GoToWorld.com Launches Shopping Dividend Program

Online community GoToWorld.com launched its new Get Paid To Shop program Wednesday, a feature that offers shoppers cash dividends based on the amount of money they spend on the site.

Although it is patterned after GoToWorld.com’s other multi-level referral programs, the Get Paid To Shop program’s underlying premise is not unique. In fact, the company will likely have a hard time competing with similar rewards programs that pay higher up-front dividends and are backed by brand name online merchants.

Ebates.com, for example, lures consumers to its site with the promise of up to 25 percent cash back on online purchases. The company’s shopping portal provides connections to 13 product categories and more than 60 online stores such as Amazon.com, CDnow, Reel.com and Dell Computer.

GoToWorld.com will pay dividends of about four percent to shoppers and up to three levels of people who referred the shopper to the GoToWorld site. Rebates can be redeemed for cash or used toward the purchase of other products from GoToWorld.com.

To participate, members must shop at GoToWorld.com, which offers more than 150,000 products in four categories: Software, hardware, computers and books. The company says it plans to add airline tickets, CDs, DVDs, jewelry, toys and video games soon.

Building Membership

Get Paid To Shop’s multi-level format is similar to Get Paid To Chat and Get Paid To Surf, which track a person’s time online and pay a set rate for every hour. The multi-level programs also pay members dividends for time spent online by people that the members refer to the programs.

With the member’s surfing or chatting fee set at 20 cents per hour and referrals worth 5 cents per hour, the system is set up to encourage Internet users to spread the word and get more people online.

GoToWorld.com, and other companies that offer similar programs – such as AllAdvantage –make money by selling advertising space on a special Internet-driven ad window or proprietary Web browser that must be running while the user is online for the user to get credit.

GoToWorld.com is owned by LanguageForce, Inc., which markets a Universal Translator to allow people to communicate on the Internet in different languages. The company was founded in 1996 and is based in Orange, California.