GDI is almost a scam, and here’s the catch.

For all of you out there who are trying hard to promote GDI and develop your business, sorry, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but the simple fact is, GDI (Global Domains International) is a mediocre product at best.

First of all, what is it? It’s domain hosting for $10 a month with a multi-level marketing scheme that pays you back $1 for every person under you for 5 levels.

Okay, that in itself is legitimate, and although any network marketing scheme is an immediate turn-off to many, for others, it’s a reasonably attractive opportunity.

Much better hosting is easily available from many, many providers for less than $10 per month. I searched through many of them and finally decided that PowWeb and Bluehost are cream of the crop.

The one aspect that kept me looking deeper into GDI was the $100 bonus for signing up 5 new members in a week.

Now, with only a slight thought outside the box, you can see that you could pay for 5 new members, that way giving them a free month to test it out further, and then collect the $100 bonus. You paid $50 and got back $100.

Everyone I asked said that yes, the bonus is legitimate and they do pay it. And there are many individuals and groups paying the first month for people.

What nobody told me and what makes it a scam, or at least deceptive marketing, is that in order to get the $100 bonus, you first have to buy 10 DVDs for promoting GDI.

That’s $29.50, so you’re still in the plus, but then you have to add on the shipping and handling. Lots of people play the “shipping and handling game” to send you ‘free e-books’, etc. Come on, if it’s really free just give me the download link!

The killer for everyone living outside the U.S. is the fee charged to send you the DVDs. For anyone in Romania where my friend lives and is trying hard to develop his GDI business, the cost is $162!

As he says, “So, I would need 10 people in the same week only to pay off my investment. And then I will be in profit.”

He then replied to my email in which I fumed about GDI: “I knew about that from the beginning, but I couldn’t imagine that the delivery fees are so exaggerate. Lucky me that some days ago I tried to make a “sample order” to see how it goes. And then I was shocked when I saw those 162$!!! I mean it’s like you want to buy a bicycle with 200$ and it cost you 1300$. Prefer to walk in that case, don’t you?”

Definitely! I prefer to walk. That’s the problem with all these ‘special deals’. There’s ALWAYS a catch.

If you want to try GDI, go ahead, some people have had success with it, but many more haven’t. I just want you and everyone else to know as much of the truth as I’ve been able to find.

I double checked with my Romanian friend, and it’s a one-time-only purchase requirement, so to get future bonuses, there’s no need to buy more CDs. Hmmm…, so I offered him a solution. He could have the CDs delivered to my uncle who lives in Florida, thus saving the delivery cost since he doesn’t really need or want the CDs anyway.

Anyway, I won’t be doing anything with GDI, but I am thankful that I stumbled on them in the first place, because it gave inspiration to my idea of how to REALLY help people get started on the internet and do it honestly and fairly, with no catches.

As most of you have learned already, you only ever get a limited amount for free. That said, some places like WordPress give an amazing amount with fantastic quality all for free, and I’d like to know their secret.

The fact is however, that everyone needs money to live, and that includes WordPress and all the people who blog at WordPress and design templates and widgets and everything else. It’s a fantastic community.

Now what if you created a similar community but with the intention of helping “newbies” get started on the internet, totally for free, and helping each other (and the “newbies” as they move on to “toddlers”) to make some money doing whatever it is we love doing? Sound like a cool concept?

It’s a cooperative, or a kibbutz, or a team. It’s neighbours helping neighbours. It’s a community where we all go to work each day and if you need help or advice from an IT guy, a lawyer, a doctor, a dentist, a Mongolian spider expert, or whatever, you just ask! We’re all part of the same community or team.

Everyone in the community has earned the trust of several others, so that trust is easily passed on to the entire community. If anyone betrays that trust, they’re quickly told to shape up or ship out.

If nobody has the specific information you’re looking for, then you go to Google and wherever else to find what you’re looking for, and the next time anyone else is looking for similar information, you’re the one they’re going to contact, because they trust you.

Anyway, all that’s material for other blogs. This blog was simply to make people aware of the ‘scam’ in GDI.

Hope that was helpful,

Best regards,

Brian

PS. If you want to have a look at our new baby, 5plus5team.com, you’re most welcome to come visit us.

PSPS.  The 5plus5 concept for helping people make money online is on the shelf waiting for someone to pick it up and run with it.  I’m busy with my main interest: language learning.  If you’re interested in learning a foreign language and you want to make some money online, you can visit us here:  Learn a Language and Make Money Online (it opens in a new window so you can continue reading the comments below).

Thanks to everyone for making lots of comments and making this a lively blog, and best of luck to all of you in finding a way to earn money online.