What am I doing wrong?

[addictedtoWDW]

I have between 20 and 30 offers pending. Some of which are as old as 3/15 I have checked my cookies on both of the computers I use and they seem to be o.k. I didn't get credit for the last 2 shopping purchases I made either. After getting credit for several others through the same vendor. Disputes have been filed on the shopping credits, but I haven't heard anything back yet and it's been about a month. Maybe I'm just computer illiterate. :computer:

[SunshineGirl]

That's an awful lot of things not to credit. My initial thoughts would be:

1) Spyware. Is there any chance that you have downloaded a toolbar like Hotbar, Screensavers.com, SmileyCentral, ebates reminder, etc? Those would account for some of the shopping purchases, but probably not all of the offers.

2) Security Settings. Is your browser set up to allow the third party cookies? (I know you said that you check them...do you clear them?)

3) Browser. Are you using the AOL browser instead of the browser on your desktop? If you are using a browser where you could have multiple IP addresses (a college, a work computer, or AOL), that would explain a lot of the freebie offers.

Hopefully we can all talk through it and get you on the right track. As you can see by some of the signatures on the forum, we have people earning hundreds of dollars a month. :sunshine:

[addictedtoWDW]

I actually was using AOL at home, but haven't been for about a month. I don't have any of those toolbars (as far as I know). I'll recheck my settings again and see what happens. :confused:

[OregonGirlie]

I seem to have the same problem as you. I've got 75 or 75 offers pending. Some as much as 8 credits (and ones I paid for subscriptions too!). I've cleared my cookies each day at least once. I only use Internet Explorer for the SR site (I use Firefox for all other browsing), and this is the only rewards site I've ever done, on my home laptop. I've got zero spyware and viruses on my lapper too - DH is a computer programmer so he's even checked it. I can recieve cookies since a lot of my offers have credited.

Many of them I'm sure it's just because I'm impatient and will credit, but some of them others have credited in less than 2 hours, and mine are going on 4 days uncredited, when they were supposed to be quick credit.

Can I remove the ones from pending, and try again to see if they credit, or will it not work since all my info is already in their system, or do I just need to wait the full 30 days for all 75 of them to credit? I don't mean to be impatient, I just think I must be doing something wrong with about half of them - especially the paid ones like bargain.com, etc...

[SunshineGirl]

If someone else has gotten credit for something within 2 hours and you haven't gotten credit within about 6, there is a BIG problem. If it were only 1 or 2 offers, I would say wait it out until the end of the month. But with that many, there is something bigger happening. Especially for ones where everyone else is getting credit pretty easily.

Do you have anything running on your computer that might be DELETING the cookies too quickly? Like an adware or spyware program that deletes cookies while you are completing the offers?

[OregonGirlie]

I don't think there's anything running.

I removed a few of the 'quick' ones from pending. Cleared cookies. Tried them again. About 1/4 of them then credited.

I'm going to try using DH's laptop later today and see if they work better on his. I do know I seem to have better success on my desktop (PC) than my laptop (mac). I use Safari on my mac (firefox didn't like it too much), and IE on my PC.

I've only been deleting my cookies about once a day, and there's a super long list when I do. Since I tried deleting the pending ones, clearing cookies, trying the offer, and waiting, it seemed to work ok for some of them.

The ones I'm worried about though are the ones people say credited fast, that I've already spent money on and haven't credited in over 24 hours. I'm already out the money, so I can't re-try those ones. I'll have to check and see which ones they are, off the top of my head all I can think of is CinemaNow, Gamefly, and Bargain.com.

Thanks for being so helpful! :) Makes this much more fun, otherwise I just bang my head against the wall while learning how to do this...:computer:

Rissa

[chocovrdmicears]

here's a couple of cookie clearing tips that might help?

I used to click on the 'delete cookies' option from my browser all the time. I was still having some other problems. I tried downloading a couple of the free programs but the messed up our computer (it is very tempermental).. so I went and bought WinClick One Cleaner at Staples. The first time I ran it on my computer it found bunches of cookies that never were cleared. So i think LOTS of those cookies need a little something "extra" to get rid of them.

Second...i did a manual search for "cookies" on my compter and by doing that I literally found almost 1800 of them (some from a few years ago!) I manually deleted them all. (I did that search previous to installing the WinClick). Maybe search for them manually and be sure to select "look in hidden files" under the advanced search options. I found many little buggers hiding there too.

I run the Winclick a couple times of day and it seems to clean eveything...cookies, plus junk files etc...and I have had very good success since then with offers and my computer runs much better overall too.

