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Microsoft To Pay People To Search

Posted by samzenpus on from the have-some-of-our-extra-money dept.

kolicha writes "After the failed Yahoo bid, Microsoft is going to try a new approach to gain market share on their rivals Google. Sponsored links will be pay per purchase rather than pay per click, and search users will be offered 'cash back' on their purchases."

9 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds familiar... by JavaBasedOS · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Didn't they try this with the Live Search Club?

  2. Things are different than this by Whuffo · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Microsoft is still working on a way to take Yahoo! over. Carl Icann is working to replace the Yahoo! board of directors as we speak.

    So, assuming that the story is true - how, exactly, does Microsoft propose to pay people for searching / purchasing. Is this "pay" going to come in the mail as a check, or is it going to be a discount on purchases - or is it going to be a promise to pay you somehow sometime in the future?

    I'm tempted to say something about "trust" and "Microsoft" here, but am wary of the Microsoft lovers out there just waiting to down-mod this post.

  3. Re:I want to be paid for posting this by x_MeRLiN_x · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Would you care to be specific about what makes Microsoft's marketing more misleading than marketing in general?

  4. Jellyfish by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Microsoft bought Jellyfish, and this is exactly the sort of thing Jellyfish does - but I can't see how this will help Microsoft's search efforts at all. I have a Jellyfish account; but the only time I go there is when I'm looking for the best deal on something I'd already decided to buy. If I want to search for something, I use the engine that gives me the best results - and that's Google. I'm not going to switch search engines just because MS (or anyone for that matter) says "hey, use our search - and if you click on one of the ads that comes up, and buy something, we'll give you a small amount of money!"

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Jellyfish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I was actually thinking that this is exactly the reason MS bought Jellyfish in the first place. Once the sale was final, things started to change at JF, and not for the better. For example, everyone with a JF account who wants to even look at their past cash back history or buy anything to receive cash back has to sign up for a Live account.

      So, yes, that's exactly what this is - MS buying a company, using their process to their own ends, then never mentioning that the Live "cashback" will most likely be possible because of the JF acquisition.

      Sigh.

  5. Re:Following a trend by pembo13 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am actually surprised that Linux machines don't cost more than equivalent Windows machines, for two reasons: Windows machines are often subsidized by software that is added on by the OEM. Additionally, I believe that a machine with a working Linux setup is of more value than a working Windows machine.

    --
    "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
  6. Re:microsoft's real solution to its search blues: by Darkness404 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It might be a bad deal for Google though... MS is like the Titanic, big, and seemingly strong, however while the band is still playing it is sinking. MS has lost most if not all respect in the "real" IT world (AKA those of us who are not coding in Visual Basic) for a company that can innovate or produce stable products. Google on the other hand is going steadily up, and spending too much money to buy MS is just a bad idea, they might make some quick cash out of it, but other then that MS is a sinking ship.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  7. Living outside USA by NewsWatcher · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It says in the article this cash back will only be for people in the USA. It is a shame.
    If I (in New Zealand) wanted to buy say, an iPod, I could be convinced to click on a Microsoft-affiliated retailer if I thought I would get a decent discount, considering they cost roughly the same everywhere.
    But how would Microsoft know I am living overseas, if I just use a Paypal account? Can anyone think of how I could circumvent this ban?

    --
    If the pattern goes 9am, 10am, 11am, why isn't noon 12am?
  8. Re:Nope, sorry. by moderatorrater · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The same could have been said for hotmail, yahoo! mail, and the other free email programs, yet gmail continues to gain market share. It's not dominant, but it's carving an ever-increasing niche.

    There is no such thing as an insurmountable lead, especially on the internet. MSN's offering something compelling with money back for consumers and sales-based cost for advertisers. Advertisers have wanted this for a long time, it eliminates click fraud at the expense of putting the control into the hands of advertisers themselves. I expect to see the pendulum swing the other way for ad fraud, with advertisers denying that sales went through, probably to the tune of 10%-20%, depending on how much they think they can get away with. I guarantee this happens, I worked for an ad brokering company that wanted a place on the admin interface for what percentage of tracking pixels weren't going to be displayed so that the sales wouldn't be reported to the lead generators.

    The real question is whether the advertisers can create a compelling offering that will keep users coming back to msn. I think we'll see either this program or a similar one from another company gain popularity in the next decade.