash. That's all part of it. They are kinda like the stock market. You never know what's going to happen.

You HAVE to have a plan. Your best bet is to get into one that is new, not old. The older they are, the more chance of it crashing for one reason or another. If this is your first HYIP... maybe choose one where you can cash out daily without making it expire, and having to start all over again. You want one where you can cash out daily and it will continue to mature.

Do a test first, to make sure the one you join is on the up & up. Upgrade to the "lowest level". Some let you start as low as $5. Purchase it. Surf it. Request Cash Out. Check your pay processor for payment. If all works, maybe give that one a real try.

Play it fairly safe and work up very slowly. Just because it works doesn't mean you won't get scammed, so don't ever get excited and throw a bunch of cash in there before you've made it. Choose HYIPs that mature in 12 to 14 days. Cash out daily so you don't lose all your earnings if it crashes. If the program stays healthy for the 12 to 14 days, then you should come out ahead. You can keep doing this until you have earned enough to purchase a higher amount of ad packs next time.

Make sure you pay yourself back for your intitial purchase as soon as possible and only use your profits to play it again. Do not spend "all" your earnings each time you purchase more ad packs or you are risking losing everything. Keep about 1/3 to 2/3 of your profit so that your income grows. Use the remainder of your profit to purchase more ad packs, so that your amount of adpacks grows. The more you save, the more you buy, the more you make. You have to be very careful and surf it daily, and watch it daily as often as you can.

Then...... if the program eventually crashes, chances are you are ahead and are in profit. You can take your profit and start again in a different program. Hopefully you would only use a portion of your profit to start again, so as you don't lose it all. See... it's all in the plan.



You are smart to stay away from these, unless you are quite good at advertising. I belong to one and it is not as easy as they say in the videos. The only people who get multiple gifts every day are excellent at advertising. Even if you pay the Co-Op to advertise for you, you will start out with a small amount of gifts at first, then it will slowly increase as you buy more and more Co-Op ads. If you advertise on your own, and if you are not very good at it, it might take you a few months to start receiving any gifts. Anyway you look at it, advertising is critical to your success.

Sorry, I don´t understand you! You say you don´t want to try the gifting programs but you seem to use them nevertheless, according to your links atleast!

I would stay away from gifting
might receive a few gifts if you are lucky and work your butt off
but in the long run find something more grounded, gifting to me seem all hype
just my two sense

Is there a subforum on MMG about these gifting programs!!!

Definitely always start at the minimum donation and see what kind of payout comes your way. We recently started at www.giftinvitation.com with $100 plus the sign-up fee and have just received our first gift of $100 just now. Its basically paid for itself and with anymore, we intend to move up. Give it a try. Its a small investment (or can be), but the potential is there. I blow $100 at the bar every Friday, so I figure that I should try to do something different.