PTC-Are They All Scams?

The term "scam" is often used on the money making enviroment to refer to a untrustworthy site, but it helps to know the exact meaning (even if you already know it, it's good to take a look!)

Because they are dumb. Well, actually they aren't, but they are near.

These people consider the PTC must be scams simply because they can't understand how they earn a profit. After all, if you can't make a profit, how are you going to pay people?

So, I will go in-depth on the ways PTC sites earn money and how much of that money they give out, in order to answer THE question: Are they all a scam?

First, we need to analyze how PTC sites owners make a profit, because if they didn't, they wouldn't be able to pay us, and they do! (We are not counting real scams here, of course!)

-Ads; these sites pay people for watching ads. They also get paid for that, usually about 2 cents per ad seen (non-member clicks are usually free for the advertiser).

-Premium Membership Packages; with a varying price between different PTC sites, they always offer the same thing: more money per ad seen.

-Referrals; in my last lens, I mentioned that unreferred members (those that find the site on their own) are often offered for about 1 dollar each, and less if bought in great amounts.

-Domain and Server maintendance; pretty obvious, right? The site has to pay to keep the domain name and the server it is being hosted in, specially if it is aimed at a lot of daily traffic, as it should. This isn't that much of a problem, but it does represent an expense for the site owner.

-Paying Members; This is the tricky part, so let's split it into 2 parts to make it easier to understand, shall we?

There's no problem here at all. Normal members usually earn 1 cent per ad, and 1 cent per ad each referral sees.

Assuming the site charges 2 cents per ad seen; we can stablish the following:

2 cents per ad seen - (1 cent per ad + 1 cent your referrer gets per ad)= the site earns no money per ad seen.

In this situation, we realize that PTC sites have to earn a profit through other ways. Lets check, what other ways did we say these sites had? Referrals and Premium Memberships.

Do you see the problem now? I hope you do, but in case you don't, let me explain...

What happens when we include in our calculations the fact that Premium Members get paid more? That changes our equation a bit, but not much:

Normal Members:
2 cents per ad seen - (1 cent per ad + 1 cent your referrer gets per ad)= the site earns no money per ad seen.

Premium Members; assuming 1,25 cents per ad seen.
2 cents per ad seen - (1,25 cents per ad + 1 cents per ad your referrals see)= -0,5 cents per ad.

Look! Did you see what I just saw? They LOSE money! And it is precisely HERE that people deduct these sites must be a scam: if they paid, they would lose money.

Now, if you voted PTC sites can pay on that last poll, congrats. If you voted no, well, you disappoint me. But I'll guide you through the right path in a second!

With what we just saw in mind, we can deduct that PTC sites couldn't possibly pay, thus, they must be all a great scam! What a discovery... But I'm here to save you from those lies!

PTC sites CAN pay, and that is mainly because of something I personally like to call desertion.

There is way too many people who quit and never reach payout, and that's a fact. It is from those people that PTC sites can make a profit! Voilà!

Wait, please explain a bit more! I still don't get it!

OK, if you ask, I'll answer! People join these sites and get paid for clicking on ads, and the site gets paid for that too, right?

But, the site "keeps" that money you made until you request payment, and if you never reach the payout minimum, you will not be paid, and the site will keep that money!

So theoretically, if the deserters give the site more money than what they spend paying other members, they are making a profit.