Is Shop to Earn a scam or a legitimate business?
It you’re considering getting involved in ShopToEarn, don’t miss this post with lots of important information!
A fellow financial blogger recently went down the road of examining a new multi-level marketing company called Shop to Earn. He was considering signing up, and did a review based on the information he had up to that point. He asked readers to chime in with their views. Here’s some of what he had to say in that first post:
Pros:
- It’s so early (they just had their first public forum this weekend and it just hit my workplace; I think you’ll be hearing more in the coming weeks, but this is the closest to a “founder” that I’ve ever heard, only 6 or 7 levels away), that the likelihood of making some decent money is quite high.
- Of the various MLMs I’ve had some familiarity with, the time commitment seems quite low. My friend has sworn he’s doing no conferences, no recruiting sessions, etc. He’s signed up a few of his friends and family already and he’s done. At this point, he’ll passively mention it to people as he comes across entrepreneurial types, but he doesn’t “have to” to anything else at this point except watch the checks roll in (and eventually sell or buy some Earthy stuff).
- Each signup’s $100 and 200 points and these points all roll all the way up, so the bigger your network gets, your points end up accruing rather quickly. It’s roughly 10 cents per point, so if there are like 20-30 signups per month under you (many levels), that’s ~$400-$600 per month. It’s not a flat number though, the growth is exponential (unless it dies!)
Cons:
- As is usual for MLMs, there’s an up front buy-in fee. In this case, close to $400 to get the full benefits of a website and business owner. While $400 is nothing to sneeze at, it’s not as bad as some programs I’m familiar with where people have to take on all kinds of inventory, sell stuff, etc. Essentially, at this early juncture, I’m told (and I’m trusting my friend here) that everyone’s making it back in month one and from there, the growth is expected to be explosive.
- Frankly, I don’t like the Earth products. I don’t really see much use for them and I don’t know if I’ll find anything I actually need. Apparently, they’re adding new companies and products as they’re going and at this point, you don’t need to start with the $100 minimum. Apparently, that doesn’t start for a few months, so there’s a period where it’s income only.
- I’ve usually associated people involved in MLMs as being a bit different; especially the enthusiastic ones. My friends are one thing and they never got so into them that they started acting weird, but you always here about the Amway people or the ACN people who go overboard with the whole thing. I don’t want to be “That Guy”. So, all I can do is approach this with great skepticism and balance putting in the time for due diligence with waiting too long and ending up missing the boat while my friend’s bankrolling a few thousand bucks a month.
- It might peter out quickly and it wasn’t worth the time and energy.I might not be able to sign anyone up. I have a few people in mind, and of course, I have Everyday Finance as an outlet, but I’m not turning this blog into an MLM outlet. I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I guess 2 people sounds easy; would have to wait and see.
- Based on the presentation I saw, there are still many unanswered questions. I have a list out to my friend who has access to one of the early adopters, who pretty much knows all the details. I question why much of this isn’t in writing, but I guess if the top members are displeased and feel duped, this would quickly trickle down and everyone would quit and the whole MLM would tumble. So, I tend to trust what I’m hearing; I do fault them for a lack of communication though.
- Apparently, the two people you sign up (or have at least one placed under you) are your left and your right. At least 1/3 of all your points must come from either side to get the cash rewards. The points don’t disappear, but you might have say 10,000 points in queue on the left and only 2,000 on the right. You’d have to get the 2,000 up to 5,000 in order to get your reward of ~$1,500. I can see how this is a tool to keep your network strong on both sides. It’s just not ideal in that it might force you to replace a weak performer later on when you thought you were done putting any time in.
The blogger did not join Shop to Earn, and did a follow-up on the problems he found with the concept. He was planning on joining (ultimately changed his mind, though), and got onto a conference call to find out more. He found the person conducting the call to be a slick talker.
He was able to log into the site for a demo to see exactly how things worked, and here are a few things he found:
When clicking around the personnel network in the top earner profile, I noticed something pretty odd. Many of the people pretty close to the top, just a few levels below him, were already inactive, meaning they exercised the 14 day opt-out option.
Why would people who got in so early opt out when they stood to make so much money?
Next, I noticed an interesting geometric pattern. Especially for an initial member…a guy at the top…I figured his network would be filled up completely underneath him. But it wasn’t.
What I actually saw was that he had primarily filled up tons of people out his outer LEFT and RIGHT legs, but the center of the triangle was virtually EMPTY! This leads me to the FLAW.
Since you’re only able to sign up one person on your left and one on your right, what do you do with the extra people you sign up? If you sign up, say 4 people in your first month trying to get that “Score” bonus of 5 required, you end up basically forcing these new 3rd and 4th people under someone else below you.
[snip]
What I discovered through both the telecon and through asking questions of a member is that they actually recommend that you seek to place all additional signups on your outermost left and outermost right legs. This drives an exponential increase in membership the deeper you make those outer legs. Why waste time building up 1 level below you when you can build 6 levels down on the outside, right?…still seems OK I guess…
[snip]
Where this is problematic is that you only get your bonuses if your points are distributed with AT LEAST 1/3 on your RIGHT and 1/3 on your LEFT. Now, this is where the trouble comes in. By looking at the picture above, you probably shrug this off, right? You say, as long as each of the guys directly under me perform well, my points will usually be like 60/40, 40/60 drift and I’ll always get paid, right? WRONG. What struck me as I thought more about it is that YOU ARE ON THE OUTER LEG OF THE PERSON ABOVE YOU!
Because you are on someone else’s outer leg by necessity, you are locked into a massively lopsided point score immediately. You want that bonus, right? Well, by the time you figure this out, you’ve already placed multiple members on your outer left and right legs. Well, that outer left leg is like 6 deep in a week and the point score on the left has now run away from you because the guy above you is placing more people on that leg. If you want that bonus, you better work like hell to get 5-10 signups over on your right side.
Guess what? The same thing is happening to the guy above you. The same thing’s happening to the woman above him. It’s beautiful- Beautifully Evil. It forces everyone in the chain below say, the top couple founders, to scramble to fix this weighting issue. It forces them into a panic to sign up more and more people. Since everyone’s in the same boat, it’s a runaway scenario though, they cannot keep up because everyone above and below them are facing the same scenario. This now explains why one of the initial members had total empty slots in the center of his triangle and why others were dropping out so early on. They may have figured it out!
What is all of this saying? The only way to get your bonus money is with a somewhat balanced downline in order to meet the requirement of at least 1/3 of your total points on each side. If one side of your downline explodes, you won’t get your bonus unless you can add people (and points) to the other side.
And people above you can add to your legs, meaning that you have little control over this balancing issue. Oh sure, it sounds good that someone above you added to your downline. After all, you get a cut of the action. But if a person added to one side of your downline causes you to go out of balance, you forfeit your bonus money. Not so good.
I am going to look into this company more and write up some of my thoughts. I will say that this has some common red flags of fraud: It seems to have an overcomplicated pay plan. It relies on an endless chain of recruiting of new members. It seems to only offer a substantial benefit to early adopters.
