15 replies to this topic

[Kal]

Wowsie. LookSmart has settled the class action suit brought against them on behalf of all their customers prior to July 2002 who paid for a "one time fee" to get their sites listed.

All customers entitled to a claim have received an email outlining the terms. Apologies for linking to another forum, but there is a thread with the full details here. Please remove link if not allowed. Just trying to distribute this info quickly.

[Thanol]

Interesting. I thought this would be listed on a news site.

[Jill]

How come I didn't get an email from them?

Let's see what the settlement is....

[Jill]

What a joke. You basically get nothing. Only the attorney's win with $600k.

Oh well.

Jill

[qwerty]

Well, you get free clicks, or up to 50 USD if you're a former customer. That's not much, but think of all the income they're losing because of this. I think it might be enough to put them out of our misery.

[Kal]

I think it might be enough to put them out of our misery.

Yes I think you're right. I wonder how long their partnership with MSN will last now?

[Jill]

No way. $600,000? That is peanuts to a company like them. C'mon...get real.

They got off with a tiny slap on the wrist. Good for them. Bad for those who paid for something and didn't get it.

Jill

[qwerty]

I'm not just thinking about the 600k. If they have to give away all those free clicks (and if I understand it correctly, it's a lot more free clicks than they had been giving away), then where will their income come from? I don't know how much they had been making, but this is bound to cut into it significantly.

Or maybe I'm just hoping it's a significant portion of their income. I just don't like them.

[sanity]

I have no idea about this so beat me down if I'm wrong... but what's the deal with being bought out if you have a current law suit against you?

Could they be clearing the decks??

[Jill]

Qwerty, no on the free clicks. They're already giving all those free clicks. And in some cases it's LESS than what they're giving now. Plus it will now end in Dec! NO MORE FREE CLICKS! We've been getting 100 free clicks since this whole fiasco started. They cost LOOKSmart nothing.

And they only have to give 50 bucks to those who canceled their listings (I believe from reading the thing). Most didn't cancel because they'd miss out on their free clicks.

This is a teeny-tiny slap on the wrist for them, and as always in a class action, the only one to win is the attorney.

I'm sure they are celebrating in LS headquarters...get this all done with at very, very minimal costs.

Jill

[Jill]

LOL...just read Kal's blog.

Me thinks you're going a bit (okay a LOT) overboard there, Kal, my friend!

Wishful thinking, I guess.

This is a GOOD thing for Look. Not for SEOs. Sucks for us. Best for the attorney who filed the thing.

Jill

[Kal]

They're already giving all those free clicks.  And in some cases it's LESS than what they're giving now.  Plus it will now end in Dec!  NO MORE FREE CLICKS!  We've been getting 100 free clicks since this whole fiasco started.

The free clicks were always going to end in December, but with this new settlement, most of their prior customers will continue to receive free clicks until June 2004. This settlement means giving more than they're giving now. No-one is going to get less. At the very least, customers prior to April 2002 will continue to receive free clicks till December and at the other end of the spectrum, some previous customers will be granted USD50 per listing.

With USD 250K allocated to cash compensation, 600K allocated to legal fees and the huge public embarrassment this will cause (not to mention a probable slump in their share price), I don't think they got out of this with "minimal costs". I see a fire sale in the near future, esp if MSN cuts their deal. But, as always, this is just my opinion . Soph could have something there about the legalities of a buyout too.

[robwatts]

Anyone who is forced to part with close to a million $ + isn't going to be overly happy about it. Add Look$marts legal bills to this too and you have a tidy old sum to contend with.

That Dec 03 date is the one to watch as it is the date when the contract with MSN expires.

http://www.internetn...cle.php/3064991

LookSmart would be crippled by the loss of its Microsoft business, which accounted for 68 percent of its revenues in the last quarter. Their contract expires on Dec. 3, 2003.

I think the outcome of this class action isn't exactly fantastic, although, its fair to say that its a small victory for the consumer nonetheless.

It would be interesting to learn how many people at the time of the outrage actually switched to their PPC model and, in terms of paid clicks, what has been earned from them since.

LOL, thinking back to those "It is recommended that you increase your monthly budget to $3000" emails I used to receive, still manages to raise a smile. Their cheek is for me at least, unsurpassed in my business dealings thus far.

[Jill]

Some free clicks will be ending in Dec. '03 which is almost here. Some will end June '04.

But these are free clicks they've been giving all along, and these clicks really aren't FREE at all. We paid our $199 or whatever it was, for these clicks. They lose NO money on these and indeed MADE money on them. These are clicks we should be getting long past June 04.

Personally, I see this as a HUGE victory for Look. They can get rid of us pesky one-time fee people in June '04. They have to be totally psyched about that. They can get rid of us, and do it legally. All in 9 months time. Lucky Look.

Just shows you that companies can do whatever they want and get away with it, for the most part.

If it was to be a real victory for us, our listings would remain forever, and not be shut off at 100 clicks. Why should we only get 100 clicks, and why should this end in June 04? We paid a one-time fee for a permanent listing. That's what it said all over their site, that's what we should get.

The little guy loses again.

Jill

[bobsledbob]

If it was to be a real victory for us, our listings would remain forever, and not be shut off at 100 clicks.

There's no way that a court would even rule this way. The court knows full well that a given service can't be guarenteed for a lifetime. What happens when the company goes out of business? What happens if they decide to stop the service? All these problems would have to be addressed with your 'little guy' scenario.

While I agree with you that this is but a slap on the wrist in monetary terms, from a political perspective, it's not a favorable ruling. I definetly think MSN will drop LS come December. Too bad too, since I had figured out how to get decent rankings within MSN because of LS.