SportArbs continue to freeze out payments to members…

It seems that SportArbs is refusing any withdrawal requests from members until they are able to provide debit cards. This situation has been going on for several months and there is little news on when a resolution will be reached.

As with other investments the lack of timely and clear communication not only frustrates members but supports the belief that SportArbs are not that serious in providing a good service to their membership.

The frustration of course is that the business model is relatively robust and does offer a way to achieve good returns at relatively small risk.

Personally I am very disappointed and will be removing the banner at the top of the site as I don’t want anyone to join if the company are not fulfilling basic customer service.

It is increasingly frustrating when things like this happen as I try to recommend programmes that I believe have a better than even chance of succeeding.

I will keep an eye on how things are going at SportArbs and assuming there is positive news I will let readers know.

Question as to whether SportArbs are paying…

I had a recent comment suggesting that SportArbs have not been that prompt with payments lately. What’s your experience?

Personally I haven’t been in a position to find out lately. As the last investment with SportArbs matured I couldn’t make a withdrawal because the Global Digital Pay website wasn’t available.

Whilst this was somewhat frustrating I wasn’t necessarily concerned as SportArbs did at least make the money available for payment. I decided to re-invest and won’t make a withdrawal for another four weeks or so.

Whatever my situation I am somewhat concerned that other people appear to be having problems. SportArbs was an investment that I picked up on relativey early in its lifespan so feel somewhat responsible when recommending to others.

I’d appreciate feedback from other members in relation to whether or not you have been able to make successful withdrawals especially recently.

SportArbs are not that communicative with respect to updates so I’d rather get direct feedback before pursuing any other enquiry with SortArbs.

The most recent update suggested that withdrawals would be available via a debit card but I haven’t seen any further updates on this so there may be some relationship to this in regard to reported problems.

SportArbs getting tough all round…

Logging in to my SportArbs account today I was met with a notification page that warns people who try to abuse the referral system that they will not be tolerated. As in any online investment there are people who believe they have the right to cheat others and think that this is acceptable. Clearly most right thinking people would applaud SportArbs in making this stand. We’ll have to wait and see just what impact this warning will have.

Moving on there is also an announcement that if people are interested in arbitrage trading on their own behalf there is a new service available to provide this. But again before you can discover more you are presented with a short report detailing how recent calls on funds has been caused by the decision to part ways with Liberty Reserve in the New Year. They also address some requests for more transparency in their operations but don’t really accept that what is requested would actually provide any greater confidence so effectively reject them.

If you want to receive advice of potential arbitrage trades you can join the new site Betlines but be warned this is not a free service. Personally I’m happy to stay as a member of SportArbs as trading myself would take a lot of work and unlikely to be as successful as SportArbs itself.

Membership is now reported as well over 15,000 so the word is spreading and clearly there is money to be made.

Gold Nugget Invest face up to their problems…

For some time Gold Nugget Invest has been subjected to a problem with a bank they deal with. It seems that the German financial authorities have frozen the assets of this specific bank because of a particular client irregularity and this has resulted in many accounts being inaccessible. One of these is GNI.

Combine this with other problems related to abuse of referral payments and unusually high request levels for principal withdrawal and the end is result is problems for GNI.

Now, they could have thrown their hands up and walked away but they are not doing that. What they want to do is restructure significantly to stabilise and create a long term future. The alternative is to fold and I don’t think anyone would want that.

What this means is that outstanding withdrawals are being cancelled and members will have the option to leave them as pending or to re-invest in the new plans being implemented. In place of weekly plans the new proposal is for monthly payments of 16% which will last for 14 months (this period will include return of principal). Premium members will receive 20% a month.

Whilst it’s disappointing that GNI find themselves in this position I’m encouraged by the level headed approach being taken and will continue to maintain my investment with them once they get things back to normal.

Given the stellar performance of GNI up until now this is a salutary lesson that no-one should put all their faith in one online investment especially if they try to use it for payment of everyday expenses.