Yes, MJ, that’s correct. This is a change that was implemented recently. Of course, STE reps are claiming it’s easy to spend $100 a month. Personally, mandatory purchases from a limited selection never seem to work out too well.
your website has to generate 100 dollars a month . so NO your not obligated to buy it your self. but if you dont advertise your page and it doesnt get shop in order o make you commision you need to generate 100 dollars retail ( with you discount or cash back that is $80-85 depending if you put the products on autoship/ but they are products you go tothe store to buy ANYWAYS such as house hold cleaners and other great eco friendly stuff.
How big is your house that you’re going to buy at least $85 a month on cleaning products (eco friendly)? Also, why not answer the other questions that were posted for you Rebecca? Have you ever checked out free sites like UPromise where you can do the same thing as this STE crap for FREE? It’s a much better option, especially for someone with kids. If you could afford to waste $450 for this scam why not jump starting a UPromise account in a 457 plan? Most people that get into this are looking for a get rich quick fix to their problems but it usually puts them that much farther behind. Good luck!
I actually do feel bad for you and many others.
wake up befor eyou critize why dont you read my posts becasue I DO BELONG To Upromise and i said so already
and second i JUST SAID you DONT HAVE TO SPEND 85 your self. YOUR WEBpage needs to generate that. i dont have time to waste with you skeptics. i told you i will be back in a month to prove i made my money back and at least a little extra. and that is all i have to say to you all.
if you got burned doing a MLM than that is your problem . i am sorry for you. but i believe that in order to be successful you have TO DO IT> walt disney was rejected over and over and over again about his dream of mickey mouse and then one “sucker” as you all would say took a “chance” same thing with the author of the harriet potter series. rejected over and over again. i know that MLM is not for everyone and i respect that some people just dont get them. I am right now unsubscribing to this blog because i no LONGER care waht you think. i will come prove to you in a month whether i failed or not. until then take care i really hope someday and opportunity comes your way that you dont pass it by or settle for less than your truely worth.
Mac said: best Buy, Walmart are NOT putting their name on a site that’s a scam, surely? The dollars cannot possibly make sense to these big corps if it is is NOT legit.
They don’t investigate for legitimacy, they just check to make sure it’s not a porn site or a hate group, then say OK. The more affiliate links they have, the more chances they have to make a sale. They have a small team checking a large number of sites … shop to earn must have slipped by them.
See http://www.walmart.com/affiliate/aff_tc.html
http://www.walmart.com/affiliate/aff_faqs.html
So Market America has been around for 13 years and you say that is a scam. Thats an awful long time for a scam to be around. It’s the same concept except you don’t have to invest thousands with STE.
I’m not trying to be rude Rebecca but I can honestly say that I didn’t read your entire post. There are two reasons why: When you start off by saying you don’t have time to read but document the longest post on this page, it tells me you’re !!!!!!!!!!!!!. Second, and again this isn’t meant to be rude, the grammar was so bad it nearly gave me a headache.
I did read through it rather quickly, at least I’m honest. I didn’t see anything mentioning UPromise. If in fact you are a member of UPromise and it offers the same product as STE for FREE then why would you want to RECRUIT friends, family, etc. to pay $450 for a similar service? If their just signing up on your website to buy products and not becoming a broker then it should take you about 10-15 years to recoup your original $450. Then don’t forget about your $100 minimum monthly payment for those years. I would love to see you get friends to buy $100 a month on products to keep your costs down. It just doesn’t happen month in and month out. How are you going to ADVERTISE your website? STE has rules against that too.
Tracy,
Has anybody ever done a background on the head honchos at STE? I can’t imagine that they’ve been wonderful law abiding citizens their entire lives. I mean what did Mr. Welsh do for work for 10 years while he started this wonderful business????? Things that make you go HHHHMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
No comment on Market america and ste???
I always get a kick out of MLM idiots who bring up the names of people like Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, or JK Rowling, and how much rejection and doubt they had to face before they made it big.
It’s a sad effort to share reflected glory, but it falls short, because there’s a difference:
What do you create? Nothing.
What do you own? Nothing.
What value do you really offer customers? None.
Where’s your better mouse trap? You don’t have one.
At the bottom line, they’re all just membership schemes where one schlub gives money to another schlub and tries to get some other schlub to give him money as well. It’s a house of cards. Those of us who do things and create things and own things can see that, plain as day. If you can’t you really should keep your day job, at least you don’t have to pay them to come to work every day.
Is there a 14 day recision period to cancel STE ?
Someone I know is jumping into this head first, and it’s because their current career is in the toilet. The high-pressured emails have already started. The phone messages are coming in. I’m already under the impression that the words “no thanks” will not compute.
It’s all so desperate. And it will most likely not pull that person out of the hole. Not in the long run. People in this position do not fully understand how they alienate relationships by getting caught up in this crap.
It will be a short-lived career for many. Guess what…you’ll have to go back to a real job sooner or later.
I am torn on whether to join – I have read all comments on this site and other others and have come to the conclusion that STE will pay off big if everyone does what they are required to do; however, I think therein lies the problem. Which leads me to my first question: If I only get two other people to join, and they get two to join, and so on and so on, how many levels down need to occur before I get my $450 back?
Other questions:
1) Are taxes required only on commissions or on cash back as well? Does the discount that someone below me gets count as commission to me or cash back? In other words, is this taxable as well?
2) As an “independent contractor”, doesn’t that also mean that you have to pay 15% social security taxes as well? 35% income taxes plus 15% = 50% taxes on total earnings if you are making it big (just something to point out if someone was not aware so that they are not shocked when filing taxes).
3) If someone several levels below me cannot get 2 people to join, and I have only signed up two people, do my earnings stop completely since the chain is broken? If so, if someone else down my line brought in 3 or more people, would that make up for this broken chain?
4) I’m not understanding the way the commissions flow all the way down the line – wouldn’t it make sense for someone who is planning on adding more than 2 people to get that third person to sign up at a higher level so that everyone above them would benefit, or is there less commission available that way?
I would appreciate it if someone in STE would answer my questions so I can make the decision to join or not. $450 plus $100 per month is a lot of money to risk, and I make a decent living. I would hate to throw that away and have friends and family make the same mistake.
1. Both will be taxable income to you.
2. Yes, you will be required to pay self-employment taxes of 15.3%.
3. Not necessarily. If you keep recruiting and adding to whichever side needs people, you can still qualify for commissions. (So you can’t really stop recruiting at 2 people.)
4. You are only allowed two legs and you must add below. Apparently the computer software automatically puts the person where it will help you most, but I haven’t seen proof of that.
I will really investigate and get in contact with Wallmart to see if they are using their name to endorse this kind of scam.
This company is a total scam.
Tracy,
To your knowledge has anyone done a background on any of the “executives” besides their attorney? I’m sure there would be some interesting things to find out. Especially, Mr. Welsh.
How would a person begin to have this company investigated for pyramid similarities?
As I’ve said before, thank you for your time and knowledge with helping people understand the truth. Unfortunately, some people “drink the juice” to fast and believe in this. I have a few friends who joined and have made minimal money but spent 100s of dollars on “their” websites.
