What happens to points if the .com busts?
 

What happens to the points if the company goes bankrupt? A couple of examples I have in mind are Clickrewards where I have a few thousand points, and milepoint where I have 750 miles transferred in which I could not use.

Based on recent reports for other companies, I feel that these points could go worthless any day, and I should cash in as soon as possible. On the other hand if everyone tried to cash in, it would cause the company to go under. Comments?

Be safe... Cash 'em in!

Well, beginning with profinity, and on, and on through etour and Freeride, I've personally lost out on miles and money so many times that are far too numerous to mention - time and again! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I'm afraid they are simply lost forever!

With the exception of the few "market leaders" like MyPoints, it's probably not a bad idea to not wait too long! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Then there are those who would probably lose out on 'tons' of points because they were waiting for better value for their existing point balance.

As an example, those people with ClickRewards points waiting and hoping that Starpoint conversions will be offered on a 1 CR for 2 Starpoints basis.

In the end, I would concur with others. Amass and redeem or at least amass and transfer to a more stable program (i.e. airlines and hotels).

Actually, your point conversion now helps out the dotcoms survive longer. Conversion or usage now rather than accumulation actually helps out the dotcoms because they now get paid for the conversion or points usage rather than having a huge amount of points in their bank which just looks good on their Accounts Receivable line.

------------------
Got points ? Got smiles !

I don't see how Clickrewards would get paid if I redeemed my existing Clickreward points and converted them to Starwood points. Isn't it the other way round?

Clickrewards and Starwood are stable e-currencies, PG. What S-l-S is referring to are points held in tanking dot-bombs: those miles/points are imminently doomed. Convert them now!

[This message has been edited by essxjay (edited 06-22-2001).]

I thought that clickrewards was a dot-com. What is the stability of clickreward points?

I agree with those who think that redeeming your points certainly doesn't financially help these various companies. They get paid by advertisers/sponsors based on tangibly demonstrating that you behaved in a certain way, such as viewing an ad, clicking through to the sponsor Web site, making purchases or other transactions, etc. If you never ever redeemed your points, that would be the best for their bottom line.

I've been redeeming my points in such programs (and I participate in relatively few) fairly quickly, rather than waiting to accumulate enough points to qualify for higher tiers of rewards, precisely because I would rather not get caught when the companies go out of business.

Stephen loves Starwood is a little confused. A .com like Clickrewards or Mypoints earns money from the merchant or sponsor for the points you receive. If you don't redeem, the cost of those points sits with the .com. When you redeem, the .com has to pay for redemption cost. If you redeem for airline FF miles, the .com has to pay the airline for the cost of those miles. Your redemptions hurt the cash flow of the .com.

A little OT ... you can get screwed if you hold your points too long in some of these dot coms.

Unlike airline FF programs, these companies don't have to give you several months' notice before changing reward structures -- they can do it overnight. Freeairmiles moved up the number of points needed for a $25 gift certificate twice, then removed the option completely. Milesource bumped up the number of points needed for gift certificates and free trips with no notice. Mypoints gave a month's notice before making some awards more expensive.




------------------
He who dies with the most miles ... is dead.

Considering a subsidiary of UAL just bought MyPoints, I think that demonstrates the airlines have faith in the concept.

I think ClickRewards is a safe company. Worst case, someone will buy them dirt cheap.

I'm not sure if Randy will comment on MilePoint.com, but he has some relationship with that company already. Needless to say, I think they'll be sticking around for a while, but that I'm less sure of. They're not so much of a problem because you shouldn't really have miles "in" them anyway (sounds like maybe PG got a refund or something that resulting in having miles "in" MilePoint, but usually it's just a middleman between your other accounts and a merchant.).

I used miles at milepoint.com for an Amazon gift certificate. Turns out that I could not use the GC because I was using an Amazon coupon, and milepoint GCs cannot be used with any other offers - and the (free) coupon discount was the same as the GC discount. Milepoint was unwilling to return the miles and gave me milepoint points instead.


[This message has been edited by PG (edited 06-25-2001).]

With Milepoint, aren't the miles still in the original accounts until you actually use them for a Milepoint purchase? Their homepage mentions, "your miles and points REMAIN in your accounts until you decide to spend them."

Here are some remarks about Clickrewards and it doesn't sound too good:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/001050.html

Randy, do you have any recommendations regarding Clickreward points?

doc: Profinity? are you sure that's spelled correctly? seems to me the second vowel might be off...

In etour's case, the points can be converted to qool points which seem to be worth slightly more than etour points were anyhow.
(Highly variable though, given the nature of the site.)