EDIT: Google has terminated this service. Do not attempt to use it as your money may disappear into the ether.
Hi.
I wanted to let you know about a little service I have put together to help you squeeze a bit more value out of telstra prepaid SIMs. I hope I'm not violating guidelines by posting it here. It's not right for the classifieds section, and I don't want to call it a deal either.. As you might infer from some comments below, some in the community know about this already and are doing their best to downplay the value of services like this one, and keep it to themselves.
There are quite a few tricks we use already, like getting the starter kits at half price, and then using cashback. If you have an android or windows phone you can use the recharge credit on their app stores, which is also pretty handy. And you can use creditme2u to send excess funds to a friend, or buy a plus pack.
That said, it's still easy to run out of useful stuff to do with it, particularly if you're an iPhone user. So I have tried to put together a little web service some of you might like.
The basic idea is this:
- you SMS me your paypal email address, to 0476785291.
- I send a confirmation email to that address, and you follow a link in the email, then enter your phone number to confirm it's yours, and you haven't mistyped it. It should only take a few seconds to arrive. If you don't see it, check your spam folder.
- You start a creditme2u to my number. (#100#, then 1, then 6, then my number, then the amount of up to $10). Alternatively, you can make it super-fast by saving #10016047678529110# to your contacts list [where the 10 means $10].
- At this point I receive an SMS from telstra telling me you are about to transfer money to me. If everything is working smoothly on my side, you get back an email a few seconds later, confirming everything is good to go.
- You complete the creditme2u. (press 1 to confirm)
- A few seconds later I start a paypal funds transfer to your account, of X% of what you sent me. It should take about a minute for the paypal email to arrive.
Magic!
Before going any further, be clear on this: there is no commercial agreement, there is no onus on me to do anything in response to your sending me some credit. What I describe above is purely hypothetical, and I have no obligation to actually do any of it. Any funds you transfer to me are entirely voluntary and obligation-free, and anything you might receive from me is similarly simply a friendly funds transfer!
What do you think of this idea? I only came up with it recently, and haven't thought about it too hard.
I'll try to anticipate some of your questions:
How much do I get?
To start with, during the testing phase I might donate to you 50% of what you send me. This is not sustainable but as any early users will be more likely to experience 'hiccups', I want to do my best to be fair. This testing phase would run for a couple of weeks.
Later on, once things seem to be running smoothly, this would eventually drop down to 30%.
Why would I do this?
You have excess credit, and I can make some use of it, and I would show you my appreciation.
Is there a limit?
Yes, I can only make use of about $500 of your donations each month. Any excess would be queued. That is one reason for the pre-transfer email, to help ensure you only transfer something if I can use it. If there is a lot of interest I might be able to do something, but I want to test the waters first.
What if I don't see an email straight away?
Probably things are just delayed. But to be on the safe side, you should wait, then try again later.
Can I give it a try?
If you want to help me test this one, PM me and I will give you the test number. I only want a couple of testers at this stage, for your safety and mine.
(edit: added SIM number)
I think I saw it go through just now.
Google takes about six hours plus or minus a few hours to process payments, which is usually the main delay. There is a minor manual step too.