With the Christmas just around the corner, it is a great time for me to explain how Shopping Boosters work. 
Feel free to read more as I cover the benefits of using shopping boosters as well as a few commonly asked questions.
To tell you the truth, I currently do not see any downfalls to using the shopping boosters. In my opinion, the following are the benefits of using a Moola.com Shopping Booster:
I personally did two shopping boosters (so far) one was a PriceLine booster ($11.20 back) and the other was a Newegg booster ($4.34 back). It may not seem like a lot of money, but it adds up.
My Newegg purchase was a really great deal, I got 20% back via Paypal (Cyber Monday Deal) plus the $4.34 back from Moola (which is now pending). This means that I would get my camera for about $254 when it is usually about $309 retail. A savings of about $55... sadly though, this is $55 which I won't be keeping in my wallet since I still have a lot of Christmas shopping left.
There a few common questions that I see around the forums, so I will do my best to answer some of them.
When will my booster show up on my "Pending" boosters list?
It depends on the merchant. Boosters will go pending as soon as Moola.com gets notified of your purchase. Some merchants only notify Moola on a weekly basis, while other will notify Moola within 24 hours.
I made my purchase, why haven't I received my Booster?
It will take at least a 3 weeks for you to get credited with a booster, sometimes longer.
Why don't I receive the Boosters right after I make the purchase?
Moola.com does not give you your boosters right away because most retailers have a return policy and it would not make good business sense to give away money before the money is safely in the merchants pockets. Besides, Moola.com probably has to wait until they get paid for the referral before they can give their members the boosters.
Is each booster offer only allowed to be completed once?
It depends on the booster. If it is a cash back booster (where you get a percentage back from your purchase) then you can use the booster multiple times. If it is a referral bonus (set booster amount) then you can only use it once. I suggest asking the question in the forums if you are not sure.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Guide: Shopping Boosters
Monday, October 29, 2007
Guide: Bots
I have recently realized that my posts are pretty long, so for these guides, I will just post a few bullet points at the top and if you are interested in reading more, go ahead.
The Things You Should Know About Bots:
- They are around as place fillers
- They are programmed to win and lose an even amount of games
- They only play up to level 9
- You always have the option not to play the bots
- Bots are always anonymous
The bots were created with the purpose of giving members an opponent when their aren't many people playing. At one point the Admins decided to take away this feature, but due to popular demand, they brought it back.
Because the bots are only meant to be place fillers, they are programmed to "recycle" their cash balance. How they are programmed to win games is up for debate, it might just be that the bots will play smarter or as some people have said, it could be that they can change the cards in Hi/Lo or see what you are throwing in Gold Rush and Ro-Sham-Bo. Only the programmers know.
Playing a bot is not always necessary, some people like playing them, while others despise bots. There is no way to tell if an opponent is a bot before a game starts, but after a game starts, there are some signs that it is a bot based off their strategies. If you do not want to play bots, all you have to do is uncheck the "Auto Players" box and you will not be matched up against a bot.
I personally don't care if I am playing a bot or not. You will have to decide on your own if you would like to play them. Remember though, anonymous players are not necessary bots, they could also be a real members playing anonymously. On the other hand bots will always play as anonymous.
The information above is what I have read on the forums and text provided by Moola. I cannot guarantee you that you will never play a bot if you uncheck Auto Players or if a non-anonymous opponent that you are playing is actually a bot. Only the person who created Moola can know for sure.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have any questions.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Guide: Search & Win
Round and round it goes, where it stops... Nobody knows!
The First thing you should know about the wheel is that before you even press the button to spin it, the system already knows what the results will be and has already added that spin to your account. In fact, you do not even need to press the spin button to receive the bonus. So in other words, the out come is predetermined. So for those of you who experience the wheel disappearing before you get a chance to spin it, don't worry, your money is safely tucked in your account.
The wheel (a.k.a. Wendy) is a little added bonus for the members (not to mention another way for Moola.com to make money). Some people base their earnings in Moola off just spinning the wheels and not playing any of the games. It is a slow process but you will gain money with each spin. There is also the chance of you hitting the $9000 mark.
Don't confuse the Search & Win wheel and the "Poor man's wheel". The difference is that the search & win wheel is reached via the search function and it also has higher possible results. The "Poor man's wheel" shows up randomly after you lose all your money and request a new penny.
Why spin the wheel?
How do you get the wheel? From what I know, it is pretty random. You are supposed to have up to 4 chances to spin the wheel during a 24 hour period, but recently a few members have been spinning the wheel more then 4 times a day.
As long as you search for something legit (not gibberish) and space out the time between spin, then you should be able to get the wheel. From the posts in the forums and from my own experience, the closest times between each spin is about 20min. My suggestion is to do a search every few hours. There are no specific words that will bring up the wheel even though some would like to believe so.
To my knowledge, the highest amount won from the wheel as of this posting is $100. But the Admins have been stating that the $9000 should be hit by someone in the near future (the coming year). Basically I suggest that if you do not plan on playing the games, you can just spin the wheel every now and then and hope that you are one of the lucky ones.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Guide: Verification
I think that one of the first steps as a new member of Moola is to verify your account. Let me explain:
Moola.com has implemented a verification system which is used to ensure that you are human and not a computer script trying to abuse the system.
The comparison chart above is provided by Moola.com. I will do my best to explain each privilege.
Can Play Games: As easy as it comes, both verified and non-verified members can play the games provided by Moola.com.
Can Receive boosters: Moola.com has a number of ways to earn extra money called boosters. These boosters include Search & Win and Shopping Boosters.
As a unverified member you can still earn these boosters, but only up to $8. Anything you earn that will push you over $8 will be denied. This means that if you are spinning the search & win wheel and happen to land on the $100 mark (which has been done), you wont get any of that. Why risk missing out on $100 or even worse $9000. More about boosters in a different post. As a verified member you get everything you make in the boosters.
Can Cash out: The way you actually get your money in Moola is to cash out.
As an unverified member, Moola will allow you to cash out once, but only for $10. On the other hand, as a verified member Moola will allow you to cash out as much of your account as you want as long as the check is for $10 or more. You are also allowed to cash out twice for free and $2.50 for each additional check after that within every 30 day period.
Can Receive referral bonuses: One reason you will see people sharing invites with people they think will play Moola is because the referrer will earn money based on how well the referral does on the site.
It may not be as important when you first start the game, but as you invite more players who are actually playing the game, the referral bonuses can add up. As an unverified member, anything you get from these bonuses will be held back until you verify your account.
Can Use Private Match (Game Feature): One feature available on the site is the ability for you to create private matches vs friends. This is most popularly used during forum tournaments and specific challenges.
Can Use Stealth Mode (Game Feature): As you continue playing on the site, you will see many challengers show up as anonymous. These anonymous players are either bots or verified members.
Why might someone want to be anonymous? That's because some games like Gold Rush does have strategy involved and remaining anonymous will prevent opponents from learning your strategies.
Now that you know why you should verify your account, lets talk about how.
There are currently two ways for you to verify your account.
1. The most popular way is to verify it via an SMS. Once you verify your account with that number, you will no longer be able to verify another account with that same number. It is a simple process and don't worry, you will only receive one SMS from Moola.com (unless you request them to send it again). There is no SMS spam.
2. The newest way to verify your account is to spend at least $20 in one booster zone shops (snapfish.com is a popular shop for this). Once you have made your purchase, you will need to write in to FEEDBACK (Subj: Goodwill Verification) as soon as you have made your purchase. You can find out more in this post.
Thats it, post any questions you may have here or on the forums.
