Back when we first got started with iConsumer, we weren’t yet publicly-traded. We didn’t have an SEC qualified offering. We didn’t have anything, really. And we didn’t know when public trading would start.
We believed that unless people could see our stock being traded in a public market, they wouldn’t buy into the notion that they were creating a nest egg, simply by shopping. We’d be too different.
So we decided to offer cash back, too.
We understood that cash back is short term thinking, but we had a short term challenge. Stock back is long term, and the two messages don’t always mesh. But until everything was in place, until we had a public market that was actually working, I didn’t think we had much choice.
It really all began to work together in December, 2018. And recently, we’ve seen that our stock is trading (sporadically, to be sure), and holding its price around $.10 to $.12 a share.
Now the time has come to be pure. Time to simplify. Time to focus on the long term that becoming an owner of iConsumer represents.
There are many benefits that being pure and simple provides iConsumer:
- We need to recruit fewer members to become cash flow positive. That’s a result of the increased cash from each transaction.
- We now have just one marketing message. Earn stock every time you shop. You may see some variants on that. Feather your nest. Invest for your future. Experience investing. All of which are easier to understand when not confused by cash back.
- If it’s easier for us to communicate, it’ll be way easier for our members to communicate. We expect our rate of members recruiting new members to go up.
- It allows us to get rid of the charge to you for transferring stock to the transfer agent and the charge to transfer stock from the transfer agent to your stock broker. Yes. Stock transfers (so long as they’re for enough shares) is now free!
- And not least – cash generation. Instead of a typical transaction generating $2 in cash we can use to fund operations and grow, a typical transaction should generate $5 in cash.
6 Comments
Reece Mak, July 22, 2019 at 5:11 pm
I have an account with you guys, but I just don’t want to use iconsumer at all.
Here are the reasons:
-Many of the purchases are not honored. I am sure that I clicked through via iconsumer’s link, but you guys just tell me those transactions are not rewarded. Comparing to be Befrugal and Ebate, I have no problem using them. I got honored for every purchase that I made via their links.
-I want common stock, not preferred stock. Since you iconsumer is not making a single penny, there is no point of holding preferred stock, and the preferred stock is not convertible to common.
Robert Grosshandler, July 22, 2019 at 9:03 pm
We’re truly unhappy that you’ve had a bad experience. Fortunately for us, you’re unusual. But that doesn’t solve your issue. If you’re ok with it, we’ll have a senior tech reach out to you and see why you have a different experience at iConsumer.
Why do you want common stock? What advantage does common stock have that you value that you don’t get with our preferred? When (and if, to make the lawyers happy) we finally pay a dividend, the preferred shareholders come first. If we sell iConsumer to somebody for a lot of money, the preferred stock gets their proportionate cut (just the same as the common).
Steven Ferguson, July 23, 2019 at 7:58 am
Robert, I’ve been a member for a bit, and am looking forward to the future of this venture. Your response to Reece put a question in my mind. You say “if we iConsumer to somebody for a lot of money”. Is selling for a lot of money the end game for this?
Robert Grosshandler, July 23, 2019 at 9:36 am
Thanks for taking the time to ask a question, and thanks for being a shareholder.
While I was just using that scenario to illustrate my point, it certainly is a potential outcome. Another potential outcome is that we use our publicly-traded stock to make a series of acquisitions. Or, we just make a boatload of money and pay a healthy dividend.
While some companies are built specifically to be sold, iConsumer isn’t one of those. Nothing wrong with somebody buying us, and we’ll be happy to entertain offers, but we’re not doing things specifically meant to dress us up for that kind of party.
Enough of that. Go shop, help make us valuable, so that we have suitors on our doorstep.
Thanks again
Rob
Shaun, July 28, 2019 at 8:57 am
You’ve lost me as a member if you switch to 100% stock instead of offering cashback. This is simply a ploy to retain all of the cash that we have in our accounts that is under the $25 cashout threshold. By eliminating the ability for us to earn cash for our purchases, you are guaranteeing we won’t ever be able to request the cash in our account by reaching the $25 minimum.
As of the end of 2018 (the last financial report filed with the SEC), there was $122,579 in cash payable to members, but only $24,087 in current assets. I’d prefer you were honest about the reason for this change to the payout system… you don’t have the cash to pay everyone, than to sugarcoat it as becoming “pure” to the mission.
Prove I’m wrong and open up the ability for everyone to cash out without any minimum balance requirement…
Robert Grosshandler, July 28, 2019 at 10:39 am
We’re changing to 100% stock back on August 1. We’ll be sorry to see you go, but we knew that we weren’t going to retain all of our members. For some people, the short term outweighs the long term.
As to the minimum balance necessary to get “cashed out”. We’ve already provided two ways to get cash back before reaching the $25 minimum:
1) transfer via Bitcoin (no minimum required)
2) Continue to shop and earn stock back. Once you’ve accumulated enough stock (as if you had accumulated cash back), we’ll process the check.
We have some other alternatives available to us to make sure people get the cash that we owe them, on time. Before choosing one or more of those alternatives we’re waiting to see how many people choose to transfer cash to stock, how many people choose Bitcoin, and how large the number is after we’re done with the double cash back period July 31.
I would like to point that unlike any other loyalty site you may deal with, you can actually examine our books and make a judgment as to the soundness of our financial position for yourself. Obviously I disagree as to how much in current assets we need to keep on hand to cover the $122,579 in cash payable. We make the judgment call every day as to how much to invest in growth, versus how much to keep in the bank. We’re a startup, and cash will be king for a long time to come.
Lastly, you are so right that we’re making this change to generate more cash. We want shareholders whose motivation is the same as ours, to build a massive business where the reward happens AFTER we build the business. The cash we generate helps to build that massive business.