Bankers supporting unprofitable websites are often told they are just giving away their money.
Now three new British sites are claiming to do just that.
So intense is the battle to hand over cash to web surfers that two of these firms have been locked in a battle over who was the first to pay out for internet users' opinions.
Julian Pancholi, chief executive of dooyoo, was said to be incensed when near-identical rival Ciao made the claim.
Both sites pay visitors to write reviews.
These cover everything from books to towns and university courses to football matches.
Contributors can read and rate other reviews for extra cash.
How much is all this worth?
dooyoo reviewers get 250 dooyoo miles per review. With 10 dooyoo miles worth 1p, four reviews are needed to guarantee a pound of income.
One hundred extra miles are picked up when another dooyoo member reads your reviews. Rating another review is worth 50 miles.
It all looks appealing until you discover you need to earn £50 before you are paid in cash or £10 to claim a gift voucher.
In other words, forty reviews will earn you less than the value of a chart CD.
Ciao offers better rates, no corporate currency and no minimum payout.
Users pick up 50p for each review written.
Reviewers get paid quarterly but while you may have to wait for your money, you will see cash in your bank account however little you have earned.
The majority of reviews on both sites are written in the alternately gushing and damning style seen in Amazon.co.uk's book reviews.
When evolution checked Ciao's site, 'careers' was spelt incorrectly on the home page.
While contributions are monitored on both sites, it does not inspire confidence for the quality of reviews.
dooyoo failed to send a registration e-mail when evolution signed up, rendering the site useless.
A member of staff manually launched our account and explained the site was having work done on its back end.
Because reviews are voluntary, the service is far from comprehensive.
Of 280 city reviews, 237 featured London.
Most worrying was dooyoo's refusal to edit user opinions.
evolution discovered vitriolic abuse and swearing on the site.
Chief operating officer Pablo Slough said: "If it's loudly offensive, we ask the reviewer to change it.
"We could refuse to put an opinion on the site."
He said dooyoo would not remove the obscenities spotted by evolution.
Spamandchips offers a different concept.
Users register their interests and their e-mail address to receive targeted junk e-mail.
Every time they click on a link in this mail, they receive between five and 40 chips.
The site guarantees each chip is worth at least 5p but says the exchange rate will fluctuate depending on the success of the site.
As with dooyoo and Ciao, Spamandchips' appeal depends on how quickly you can do the minimum required to pick up the cash.
With a quick, free net connection, it is money for old rope.
But with an old modem and a slow Hotmail account, you may well spend more on a telephone bill than you could gain in chips.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article