SmashFund Review – What is SmashFund and how does it work? Can you make money with SmashFund? Legit or Scam? Read this review now!
SmashFund Review
Website: SmashFund.com
Products: Crowd Funding, Affiliate Marketing
Price: Free till July 2016, $149/mth thereafter
Owner: Rob Towles
Suitable for: Best to avoid.
Overview: SmashFund is an Affiliate Marketing company that will be officially launched in July 2016.
It has a crowd funding platform that allows its members to seek funds for their pet projects. At the same time, it has a unique network commission structure called “Viral Connection” Payout.
SmashFund Review – What is it all about?
Let’s hear from the owner’s, Rob Towles, own words.
SmashFund is basically an Affiliate Marketing business opportunity.
The affiliate product is the crowdfunding platform at SmashFund.
Crowdfunding is a place where people come together to pitch their creative ideas and projects to the public, seeking funds from them to make their ideas/project a reality.
People who pledge funds usually are the first people to receive the products/benefits at a discounted price.
There are also other crowdfunding platforms in the Online World such as the famous KickStarter.
SmashFund has not officially launched yet as I am writing this review now. However, it allows members to join for free to explore the platform until July 2016.
Will it work? Let’s find out more.
SmashFund Review – CrowdFunding
SmashFund claims that it’s crowdfunding has the following features:
- No time limit or goal limit.
- The only crowdfunding platform that shares up tp 80% of company revenues with its user.
- No percentage will be taken from contribution. (Third party Stripe™ fees of only 2.9% + .30¢ per transaction apply)
- Change out your passions & projects freely within your profile while keeping your Network and backers in place.
- Funds deposited weekly.
- No increased fees for not achieving funding goal.
- No annual commitment or deadlines.
SmashFund Review – Revenue Sharing
SmashFund pays a commission of $50 from your direct referral’s $149 monthly premium.
SmashFund also has a unique Viral Connection payout.
What this Viral Connection payout means is
- SmashFund does not care who invited you.
- SmashFund does not care who you invite.
- SmashFund does not care who your friends invite.
- SmashFund does not care who your friends of friends invite.
SmashFund claims that it pays $4/mth for every person who appears on your network.
This is really something new and I never heard of such compensation plan before!
Imagine, SmashFund allows you to have up to 16000 friends in your network, this could be massive!
However, there is a catch!
Take notes:
- This SmashFund document is for illustration purposes only.
- Revenue share is calculated daily based on new subscribers added to User’s Network and on monthly renewal dates for subscribers retained.
- This is not a guarantee of income or funding.
You can read the full Terms of Service here.
SmashFund Review – How must does it cost?
You can sign up SmashFund for free now. However, you’ll need to provide the following,
- Your credit card details.
- You’ll need an invitation code.
From July 2016 onwards, you will be charged $149 monthly from the credit card you provided.
SmashFund Review – My Personal Take
As much as SmashFund is very appealing, I have a few concerns as follow:
#1 Not clear of how crowdfunding could be set up at SmashFund
Particularly this point “Change out your passions & projects freely within your profile while keeping your Network and backers in place.”
How to change out our projects freely within our profile while keeping our Network and backers in place?
Does it mean that I can ask for crowdfunding for Project A but decides to change to Project B freely while I still keep the pledge funds from the Project A backers?
Wouldn’t Project A backers feel cheated?
I would like to find out more on this point but SmashFund does not clearly explain.
#2 Credit Card details
Providing Credit Card particulars to a new and untested company have a certain risk.
Especially SmashFund asked for your CVC numbers at the back of your credit card too!
CVC numbers are to proof that you are actually holding the card physically and it is best not to let any Tom, Dick, or Harry knows them.
With the CVC numbers, anyone can use your credit card to purchase any big ticket items or luxury goods Online!
Personally, I will not provide the credit card details until I really decide I want to purchase the item/product.
#3 Invitation Code
It is strange that an invitation code is needed for a crowdfunding platform.
There are many Online MLM Marketing site that requires an invitation code to track the sponsor and their downline.
So this gives me a feeling that SmashFund is somehow similar to an MLM site.
If you have noticed, anyone can join KickStarter for free without an invitation code.
Just ask yourself, when you want to seek for funding for your project,
- Which is the first crowdfunding platform that comes to your mind?
- Which crowdfunding platform is open to the millions of people online without the need of an invitation code to join or fund a project?
- Which crowdfunding platform has the highest traffic viewing your project presentation and highest chance of getting funded?
Are you going to search for invitation code online just to join SmashFund? Furthermore, you’ll have to pay a monthly fee of $149!
#4 Past History of Rob Towles
SmashFund founder, Rob Towles, was also the founder of Efusjon pyramid scheme in 2009 and there was a massive lawsuit after that. Efusjon closed down in 2010.
I am concerned that the crowdfunding platform at SmashFund is yet another mask for a Ponzi scheme where new subscribers are required to be added regularly for the revenue sharing mentioned earlier.
