Bye Bye Ciao!!!

Whew! Ciao totally closes it's doors to us. First, it blocked the Asian countries on accessing the site and now here's the announcement:

We are delighted to announce an exciting change: Ciao is merging with Microsoft's new search engine Bing. Because of this, the US version of Ciao will no longer be available on the old domain, Ciao.com, beginning July 1, 2009.

Please click here to read more about this decision and what it means for you.

Integration of Ciao.com with Bing Shopping

Dear Ciao member,

We are delighted to announce an exciting change. As part of the Microsoft family, Ciao US is being integrated into our new search engine, Bing . You’ll soon find familiar Ciao merchants and product listings on Bing Shopping , and you’ll be able to save even more money with the Bing cashback program.

To avoid redundancy in our offerings to members and customers, Ciao’s shopping expert network will no longer be available on the old domain, Ciao.com, beginning July 1, 2009. After this date you will not be able to log in to the Ciao community, read or write product reviews, or have access to other community features.

What does this mean for you?
You can easily sign up for a Microsoft Live ID via http://home.live.com/ to join the Microsoft community. If you live in the U.S., having a Live ID also gives you access to our Bing cashback program with which you can earn cash rewards when you shop with a Bing cashback merchant. If you are based in Europe, our European Ciao shopping communities, including Ciao.co.uk will also welcome you to join us as a member.

As you will not be given access to your reviews on Ciao.com after July 1st, you will need to save your Ciao US reviews manually. You can do this by copying and pasting the text of your reviews into your word processor, and then saving them on your computer. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Concerning payments, we are suspending our reward system as of today. Your account will no longer accrue money for positive ratings, member referrals, or any other awards. The money currently in your account will not be affected by this change. We will be making a final payment request for all Ciao US members in good standing, including those who have been unable to access the site due to regional restrictions. You will not need to make a payment request yourself; we are doing this for you. You should receive your last payments between mid-July and mid-August 2009.

Thank you so much for all your great work and wonderful reviews as a member of Ciao US, and for helping other consumers to make the best buying decisions! We loved having you in our community, and we look forward to seeing you again as part of Bing Shopping. Until then, take care and keep writing!

We sincerely hope you will join Microsoft’s Bing Shopping community and enjoy a new and innovative experience when shopping for products and services. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! If you have any questions, please contact us via info@ciao.com.

Sincerely,

The Ciao Community Team

But before that, I just received my May payout last June 17, 2009...

Here's the screen shot:



So, this will be the last payment for me... lol...

Will look for another income opportunity... hope that will find something like this.

GoodBye!

CIAO!!! ^_^