I think that most of the people on this blog are missing the point here. I know that people are making money doing STE, some more than others. One of my co-workers is in STE and I did the tele-conference and immediately found things that I issues with. The main point that I see that Tracy is trying to make, is that the bulk of the money is being made from recruiting and not product sales. This in turn will be a problem with the FTC. So you may be making money now, but what happens if the FTC walks through the door and shuts them down? Yeah you made some money, but at what expense? It’s not the fault of the individuals that are ignorant on this blog, many of them are probably newbie’s to this industry and don’t understand what is legal and what is not. One thing is for sure, it would be very difficult to get people to shop from this sight, here’s why:
-STE is not consumer friendly AT ALL. What I mean by that is, as a customer, I would never want to shop there. Why do you ask?? If you look at the top shopping sites on the web, most of them offer consumer reviews, which is something I always use “they do not offer this”, they don’t have comparative shopping, meaning when you for example go to Amazon and you type in the name of the product your looking to buy, multiple choices of where you can buy it from will come up with the prices listed so you can find the product for the lowest price. They do not have a product search bar, only a store search. So if you were looking for a Garmin Nuvi GPS system for example you would have to click on electronics, all their electronics stores would pop up, you would then have to click on each store to see if they carry the product and compare the prices on your own??? Who would want to waste all that time??? So it appears to me, in my opinion, that these sites are geared for the people in STE to buy from because they have an incentive, but someone not in the program “maybe a friend you want to shop from you” would not want to shop at the site because it is not user friendly.
Let’s face it folks, the bulk of the money comes from recruiting, not from consumers shopping at your site. When I say consumers, I mean the customer has NO financial ties to STE at all. Just look at the pay structure and it tells it all, very low percentages for shopping, but 200 points and $100.00 for everyone that signs in? Hmmmm low points for shopping, high points and cash for recruiting! If you know anything about this industry, then you also know that if the bulk of your income comes from recruiting and not product sales, the FTC considers it a pyramid scheme, PERIOD! I have been in direct sales and network marketing for nearly 20 years now and have been with the same company for 10 years, which I do full-time. I have been exposed to more companies and compensation plans than I can recall. Some of them have been good, some have been bad, you just need to know what to look for. You see, there is nothing more important to me then my integrity and that has carried me in this business, people trust me, once you have lost that it is near impossible to ever get it back. So again, YES you can make money, but for how long and at what expense???
To: Rebecca
hi, Rebecca, I’m new here in this blog. I would like to know your ste webside address. so we can check your check how much you have gotten so far. If you want us to believe you… please.
To: Everyone
Hi, I’m new here in this blog and I’m not English native speaker so please forgive me if I make mistakes.
Fist of all, my friend always told me “There is no short cut in your life” He is a hard worker, real hard worker and he is a successful man. And… I believe him.
I went STE meeting last week, because my co-worker mentioned it and I was interested in. During the meeting, my co-worker’s “up” explained to new people about the system. I thought “This is kind of great!! I don’t need to demonstrate or carry any products. ( I was doing Amway before I came to this country, but I quit doing business, because I didn’t make any money. I thought products were good, so I was using them). However, this STE, we have to pay $448, $100 every month($80-85 after discount) and annual fee??? to become a broker??? I keep household accounts everyday and I know that I don’t spend even $80/mo from shops in STE site. To me, brokers have to spend $100/mo, if not, your points are gone, is threat. I really don’t understand that why we have to pay this much money. STE’s brokers and STE site didn’t explain in the meeting. OK, at least Amway, at that time, I paid about $120 in American$ (That’s it!!! there was no mandatory fee) . Then people who were Amway members explained to me why I had to pay that much money. Please don’t get me worong. I’m not Amway spy. I just wanted to tell that STE needs explanation for everybody who wants to join STE before become a broker. It is big money. A lot of people don’t realize about it when they go to meeting, because brokers show that amount of money you might be going to make, such as more than $4000. ” OK… I can make a lot of money in 2-3month… $448 is cheap” This is really tricky. Tricky for brains… like when you go to Vegas to spend money on casinos. Showing numbers like MLM to people are really tricky. Just 2 people down from you and 2 more down-down and 2….. “Just 2 people?? WOW!! I can do it!!” Do you think it is the easy????
There is no short cut in your life!! think about it!! Wake up!! Use your brain if you have!!
My co-worker, may be another brokers and people who thinking about join STE are innocent and believe in the business, so they paid or are going to pay. If someone who knows this business is a scam among brokers, please don’t deceive to get money from the kind of people.
Now I really feel bad that I have to say “No” to my co-worker. I don’t know how to say….
Thank you very much for reading!! ^_^
Oh, i forgot to tell… my co-worker joined STE 3 weeks ago and he has made $15 so far…
I think that concerned individuals should try and get some of the networks to look into STE and other MLM’s and possibly do a investigative story on them. I don’t see why they would not want to cover such an interesting, yet controversial industry. I would also like to see a professional, unbiased, legal opinion on the threats that were made to certain bloggers from STE.
This definitely would be something to watch!
So i acted on my suggestion and wrote the following to all the networks as well as the franchise shows. Hopefully they will look into STE and other multi-level companies and especially this whole corky lawyer threat issue. I really would like to see what rights they really have other than the right to bully:
here is the submission:
GREAT STORY IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps CNN can do an investigative type story on Multi level Marketing companies. Recently there has been a lot of buzz about one in particular and that is “Shop To Earn”. I think a lot of people are interested in an unbiased and thoroughly investigated opinion on workings of these companies. There is even threats made from the Lawyers of Shop to Earn to bloggers stating that they will take legal action against what most believe to be a constitutional right of freedom of speech. I hope you consider this as something news worthy . I think it is especially since people are feeling the economic pressure and are vulnerable to these types of money making scams…or not scams.
These companies are not investigated or regulated to my knowledge. Perhaps you may bring us the facts.
just google search Shop To Earn and read some of the blogs. You will also see the threats from the Shop to Earn’s legal council which is quite stunning and bothersome.
Thanks for your consideration.
Good, I got your attention, maybe not your respect, though, Because they will give you two to one odds you won’t make it in Shop To Earn. I have attended 3 meetings, with my boyfriend, who loves this company, if I have to attend another one, I will gag! Ok, let me explain. He is a born salesman, owned his company 28 years, very successful. I am a wake up, dress up, show up (punch the clock) kinda girl. He joined six weeks ago, and for what its worth, here are a few observations. The first week or so, you get bonuses, for recruiting, many do recoup or even make a few dollars, but what I want to see is the second or third month checks. Also, I disagree with the $100.00 minium purchase, and even worse, why does it have to be on the green side, to save our planet, oh please! I searched the green side , and was amazed at how few products were offered on each website, I barely could find a multivitamin.Lastly, the amount of time my boyfriend has spent on the phone, e-mail, recruiting new prospects, has been equal to a full time job. Hence, I am ready to disengage and discard this relationship because I am beginning to doubt his judgement, Miss Conservative that I am. And I am taking bets on which one of us you think has more money in the bank!
General law of Finance:
ROI > 0 accept the project
If you cant make 445 back in a life time or a year, business is not your area.
Invest in a lawn company or clean pools…. im sure youll make youre investment back some day.
Although I very much dislike MLM’s and agree that over time you will NOT make any money, I’m still confused over the new one: STE. Everybody in my office is going nuts over it (I’m the outsider now!), because supposedly they are all making tons of “fake” checks and I’m not!
