Day # 3 - Really Knowing Your Mall
Dear MPM Member,
Are you watching to see how fast your team is growing? You can! Just go into your Back Office and click on Reports. You can view your Genealogy Report, see who is on your Front Line, and find information on how to contact anyone on your team. Especially in the first days, you’ll want to see the results of all your efforts. We predict you’ll also want to contact more people.
We receive lots of letters from people but some of them really stand out. Someone once wrote: "I really think that the whole idea of this mypowermall is to get people to buy your products. I don’t think people can really make money from this."
Out of all the letters this one was Ginny's personal favorite – making her laugh the loudest… she laughed because we don’t HAVE any products! As mentioned above My Power Mall is a portal Mall for 1000+ of the top retailers in America.
Let us address what we think is the real issue here… we believe this letter came from someone who has been burnt and hurt in the past – making them suspicious and paranoid. We understand, and we're sorry for what they have experienced.
Let us make one thing really clear: No one with My Power Mall makes ANY money from one of our members until that member has made money FIRST. We could have chosen to charge money for our $500,000 system, and we could have made a lot of money that way. We chose to GIVE it away so that every single person who wants to change their life has a way to do it. You only make money when people shop. That is true for us as well. The amount of shopping is going up every day. That means more people are making money every day.
Personally Ginny makes a very small % of the MPM Profit. The lion’s share of it goes to the people who have helped make this happen, to One-Child-At-A-Time, and to the Together We Can Change The World Foundation. Oh, she’ll be wealthy enough to give away a lot of money – but not until lots of YOU are wealthy first. No one who is part of Corporate MPM can make money until we help you succeed first – exactly the reason we are working so hard to give you every tool you need!
Our goal was to create a company that truly harnesses the power of online spending to change lives. We believe that has been accomplished. If you have been burnt and hurt in the past, all we ask you to do is give MPM a fair chance. We believe you’ll discover just how different we are. You don’t have to believe our words – just watch the results and decide for yourself. You’re not paying anything and you can quit at any time. What do you have to lose?
Now, let’s talk more about your Mall. There is some more very important information for you to know.
You’ll hear us talk about shopping frequently so that you completely understand that every dollar that flows through MY POWER MALL is dependent upon people SHOPPING! No one made any money from you becoming a Member. You won’t make any money that way either. We did that on purpose. Most companies are based on people making money from bringing other people into the business – making people uncomfortable, making your friends hide from you, etc. Come on – you know it’s true!
MY POWER MALL is different! Money is only generated when people shop for those things they are going to buy anyway. You’re not trying to talk anyone into high priced products. If they are going to buy a pair of shoes; why not buy it from their own Mall and make money? The same goes with millions of other products.
Your Mall has over 1000 stores in it! It will take you some time to learn just what is available but we’ll help you as you go along. We have a team of people committed to helping you get the most benefit from your Mall. We told you about the Hot Deals button a couple days ago. You’ve probably already seen a Hot Shopping Alert come through. You will receive those 5 days a week…
Once our team has scoured the Mall for the best deals, they send the very best one(s) to someone who sends out a Hot Shopping Alert via email and RSS Feed. You won’t miss great deals because you didn’t know about them. You’ll save money and also send money flowing up through the Shopping Tiers. People below you will do the same thing.
In Ginny's Daily Updates to you, she will let you know about the new stores as we add them, and will also share shopping tips with you. Here’s some for you now:
Gift Cards
How many of you know that you can buy Gift Cards through your stores?
Go into your Mall, click on the Gift Store tab at the top, and then click on Gift Cards. You will now see every store that offers Gift Cards AND THAT PAYS ON THEM! This is very important. We discovered months ago that most stores offered Gift Cards, but not all of them paid the rebates on them – definitely not cool! When we made that discovery we went to work to identify just who you can shop with for Gift Cards. We are contacting the ones that don’t to let them know they have been identified as a “less than worthy” merchant – in hopes they will change their ways! We will add them to this list as we do.
What can you do with Gift Cards?
- You can definitely give them as gifts to people. That’s kind of a no-brainer.
- Identify “brick & mortar” stores in your area that are also on our Mall AND in the list of stores that pay rebates on Gift Cards. Buy a card and then go shopping. You’ll be able to try on those clothes, or feel those sheets, after all!
- And, finally, when does 1000 stores actually mean 1300+? Answer: When you go to GiftCertificates.com through your Mall! You can buy Gift Certificates for 300+ stores. The only thing we would caution you on is that before you buy a Gift Certificate, make sure the store isn’t already on the Mall – and paying a higher %!
Be a Wise Shopper
We want to encourage all of you to become wise consumers. You may be used to buying from K-Mart, but they only pay 1.4% on your Power Mall. There is very little (if anything) they have that you can’t buy from another store on the Mall and receive a much higher percentage rebate. We’re doing all we can to point you toward the great deals in our stores that pay the highest percentage, but become a detective yourself and make the most for yourselves!
Taxes & Shipping
You will find many stores that don’t make you pay taxes on your online purchases but that is not always the case and will probably change in time as the IRS figures out how to do it. You will also find many stores that offer FREE shipping – though not all do. We’ll help you by listing stores that offer free shipping for limited periods so you can take advantage of it. With the price of gas being what it is, very often the price of shipping (if they charge it) is less than what you would spend driving to the store – especially once you factor in the value of your time!
