BANG!!! Honeymoon's over and reality sets in as we find out the cold hard truth....when we read the Terms and FAQs. Or for some unlucky ones, when we ask for our first payouts. I have come across three PTC sites that call themselves Revenue-Sharing sites. They have high click rates and cheap upgrades, making it look like a clicker's dream. But the Terms tell us they only pay anywhere from 1% to 6% of our payout request. Ouch. But can we call them a scam? Technically no, because it's stated very clearly in their policies.
Another policy I ran into was that we can only cash out 100% of our investment. Smart admin. They gave us reasonable upgrades and a bit expensive advertising, but we don't make any money. If we purchase a membershp upgrade for $10 per month, we can cash out a $10, no more. Still other sites will give us high click rates but will only convert our earnings into advertising. That means NO cashout no matter how much we invest out of our own pockets. Once again, as much as these sites tick us off, if these policies are stated in the Terms and FAQ sections, we have no-one to blame but ourselves.
To the admins that start up bux sites then suddenly stop paying, you're not off the hook. You have a responsibility to own up to what you state in your policies. Either pay out or get blacklisted by the clickmeister community as just another scammer. Sorry. Just had to say that! :-D
Bottom line is, always read the terms and FAQs in any program you join, be it PTCs, matrices, traffic exchanges, affiliate programs, and yes, big-hauncho MLM companies as well. You'll probably save yourself a lot of money and a lot of headache.