ShoptoEarn Top Producer Needs Your Daily Vote

Teen Daughter Competes for $10K Non Profit Grant from Best Buy

Who said today’s youth isn’t ambitious? Sixteen-year old Wendi Oppenheim is following in her Shop to Earn father’s ambitious footsteps. Attorney Roy Oppenheim is one of Shoptoearn.net’s Top 10 producer’s and his daughter Wendi is leading a community service revolution in South Florida with The Opp-Guide. The social media Web site (http://www.opp-guide.com/) is the only Florida finalist in the Best Buy @15 Challenge, an initiative to encourage teens to get involved in their communities.

Support Opp-Guide with a daily vote
1. Vote online: http://www.genv.net/bestbuy
2. Or, text BBYV24 to #32075, once a day through January 9th.

You can vote once a day through each avenue.

Comparable to Zagat or Yelp, The Opp-Guide is a non-profit organization where teens submit reviews of their volunteer experiences with local nonprofits and charities. As a finalist, The Opp-Guide could win $10,000 in grant funds.

To ensure a victory for The Opp-Guide and as a result, a more service-oriented teen population in South Florida, please make sure to vote daily for The Opp-Guide in the Best Buy @15 Challenge.

Thanks for your help!
The Shop To Earn Team

Shop To Earn / Shop To Earth Launches Social Media Channels

E-Commerce Shopping Portal Uses Social Media to Keep Members In The Know


Las Vegas, NV – December 12, 2008 – ShopToEarn.net, a new and innovative shopping portal featuring major retailers coupled with cash back discounts, announces today its launch of social media channels on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in addition to the Shop To Earn official blog http://officialshoptoearn.blogspot.com/.

“We are utilizing social media to communicate with our prospects and members with an official voice,” said Shop To Earn President, Dan Swiniarski. “Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth were founded to be a progressive voice in environmentalism and personal wealth, so it’s only natural that we embrace these viral media technologies as well.”

Social media networks, like Twitter, harness the power of the web in a very profitable way for brands like Shop To Earn. With over 25 percent of US citizens regularly visiting social networking sites, Shop To Earn utilizes these corporate updates to increase branded “face time” with consumers. Now, users attending to the Shop To Earn social media networks have up-to-date information about Shop To Earn / Shop To Earth company policies and announcements.

Find Shop To Earn on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/shoptoearn
Follow Shop To Earth on Twitter: http://twitter.com/shoptoearth
Subscribe to the Shop To Earth blog: http://officialshoptoearn.blogspot.com/
Watch Shop To Earn on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/shoptoearn
Watch Shop To Earth on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/shoptoearth
Become a ShopToEarn/ShopToEarth fan on Facebook

About Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth
Empowering its members to choose a lifestyle of better health and increased wealth, the goal of Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth is to increase environmental awareness and social responsibility. Through its alliances with the biggest name retailers in traditional and environmentally friendly products, Shop To Earth members have access to natural, organic, and earth-friendly brands. While purchasing these products, Shop To Earth members receive a percentage of cash back on all their purchases through the Shop To Earn/Shop To Earth portals.

Shop To Earn Makes Headlines

Check out today's Shop To Earn media coverage in the Ponte Vedra recorder. See the full story below.

Nease Rocks the World of Online Shopping

Holiday shopping is a hassle. Sure it’s fun searching for the perfect gift, but who really wants to battle traffic, crowds and screaming kids?

Nease High School has found a way around that little snag. The school partnered with Shop to Earn, a web portal which allows shoppers to give back to the school while shopping for the things they need.

"The website was something that was brought to me by a parent," said Aletha Dresback, International Baccalaureate coordinator at Nease. "She knew that with all of the financial cutbacks the school had this past year the schools need to try new ways of raising money."

That parent was Loribeth Visconti. Visconti, whose son attends Nease, said she first got wind of Shop to Earn through a neighbor.

"She was active in my Relay for Life team," said Visconti. "We were trying to figure out what to do for fund-raising and thought this would be perfect."

"I thought, the high schools are always getting gypped with money," she said. "Teenagers spend their own money on things. This has a lot of the stores teens shop at."

Dresback said the idea was initially something the school wanted to do for the International Baccalaureate program, but they felt that the entire school could benefit from it as well.

"We established www.neaserocks.com," she said. "I did almost all of my Christmas shopping online this year. Each store has a percentage that they give back to the owner of the site, in this case Nease."

Shop to Earn was founded in 2006 by Pat Welsh. The mission statement of the company is to empower people to choose a lifestyle of better health and increased wealth. It seeks to do this through alliances with "green" companies and paying a percentage of cash back through the portal in the hopes of creating a increased wave of green awareness.

According to Sarah Van Elzen, interactive producer for the Buyer Group who handles publicity for Shop to Earn, said the site has seen a tremendous amount of growth in the last year.

"There are currently 70,000 members and Shop to Earn hopes to expand to 100,000 by the end of the year," Van Elzen said.

