Interview With PrizeCube Founders Farooq Mitha and Joseph Abed

PrizeCube is one of the main companies that started the incentive site movement on the Internet. While many have remained skeptical, thousands of people have received free iPods, computers, and other expensive electronics - at no cost - through companies like PrizeCube. We were able to chat with the founders of this company to get some insight:

Could you start out by giving us a rundown of PrizeCube along with what your positions are?

PrizeCube.com is a free gift website, that gives our users free quality electronics and is particularly known for giving free video game consoles.  All users have to do is complete an offer with one of our affiliate companies and refer a few friends to do the same.  It is a way for users to get quality electronics that they want for very little time, effort and money. I, Farooq Mitha and Joseph Abed are the founders of PrizeCube.

When did you decide to start PrizeCube?

We decided to start PrizeCube around October of 2004.  We saw that many of these free sites existed and that many of them were illegitimate and were not shipping products to their users. We felt that we could start a site and build a solid reputation around it by shipping products and having a forum where people could discuss the products they received as well as post pictures of their prizes.

How has PrizeCube been doing since its launch? Has it been a viable, profitable business?

PrizeCube has done very well since its launch.  We have accumulated over 30,000 users around the country. Although the company does make a profit, it is not quite as much as other companies because we only require three referrals for the video game console site which is a lower number than most other sites. We want to focus on giving our users the best opportunity to complete and receive their prizes.

What kind of growth has PrizeCube experienced since it opened?

As stated earlier, we have accumulated over 30,000 users and have built up a steady stream of traffic.  The growth has continued because of the dedication of our users and their willingness to spread the word to their friends about our service.

You guys were one of the first sites to offer cash payments in lieu of physical gifts. How did this come about, and do you find that most users choose this option?

We do find that most users prefer this method of receiving their gifts.
We had the idea because we wanted users to get their gifts as quickly as possible.  With other companies not only do users need to wait to get approved they also have to wait to have the product physically shipped to them. With PrizeCube’s instant transfers and gift cards users may have to wait to be approved but they do not have to wait that extra ship time like with other sites.

Do you have an approximate number you could give us of how many gifts you have shipped out, along with the total cost?

I don’t have an exact number of products but we have spend in excess of $50,000 in shipping products since our inception.

Have you had trouble keeping up with the orders of members who have completed all of their referral requirements? How long can one expect to wait to have their item shipped to them after completion?

In general one should expect to wait 4-6 weeks after completion to be shipped.  The reason PrizeCube may at times seem longer than other sites is primarily because of the low referral number we require.  The more people that complete, the longer the wait can be at times. This is one of the primary reasons that we instituted the direct transfers and online gift cards. It helped us to cut down the wait time that would come from shipping through the regular mail.

Do you have any other comments you would like to address with our readers?

We mostly would like to thank our users and would like to encourage them to continue to spread the word about our site. We have received many positive remarks through email and hope that people continue to benefit from our site!

Gear Live thanks PrizeCube for taking the time to chat with us.


- Andru Edwards