I appreciate Tracy’s input, and has definitely helped me realized it is not for me, but I have one question I need answered, so I can overcome my new crazed friends: if you give your initial $448 and get three-four friends to join over the first month (which I can do pretty easily) you make up your initial investment but then do anything else, in theory the people on top of you who are recruiting like crazy should get people under you, and as a result you get points, which then turns into money (supposedly). How do I say no to this “supposed” easy money that should come my way without moving a finger?? Even if it is very little money, it’s better than nothing…
Please help me clarify this one question, so I can put this thing to rest, and focus on my job, which is actually giving me real checks!!
Thanks Tracy for your site!
I wanted to see how much “commission” a friend of mine would get from a $20 purchase from one of their “affiliates” (HAHAHA). After weeks of waiting to see if the commission showed, it didn’t. It seems that you will only, that’s if you get it ever, receive the commission once you sign up two people. If you don’t have two recruits the commissions won’t post. At least that’s what they’re telling him. What a joke!!!!!!!
A lot of people just jump into this type of opportunities just because their friends are making money. If you think about it there is not business involved here, you pay for been an affiliate..that’s all (by the way you can be an affiliate of all this companies for FREE).
When people join a Company just for getting money back, for me that’s scam.
I can see that people are in recruit mode in this business model..what happen with the sales of the products? I bet just a few people are buying.
People need to learn how to analize companies before spend time and money….The good news is that is not people’s fault is the Companies that have these biz models in their favor and not the distributor.
I hope that helps and not get any fan of this Company mad.
Danny Chiquito
I would just like to answer some of the questions here about Shop to Earn. There are so many it will be hard to do but I am going to give it my best shot. I too am skeptical of MLM’s and although being approached by many and this is the first I have ever joined.First off I received my first deposit on Friday so the checks are not fake. I did not make millions my first month but I did triple my investment. Anyway first if you don’t like the business model and it does not make sense to you why not just say “I am not interested” and don’t sign up. Simple as that, I don’t think that anyone can force you to sign up and if your friends are “forcing” you then maybe they are not really your friends. I disagree with friends opinions/decisions all the time that does make them or me bad people.I have not forced anyone I have told my friends and family about the business, had them look at it and if it made sense to them they signed up if not they didn’t, no hard feelings.And this is the approach everyone should take if you force someone into it chances are they will not do welel and then blame you.Money can be made but it is not easy it requires work just like any business/job out there. There is know free money to be had anywhere if there was we would all be rich.As for the spending, you must genereate $100.00 worth of sales through your Shop to Earth site. This can be your purchases or someone else’s through your site. You do get cash back of 15%-20%.As far as I am concerned if I am making money I will spend the $100.00(actually $80-$85) if I am not making money I will not spend it. For example I see that I have a commission coming to me of $500.00 but I have to make a $100.00 purchase to receive it, I will look at that as $400.00 profit and I would spend the $100.00 but I will not be forced to spend it if I don’t spend it I forfeit my points that month,there is no one going to force you to spend it. I would think that the compnay might prefer I did not spend it, less commission for them to pay out. Ok the cash back I have made several purchases my first month to see how it is tracked (remember i am a skeptic also) some of my purchases showed up within a couple of days others take weeks but so far I have found no gliches with this I have received the cash back in the percentages stated on my website.So far as the person with the $20.00 purchase remember it can take up to 90 days for their shopping to show up and it will show up in your “my shopping” page whether you have refferals signed up or not. If your friend is not seeing there shopping; either it has not posted yet or there is a problem whoever gave them the info that it is not there because they have not signed anyone up is misinformed. They can actually send in a support ticket for this, tell them to look at their websites FAQ’s. As far as UPromise goes I have had an account with them for years and not received much return. This is probably my fault because if I remember correctly you must enter all of your credit cards for it to track and at first I was a little weary of doing this.Also I know I can use this at my local grocery store but it only gives cash back on certain items alot that I do not buy. Anyway I will be updating that account and possibly using it more. I think I can probably get money back from both UPromise and Shop to Earn. AS far as how many levels it takes to get your $448 investment back, well that depends, you can earn it back by refering 4 people yourself, or refer two and they refer 3 each, or two and they refer two and each of those two there are numerous ways, you would have to speak directly with someone knowelegable about the business to explain all the ways you can earn your $448.00 back. If someone below you does not refer “the chain is not broken” the points just go directly through them. I have people like this in my business. New refferals go to your weaker side if you have your site set up that way if it is not happening that way for you then check your settings.So far I know tons of people shopping on their site whether or not that will be the case 5 years from now or even a year from who knows. I am not a psychic nor do I have a crystal ball so I can only live in the here and now. Another question I saw is background check for the founders of the company. Well I actually know someone who did that before signing up and they did not find anything. I don’t know why it would be assumed that someone founding a business would auotmatically have some knid of crimal record, I think you are taking things a little too far. As far as posting my address here for anyone to see I think I have read that they will take it out because that would be marketing. If I am wrong I will gladly post my site for anyone to see.Also I know that myself and the people in my upline have made there bank statement information availble for all of us. If you have a question for the person trying to get you into the business just ask them for a copy of their statement they should not have a problem with that. Bottom line here is look at the business if it makes sense to you: Join, if not Don’t it’s simple.For me it was not a great hardship to invest the $448 so I did it and made it back, so no loss.If your in and struggling then get out they have a generous policy for this just look in your contract. Good Luck to all in business and in life.
Terri …
When you tripled your investment, where did the money come from? Commissions on sales through the website? Or commissions on recruiting your friends and family? If you recruited them, where will you be able to get clicks on your website from? They’ll be clicking their own sites, not yours.
Where will they make their money back from? There’s the trap of a MLM … sooner or later, you run out of recruits,and you have recruited your potential customer base into being competitors.
Tsu
I want to make it clear that I do not work for Shop To Earn, I am an independent broker.
Apparently you have some pre conceived notions about MLM’s or this business, but you obviously have not taken time to review STE’s business model. Yes, when folks sign on as brokers, they obviously will shop on their own web sites, unless they are idiots. They will earn the cash back for their purchases, AND points equivalent to the amount of cash they received. Those points will ALSO be received by everyone else in their upline. These points turn into cash. In other words, the more people below who shop, the more money you will make.
To answer your question the money earned has come from both.
Terri,
You haven’t had great success from UPromise because they don’t run a pyramid scheme. The money you say you’ve received came from recruiting. You say it’s come from both but I would guarantee that at least 90% came from pyramid”ing” your friends and family. Why not just explain a pyramid to them? Tell them the pros and cons of it and see if they’ll join? At least they won’t have this false belief that they’re going to be rich from “THEIR BUSINESS”, I mean their STE website.
You’re skeptical of giving your credit card information to UPromise but you give your bank information to a company like STE???? Your friend who did the background check is either lying to you or doesn’t know how to do a background check.
You didn’t answer the questions of, “Why not use other FREE sites (besides Upromise) and refer your friends to those?” If it’s all about “a product”, which is shopping and you want your friends to save? First of all they won’t spend $445 to join (Fatwallet, Live Search Cashback) and they get the SAME service for FREE.
I’LL TELL YOU WHY TERRI….IT’S NOT ABOUT SHOPPING. IT’S ABOUT RECRUITING, RECRUITING, RECRUITING.
