Ripple In

[Bewster]

Anyone else heard of or been invited to join Ripple In (or Rippln) ?

Looks like an MLM or pyramid marketing/income opportunity which I have a few question marks over - however its free to join at the mo so should you want to join pm me as I have a few spaces free. First come first served.

More about it here:

[Honkytonk]

Anyone else heard of or been invited to join Ripple In (or Rippln) ?

Looks like an MLM or pyramid marketing/income opportunity which I have a few question marks over - however its free to join at the mo so should you want to join pm me as I have a few spaces free. First come first served.

It seems like it's free for the moment, but the minute you want to start making money off of it you have to pay. I've also got questions as to where in the process the company makes its own money. Selling off your details for spam/marketing? Taking a hefty percentage cut?

Quick google finds people aren't 100% sure about it. Not that I'm saying you're being duped or anything, it just smells a little whiffy to me.

http://thechrisvossshow.com/rippln-investigation-is-it-a-mlm-pyramid-scheme-scam/

[Bewster]

Yep - I know. I have done that research as well and am well aware of the whole MLM.  I certainly know it isn't going to be my pension plan - I was more curious as to if and how it would work.

[Honkytonk]

Yep - I know. I have done that research as well and am well aware of the whole MLM.  I certainly know it isn't going to be my pension plan - I was more curious as to if and how it would work.

Cool, not insinuating you're a muppet or anything. Just making sure 4D doesn't get too excited.

[Bewster]

There is also this :

http://www.glancingweb.com/1894/underneath-the-slimy-ripples-of-rippln

Which makes interesting reading.

[BruceChatwin]

http://www.lazymanandmoney.com/rippln-scam/

Rippln's Founders and Company Information

Let's dig a little deeper into this mysterious company. Here are the major players:

Brian Underwood - CEO - Underwood was a Master Distributor at Burnlounge, which the the FTC has shut-down and sued for being a pyramid scheme. He then went on to co-found iZigg, an MLM company that promised wealth based on text message advertising. In this video from June of 2010, he claims that iZigg is "launching the biggest brand name in mobile media history." Have you heard of iZigg? Is it talked about in the news or blogs? Nope. Looks like iZigg failed to attract attention, and all those people who bought in were essentially kicked to the curb with Underwood starting Rippln, an extremely similar MLM, mobile company to try to create buzz from scratch.

Terry LaCore - Co-Founder - LaCore is the founder of b:hip, an MLM company that sells "lotions and potions" like many of the other MLMs that I've covered here in the past. Their products include a bunch that promise to repair your DNA and other outlandish claims that they can't and don't prove.

Jonathan Budd - Co-Founder - Jonathan is perhaps best known for his information product Online MLM Secrets and The 7-Figure Networker System. These are typical MLM Tool Scams. The idea is that people gullible enough to get involved in MLM are gullible enough to pay for these products. Of course, it's little surprise that there are complaints about bad credit card charges from Jonathan Budd.

Run by the sort of people who probably wouldn't look out of place on our board.

[Bewster]

Run by the sort of people who probably wouldn't look out of place on our board.

 

[wiggy]

Saw this thread and thought it would be about the Grateful Dead

[jonny72]

Doesn't seem like your typical pyramid scheme. More like Facebook or Linkedin or Twitter except rather than the company behind the platform making all the money, they're saying they will share that money out with those that build the network.

Except when you think about it some more, it is your typical pyramid scheme. It's all about signing other people up and making commission from them and the people they sign up. Which leaves you with the standard pyramid scheme problem, everyone is only worried about signing others up and making commission from them rather than selling anything.

Think the biggest problem is that it won't work. People need a reason to use a social network and making a few pennies here and there isn't enough of a reason. Plus there will be too much focus on signing other people up rather than generating any actual money. Profit sharing as a secondary reason for a social network could work, but not as the primary reason.

Besides, even Facebook can't make any money from social networking and they've got a billion users.

[Peter Gibbons]

Besides, even Facebook can't make any money from social networking and they've got a billion users.

http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=761090

First Quarter 2013 Financial Summary

Revenue  $1,458,000,000.00

Net Income $219,000,000.00

[jonny72]

http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=761090

First Quarter 2013 Financial Summary

Revenue  $1,458,000,000.00

Net Income $219,000,000.00

That might seem a lot, but when you take in to account the size of their customer base it is pretty shit - $6 income and $0.80 profit per user per year.

If Facebook were using the Rippln model, on average every user would get paid less than 14p per quarter.

[Flashheart]

You find the point a tad elusive at times, don't you jonny?

[jonny72]

You find the point a tad elusive at times, don't you jonny?

What point?

[Peter Gibbons]

That might seem a lot, but when you take in to account the size of their customer base it is pretty shit - $6 income and $0.80 profit per user per year.

If Facebook were using the Rippln model, on average every user would get paid less than 14p per quarter.

I hear what you are saying, but you can't really refer to the number of "customers" and think of it in that traditional sense.  Facebook is essentially a platform for finding people to advertise to.  So is a person who walks past a billboard a "customer" to an advertising agency?  Facebook only employ a couple of thousand people so it's not a bad return in that sense.

[Flashheart]

What point?

It's viral/mass marketing.

If it wasn't for all of those people that use Facebook for free, facebook would not be what it is. The reason the people that do contribute to Facebook financially is because of the vast number of people that that are keeping the per-head profits down.

And you can't compare Facebook with another model that nobody has heard of until this thread was started. Can you show us an example where a competitor has been more successful?