I’m optimistic that the refreshed GNI will be a success and I look forward to the future.

Full Steam Ahead to 2010…

Rather than copy everyone else and look back at 2009 I thought I’d take a look at what 2010 will be like for those who invest online.

I’m not necessarily going to make predictions, more a view of what I feel will prove profitable through the year. My recommendations are a purely personal view and you may well think differently. Why not add a comment so that we can spread knowledge wider.

Firstly I’d like to mention the Prosperity Game as this is due to go live with a website early in 2010. Until it officially launches the investment needed is just $150 and you only need 1 other person to come along with you for you to make a return. The philosophy behind the Prosperity game is one of Pay it Forward and I think this will propel this opportunity forward throughout the year. I’m hoping to benefactor some people in throughout the year so stay tuned for more details.

Next, one of my favourites, Sports Arbitrage Trading. Both Gold Nugget Invest and SportArbs look strong contenders for 2010. As I write SportArbs is very close to its 1,000th member and don’t forget that Gold Nugget Invest is looking to go private in early 2010 so well worth checking out in the very near future.

Another strong contender for 2010 in my opinion will be PTV Partner. They continue to deliver on their investment plans and I’m expecting good things in the coming year.

Now, how about an opportunity I’m still pondering over, TVI Express. My worry is that all the publicity is about how to refer others and earn money rather than showcasing the products and services you get as part of your subscription. Having been burnt on a similar opportunity a few years ago I’m still not that convinced and I’d welcome any constructive comments from readers.

Finally, I believe QCOOPERS is an opportunity that shows promise. It might take a little while to come together but likening it to a horse race it is definitely an outsider with potential.

Enough from me, now all it needs is for me to wish everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2010.

SportArbs account winners…

Yes, the day finally dawned, Tuesday 29 December meant another birthday and to help me celebrate I asked readers to make a prediction about the daily return at SportArbs.

As it turned out three lucky readers got the daily return for the 29th spot-on, 2.07%. I’d originally announced that there would be two prizes, one for $50 and one for $25. But since three people got the right answer I decided to add a further $25 prize.

So, many congratulations to Jenny who was the first person to predict the correct return. Runners up were Ken and Tim so they should be congratulated as well.

All three have been notified and funds sent to them so they will soon be enjoying daily rewards at SportArbs. They won’t become millionaires overnight but given that returns are made 7 days a week it will soon create a reasonable income, especially if they use 100% compounding.

Thanks also to everyone else who entered and hopefully you’ll have better luck next year.

SportArbs account up for grabs but time is running out…

My wife and daughters have headed off to the town to bag some bargains in the Sales so I’m able to grab a little time to make this post.

I just wanted to remind everyone that my birthday is fast approaching on December 29th and I wanted to give everyone a chance to help me celebrate.

I’ve decided to run a little competition with two prizes. The first is worth $50 and the second $25. As I’m a follower of Sports Arbitrage as way to make additional money online I’m offering the two lucky winners the chance to have accounts at SportArbs. This is a managed Sports Arbitrage opportunity where you can earn on a daily basis.

To win all you have to do is predict what the daily return at SportArbs will be for December 29th. To make this as easy as possible for you I’ve added a link to a new page (see where it says Click to Win SportArbs account at the top of the page) where you can select what you think the return will be, enter your name and email so I know how to contact you if you win.

You can have a maximum of 3 submissions from any single email address (as the webpage only allows you to enter one prediction at a time you’d need to submit three times). Alternatively you can send email entries with your prediction to birthdayboy_at_onlineinvestingguru.com (replace _at_ with @).

As this is just a bit of fun to help me celebrate I can guarantee that I won’t bombard you with emails with all sorts of offers so don’t let the thought of that put you off.

You will need an account at Global Digital Pay so if you haven’t already got one please do this ahead of time.

Closing date is 4pm PST 28 December so make sure your entry is received before then or else it will be disqualified. Judge’s decision i.e. mine is final.