Shop to Earn has links to popular women’s and men’s clothing stores like Banana Republic, Aeropostale, Bluefly.com, Converse and Eddie Bauer. Each store gives a specific percentage of the purchase back to the owner of the portal, for example Banana Republic gives two to four percent back to Nease if an item is purchased through Neaserocks.com. In addition to apparel, sites such as Apple, Best Buy and Office Depot are also available to shop through.

Visconti said she purchased the domain name for Nease and they will have the portal for a year. Any money generated through the site goes into an account for the school.

"The challenge is getting people to take that step to log onto the site [before they do their online shopping]," she said. "Nease is a really good school for that. They will catch on quick."

Visconti said Neaserocks.com has been active for about 4 weeks. Dresback said sales have been slow, but the so far the portal has raised about $100 for the school.

ShopToEarn.net Question and Answer

Hi everyone! We’ve had quite a few questions in the comments section, and we would like to address some of them!

Q. Are you considering opening up the business to Canada?
A. Not currently, but we will keep you posted on future happenings!

Q. What’s the situation with Wal-mart?
A. Wal-mart is restructuring its affiliate program and as a result we are currently not working with them on the Shop To Earn site.

Q. Can I set up a Flash Web site for my personal broker account?
A. Any online presence other than your official Shop To Earn page must be in compliance with your business agreement, which states “using the name of ShopToEarn, ShopToEarth, STE, Shop2Earn, Shop2Earth, Shop To Earn, or Shop To Earth in any other way that your specific web address (including on Web sites and in corporate names) violates the terms and conditions of this agreement and a member account that violates any of the terms and conditions of this agreement may be terminated at the company’s discretion.”

Q. I am interested in becoming a Shop To Earth vendor, what should I do?
A. In the first quarter of 2009, there will be a PDF form available on the Shop To Earn site to fill out for consideration as a ShopToEarth vendor. Keep an eye out!

Additionally, we receive a lot of questions regarding web portal functionality, order processing and vendor issues. If you are having technical problems of any sort with your portal or orders, please fill out a support ticket in your back office. That is the only way to ensure your issue is corrected. If you are contacting us on this blog regarding a support issue, please include the order number and date.

Thanks!

The Shop To Earn Team

Shop To Earth Grants A Holiday Wish For God’s Little Acres

Children’s Charity Hosts Holiday Party Thanks To Donations


Thanks to the $45,000 in donations received from the Shop To Earth Foundation and Shop To Earn members, disabled children and their families will be celebrating the holidays with presents and entertainment at God’s Little Acres, a South Florida non-profit providing recreational opportunities to special needs children.

Who: Shop To Earn, Shop To Earth, and God’s Little Acres
What: Gods Little Acres holiday party for disabled children and their families, sponsored by Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth
When: December 13th, 2008, 1 - 5 pm
Where: God’s Little Acres six-acre ranch in Coconut Creek, FL
How: By invitation only

“The funds from the Shop To Earth Foundation and Shop To Earn members are being put to good use this holiday season,” said Pat Welsh, Founder of Shop To Earn. “Not only have our members donated financially, but many are also attending the party bearing gifts for Gods Little Acres children.”

The $45,000 in donations has provided God’s Little Acres the necessities to host its holiday party and fill the needs of critically ill children and their families. Holiday party activities include a gourmet lunch, the Nutcracker ballet performance by Elite Ballet, and a visit from the SWAT team in their special armored vehicle. One generous SWAT member will even be spreading holiday cheer as Santa and handing out Shop To Earns’ donated toys.

“Without the support of Shop To Earth and its members we never would have been able to host this party for our families,” said Joan Nast, Owner of God’s Little Acres. “Many of our families are struggling right now, so the opportunity to host a party for them and give the children gifts is really a blessing.”

About Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth
Empowering its members to choose a lifestyle of better health and increased wealth, the goal of Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth is to increase environmental awareness and social responsibility. Through its alliances with the biggest name retailers in traditional and environmentally friendly products, Shop To Earth members have access to natural, organic, and earth-friendly brands. While purchasing these products, Shop To Earth members receive a percentage of cash back on all their purchases through the Shop To Earn/Shop To Earth portals.

Subscribe to the Shop To Earn official blog for more news about Shop To Earn and Shop To Earth.

Eco-Friendly Gift Ideas From Shop To Earth

The holidays are the perfect time to introduce friends and loved ones to environmentally friendly products in the form of awesome gifts. Eco-friendly gift options abound this year on Shop To Earth, including some great gift packages offered exclusively through the Shop To Earth Web site.

Who doesn’t like presents, let alone ones that are good for the environment?

Shop To Earth has put together some great spa gift packages for the discerning spa lover, complete with a variety of organic lotions, soaps, and even toothpaste!

The “Island Renewal Spa” gift package features ten bath and body items from leading organic companies like Alba and Avalon Organics. The “Body Earth Basics” Gift package includes seven products from organic bath and body retailers, and is another great organic gift idea.

To find more holiday gifts, visit your shoptoearth.net site and click “STE Select Products” for more details and to place an order.