Company: "Xpics" you first time scammed online?
 

A few years ago when I was just starting things online, the very first sponsor I used was xpics.
They had a click-thru program that paid like .16 per click. They shaved and ended up being shutdown.

That was the first company to ripped me off.
Second was cyberthrill... LOL

Many people remember those stupid companies?

Still made good cash on them, was worth the shave %... they all shave anyway :P

I just remember each time they raised payouts that my check would go down. I think it was the jump for 12 cents to 16 & the company went downhill.
Just old memories...

They DID pay - so they weren't a total rip-off.

Their shaving system was just a bit unbalanced.

I got some nice beermoney from them. My first sponsor I think, so I didn't notice anything bad until they were gone.

xpics shaved?

I had someone from Xpics call me one month and offer me $20K prepaid for a month's worth of traffic. They paid and the check cleared and I sent them the traffic we agreed upon plus a little extra.
At the end of the month the account rep I had said that the traffic had not converted well enough to do another month.

about 6 weeks later a DIFFERENT account rep from Xpics called and said that they were really interested in my traffic and wanted to send me $25K for a month's worth of traffic..of course I took them up on the offer :1orglaugh

I wonder why they went out of business :winkwink:

BTW - They had some of the coolest banners ever.. nobody since has touched their banners for overall coolness..

You think so? I hated them. Not because they weren't good - they were. But because they were all too formulaic. You could see a banner you've never seen before, and know instantly that it was a XPics banner.

I too always got paid by them, and I saw no evidence of shaving. Although at the time i didn't have a huge amount of traffic to work with.

Cyberthrill were my first real scammers. Dayum those guys are legends now.

Jason.

Yeah, in same order. But actually I got one check from Xpics. Go http://heaven.iwn.fi/~kimezu/xxx for my very first adult site ;) Atleast it got some SE traffic.

Xpics, yeah... the shave was brutal but that check was in my box every week like clockwork.

Back in the days when you could img src clickthru sponsors.

I actually worked for them for about five weeks in webmaster relations. If shaving went on, it went on in a back room and was never discussed.

However, since they did pay so much per click, they were very quality conscious and analyzed their customers' traffic closely. They looked at how profitable a person's traffic was (not just conversion ratio), and if it didn't meet their standards, the partner was cut off.

In the end, it was not shaving but their mistreatment of members' credit cards that got them in trouble. It was notoriously almost impossible to figure out how to stop recurring billing of XPics sites and even once you figured it out, it was very iffy whether billing would actually stop.

Whether this was due to dishonesty or honest inefficiency I was never in a position to know. At any rate, I was too much of a free spirit and big mouth to have lasted with them for very long. They canned me and left me high and dry in Stateline, NV, where their webmaster relations operation was located. It took about five more months for me to earn the resources to get myself back home.

Remeber xpics settled with the FTC for cc fraud and rebilling..

I used xpics back in 97 to, i made a killing with them back them to..

Shaving was going on but it was acceptable..

Both of you are right. They had great banners, but they generally had a very recognizable graphic style.

I still remember - When XPics forgot that canceling members was a necessity in order to run a successful pay site.

I still remember - When DMR run away with our money :waaaaahh .

I still remember - When you could submit to a search engine and get a listing with in minutes .

I still remember - When TheHun only was a strange yellow site :stoned with a lot of free porn.

I still remember - The first time that someone said 'Internet porn is going down' .

I still remember - Our first pay check back in 95 :drinkup .


ChrisL

I still remember using Babylon-x in 97 getting paid 3 cents a click..

Xpics is still alive...

You still can...lol

my first check came from websplash
1 cent per click
i still like how ce and whomever argue who was the first pay per click program. my vote goes to websplash they just arent around to tell the tale.

i ended up taken 18 months off the sites in the summer of 97. ahh what a mistake. i remember when the hun was a month old and jason's underground was the coolest site on the net

But why would you want to? eh hahahaha

Yes they are

But not like they used to be:( :(

We're tryin...

Unseen,
I too worked for Xpics in the Special Projects group way back in 97... Would I know who you are?

- Rick D.

I made a ton of cash off of xpics even though they shaved.. $500/day off of 700 SE Uniques..

Railspike what are you doing posting here?????!!! Don't you have a special projects DEPT. TO BITE...I mean create?

Oh man... I knew I shouldnt start posting. These boards are trouble.

RD

XPics kicked ass.
I used to use their approved text link "Click Her To Enter This Site!" and they would convert it. They had great banners, and cool tours. They were easy to make money with. I always did real good with them, even if they did shave. Maybe they just liked my traffic.

anyone here ever do any CC processing with a company called "Transecure" ? I think that name has resurfaced and is a totally different operation, but they got me for about 2500 bucks back in 97.

xpics was the best ever, if they wouldn´t have been around at that time, there would be not funkmaster today ... I herby publicly thank them for the great program they offered. no matter how hard they shaved, until no other sponsor has every reched any near their payouts !!! I am dead serious here!!

... but hey, their average membership cost something like $300, because after the trial period the members automaticaly received a membership for any of their sites, so no wonder they payed out that much ....

As an old Xpics insider it is hilarious to hear all the rumors still flying about that place... almost all of which is totally untrue but hey, every society needs its "Legends".

".. almost all of which is totally untrue but hey, every society needs its "Legends"..

... o´right then ... brighten us all up with your secrets !!

if you were smart, you made alot of money with xpics!

i know they are the ones who funded alot of what i have today!

I can't speak from Rick's point of view, but the company I work for now...is much different from what it used to be...

I enjoy it, its a good job for the area and they've been very god to me...

but I wasn't here in its hey day...but it seems many pearls of wisdom were gleaned from its mistakes...back then it was very much an outlaw's industry...we just got made an example of in my opinion...

As to the rumors I can attest to the fact that over coming those rumors has been a long hard road...and there are many untruths floating around...which is too bad cause we got some sweet products nowadays...