The MainStreetShares portal just sent out an email saying that they are shutting down. A lot of people used to use the portal back when it went under the BigCrumbs name.
Effective immediately, no new members will be accepted and no new shopping credits will be earned.
Importantly, any monies owed will still be paid out, though a bit behind schedule. This includes pending shopping credits. You’ll also continue to have access to your account for the time being.
The ‘Shares’ earned never ended up being worth anything so you won’t get anything from that. See more on the MainStreetShares website.
View Comments (17)
I was one of the biggest bigcrumbs supporters ever always listed in the top 5% as wildthingenterpriises and back in the day when ebay did not check every listing i directed everyone of my customers to bigcrumbs first before they shut down bigcrumbs i was bringing in 1k a month doing nothing at all. it was the best of times till it was mainstreet sharres time and they lost ebay. Then it just turned into a scam.
So sad to see Main Street Shares (Big Crumbs) go. I was a stay at home mom at the time I joined in 2006 and treated Big Crumbs as a full time job on many days and weeks. I was so proud that I had spread the news to a point where i had referrals all over the place. Every US state and some in Ireland and Canada. Hard work paid off as I saw my downline grow and grow. For a few months I was earning 500.00 to 550.00 a month and it came to a point where I no longer needed to put in as many hours spreading the good news about Big Crumbs over the years, once I went back to working full time outside of the home. I saw so much potential in Big Crumbs and continued to work on growing my downline as much as possible when I could. My downline was repeating my efforts on Big Crumbs! I gave them lots of support and ideas also via the mail system in Big Crumbs. I never earned more than 550.00 tops but I was so happy and appreciative as a mama of two young sons, as every dollar mattered and it made me happy to see that some of my downline was earning even much more than I was! Felt great to help others!
I always felt the owner of Big Crumbs had his heart in the right place. Appeared to me that he really did care about all of us making some extra income and that the design of Big Crumbs was developed in a way that he had hoped we would make even more than just a little extra income. I truly believe that was what he wanted. To see the company and us prosper from Big Crumbs. Some did really well! Many did great! Some of the cash back people accumulated was quite impressive and mind blowing as well as referral earnings! I don't know how things were so transformed to a point where the site needed to be closed, but it was good while it lasted. We all know Amazon has become a giant in the online shopping world and there was never any cash back incentive for shopping Amazon via the Big Crumbs or Main Street Shares Portal as they were 0% cash back on your own shopping as well as the downline shopping. Just my modest opinion I do think if the company went back to the setup Big Crumbs had, we may all still have been doing somewhat okay. The name Big Crumbs in itself seemed to have been well established! Many knew about it! It seemed things took a turn for the worst once the name and concept of the site was changed. Never seemed to take off after that. I'm not sure if anyone was still earning big once it became Main Street Shares. I hope that some were still earning! Just seemed excitement seemed to fizzle in the last couple of years as most of us were not even earning enough for a candy bar from our referral earnings. Cash back on shopping was still pretty good.
Many stores have taken major losses and some of the well known shops are starting to close their doors. Big Box Stores that we thought we would never see go away are closing up, so who knows what exactly happened.
Things had already started to dwindle for me on Big Crumbs in the later years as Big Crumbs took away down lines levels and the incentive became more about shopping than earning from our referrals. By the time it became Main Street Shares I was lucky to make up to 5.00-13.00 a month in earnings and some cash back on my own shopping. Cash back was still very good. My last shopping I did before they shut it down, I got a good percentages of cash back on a small purchase via Main Street Shares portal. I thought in the least, cash back would still be worth logging into the Main Street Shares Portal and also keep my upline receiving some referral earnings as well. Figured it's still a win win to be a small part of keeping the site up and running as well as add to our shares in the company at the least.
As with anything nothing is forever. The good things in life would be nice to be forever of course. However, I did have my hopes up high. I won't say I didn't because I did very much so! It was exciting to see a few months of 500 plus dollars! It did not last long but sure was helpful those few months. I had earned over 13K all together from my referrals also some really good cash back on my shopping. I will miss this site! I was a member since 2006 and always in the top % of earners on Big Crumbs. I was hopeful for Main Street Shares and would sometimes dream big when I looked at the calculator of the potential shares if Main Street Shares was acquired. I would have done pretty well with this.
It was a nice group of folks to talk to also in the community section. I'll miss that as well. I wish everyone the best!! Bon voyage Main Street Shares (Big Crumbs). Thankful for what we all had when we had it! Sad to see it all end. Hopeful the future holds something equally as good or better for all of us in the near future!
Over all, I'd like to say thank you Main Street Shares (Big Crumbs) for the earnings and the cash back! It was a great place to be a member for many years! I hope if something good is developed in the future Main Street Shares owner(owners) will save our emails and contact us! :) Extra income is always quite appreciated and welcome! :-)
I am surprised I couldn't find any site covering the shutdown story of the MainStreetShares but this one. They even take away their community section. Most stories about them through our the two years are people posting Conga in order to get referrals. I never saw anyone actually pointed out how much of a scam they are from the beginning. I'm glad I have only used them when they have the best payout % among the sites I use.
I used Big Crumbs a lot during the Bing cashback days. Haven't used them in a few years since the other portals started paying out more.
Can you elaborate on what the "Bing cashback days" were?
15-35% cashback on eBay. Gold, GC, whatever.
http://i.imgur.com/szvh7ZS.png
That's insane. Was this Big Crumbs or Bing?
How long did it take you to make the $10K? I had heard of Big Crumbs but I never used it and certainly never heard about this Bing Cashback.
Honestly I can't remember. 3 or 4 months maybe?
The numbers would have actually been much bigger but there were a lot of folks worried that it was too good to be true and that MicroSoft wouldn't pay out. I was one of those people.
Because of the huge CB numbers gold and GC sellers were putting a huge markup on their listings. If MicroSoft didn't pay out we stood to lose a lot of money. Once MS started paying out everyone was all-in and that was pretty much the beginning of the end.
Between Bing, Bigcrumbs, and CC CB overall cashback was occasionally near 50%. Hard to believe, now.
From 2008 - 2010 Bing.com would give cashback for purchases on eBay. It would also stack with other cashback portals like Big Crumbs. So depending on the cashback rate at the time you could get about 15% - 30% cashback on an eBay purchase. This was also when eBay gift cards could be used on all bullion.
Man, do I miss Bing Cashback.
It was a ridiculously wonderful time to be shopping.
Big Crumbs was one of the biggest players in the portal CB game back in the day. What happened?
I want to believe they were good guys - who just didn't have a clue.
not surprised at all. actually only surprised they didnt close down much earlier. i dont know where they got their operating capital for such a long run. same thing will happen to iConsumer. OTC markets? give me a break dude...
Always had a feeling that earning shares was a scam. Who was going to acquire a company that does the same thing as a bunch of other sites? Just give me my cash back.
Great, I can now write off my 1000 msSHARES.
I had the company valued at $1B.
Sad!
Donald, is that you? Bad!