Shopping Sherlock, a new affiliate shopping toolbar, shares significant similarities with the defunct My Shopping Genie scheme. Michael Wiedder, founder of Best in U, acquired My Shopping Genie's assets in early June. Reports from September 2011 indicated My Shopping Genie had stopped paying affiliates for six months, leading to its closure by May 2012.
The acquisition included the backend technology for My Shopping Genie's shopping toolbar. Wiedder then launched Shopping Sherlock, which visibly uses My Shopping Genie's underlying technology. Best in U operates out of California, though its website currently displays errors when attempting to view compensation or team pages.
My Shopping Genie's business model relied heavily on recruitment commissions. The company struggled to attract retail users for its free price comparison tool. This tool linked to generic affiliate programs, offering no exclusive benefits. Consequently, participation in My Shopping Genie was primarily motivated by the recruitment bonuses.
Shopping Sherlock's marketing language echoes My Shopping Genie's past promotions. The central question is whether Shopping Sherlock will repeat the same operational problems. The My Shopping Genie model proved unsustainable.
The Shopping Sherlock product is a toolbar that users install on their computers. It captures online activity, displaying affiliate offers above search results or showing advertisements from partners. Affiliates earn commissions if a user purchases or clicks through these links. Affiliates can also brand the software to remove Shopping Sherlock logos. Businesses can create coupon vouchers through affiliates for members. The platforms of Shopping Sherlock and MyShoppingGenie appear functionally identical.
The Shopping Sherlock compensation plan pays distributors for product sales through the software, for attracting businesses that create vouchers, and for recruiting new distributors.
Shopping Sherlock uses a seven-tier membership rank system. Commissions and qualification depend on an affiliate's rank.
Registered Representatives sign up for $19 annually.
Independent Sherlock Distributors pay $239 and need five end-users to install the software with their key. They must maintain three verified installs monthly, a requirement waived after 40 total verified installs.
Registered Sherlock Distributors pay $249 and also require five end-user installs with their key. They must maintain three verified software installs monthly, removed after 40 total verified installs.
Power Distributors must recruit four Shopping Sherlock Distributors (one in each binary team), have 10 distributors in their downline, and achieve 10 verified software installs.
Power Distributor Builders personally recruit a Power Distributor in both their left and right binary teams.
Gold Power Distributors personally recruit three Power Distributors and have a total of six in their binary organization, maintaining at least one personally recruited Power Distributor in each team.
Global Power Distributors personally recruit four Power Distributors and have eight total in their binary organization, maintaining at least one personally recruited Power Distributor in each binary team.