New website for PTV Partner goes live…

After what seems a long protracted process the new PTV Partner website is now uploaded. This has been quite a while in the making and in fact the upload has been postponed several times to make sure that everything is working fine.

Now, I am a big fan of PTV Partner but to be honest I’m not sure that the new design is to my taste. The background is black which I always find a little uninspiring. There are some good images on both the homepage and inside the site itself. In my limited testing there are still a few things that don’t work fully but I’m sure that these will be smoothed out soon.

Luckily, the investment plans are still in place and this is really the most important thing. You have the option to invest in up to 4 plans:

1. 110% for 10 days
2. 125% for 20 days
3. 145% for 30 days
4. 190% for 40 days

All above are business days.

There is a very lively chat room facility where you can take part in the more social side of the venture (although questions about PTV Partners are always welcome).

One good thing about PTV Partners is that you can join without necessarily making a deposit straight away. This will allow you to access the chat room and participate.

If you are something of a party animal (especially at Xmas) then you should know PTV Partner will be holding an online party on 22 December.

If you decide to make an investment the choice of processors is good with Liberty Reserve, Global Digital Pay and StrictPay available.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out my post of 19 December to have a chance to win one of 2 SportArbs accounts

SportArbs no longer use Liberty Reserve…

When I checked my account at SportArbs today there was a special notice to say that they no longer use Liberty Reserve. They say that the payment processor has had difficulties over the last few days culminating in SportArbs losing a sizeable sum of money.

However, this has not caused any disruption at SportArbs as they have what they call a Stabilisation fund for just such problems.

What it does mean though is that all members who had funded their SportArbs account via Liberty Reserve will now have to use Global Digital Pay. So, if you are a member affected by this you should make sure that you open a Global Digital Pay account as soon as possible. It is a very straightforward process and verification can be quickly achieved.

I did read of other programmes having difficulties with Liberty Reserve over the last few days and this seems to have been caused by a problem with the API interface which now seems to be solved. I’m not sure whether SportArbs had the same or other issues but the result is that Liberty Reserve will no longer be used at SportArbs.

STOP PRESS: It will soon be my birthday and to celebrate the occasion I am running a competition for readers of my blog. There will be two prizes, the first a $50 account at SportArbs and the second a $25 account at SportArbs. For your chance to enter make sure you read my post tomorrow, Saturday 19 December. Why not sign up at my Feedblitz subscription above to ensure you won’t miss the post.

Gold Nugget Invest encourage members to demonstrate their caring side…

For the last few years I’ve asked my daughters to make a contribution to a worthy cause on my behalf rather than buy me a present. I hope this gives them an idea of the importance of helping others and allows me to action the principle of paying it forward.

So, it’s good to see that an online investing programme is also taking an active role in encouraging members to help those less fortunate than ourselves. In a recent newsletter Gold Nugget Invest are asking their investors to make a contribution to two charities that they believe are fully deserving:

1. Ugandan refugees who have suffered greatly from internal conflicts and poor harvests
2. Kids for Life Foundation who help those youngsters suffering from AIDS

To provide an incentive Gold Nugget Invest are willing to provide rewards for those members who donate the most. For the four highest donations there will be deposits made in the weekly plan of $500, $250, $100 and $50.

So that everything is kept above board an independent overseer has been appointed to ensure that all donations are captured and that funds go to the right place.

In a recent post I made the point that online investing companies needed to provide greater credibility for investors to take them seriously. I’m glad to see that Gold Nugget Invest is showing some creative thought and this can only help the industry.

If you haven’t yet joined Gold Nugget Invest I would recommend you take a close look as this is a real opportunity and proves itself time after time.

Minimum investment is $50 from which you can a fixed return of 6% a week. If you have over $20K to invest the weekly return is 7.5%. Returns are achieved by way of sports arbitrage which is a reliable and steady source of funds. Funding is available via Liberty Reserve, StrictPay, Perfect Money, Solid Trust Pay or Bank Wire.