This will be my last post on the GDI (Global Domains International) scheme (probably)and is a bit of a summary. The story so far (in brief): I decided that while the many “Get Rich Quick” schemes advertised on the internet sounded too good to be true, I decided to try them out. The first one I tried was the GDI scheme through GDI Goldrush which claimed needed no investment. The claims about not needing investment were suspect at least, and certainly the earnings predictions were way off.
So, my earnings were: zero. I did however pay $10 for the first month of my GDI subscription (after a 7 day free trial), and $35 for advertising through Bidvertiser when the free $20 ran out sooner than I expected. So the bottom line for this scheme is I’m down $45!
Read on after the break for my experience in cancelling, and my thoughts on whether it’s all a big scam.
So I cancelled before I spent any more. The GDI help says the only way to cancel your subscription is to ring them (supposedly for security reasons), but of course the number is a US one, and they are only available 8-6 US Eastern Time (I think). Well I didn’t want to ring up and spend loads on international phone calls while I stayed in a queue, so I sent them an email (ready for a fight) asking for their UK phone number which given they are an “International” company they must surely have.
The response I got to this surprised me. They said they didn’t have a UK number, but if I supplied them with a phone number and time to reach me they would call me! Great! I gave them my number and told them to call from 9-5 BST M-F. That evening (which is the start of the day for them) at around 6 (after the time I gave them) I got a call which I couldn’t take, but Abby took. I thought this was the start of lots of back and forwards, but I logged in to my email and found a nice friendly email asking for the security details and confirmation that I wanted to cancel. I replied and they cancelled the account.
So, in the end cancelling was very easy, and I was able to do so without expensive international calls. I also cancelled the Paypal regular payment agreement just in case though!
The big question: Is GDI a scam? That’s a tough one to answer. I have a fundamental problem with the scheme in that the only people you are really trying to sell to are other people who want to make money. There is no real product (unless you count the domain name, but that’s just marketed as an address to use to sell more!), which makes it not much better than a pyramid scheme.
On the other hand it was surprisingly easy to cancel, and they seem to be generally honest and helpful people. If you have the right people to sell it to then it would be possible to make a lot of money, but I wouldn’t feel right doing so for the reasons above.
A secondary question: Is GDI Goldrush a scam? GDIGoldrush is the scheme which got me to sign up to the GDI scheme, and was supposedly going to show me ways to make thousands without any investment or work. Well the claims are a load of rubbish. They do ask you to invest in various advertising and mailing systems, and if you do this you may well bring in the “sales” volumes they say, but it’s a big risk given the claim of no cost involved has turned out to be rubbish.
By all means give it a try, but be wary and check what you are signing up for: the free trials run out quicker than you would think!
8 responses to “Is GDI (and GDI Goldrush) a scam?”
gdi pays on time and everytime. great company to work with. awesome support. and great huge potential
I do not believe GDI is a scam, my first 6 months we’re painfully slow, but now I have a personal program that is working for me. I haven’t made my millions yet, but hopefully I am on my way. I would give GDI another try. Joining with someone like me you’ll see results within the free 7 day window. I’m sorry you lost money….
Steve and anon (you really should leave your name): You will see that I was actually pleasantly pleased with the company, but I had a fundamental problem with the product.
You are only selling to other people who want to make money. The product is only really useful for getting others to join up (as a domain registration service it is extremely expensive). This makes it not much better than a pyramid scheme.
If GDI also allowed their users to sell domains without the “business opportunity”, it would be a realistic business, and have less of a scam feel about it.
I don’t doubt you can make money with a lot of work, but so can my business, and I enjoy that.
It was interesting, but not for me, and I still believe slightly immoral.
Sorry you went in to this without understanding this sort of internet business. I am sure your reaction is typical of many beginners. Yes the product is not a physical, take home good. It is a digital service -a website builder and domain name- You could be running this blog using their ,ws domain now. Many people bought the domain name just for that purpose but at $10 per month it is not cheap. Doesn’t make it a scam. It is a legit product and the mlm comp plan is typical. The fact that they are a long standing company should re assure you that it is not a scam.
Yes they sell to other marketers, like a huge number of other online businesses, because that is the market- people wanting to make money online. That is why the competition is fierce.
That is why it is not easy to recruit and it takes time.
You need to forget all the hype about weeks to build a downline- the reality is it takes much longer and you need a plan on how to advertise and build a web presence and how you can keep going for the long haul if you are going to make it in this arena.
Look for sustainable systems, and ignore the get rich quick promises.
I understand a digital service is a product too (otherwise I wouldn’t be able to make my living), but my issue with it is the product is priced so that the only sensible use for it is to sell more of the product, meaning the only end customers are people who are no successful at using it to sell more products.
If you could sell 2 tiers of product: one that is priced competitively but doesn’t give you the chance to sell on to others, and one at $10 per month, then it could be seen more as a legitimate business as there is a product there to sell to end users and not other people who want to make money.
If the sole purpose of your product is to sell to other people who want to sell to other people who want to sell to other people (and so on), you very quickly run out of people to sell to! Not everyone who buys the product can make money from it, because there is no new money coming into the system.
Not strictly a scam, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable selling it!
As I advise every of my many daily inquiries into my GDI business offer, most all online programs will work IF we work hard enough to send enough targeted traffic to them and use some system that converts to sales. The Gold rush webpage is one that converts well to sales. I don’t understand why so many so called marketers don’t just explain this to people. What’s the big secret? I have been with GDI for three years and it grows residualy for many reasons including many that keep the domain name and hosting services whether they work the business opportunity or not. Appreciate your post and my ability to comment and hopefully help some people realize the simple steps to online success: send ample traffic to most any converting sales page and sales will happen. Thanks again!
As I mentioned in my post and my previous reply, my issue isn’t whether it is possible to make money from it, my issue is that the only product you are selling (apart from the chance for others to become like you) is an extremely overpriced domain name and hosting package, which can be bought elsewhere for a fraction of the price.
I have removed the link from your comment because I’d rather people didn’t use this as a place to advertise their own GDI site.
martin
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