Click Values
This simply refers to the amount you earn by clicking on a link to view an advertisement. You will usually see a line of text near the ad saying "this ad is worth 0.25 cent" or "the above ad is worth 10 points" etc. The payment will be in whatever currency the specific website uses, such as cash, points, or tokens.
Most Bux sites and some PTC websites pay you one cent - or even more - per click, but most PTCs have much lower click values, especially if you're clicking on PTP (paid to promote) or contest links. Common values range from 0.01 (1/100) cent to 0.25 (1/4) cent, though not always. Be careful to notice the difference between $0.005 and 0.005 cent. The first one means half a cent, the second means 1/200th of a cent. It will take one hundred links valued at 0.01 cent or 20 links valued at 0.05 cent to equal one cent.
As you can see this can be a slow process. Fortunately (or unfortunately if you're the advertiser) many sites allow you to click multiple links at once, which is called multiclicking. If a site does not allow multiclicking it will tell you to wait until the timer finishes, or something similar. Don't be discouraged by low click values: it adds up pretty quickly. But on the other hand, don't waste your time clicking on one program's extremely low value links when you could be clicking higher value links elsewhere.
Credits - Manual Surf Credits
Every site with a manual surfer has some type of reward system for surfing. This can sometimes be cash or points, and always includes credits.
The site specifies how many credits you earn per site surfed, which is usually less than one. The credits are used as payment for putting your own sites into the surfer and usually cannot be exchanged for cash. To add your site to the surfer, go to the main surfer page of the web site and look for a section labeled "Add Your Own Site" or something similar. Copy and paste your link (this can be a referral link to another program, a PTP link, or even a link to your own website or blog), and hit submit. Some sites will be automatically approved, but if your site is new or unknown you will have to wait for the admin to approve it.
Once approved, you can assign credits to your link. You can only assign credits you have already earned. You can assign any number of credits to each site you have approved, so long as the total does not exceed your total number of credits earned. You do not need to assign all of your credits. You also can specify how often an individual surfer may surf your link, usually 4, 12, 24, or 48 hours. If you're using a PTP link you usually need to use 24 hours to get full PTP credit.
Credits - PTP Credits
See PTP section below.
GPT = Get Paid To
GPT programs pay you for performing various actions. See the definitions for PTC, PTP, PTR, PTSU, and shopping below for more information.
PayPal
PayPal is the most commonly used payment processor in the GPT industry. Other options are AlertPay, Liberty Reserve, and E-Gold, among others.
PayPal recently changed their TOS (Terms of Service) regarding personal accounts, which has resulted in quite a bit of confusion. Most people have a simple personal account with PayPal - it's free, within certain limits, and suits most people's needs. It used to be that you could accept a payment from a business (such as a GPT program) into your personal PayPal account for free. The business may have had to pay some fees associated with using their business acount (if they're using a personal account they're liable to have their account frozen), but you as the receiver would pay none. The new terms change that: now you will be charged for all payments that you receive from a business (i.e., not from your friend paying you back for last night's drinks, etc.) The fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction if you live in the US, and 3.9% + $0.30/transaction if you live elsewhere. That $0.30 per transacion can be a real killer when you're talking about small payments.
Because of this change, many sites that weren't already doing so have switched to mass payouts. The one main drawback of this is that the site owner needs to be able to do a certain number of payments at once in order to do a mass payout, so you may have to wait longer for payments than you used to. The advantage is much lower fees - just 2% for the site owner vs the 2.9/3.9% + $0.30 to you. Some sites had already been doing mass payouts, so you won't see a change there. The sites who recently switched though are facing a bit of a dilemna: the profit margins in GPT are so slim that they can't easily absorb an extra 2% fee, and they haven't had time to restructure their advertising to account for it. So many of them are simply passing on the 2% fee to the members, which frankly I prefer. I'd rather have a transparent 2% fee tacked on to my payout than a nebulous 2% added onto my ad prices or taken out of my click values.
Points
Points are used in lieu of cash by many programs. Some programs use both points and cash, as well as other payment
systems. Depending on the program, points may be redeemed for cash, gift certificates, merchandise, donations to charity,
and other things.