Hope that helps someone! :sunshine:

[mom2dea]

here's a couple of cookie clearing tips that might help?

I used to click on the 'delete cookies' option from my browser all the time. I was still having some other problems. I tried downloading a couple of the free programs but the messed up our computer (it is very tempermental).. so I went and bought WinClick One Cleaner at Staples. The first time I ran it on my computer it found bunches of cookies that never were cleared. So i think LOTS of those cookies need a little something "extra" to get rid of them.

Second...i did a manual search for "cookies" on my compter and by doing that I literally found almost 1800 of them (some from a few years ago!) I manually deleted them all. (I did that search previous to installing the WinClick). Maybe search for them manually and be sure to select "look in hidden files" under the advanced search options. I found many little buggers hiding there too.

I run the Winclick a couple times of day and it seems to clean eveything...cookies, plus junk files etc...and I have had very good success since then with offers and my computer runs much better overall too.

Hope that helps someone! :sunshine:

When you say you manual searched for cookies what dose this mean ?

Thanks
Sarah

[chocovrdmicears]

if you go to your 'start' button on your computer and click on it, there should be a 'search' option. If you click on that, it should give you an option of 'all files and folders'. If you click on that, it brings you to the screen where you can type in what you are searching for. I type in "COOKIE" (don't type cookies because some of them were there without the "s" in the file name). Then you click search and it will scan all your files and folders to find anything with the word COOKIE in it. Once the search ends you should have a list of anything that is a cookie/cookies. You may have to click on anything that is a 'folder' to see if they are in there. When I opened my first Cookie Folder, that is where i found 1400 of them.:(
Depending on what system you have it may vary. I use Windows XP.
Please do not hesistate to ask any more questions if you have them! I am happy to try and help. :)

[Lisaj68]

Please do not hesistate to ask any more questions if you have them! I am happy to try and help. :)

THANKS !!! :)

I have a question! All of the sudden (haha) I have a new tool bar, that includes things I have never seen, and one of them is "smiley central" - whatever THAT is?!?!

How can I get rid of that, since maybe that is causing some of my crediting problems, too?

Another question.....Are all cookies "bad"? Someone just went in to their system and deleted 1800 of them. With my luck, I will delete all of the "good" cookies. Or will I ??!!??

[jnorth1007]

Oh dear! If Im not mistaken Smilie Central is VERY bad. Go look through the forums its up at the top somewhere that Tricia's mom Cindy had lots of trouble because of them. I dont know how to get rid of it but I wouldnt do any more offers until you talk to Tricia or Cindy. HTHs and good luck.

[chocovrdmicears]

i think smiley central is something that shouldn't be there...but i am not sure.:confused:

The only problem I find from deleting your cookies all the time, is that you have to re-type all your logins and passwords again on any sites that you sign up for like emails or banks etc.. my DH get's irritated now that he has to enter all the information for our online banking every time rather than just his password..:) oh well..he will get over it.:p

[jnorth1007]

I found the post about Smiley Central it is in the Announcements forum. I did the manual delete of cookies like suggested and I think I have had 3 credits show up since I did them after do that. I think I will start off each morning by running my spyware and manualing deleting cookies and then start my sunshine rewards like usual. This way I can get rid of anything from the day before and wont chance deleting cookies for things I just did. Is it necessary to delete cookies more often than that? I dont do a huge amount of offers each day, only about 4-10. I don't do other sites either so maybe I can just do it the once a day? Thanks for all of the info so far.

[pattip03]

I was wondering the same thing about cookies....
I do run 2 spyware removers regularly and delete cookies.
However I am also having a problem with crediting lately.
The last 2 days I have only received the survey credits. At first I thought I must have already done the offers I did, so last night I did some of the ones I don't normally do like BizOp, Home Business Connection, Stay at Home Mom Biz and Fast Web but those did not credit either....
Leaves me wondering, if I don't see something soon I'll try the laptop. :confused: :confused: :confused:

[SunshineGirl]

ACK!! Smiley Central cost Cindy $60 to have her laptop fixed last week when the toolbar crashed it. It essentially overwrites your cookies, watches what you do, and bogs down your machine. You definitely want to get rid of it. Completely uninstalled...off of the computer so that it is not even there when hidden.

I delete my cookies every 3 or 4 days. Of course, I only do one rewards program and I don't usually bother with any of the small ones because they take up so much time. But even at that, I have had some offers not credit for me that credit for other people. It's a bit of a mystery.

What I love about this thread is that everyone has such good ideas through trial and error!