Imagine if everyone has 16000 connections in their network, how much does SmashFund need to pay out monthly to its members?
We all know that Ponzi scheme always will not have a good ending.
SmashFund Review – Affiliate Marketing Alternative
I started my Affiliate Marketing business in 2014 and never looked back since.
Wealthy Affiliate is where I learned how to build a Successful Online Affiliate Marketing Business right from the fundamentals.
The best thing about Wealthy Affiliate is that I could start learning how to build my Online Business Passive Income with ZERO prior knowledge on Affiliate Marketing.
Not only that it comes with complete tools and Website building and hosting suite, Wealthy Affiliate comes with live support and help from the owners and the community.
It’s also an all-in-one platform with a fixed monthly fee, and you do not have to worry about other operation costs.
You can even test-drive it first with FREE* Starter Membership in the next few minutes!
I have written a comprehensive Wealthy Affiliate Review and perhaps you can find out more from there.
SmashFund Review – Final Verdict
SmashFund
Owner: Rob Towles
Overall Rating:
I rated SmashFund 1.0 stars because at least it tells you upfront that there is no guarantee that you will make money or crowdfund.
SmashFund is still at its infancy stage, perhaps we have to wait and see how it turn out.
Currently, my concerns outweighed the benefits, thus, I will give this a miss.
Wishing you the best!
*Please note that some countries are not able to join as FREE Starter Members due to Wealthy Affiliate University’s Anti-SPAM policy.
Hi, Edmund.
I have tried SmashFund but so far not much success. I can see how it could work, however I admit I am not comfortable trying to sell people I know on paying $150 a month. Without being able to get people to sign up at that price, I won’t earn much AND I will have to pay the $150 a month myself once that gets started.
I do see how it could work for folks who are able to get others to sign up. I will be curious as to how it goes once the site starts to charge. So far all I have are three “network connections” which will bet me all of $12!
Hi, llyssa.
Thank you for sharing your own experience with SmashFund with us.
Yup. Let’s see how this will turn out when it starts charging its members $150/mth in July.
I am sure, some will make money initially, however, I am sure too if the new sign up to SmashFund dries up, then no one is going to get paid. This will cause a chain reaction toward the top layers because when the lower layers see no income they are expecting, they’ll quit and stop paying.
Funny how Smashfund hasn’t even launched yet and there are so many negative comments from people who know so much. Let’s all wait and see. Perhaps another FaceBook?
Crowd funding is the new way to raise funds for many different causes, ventures, and people’s needs. With increased cashflow into a home, the sharing economy is certainly more likely to occur. With the 1%ers taking over the flow of cash, leaving very little for all the hard working people of this country, I believe this is a wonderful option.
Hi, Linda.
Yup, Smashfund will start charging everyone $149/mth from July 2016 and let’s see how this will work out. I believe Smashfund attracted many negative comments from experienced marketers who can see through certain motives of the product/program. Especially if the product owner was involved in a Pyramid Scheme in the past.
I agree with you Crowd Finding is a new way to raise funds for many different causes. There are many free (no invitation code needed) platforms out there with millions of viewership, why would one want to pay to use a privately invited platform?
Please share your personal experience and result with us if you are doing crowd funding using SmashFund platform. It will certainly create values for my readers.
Wishing you the best!
Hi, Edmund.
I have never heard of smash fund before. But now that I have read your post and got a clear understanding of what it is. I’m kinda glad I have not run into this program. Then reading the part where you stated here’s the catch. Was just the icing on the cake for me and my deception of this program.
I see where you mention Wealthy Affiliate. I have been hearing about them a lot over the years. But I was always skeptical about them. How old must you be to join? And do they accept people from all countries?
Thanks
Hi, Heathguy33.
You are welcome. I am glad that this article has created values for you. 🙂
There is no age limit that I know of currently. As long as you are old enough to be responsible for yourself, you are able to join as a Wealthy Affiliate member.
And yes, they accept people from all countries. However, there are several countries listed on my Disclosure Page where members from there cannot join as Free Starter members. They have to join as Premium members right from the beginning.
Wishing you the best!
I joined and have seen trouble at every turn. I actually earned $254, which they now say is $154 for reasons that lack transparency, then charged me $3 more to take my money out after charging me $149 for the first month. BUT it gets worse. I have been trying to get my now $154 for about 2 weeks with one glitch after another.
First, they sent the money to Payap, which from all appearances seems to be their company as well. That did not work. Then said they would transfer funds through Paypal. After almost an hour on the phone with Paypal, they can’t help me either. Still no money. Now they say they are talking with their programmers. Am I the only one this happened to?
Hi, Lee Bush.
Thank you for sharing your predicament with us. I hope SmashFund will resolve your issue soonest.
If anyone from SmashFund is reading this now, please give Lee Bush some advice. Thanks for your help too.