When signing up for a site that uses points as their reward method, be sure to check out how many
points the rewards cost. Just because one site offers 10 points to read an email and another offers only one point, it
does not mean that the 10 points are worth more in actual cash, etc.
PTC = Paid to Click
This refers to being paid (in money, points, etc.) to view an advertisement, typically by clicking on a link to a separate web page. Depending on the originating program, you may be required to view the linked page for several seconds before being credited for having viewed the advertisement. Some programs also require you to click a second link or even a specified number or image after the timer has counted down, to confirm that you have viewed the web page.
PTP = Paid to Promote
Some PTC/PTR sites will pay you to promote their site on other sites. This is called Paid to Promote, or PTP.
The rates are usually low (upwards of $0.82 per 1000 credits) and based on country tiers. The USA, UK, and Canada are usually tier one countries. Countries such as Australia and those in Western Europe are typically tier two, and others such as China or Brazil are usually tier three or four. Some sites even use a fifth tier. You earn more credits when someone from a tier 1 or 2 country follows your PTP link than from lower tiered countries. Your PTP link usually also includes your referral name, so if someone joins the site using your PTP link you will gain them as your referral.
Manual surfers - including traffic exchanges - are a great way to advertise your PTP links since they're basically free, as long as you have the time to participate in the surfer. You can also pay for clicks on most GPT sites. Just look in the "advertise" or "redeem for advertisements" sections and look under the categories for PTP advertising.
Be very careful where you use your PTP link: look at the list of "approved" sites to see where you can use it. You can't just put your PTP link anywhere and receive credit for it. (Typically you can't send an email to your friends asking them to click, or put a link on your own website. This won't result in any credit for you, and may even get you in trouble with the program.) If you use your link at unapproved sites - especially if the sites are on the "banned" list for that particluar progrsm - you could end up having your PTP priveleges or even your entire account suspended. Also be sure that the site you're advertising on accepts PTP links. Most traffic exchanges do not accept PTP links, and some manual surfers do not either (the E-Qoo2 surfer does not accept PTP links).
It may be confusing and sound like a lot of work, but trust me: it is well worth the effort! PTP is the one of the best ways to make money with these programs.
PTR = Paid to Read
This refers to being paid (in money, points, etc.) to read an email. Depending on the program, the
email may be sent to a real email address you have filed with the program, to a site-only "email" inbox which you have
to access from within the program site itself, or to both. Most programs require you to click a link within the email
in order to receive credit for having viewed the email.
PTSU = Paid to Sign Up
This refers to being paid money, points, etc. to sign up for offers. These offers can be for
credit cards, other rewards programs, email newsletters, trial programs (such as for coffee, movies or CDs), survey sites,
etc. There are a wide variety of PTSU options. When deciding to sign up for a specific offer, it is usually worthwhile
to compare the rewards offered by various programs for doing so. You can usually only receive a reward for signing up for
an offer from one program, so shop around!
Rewards program
Refers to a web site, offline company, etc., which rewards its members for using their services. There are quite a few
permutations of this type of program and some of them have been around for a very long time. Credits cards which award
points or a % amount for dollar transactions and grocery store cards which save the member money are two examples of
offline rewards programs. Online, these programs typically reward their members for performing such actions as signing
up for offers (see PTSU), reading emails (see PTR), visiting web sites (see PTC), shopping through their shopping portals
(see Shopping), completing surveys, etc. The members may be paid in cash, points, or other methods.
Shopping
Many sites offer their members the option of shopping at various online (and sometimes even offline) stores through the program's web site, with the bonus of earning a small reward. The program places links - sometimes called portals - to the various shopping sites on their web site. The member clicks the link to the particular store they want, then is rewarded by the originating program for having shopped there. If a member shops at a particular web site directly, without clicking the reward program's link to the web site, then the member usually earns no reward for doing so. The reward can be a percentage of the purchase amount, points per dollar spent on the purchase, a set dollar amount per transaction, etc. Any reward that is based on the actual amount of money spent usually does not award anything for tax or shipping.
If you belong to several reward programs which offer shopping, be sure to compare the worth of the offers. There can be huge differences between programs for shopping at the same exact store. You can usually only receive a reward for one transaction from one rewards program.
