Well, don't I look a total dingbat! No, I'm not referring to the photo on my profile page, I'm referring to the fact that I was persuaded to join Blue Carrots last week thinking I could be making myself a bit of free money.
Blue Carrots have been around for nearly two years now, and so, ... Read review
Advantages: A nice looking shopping protal site, the vague possibility of free shares Disadvantages: I just cannot see this site becoming a profitable online business
Well, don't I look a total dingbat! No, I'm not referring to the photo on my profile page, I'm referring to the fact that I was persuaded to join Blue Carrots last week thinking I could be making myself a bit of free money.
Blue Carrots have been around for nearly two years now, and so, in terms of giving away shares in their company in return for loyalty, they were one of the first companies to launch on the net with this idea. The ... ...1000 free shares. You don't need to shop at the site, or give them money. Something for nothing, and we all like that don't we?
The big selling point of the site has always been the cashback scheme that it runs. This allowed registered users to shop at any of the sites featured on the Blue Carrots site, and receive a variable amount of cashback on those purchases, effectively saving you even more on already low web-prices. Great for ... more
Well, don't I look a total dingbat! No, I'm not referring to the photo on my profile page, I'm referring to the fact that I was persuaded to join Blue Carrots last week thinking I could be making myself a bit of free money.
Blue Carrots have been around for nearly two years now, and so, in terms of giving away shares in their company in return for loyalty, they were one of the first companies to launch on the net with this idea. The concept is simple, you register on the site and get 1000 free shares. You don't need to shop at the site, or give them money. Something for nothing, and we all like that don't we?
The big selling point of the site has always been the cashback scheme that it runs. This allowed registered users to shop at any of the sites featured on the Blue Carrots site, and receive a variable amount of cashback on those purchases, effectively saving you even more on already low web-prices. Great for someone liek me who makes quite a lot of online purchases.
So how come it took me until last week to join? Well, the small print seemed rather complicated to me. First of all the cashback. When you register you are given a web-based email address called your Carrot Mail address. You can use this as your main email account if you wish, which can be accessed from the Blue Carrots website. However, most people won't want to do this. But if you want to claim cashback, you have to quote CarrotMail address when purchasing from a site, causing the inconvenience of all the correspondence relating to your online shopping going there instead of to your normal email address.
Then the actual cashback payment seemed very vague.You had to wait a month, but it could be longer, and depended on whenever the site you have purchased from sends information to Blue Carrots, if indeed it ever does. I decided this cashback scheme seemed vague and unlikely to work properly.
Then there was the question of the free shares. Actually, they aren't free shares, they are the promise of free shares. You get 1000 free shares which will actually become free shares if the company ever decides to float in the future. This contrasts with, e.g. Totalise, the ISP who are already a quoted company and give you shares that you can buy and sell on the market. As if this isn't enough, you only get the shares if you agree to log onto the site every week. Don't forget otherwise you might lose the entitlement to shares.
Now Blue Carrots aren't worried about this, they are confident their company is doing well and will be in profit soon. They have a small number of staff and so low overheads. This is of course a mixed blessing, as a small staff means you will wait ages for customer support.
Nevertheless, I did sign up last week. And the thing that persuaded me to sign up was 10 free i-points for registering through the i-points website. Yes, I was doubtful of receiving any benefit from Blue Carrots, but I thought "What the hell, it doesn't cost anything and at least I get my i-points".
And now comes the final nail in the coffin. No sooner have I signed up to Blue Carrots, then they send me an email telling me their cash back scheme is being scrapped as it is not working properly and is not being supported by the other sites. Instead they are *very confident* that they can become a profitable company from other sources such as online games and competitions, and email marketing ... yeah right!
So if you are looking for free shares that might be worth good money in the future, look somewhere else for your windfall. I should have learnt my lesson from the Mutual.net, a company with similar business plans to Blue Carrots ... I've got 10000 shares in their company which is now a quoted company ... and each share is worth a quarter of a pence!
At the end of the day, the site is just one big shopping portal, and if you like shopping portals, then this is as good as anywhere else. But if you are expecting a bonus on the side, forget it! Stick to Ciao, and the 10 free i-points!
BlueCarrots started as an ISP and portal, with new members particularly attracted by the idea of free shares. The site has undergone a number of redesigns since its launch in August 1999, with it most recently describing itself as a 'community based shopping portal' - but this looks set to change again. There is also a fair range of general and themed content, including various semi-exclusive competitions, plus usual facilities such as discussion ... ...and bonus shares for introducing new members). You need to remain active (e.g. login once a week) to remain eligible for shares. A major feature of BlueCarrots was the offer of cashback on online purchases. Their particular implementation of such a scheme was particularly inflexible and many key sites (Amazon, for example) simply didn’t want to join in. Because of the limited range of cheaper cashback sites, it could often end up being significantly ...
dlcooper 24.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of bluecarrots.com
Advantages: Cashback, free shares, regular competitions and disscussion / film / book reviews. Disadvantages: May never float onto stock exchange
I have been with bluecarrots.com for nearly a year now and their site is very handy. You gain when you sign-up free 1000 shares and if you are an existing members or new members, you get a further 500 free shares. You only see these shares if you are a loyal customer. This I mean is after a year, you will get a third of the shares, after two years, slightly more, and after three years, the full 1000 shares. I am not quite sure how the bonus 500 shares ... ...purchase through the link on bluecarrots.com website page, otherwise you will not get any money. The other thing is to use your bluecarrots email address so that it confirms you as making the purchase.
The cash back total is updated about 3 / 4 times a year, so dont worry if you have purchased and the total has not changed. After the cashback total is updated, bluecarrots give you a choice of three options. First is the changing the cash balance ...
christopherbrown 01.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of bluecarrots.com
Advantages: None Disadvantages: Where's my cashback ??
Bluecarrots the cute and cuddly sounding site was launched as a ‘Users Portal’ offering free shares and cashback on purchases through it’s online partners.
That, however, was back in the days of spiralling valuations for internet stocks – the days when putting dot com in the name of your business brought investors flooding to your door waving wads of cash and the internet seemed like the surest one way bet the world had seen.
... ...is ending the free shares for new members (as a step to formalising some value for existing shareholders apparently) and the cashback from partner stores has now been halted. (I have never yet seen a penny from the cashback I should have had – emails complaining remain unanswered or have been ‘bounced’ back to me as the receiving mailbox was full !!).
So what can Bluecarrots offer now ?
Well from what I can see not much really. ...
IainCMartin 26.06.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of bluecarrots.com
Advantages: Free shares and the cheapest top ten albums I've found Disadvantages: Log in once a week to keep your share allocation alive
With the news that Bluecarrots is set to demutalise there has not been a better time to get in there and grab your 1000 free shares
A well rounded site with news, games and free email (not brilliant but worth having as an extra).
Earn cashback on all your shopping from a wide variety of UK stores. There link with BorrowRob gives you top ten albums at the cheapest I have found them anywhere in the UK (after cashback).
Any referrals you send there ...
knighta37 14.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of bluecarrots.com
Advantages: Free shares and cashback discounts ! Disadvantages:
I took a look at Bluecarrots and they seem to have some great cashback offers on. On top of this there are free shares so I guess nothing to lose at this site - you get cash rebates for shopping and free shares in a company that could be an additional bonus. Some of their offers look good - bol 7% for example. However take a look also at Retroprice.com. No free shares but most of the big retailers are listed with cash back discounts (bol, WHSmith, ...
Fatboy38 14.08.2000
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Review of bluecarrots.com