I have 15 people I know in this crap and I tried to warn them, but some “drank the juice to quickly”. Of the 15 only TWO have made their money back and to those two, it’s a full time job. Now that RECRUITS are drying up so is the pay; but guess what continues to grow? The monthly fees that are eating away at the profit, which will dwindle them down too.
You are comparing peaches and watermelons. This is not the juice company. By the way, I know many people who are doing very well with it, but it’s not for me. I don’t believe in convincing people they need this juice. But I certainly won’t knock anyone for doing it.
There are no monthly fees here, no inventory and no special product to buy, no “miracle juice”. My investment: $448.88. My return: $1,400.00 in less than a month. Do you know of a similar ROI anywhere else? If so, let me know.
Everyone I know who has signed up with STE is making money and having a great time (with the exception of one person , the one who is not doing anything). I make sure everyone I know who is interested in STE knows exactly what the business entails. I don’t convince anyone to join. Maybe someone you know did not explain the business to you correctly but I make sure that everyone I talk to sees the business model before they join. STE makes available to everyone the exact business model, if someone does not understand it or does not like it they should not join, plain and simple.
Yes, you have to work, as with anything else in life. If you think you can just sign up for something, sit on your ass and you will be showered with wealth, this is not for you.
However, if you are willing to WORK, you will be successful. By the way, its a lot less work and stress than most people experience every day in their daily grind, and the results are much better.
Many people open business every day, and fail. How many restaurants open, (risking much more than $448.00, by the way) only to close up a year later, losing all their money and sweat equity? Does this mean that opening a restaurant is a bad business?? A scam, perhaps??
Why not just LOOK at something and try to understand it before you knock it??
As to the background checks, you implied that the person lied or did not know what they were doing. I think you just don’t like the result, so it must be wrong.
As to your pyramid comment, in a true pyramid, people at the bottom can not make more than people at the top. With STE it happens all the time!! The harder you work the more you make. And if you recruit someone that works harder than you, they can make more, but you will benefit from their efforts also. PYRAMIDS ARE IN EGYPT (and illegal in the US)
As to the FREE sites, I can not comment on some that you mentioned, because I don’t know enough about them. I looked at one and studied the business model, and I did not see income potential that STE offers.
But in life, and in general, free stuff is never as good as the stuff you pay for. Anything worth while requires some sort of effort or investment. Maybe STE works better as a result of the investment. When you invest $448.00, you are motivated enough to at least get your investment back. Then you realize its working for you and continue!
I really hope you take the time to actually look at STE so you can make educated comments.
God Bless!
Terri – I think you forgot about the “annual renewal fee” when you said there are no fees. And you forgot about the minimum monthly purchase requirement. That sounds like a fee to me!
I’ll do for you what I’ve done for everyone else: I invite you to prove that you really made that money. (What are the chances that you, like everyone else, will decline?)
Tracy, it’s obvious that the people in STE do not know how to recognize a pyramid scheme, because it does not matter if a person at the bottom can make more than the person at the top. What does matter is weather or not you have actual consumers shopping and your comissions are coming by way of product moving, which by the way according to the FTC should be 50%, meaning that the revenue being generated should be coming 50% by customers shopping/buying product. There is NO WAY that this is happening. The money is coming from recruiting, not shopping. Take a look at the low, low percentages that these people are getting for shopping, BUT they get 200 points and $100.00 for recruiting. Ummm, can anyone say illegal pyramid!
Facts are facts people, just stick to the facts and look for yourself at what the FTC regulations are and you wont need someone like me telling you all this.
I copied and pasted this from another STE Blog:
Shop To Earn – Is It an Illegal Pyramid?
Opinion from an Insider and FTC Rulings
Mia culpa for joining ShopTo Earn/ShopToEarth (STE) prior to doing my homework. It is so easy to get swept up in the fever of earning quick money during a home presentation where an early investor shows his paycheck. Sounds like inducement which has been deemed illegal by the FTC. However, now that I joined as a broker for $448, I would like to share some details of my direct experience which in my opinion classifies STE as a pyramid. In addition, I have included some rulings by the FTC on similar “mall” shopping companies which were forced to shut down and two FTC articles on warning signs of an illegal pyramid scheme.
First of all here is some background on the STE’s design and structure. You may join STE as a Business Builder ($99) and you are only paid for recruiting others. However, to receive your commission, you or your friends “must generate at least $100 in monthly business volume through his/her website’s link to ShopToEarth to become qualified to SCORE!” (taken directly from the company’s commission rules; link to this document is shown below under Related Documents). The commission rules also state that a Business Builder must refer (recruit) three new Website Owners or Brokers within the first 30 days. These recruits must pay their renewal fees at the end of one year or the Business Builder must refer (recruit) another Website Owner/Broker to continue to be eligible for commission.
Or, you may join as a Web site Owner ($349) which allows you to shop with 500 retailers and earn cash back with a $69 annual renewal fee. You also earn points for anyone who shops at your Web site. However, to receive your commission through STE you or your friends “must generate at least $100 in monthly business volume through his/her website’s link to ShopToEarth to become qualified to SCORE!”
Doesn’t it sound great to earn cash back for shopping online? Slow down. Did you know that you can do the very same thing through many sites on the internet, earn cash back at MORE retailers and get paid to refer friends all for FREE? Some of these sites are cashbaq.com, ebates.com, mrrebates.com. For example, cashbaq.com has over 1700 retailers available and they show available online coupons per store which may be used for additional discounts. This is known as affiliate marketing where retailers pay for affiliates to promote their goods to a consumer with a direct link to the retailer’s online site. The affiliate receives a rebate from the retailer and is sharing a portion of the rebate with the consumer. So, why would you, your loved ones or friends spend the $349 when you can do the same thing for free? In addition to collecting your $349, STE is receiving the rebate from the retailer as an affiliate and only sharing a portion with the member.
Then there is the Business Builder and Website Owner rolled into one position known as a Broker. The cost to become a Broker is $448 with an annual renewal fee of $119. From STE Commission Rules – “A Broker functions under the same Commission Rules as a Website Owner and a Business Builder; however, a Broker (Website Owner + Business Builder) only has to refer 2 Website Owners and place at least one on the Left Side and at least one on the Right Side to become qualified to SCORE! A Broker has an annual renewal fee of $119 and 50 points are paid to that Broker (Website Owner + Business Builder) and up-line to all Business Builders.” Again, to receive your commission through STE, you or your friends “must generate at least $100 in monthly business volume through his/her website’s link to ShopToEarth to become qualified to SCORE!”
As for the requirement to purchase $100 in ShopToEarth products monthly, I have looked through the green products available and I cannot come up with $100 that I need every month. I also feel that most of the prices on these green products are inflated and this requirement only serves to put more “green” into the pockets of the top levels. Yes, STE is truly a “green” company.
So if you found $100 from the ShopToEarth site to purchase and now you are ready to receive your commission. But wait, there’s more. Your are not eligible to receive your commission unless your right and left side are balance. Now the complexity comes into the genealogy of the tree you are creating on your right and left side. Remember, as a Broker, you must recruit one person on your right and one on your left which begins your tree. To earn your commission, at least 1/3 of your total points must come from one side. Why is this put into place? It forces you to continually recruit new members on your weaker side. New recruits mean more money. Think about it though. Everyone is trying to balance their sides. So if I have a strong right side but someone below me on that side is weak, they will continually try to recruit more on my strong side. I don’t want this. It will make my strong side even stronger! Yikes. Why was this put in place? The company ensures solvency through your continual balancing act of recruiting new members and not paying commission to existing members who are out of balance.
