Wazzub – Is It a Legitimate Opportunity For Profit Sharing?

Wazzub is a homepage in pre-launch that claims it will pay users a profit share for signing up to use it as their homepage before it launches April 9, 2012. They basically are saying that if you sign up three other people, no payment required, no investment required, you qualify for profit-sharing. You also will make money from the people who sign up their email to their friends. Just as anything business on the internet, the question comes to mind,”Is this a legitimate opportunity or is it a scam?”

In order to determine this with the facts we have at hand we have to look at business model. On the downside:

• Wazzub does have the filtering down profit aspect of a multi level marketing business.
• Because it is in pre-launch, specific details of the Directors and company structure is still being determined.
• Because the registered owner, Cathy Halverson, is an agent for the company (and many other businesses), some people feel this makes the company suspicious. It has been said she does not have any actual input in the structure of the company and apparently, this method of registration was done for tax purposes.

On the upside, looking at the definitions of illegal pyramid schemes and multi level marketing there is reason to believe it lacks an essential element that those two models have to have to be considered illegal.

• Wazzub does not ask you or the people you refer to invest any money.
• Wazzub does not ask you or the people you sign up to make any sales or purchases.
• They do have a physical office head quarters (actual members are present at the location) in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have also registered in Oregon.
• The business model of sharing profits with users is possible and has been successfully achieved by other businesses.

The definition of a pyramid scheme always involves people investing money and getting others to join and invest their money. Eventually the pyramid crumbles when recruits run out and then the “bottom” people on the pyramid lose all their money. Wazzub is not asking for any money or investments so it is not, by definition, a pyramid scam.

Wazzub does have the filtering down element of a multi level marketing model. Multi level marketing is not illegal but can be a dubious venture. Some multi level marketing businesses that are commonly known are Mary Kay Cosmetics, Avon and Amway. Wazzub does not have the same sales model and doesn’t ask users to buy or sell anything. It asks to generate email sign ups.

As far as the comparison to pyramid and/or multi level marketing schemes, there is not a huge red flag that screams scam. Where no money is invested or asked for, no loss of money can occur. Basically there is nothing to lose.

Given these facts, it could indeed be a legitimate opportunity for profit sharing. However, no one can predict if a company will have profits before it has even launched. I disagree with labelling it a scam before it has had a chance to prove itself. Still, anyone involved in internet money making must reserve some caution in their expectations of profit making. Until they have actually launched, they do not have to specify how actual payments to the users will be made.

The bottom line is that although this is not as it stands, a scam, many people are suspicious because at pre-launch, there is lack of clarity in both the business model and ownership structure. I personally think that because they are not asking for investments or money from their users, that the only real issue is whether the users will get a share of the potential profits. Wazzub at pre-launch, is not a scam but it remains to be seen if profits will be there to be shared.