The way the MovieWatcher program worked was this:

• Earn 2 points per ticket purchased (4 points maximum per visit).
• Receive free movie concessions or ticket at every 10 point interval.
• At 100 points receive a free night at the movies (ticket, drink, popcorn).
• No membership fee.

The new AMC Stubs program works like this:

• Get a $10 reward for every $100 spent.
• Free upgrades on drinks and popcorn. You can get the next size up of whatever you order free of charge.
• Online ticketing fees waived at movietickets.com and fandango.com.
• $12/year membership fee.

I got enrolled into the AMC Stubs program free for the first year because I was an active member of their old program. So far I’ll say that I really like the program. However I’ll say it’s not for everyone.

My friends and I tend to watch movies that are generally sold out on opening weekends. Therefore I usually purchase my movie tickets online. Having the convenience fee waived on all the tickets has been a huge money saver.

I also watch movies in a very pricey market. If a film is available in IMAX, the only real full-sized IMAX screen in the NYC area charges $19 a ticket. When I purchase tickets for myself and friends I can easily hit the $100 mark to earn $10 rewards again and again.

I generally don’t buy concessions at the theater but it is a nice perk to have the free upgrade for any friends that want it.

In summary, the program costs $1 a month, so if you find yourself going to the movies at least once a money you’ll probably find it work your while regardless of whether you purchase the tickets online. With movie tickets averaging $10 a piece you’re getting $2 back in rewards for purchase of a pair of tickets. If you have a group of friends you normally go out to the movie with, the rewards on this program can add up really quickly.

Sure you can refrain from going to the movies altogether. However for someone like me in their early 20s, the movies is usually the least costly option out of going out to eat, the bars, etc.

I took the plunge and made two loans. The first contribution was $25 made to Abubakar Sadiq for a solar home system. The second was $100 made to Patience Ampong for a clean burning stove. Both loans have respective repayments of 6 months and 3 months so I can’t comment on that process until later in the year. I’ll surely post another update on how things go.

If you like the green focus and looking for an alternative for Kiva I wouldn’t suggest you hop on board just quite yet. Energy in common seems to be a really young initiative. There are usually less than 10 loans available at a given time and the website is still a work in progress. Keep an eye out for this organization though. Kiva proved that a platform for micro-financing fundraising through the masses can work and hopefully this survives its infancy.

Redbox is dvd rental service that operates self-service kiosks at locations such as supermarkets, retail stores and fast food restaurants. You can reserve movie online and pick them up or choose your movie using the kiosk’s touch screen. The rental rate is $1 per day plus sales tax. Lucky for me, new releases are one of Redbox’s strong points so finding the movie at a nearby supermarket wasn’t difficult.

Redbox is convenient for those that frequent locations that have these kiosks or pass by one on their normal routes. It’s also extra convenient for those that want to impulsively rent movies any time of the day. Note that you can return your rentals to any other redbox machine. The ability browse and reserve movies online is one of redbox’s best features.

On the flipside I won’t be leaving Netflix anytime soon because Netflix does have more in depth selection. Also renting and returning movies a to redbox kiosk isn’t exactly convenient for me. I will definitely use redbox in the future whenever I need a movie quickly. The #1 competitor that redbox will really be hurting is the traditional movie rental chain Blockbuster.

With Microplace the goal is for “socially responsible investing” where you lend money to microfinance institutions and they in turn loan the money to various entrepreneurs. Microplace is an actual broker-dealer for microfinance securities and registered with the SEC while Kiva is registered as a non-profit charity. Microplace was bought by eBay in 2006.

Tracey Pettengill Turner, who founded Microplace, believes there are not enough charitable dollars to raise the capital needed by microfinance institutions. One of the key differences of lending on Microplace (as opposed to Kiva) is that you earn a return on your investment.

Investments and Returns

Browsing through various investments I found that investment yields range between 1% and 4% at this time. I don’t know if this is the historical norm or investments yields follow rate change pattern based on the credit environment. There are various loan lengths from a couple months to several years. Interest is paid quarterly on investments and principal is repaid at the end of the loan term.

One of my concerns is that Microplace doesn’t seem to the address the issue of defaults (if any) at all. There doesn’t seem to be any available statistics concerning past investments or details of what happens with defaults on the website. However each investment is accompanied by a prospectus of the underlying issuer.

Each investment available has a maximum available for purchase even though it is not shown on the website. Once an investment reaches the amount available for purchase I assume it’ll disappear from the listings automatically. If you want to find out how much of an investment is available left for purchase just type 99999999 as the investment amount in the “other amount” box and you’ll find out. Generally most investments where I’ve tried this have $100,000+ remaining so you usually don’t have to worry about investments disappearing left and right.

Funding Sources

Like Kiva, Microplace also uses PayPal as a payment processor. Unlike Kiva, Microplace also gives you the option of funding with a checking account for people who prefer not to bother with PayPal or don’t have an account. Microplace also allows interests and principal payments to be disbursed back to a PayPal or checking account.

Conclusion

My exposure and experience with Microplace is very limited at this time. I made a couple of investments because I was in a Christmas mood and none of them have been repaid yet nor have I received any interest payments yet so I’ll hold off on making any rash judgments. However, as with Kiva I suggest anyone investing to diversify their investments and like with all investments don’t use money you can’t afford to lose.

I’ll post an update to my MicroPlace experience in a couple months when I’ve experienced repayments and had more experience with the website.

It’s more than just a linkback promotion. John lets you choose your anchor text (He explains the importance of anchor texts on his blog). John’s blog has a stated goal of helping you make money online… can you guess what anchor text he wants for you to use in return?

Anyways, John does run a great blog and I found out about him through Anthony of Hustler Money Blog so his linkback exchange is nabbing him more traffic and readers (like me) in addition to helping him with his SEO goals.