Here are some other issues that I have with STE:
1.STE readily promotes checks on the STE Tour call, at home presentations, seminars and on individual Web sites. You can go to any member’s Web site, click on their picture in the lower left corner and then click on $ My Check to see the member’s check. In my opinion, this is inducement and is illegal according to the FTC.
2.In order to not classify as a pyramid, FTC states that 50% of the business must come from customers not being paid commissions. STE owns the ShopToEarth products so this means that 50% of the business in ShopTo Earth must come from those purchasing products yet not receiving any commissions. Good luck with that one STE especially since as of September 2008 you now require all members to purchase $100 in products from ShopToEarth to receive commission.
3.STE is promoting business as if they have teamed up with Home Depot, Target, Staples, etc… This is misleading. STE is merely an affiliate and they offer a link to major retailers. In my opinion, this is deceptive and an attempt to legitimize the company.
4.To be a legitimate company, refunds must be made to consumers. STE promises to refund your money if you put in a ticket within the first 14 days. There are several blogs about people not being able to get their refund as promised, which leads to the next issue.
5.No STE telephone number available anywhere on the Web site.
6.Bullying tactics of STE attorney (Nehra) with cease and desist communication to bloggers on the internet who are questioning the legality of STE. Why this tactic? Does STE have something to hide and what about our right to freedom of speech?
What does the company say about itself? Under About Us on the STE Web site, Patrick Welsh, founder, the verbiage reads -”Pat has spent the last 10 years creating and developing this ShopToEarn platform that couples networking and e-commerce. By forming partnerships with the biggest names in retail while seeking out positive partnerships with the finest green companies, our mission of helping people become healthier and wealthier is being realized by many.
Our ability to interface and partner with companies that produce products that are good for us and good for the planet will define our uniqueness as our mission of creating a wave of health and wealth and making a difference is ultimately our contribution that future generations will be proud of.”
In my opinion, STE is merely a recruiting scheme hiding under the guise of teaming up with the larger retailers (aka affiliate marketing) and promoting a “Green” company which is good for the planet. Pat’s message fails to tell you that the monthly $100 purchase of the overly inflated (opinion-but see my next post on actual research which confirm my opinion) green products are mandatory to receive your commission or your points are wiped out. However, even though your points are wiped out, these points are still generated up-line. Who benefits the most? STE since they own the ShopToEarth products and of course, those at the top of the pyramid. The $100 monthly requirement is passed off as being in line with the company’s philosophy when in actuality it is keeping the company solvent at the expense of the members.
With all of this information and knowledge of the FTC rulings on similar companies, I cannot in good conscious recruit members (even strangers) to sign up when they can shop online for free and get cash back and money for referring friends who also don’t have to fork over $448 plus $100 per month in products. And I failed to mention that you may not get the best price for your purchase as well as previously mentioned by another post. The STE site does not have a search engine for the product offered at the lowest price like Amazon.com or NexTag.com. You could use these sites to first see which retailer is offering the lowest price then come to STE and see if the retailer is on the list. If it’s not on the list, you could purchase it from a retailer on STE and your cash back may equal the cost offered by the lowest retailer. So, have you saved anything by spending $448 to join STE? No. You make money by recruiting and the FTC has ruled this as illegal.
FTC Rulings on Similar Online Mall Companies and FTC Related Articles on Pyramids
How does the FTC weigh in on this type of business? Below are some recent FTC rulings on online malls and an FTC related consumer article on how to spot a pyramid.
1. FTC shut down two previous shopping internet malls with links to retailers. Key passages from the article are detailed below along with the link to the to the entire FTC article:
For Release: May 12, 2005
FTC Cracks down on Internet Mall Pyramid Promoters
Operators of online malls that disguised themselves as legitimate business opportunities have settled Federal Trade Commission charges that they were
Yes there is an annual renewal fee of $119.00 – I look at it like this if I am making money I will renew next year if not I will not. Same for the shopping every month if I am making money I will shop and get my money- if not, I will not shop! You don’t have to shop, if you made No money that month don’t shop!! Is it that hard for you to grasp?
So far, it’s obvious, all the negative comments are from people who have not looked into STE they just want to discourage others. For what reason I am not sure.
As far as proving my income to date, I would be happy to. I am not sure how you would like me to do this I don’t think I can send any information through here. Let me know where you want the proof sent to. But let me ask you this, if you personally get the proof are you going to come back here and let people know the truth? Or are you going to conveniently forget that part? I personally think that for whatever reason you and some others on this blog just want to discourage people from making money. Most people who knock MLM’s have joined others, and then sat around waiting for the money to come to them. Nothing in Life is that simple. Just think there are about 30,000 people in STE if no one was receiving there checks don’t you think it would be shut down by now? I believe that would be illegal.
Thankfully a lot of people can see through your negativity. Remember that this type of negative attitude about anything in life is not healthy for yourself or those around you. Every time I have been approached by any type of MLM that I was not interested in I have politely said I was not interested. And some of my friends have gone on to make lots of money, more power to them! No need to be rude or insulting. Let people make their own choices in life. If you are just out to “warn” people about MLM’s then do that, explain how you think they work and move on you have done your duty. But insinuating that people (especially those you don’t even know) are liars is not right.
By the way I have not tried to recruit anyone from this site. I am just a name on here like everyone else.
If you are looking into any business MLM or not do not get your advice from bitter bloggers. If you look up anything on the internet you will find negative information (not just in business, if you look up a minor health issue you are bound to think you are now dying of cancer). Evaluate the business, your personal situation, financial and otherwise. Then make then make a decision. God willing it will be the right one for you.
HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PRODUCTS THAT I FOUND ON ANOTHER BLOG:
As most of you know, ShopToEarn/Earth requires that you spend $100 per month from their “green” retailers in order to receive your commission. In addition to forcing you to buy these products, you are spending far more than if you purchased these same products from other online retailers. For some of the vitamins I researched, you are spending almost double the cost AFTER YOUR CASH BACK. Below is a brief comparison of the prices I found on a quick search. To ensure proof of my claims that I am comparing “apples to apples”, I have screen shots of all products and prices.
1. Alacer Emergen C MuliVitamins Kids Strawberry 36 packets
Vitacost.com Price = $7.37
ShopToEarth Price = $17.45 – $2.62 (cash back) =14.83 ($7.46 MORE)
Way to go STE. Not only do your investors have to wait 1 month for their cash back (minus $5.00 for direct deposit fee), they are spending $7.46 MORE. Where is that extra profit going????
2. Alacer Emergen-C 1000 mg Vitamin C Tropical 36 packets
Amazon.com Price =$6.89
ShopToEarth Price = $14.95 – $2.24 (cash back) = $12.71 ($5.82 MORE)
These outrageous mark-ups are not limited to vitamins. Below are some other examples of STE’s overly inflated products they are forcing on their members.