Are the rebates we receive treated as income by the IRS?
We asked Gordon to field this one. Gordon Owens, MPM’s Executive Director is also an Accountant, and so is best qualified to answer this one…
Yes and no. How’s that for a solid answer? Truth is, it depends.
Rebates from purchases made on your “own” mall whether it’s a personal or business mall are NOT taxable. If you bought a computer from any store and they offered you a mail-in rebate, the rebate is not income, it’s really a discount on the purchase of the computer. It’s the same for anything YOU buy. You get a discount in the form of a rebate and it is not considered income; thus not taxable.
However, if you have a business mall and someone on your Team buys the same computer, you get a portion of the rebate as a commission for advertising that computer store on a mall you sponsored. Commissions paid to you from purchases made from either a business or personal mall from anyone in your Team is the result of your efforts and is consequently treated as income and must be reported to the IRS.
To complicate matters just a bit, there is something called “casual income”. For example, if you mowed your neighbor’s lawn while they were on vacation and they paid you $100, you don’t have to report that to the IRS. It’s considered “casual income”. If however, you took care of their lawn for a whole year and they paid you over $600, they are supposed to issue you a 1099 at the end of the year and you should report those earnings on your tax return. The cutoff for “casual income” is $600. Earn below that and you don’t have to report it. Earn more than that and it is your employer’s responsibility to issue a 1099 and both of you must report it. For My Power Mall, commissions for purchases from your Team of $600 or more, will net you a 1099 from us. You are responsible for reporting those earnings when you file.
Finally, just to be clear, you could “earn” commissions that exceed $600 but unless they happen in a single tax year and you are actually “paid’ that commission, you may not have to report it. We’ll keep track of this for you. If we send checks to you totaling $600 or more in a single tax year, we’ll also send you a 1099. It’s up to you to include the 1099 income when you file your tax return. It is possible that at the end of the year, you may have earned a total of say $575 and been paid for that in a series of checks but not before the end of the year. In December, with holiday shopping, the commissions you earned may take you over $600. But if you have not received a check from us before December 31st taking you over the $600 limit, you will not have to report it in that tax year. It will be part of the following year’s earnings.
I hope I haven’t told you how to build a watch when you only asked what time it was. The IRS has very strict and well defined rules. I’ve given you a general answer. If you have more questions, I suggest you speak to your tax accountant. They will be more familiar with your particular tax situation and will be able to speak to you in more detail.
So long for now.
Gordon
How do you (1) decide what stores to add, and (2) what if I want to sell my own merchandise on My Power Mall?
We currently have about 1050 stores on the Mall. There are about 200 waiting to be added. That means we’ve already approved them and the MPM Mall Team is working on getting them on the Mall.
1) There is one very important criterion for how a store gets added – they have to be a member of one of our Affiliate Networks (Commission Junction, Linkshare, or Performics). You can find the requirements for Affiliate Network membership by going to the FAQ section on your Mall – it’s in the bottom menu. We then look at the stores to see what rebate % they pay. Our goal is to only add new stores that pay at least 7%, unless we know they are a very popular store that people want, or we know they fill a particular niche market we don’t have many stores in.
We’ve had a lot of requests for particular “Big Name” stores. While we will certainly add them if they join one of the Affiliate Networks, you might actually be disappointed – and end up making quite a bit more money if you shop in another store. That same sweater that you buy from a “Big Name” store that pays only 3%, might also be bought (the exact same sweater) from another lesser known store that pays 12%. If everything else is the same (price, quality, shipping & tax) wouldn’t it make sense to buy it from the store that pays the most? We think so!
As you build your MPM business it will be important for you to explore your Mall. If you’re used to buying something from one particular store not on our Mall, see if you can find another store on the Mall that has the same product. And if two stores have the same product, but one pays more – buy it from the store that pays the most!
As we grow and gain even more “Shopper Power” we will actively go after the stores we really want on the Mall – AND we’ll require they pay at least 7% to be a part of MPM. We will also soon be approaching all our current stores to request they up their % - probably culling out some stores that provide the same product or service that other stores provide, yet pay what we consider too low a %.
We are committed to continuing to provide the most powerful Mall on the Internet!
2) The answer to this one is very simple… If you want something you are involved in to be on the MPM Mall, you first have to be a member of one of our Affiliate Networks. (Look above for how to access that information). If you become a member, and meet our criteria for rebates, or fill a niche market, we will be happy to add you to our Mall.
Our Motto: Harnessing the Power of Online Spending to Change Lives really says it all!
The best thing you can do for yourself today is go in
and buy at least one thing from your Mall.
Find out how it works. Learn how simple it is. Get a feel for just how powerful it is, and just how many products there are to buy from. Find out which of your favorite stores are there.
If it can be bought – it can be bought in your Power Mall!!
We believe in you!!
The MPM Team
P.S. If you haven't gotten your FREE copy of the gold mine we call 101 Ways to Promote My Power Mall, be sure to do that right away! This ebook is a compilation of the ways our MPM Leaders (Members of the 10+ Club) are building their businesses. Use this ebook from the very beginning of your MPM business and watch it explode! CLICK HERE
To download all Training Letters in Manual form go here.
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