Last week, the PointPool rewards program eliminated daily points for site visits and since then, there has been a lot of concern over the site’s future.
In a message to members posted on the site today, PointPool’s management stated, “Our sponsors expressed that the daily points are not effective in generating their sales and we have lost all our sponsors. We had to pull daily points until we get other sponsors.” They are actively pursuing other partners to provide daily points.
PointPool says this is all business as usual and they’re not going anywhere. You can still earn points by shopping through the site, and shoppers will get priority in the delivery of their rewards. Those who have earned points by shopping through the site can expect their rewards within 2 weeks, while those who have site visit points only will receive theirs some time after.
While the disappearance of free daily points is definitely a disappointment, it shouldn’t be a complete shock to any of us. This has been the ongoing trend over the last few years. Think of it from the program’s side: fewer advertisers pay just for site visitors — advertisers want some kind of return on their advertising investment. If people click through but don’t purchase from the advertiser, the advertiser’s not going to stick around for long. It’s pretty logical.
If you’re a few points shy of cashing out at PP, why don’t you give their shopping section a try? I like buying magazines through rewards programs — they’re cheap, there’s no shipping charged on them, and they make great gifts. For example: buy Redbook for $8 at ValueMags through PointPool’s link and get 30 points per dollar plus 25% bonus, for a total of 300 points. How many days of getting 6 free points a day would it take to earn 300 points…50? Oh, but no. I don’t have that kind of patience!
Bottom line: all hope is not lost for PointPool; they’re not closing up shop but until more sponsors are found for their daily site visit points, you will need to do some kind of shopping in order to reach cashout.