3. Chocolite Protein Bars Cookies N Cream (16 bars)
Netrition.com Price = $16.99
ShopToEarth Price = $23.49-$3.52 (cash back) = $19.97 ($2.98 MORE)
4. Ark Naturals Sea Mobility Chicken Jerky Strips 3/ 9 ounce strips
Vitacost.com Price = 3 X $7.87 each = $23.61
ShopToEarth Price = $37.47 – $5.62 (cash back) = $31.85 ($8.24 MORE)
I found these in less than 20 minutes of comparison shopping. I have a good hunch that this price inflation is rampant through the green store which makes the founders and those at the top very green. WAKE UP STE investors!!!
AND HERE IS SOME MORE:
For the misguided who think they are making money by shopping hence the name, Shop To Earn, here are some more of the outrageous mark-ups in the Shop To Earth site[/u] which you are forced to spend $100 per month to receive commission. You are NOT making money on sales, you are making money by suckering others into signing up which is a classic pyramid. It is only a matter of time before the FTC catches on. Frankly I don’t want my name associated with such a fraudulent business but others seem to have no scruples and have no problem taking $448 from friends, family and loved ones. I have not found one product on the Shop To Earth site which is equal to or less than the price offered by other online retailers. And, of course these other retailers are making a profit off of their products which means Shop To Earth is gauging its own members!!!![u]
Myvitanet.com Aloha Bay Mistletoe Bouquet Candle 21. oz $12.35
ShopToEarth Aloha bAy Mistletoe Bouquet Candle 21. oz $21.99 – $3.30 cash back = $18.69
$6.34 (MORE)
Myvitanet.com Aloha Bay Ocean Mist Candle 21. oz
$12.35
ShopToEarth Aloha Bay Ocean Mist Candle 21. oz
$21.99 – $3.30 cash back = $18.69
$6.34 (MORE)
Vitapal.com George’s Aloe Vera Shampoo 8 oz.
$3.75
ShopToEarth George’s Aloe Vera Shampoo 8 oz.
$5.95 – $.89 cash back = $5.06
$1.31 (MORE)
Vitapal.com George’s Aloe Vera Conditioner 8 oz.
$4.49
ShopToEarth George’s Aloe Vera Conditioner 8 oz.
$6.89 – $1.03 cash back = $5.86
$1.37 (MORE)
Vitaminthrift.com Genisoy Ultra-XT Soy Protein Shake Chocolate 22 oz. $12.91
ShopToEarth Genisoy Ultra-XT Soy Protein Shake Chocolate 22 oz. $20.19 – $3.03 cash back = $17.16
$4.25 (MORE)
Imedmart.com Genisoy Protein Bars Chocolate Chip 12-1.58 oz bars $12.92
ShopToEarth Genisoy Protein Bars Chocolate Chip 12-1.58 oz bars $19.99 – $3.00 cash back = $17.99
$5.07 (MORE)
Terri – You have done an excellent job of learning and reciting the scripts you have been given. You should know that I have no vested interest in MLM one way or another: I simply warn consumers about them out of the goodness of my heart and because I don’t want to see them continue to lose billions of dollars each year to these schemes.
You can send your proof to tracy@sequence-inc.com.
Hi Terri,
I’m actually trying to do something positive here, not negative. I too am in the network marketing / direct sales business and have been for nearly 20 years now and have been with the same company for over 10 years. I make a six figure income, this is all my wife and I do. I’m a true believer in this industry because I have had the opportunity to see it change countless lives. What concerns me about STE is the business model, specifically that the money comes from recruiting and not from consumers shopping, which is considered to be an illegal pyramid scheme by FTC regulations. Now, I know that you and many other people are probably capitalizing on this; I don’t doubt that money is being made. My concern for the people doing STE is that when people start making money, inevitably their lifestyle changes and they begin to count on that money coming in. So what happens to all of these people making money, counting on that money to live and then the FTC comes in and shuts them down????? Stability is what is important, not to mention your integrity. That is why I’m writing on this blog. I love this industry and believe it will change the future economy, but I also believe that there are good companies, with good compensation plans that will be around for a long time and there are companies that are sub par, with poorly designed compensation plans that will be short lived. I speak from experience.
Robinator – How will MLM “change the future economy”? It’s been around for nearly 50 years, and it’s still the exact same recruiting scam. Little actual retailing goes on. It’s all about recruiting and recruits making minimum purchases of products they can’t sell and have little hope of using up themselves.
MLM adds nothing to our economy. All it does is take. If consumers quit putting billions of dollars each year into these losers of “opportunities”, they’d have billions of dollars to pay down their debts, feed their families, and truly better their lives.
MLM is a cancer. I have appreciated your comments, even though your MLM is no different than any of these other schemes. But you make a living off selling false hope to others… in an industry in which over 99% of people fail to turn a profit.
This whole thing sounds like those so called psychics that to this day there is a 1 million dollar award if they can prove their skills (there are actually several now world wide). Not one had been able to prove themselves as a legitimate psychic. And most don’t take the challenge because of the obvious embarrassment it would bring them.
So….Why doesn’t everyone of the people supporting or praising STE put up or shut up!!!!!
Words mean SQUAT!!! I could tell you to invest in a terd producing machine that was guaranteed to bring you all millions if you only recruit your family and friends. would you just believe me just because i told you how much i am making. Gullible… ignorant fools!
Stop writing good things about STE if you cannot take Tracy’s challenge. PUT UP OR SHUT UP. It is that simple.
Why don’t you all just start a chain email asking everyone to send you a dollar and everyone in your family and their friends to send you a dollar. That compounding would surly make you rich and then your family and friends would say…Huh? wow we just git suckered and he/she is rich.
You are all financial retards!
But tracy is just trying to help a few lost souls
Honestly Tracy,
I’m here to talk about STE and thats what I have been doing. I really don’t want to get on a whole other subject. Hope you understand.
Oh, I don’t want to argue w/ you Robinator. I mean, you’ve obviously made some valid points. I just wanted to throw out my opinion that MLMs are all essentially the same.
You’re too funny Terri. I can’t wait to see your proof of income posted here. It seems very funny (EVASIVE) that you conveniently forget about an annual fee and monthly fees. Do you honestly think STE doesn’t cover this: “What if a member chooses not to pay?” scenario.
In reference to backgounds, I guess it depends on what you think a negative background is?????
The absolute funniest is the fact that you said, “I looked at one and studied the business model, and I did not see income potential that STE offers.” That’s because these other companies are legitimate and aren’t pyramids. A duck is a duck Terri, WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!
You also point out the fact that people don’t know enough about STE but nearly everything you quote is straight from this companies website. Why not look into Tracy’s background? You’re probably to busy paying double for vitamins and cleaning products, than just buying them at a better price other places.
Actually the $20 purchase through the friend’s website did show up and their now eligible for a whopping $ 0.60 back. Now they only have to buy at least $100 worth of overpriced products to get $0.60. This friend has tried to recruit numerous people, been to numerous meetings, and bought CRAP that they don’t need. So to say, “The people who don’t make money aren’t working hard enough.” is BS. People are becoming increasingly aware that this is a BS scam.
skeptical,
I don’t understand and I am not sure why I am responding to you. I said I would show proof of what I have made just let me know in what form you all want it. So I don’t know where you are coming form with this “…take Tracy’s challenge. PUT UP OR SHUT UP”.
