mygallons.com

[ViviTheMage]

link

Not sure what to think of this...surprised there has not been a post about it yet.

I know if you pay for 1000$ worth of gas today @ 3.99, you will beat yourself up if it goes down.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

where is their funding coming from? can they pay out if gas hits $8 a gallon? $6?

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
where is their funding coming from? can they pay out if gas hits $8 a gallon? $6?

A small portion would come from here:

*Cost of annual membership is $29.95 if you enroll in the auto-refill program. Cost of annual membership is $39.95 if you enroll in the manual refill program.

I've never heard about it before, though- possible scam..?

 

[Q]

I wouldn't risk

 

[ICRS]

Screams scam. First they ask you to pay before they even tell you how many gallons you are purchasing. That alone screams scam.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: JLee

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
where is their funding coming from? can they pay out if gas hits $8 a gallon? $6?

A small portion would come from here:

*Cost of annual membership is $29.95 if you enroll in the auto-refill program. Cost of annual membership is $39.95 if you enroll in the manual refill program.

I've never heard about it before, though- possible scam..?

my local TV station had a little blip about it...they said that the CEO or something would not answer there calls, LOL. Probably lives in Nigeria.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

...What kind of remark is that?

 

[Gothgar]

scam written all over it

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

...What kind of remark is that?

He's saying are you smart enough to predict the prices of commodities? If you are then why don't you invest in the stock markets instead of contemplating a scam?

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

Nothing wrong or inherently difficult about buying commodity futures, if you're doing it to hedge a price risk.

Buying a future contract allows you to lock in the price for a specified number of gallons. If the price at the pump rises, the future contract makes a profit which offsets your loss at the pump. If the price falls, you save at the pump, which covers your loss on the market.

The only catch with trading on the real futures market is that there is quite a bar to entry - gas is sold in 42k gallon units - which is of limited practicality for retail customers.

Admittedly, this sounds just like a retail version of the futures market. They will probably take orders and the place an order in the futures market to cover their costs. Could also be a scam as well.

There is another retail method to buy into gasoline futures - and that is buy buying stock in UGA. This fund buys into the futures market, but sells bite sized shares on the stock exchange. Only catch are brokerage fees.

 

[CPA]

As stated this is commodity futures buying. A heard of a co-op up in Minnesota that does this. People were paying under a $1/gallon when prices were near $2 (couple years ago) because they had bought futures through the co-op.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

...What kind of remark is that?

He's saying are you smart enough to predict the prices of commodities? If you are then why don't you invest in the stock markets instead of contemplating a scam?

I am not contemplating it, but yeah, it directly relates to stocks--as in there is a chance the price will go down, and you will be SOL.

Originally posted by: CPA
As stated this is commodity futures buying. A heard of a co-op up in Minnesota that does this. People were paying under a $1/gallon when prices were near $2 (couple years ago) because they had bought futures through the co-op.

I did not know that was multiple people, I thought it was one old guy who got a locked price at 87 cents a gallon.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Mark R

Buying a future contract allows you to lock in the price for a specified number of gallons. If the price at the pump rises, the future contract makes a profit which offsets your loss at the pump. If the price falls, you save at the pump, which covers your loss on the market.

You just explained a no-lose situation you realize.

It doesn't work like that.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

...What kind of remark is that?

He's saying are you smart enough to predict the prices of commodities? If you are then why don't you invest in the stock markets instead of contemplating a scam?

I am not contemplating it, but yeah, it directly relates to stocks--as in there is a chance the price will go down, and you will be SOL.

Originally posted by: CPA
As stated this is commodity futures buying. A heard of a co-op up in Minnesota that does this. People were paying under a $1/gallon when prices were near $2 (couple years ago) because they had bought futures through the co-op.

I did not know that was multiple people, I thought it was one old guy who got a locked price at 87 cents a gallon.

IIRC there was a gas station chain that did this. They bought gas (my guess is in futures), and you locked in a price when you bought it. So give me $2k today for 1k gal of gas, and you use it when you use the gas (the $2k price was based off the price at the time).

 

[PokerGuy]

Good day, sir. I hope today finds you in good health. My name is Mbeki Zwamundi, I am the son of a wealthy Nigerian oil baron. Unfortunately, my father passed away last year and I'm in need of getting 20,000,000 (Twenty Million) barrels of gasoline out of the country. For your help, I can provide you with a generous 10%.........

 

[mooseracing]

Originally posted by: ICRS
Screams scam. First they ask you to pay before they even tell you how many gallons you are purchasing. That alone screams scam.

This site and others like it have been around since gas was closer to $2, apparently they must be good at scamming legally.

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: Mark R

Buying a future contract allows you to lock in the price for a specified number of gallons. If the price at the pump rises, the future contract makes a profit which offsets your loss at the pump. If the price falls, you save at the pump, which covers your loss on the market.

You just explained a no-lose situation you realize.

It doesn't work like that.

Yes, I do realize that the situation I described is no-lose. That's because it is.

Futures (and derivatives in general) are a zero-sum game (apart from brokerage and market spread). This is precisely why they are such an important tool for 'hedging' risk. For the cost of your broker's commission, you can lock in the price of something that you need (or if you don't need the item, you can play at the high stakes casino).

By fueling your car, you are betting that gas prices will go down. If they rise, you lose the bet and it hurts in your wallet. If they fall, you pocket the difference.

By buying a suitable future, you are betting that gas prices will rise. If they rise, you pocket the difference.

If however, you need to fuel your car, and you've got suitable futures, in the appropriate proportions, then the two bets cancel each other out - and you have in effect locked in the price.

The trick is make sure that the bets are balanced. As I said earlier, a futures contract is 42k gallons. You'll need a big fleet of stretch humvees to make it worth your while accessing the wholesale futures market. This may be difficult given retail vs. wholesale gas prices, taxes, etc.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: ViviTheMage

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
If it is legitimit, you are basically buying gasoline futures. Do you think you are smart enough to do this?

...What kind of remark is that?

Trading futures. Not many people are capable of doing this correctly. In fact, it is mostly speculation drvienv.

 

[aigomorla]

its basically making gasoline as a stock.

So basically they work with the gas company to reserve a set amount of gas that the company buys.

The 29 is probably the admin/book keeping fee.


Its not a bad deal, if you do a lot of driving. But i highly doubt you'll see very big returns on it unless you the type to buy in large bulk.

Since the cost of gas wont go down now, since more countrys are using it, You'd need to buy like 1000 gallons, and sit on it. When gas prices went up, you'd be using your reserve until the gas prices fell down again.

Theres a lot of risk involved like any future stock.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
its basically making gasoline as a stock.

So basically they work with the gas company to reserve a set amount of gas that the company buys.

The 29 is probably the admin/book keeping fee.


Its not a bad deal, if you do a lot of driving. But i highly doubt you'll see very big returns on it unless you the type to buy in large bulk.

Since the cost of gas wont go down now, since more countrys are using it, You'd need to buy like 1000 gallons, and sit on it. When gas prices went up, you'd be using your reserve until the gas prices fell down again.

Theres a lot of risk involved like any future stock.

What qualifies large bulk?

15 gallons? 20 gallons? 50 gallons?

Is it like bulk beef? Can I buy it online? I want it to come in an alternator sized gas can also.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: DisgruntledVirus

Originally posted by: aigomorla
its basically making gasoline as a stock.

So basically they work with the gas company to reserve a set amount of gas that the company buys.

The 29 is probably the admin/book keeping fee.


Its not a bad deal, if you do a lot of driving. But i highly doubt you'll see very big returns on it unless you the type to buy in large bulk.

Since the cost of gas wont go down now, since more countrys are using it, You'd need to buy like 1000 gallons, and sit on it. When gas prices went up, you'd be using your reserve until the gas prices fell down again.

Theres a lot of risk involved like any future stock.

What qualifies large bulk?

15 gallons? 20 gallons? 50 gallons?

Is it like bulk beef? Can I buy it online? I want it to come in an alternator sized gas can also.

i answered that question on the second paragraph.

My car goes though 16 gallons per week. 15 20 50 even is not considered bulk. Thats like 1-2 weeks worth of driving for an average family.

For you to play with this, you'd need a supply to last though a few months. So you can grab it at low point again.

Otherwise, your gonna get raped on the admin charges, to save you what? 10 15 cents per gallon?

 

[rh71]

You guys better be spending over $300/mo. in gas if you think this is worth gambling over.

The best is when people spend/waste thousands (swap cars) to save hundreds on fillups.

 

[daniel1113]

I actually worked with a team in college as a TA that was attempting to create a very similar business model. The only difference was that it was tailored towards fleets of vehicles (waste disposal, trucking, etc.). They spent months developing financial models that showed the different strategies that could be used to run a profitable business (i.e., when to sell short, put/call, etc.). They also looked at historical data to determine if they would have made a profit using their business model in the past. In the end, they determined that such a business was definitely feasible, especially in a market with rising gas prices. So, I have no doubt this is legit. I'm sure they have a pretty decent team of financial analysts and investors that make sure they are playing the futures market correctly.