Robinator,
I am very glad that you and wife are making a wonderful income with your “network marketing / direct sales business”. I don’t know what business it is but if it works for your family then, Good for you!! My family also earns a six figure income, not through STE, if you read my previous post I just began STE a few weeks ago. We are not running out closing up current businesses for STE. And I would not advise that anyone do that either. And if you know people that are that radical then nothing you say here or anywhere else will help them. As far as peoples lifestyle changing based on their income I agree. That happens for everyone no matter what kind of work you do. In this society the more you make the more you spend. As far as this blog changing that I can’t see that happening. I know plenty of people working for many years in high paying jobs living the good life and then they go into work one day to find they have no job. From my experience with those close to me there is NO such thing as “Stability” in our countries current economic situation. I suggest that we all work hard at whatever it is we are good at, make money, and SAVE money that is our only “Stability”. Govern your lives accordingly and live within your means!
Tracy,
Simply warning people is one thing but I think you have gone a step or two further than that. Whether or not it is out of the “goodness of my heart” I would not know because I don’t know you and I don’t presume to know your “heart”. I also don’t believe that this blog will rid the world of people losing billions on scams or otherwise.
STE is not a scam. I don’t know what proof you are looking for but I will send you my STE info as well as bank information today if it is not what you are looking for let me know and I will do my best to provide you the info you need. I will have to trust in your “hearts goodness” that you will not then be blasting my personal information all over the Internet.
Terri – I’ll agree to post none of your information, other than to confirm the dollar amount of earnings you’ve gotten from STE. I won’t include your full name, and will definitely not give out any other information about you or your bank, etc.
I have read many of the blogs on this sight and now I feel that it is time for me to step in and give a bit of feedback myself.
Tracy you responded to someone on this page that basically all MLM’s are the same, they are scams / pyramid schemes etc….. Although I will admit that there are and always will be people out there that want to take your money and yes there are pyramid schemes and scams. But to categorize all “MLM’s” all “Network Marketing Companies” as being the same, is like saying all franchises are the same, all homes are the same, all food is the same, all people are the same! Wouldn’t that be VERY stereotypical? Yes franchises have similarities in the way they do business, many homes are built from wood or brick, but that does not make them the same, RIGHT? Stereotyping all MLM, direct sales and network marketing companies would not be very intelligent, because many companies YES maybe similar, but have VAST differences. I am not in STE, but I’m in the same industry and have been for quite sometime now. I’m 40 years old, not college educated and yet I earn more than 4 to 5 times as much as many of the people I know that work fulltime jobs and went to college! Not 1 of my friends or family members are in my business, I never asked them to become a part of it, but they all know what I do, if they become interested, I will talk to them about it.
I network through business owners, doctors, lawyers, CPA’s, teachers, CEO’s etc…… I help them with their business and they help me with mine. I have helped change the lives of hundreds of people. My company has been in business for nearly 20 years and has grown every quarter since its inception. We have over 3.5 million customers that buy product, we have done over 3 billion dollars in retail sales “so we are selling product” we do not get paid cash for recruits. This industry does over 109 billion dollars a year globally and has created almost as many millionaires as real-estate! Here are some quotes about direct sales and network marketing from people I guess you would consider liars or not trustworthy:
“An investors dream….An industry with steady annual growth, healthy cash flows, and long-term prospects for global expansion.” – Fortune Magazine
“Direct selling gives people the opportunity, with very low risk and very low financial commitment, to build their own income-generating asset and acquire great wealth.” – Robert Kiyosaki, New York Times best selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad
“It’s the best investment I have ever made” – Warren Buffett, Billionaire Investor
“In the 2006-2016” decade, there will be 10 million new millionaires in the U.S. alone…..Many if not most of those new millionaires will be from the emerging powerhouse industry of direct selling.” – Paul Zane Pilzer, Economist
The list goes on and on! I was a traditional business owner about 12 years ago, I owned a Café, I worked my tail off seven days a week 12 to 15 hours a day and went into bankruptcy because of it. One of my best friends since childhood opened a well know franchise and went out of business within 3 years, another one of my friends bought a convenient store / gas station and went out of business in a little over a year. All small to medium size businesses fail within the first 5 years of business! 95 % of Americans at age 65 are either still working, flat broke or dead. So Tracy, since you are trying to save everyone in the world from all of these scams, why not write about them all? We should be telling everyone who has a job that 95% of the U.S. population fails after working their whole lives, so all jobs are scams RIGHT? I mean with a 95% fail rate it would be accurate to say that is fair, RIGHT? I should be writing blogs on how Café’s, Franchises and Gas stations are all scams because my friends and I failed at all of them, RIGHT? Because we all know that all café’s, gas stations and franchises are the same, RIGHT? The stats for MLM / Direct Sales / Network Marketing has about an 80 to 85% fail rate, does that not sound better than a 95% fail rate? Best of all in Network Marketing, if I don’t make it, does it take me my whole life to figure that out? No, it would take months and instead of investing $120,000.00 like I did with my traditional business, that failed, it cost me $600.00!!!! Now I’m better off than I have ever been in my life and it has allowed me to take care of both of my parents who found out the hard way that what they were doing their whole life didn’t work.
So please, if you are going to make comments about STE that’s fine, I personally don’t care for their business structure myself. But don’t categorize a whole industry on one company, otherwise your intelligence level, at least to me, goes out the window. There are 2 different types of people that make the statements that you are making:
1. Someone who has never done what they are writing about, yet claim to know more than the people who are doing what you’re writing about.
2. Someone who has failed at what they are writing about and need to let the world know why it does not work, because the people who have succeed where the other person has failed makes them feel inadequate.
I am a person who has succeeded, so I teach people what I have done to succeed and I can write about it because I have done it. So if someone wishes to shut off all possibilities and not do this type of business, well, they may listen to you, but if someone wants to succeed they can listen to me. I look back when I first started and I remember all the people that talked just like you do and I can only think “thank God I didn’t listen to them” I cant imagine what my life would be like right now! I’m not in any way trying to insult you, really I’m not, just think before you write something and if you want to become a true expert go out and try doing what your talking about, YOU MAY BE SURPRISED!
Alvy – Every cancer is different, but I think it would be fair to say that all cancer is bad. In a similar vein, I find it fair to say that all MLM is bad. I have yet to find one that isn’t an endless chain recruiting scheme. These schemes do not create real value, they are simply a transfer of wealth from the downline to the upline, mainly through minimum purchase requirements or purchases made to “qualify” for the next level of the scheme.
Thanks for your concern about what I actually know about MLM, but I am quite confident that I know lots and lots about it.
You should also know this:
Robert Kiyosaki is a total clown and would say anything if it would sell more books to MLMers.
Warren Buffet was not talking about being an MLM distributor. He was talking about owning stock in an MLM. The owners of MLMs get rich because it is such an ingenious business model for them (but not, of course, for the distributors.)
Terri
If you don’t understand why your responding to me then i guess the only thin i can say is…why are you responding to me?
See it’s this kind of response or oxymoron that makes me think…”gee i sure want to be doing what they are doing”. Where did i go wrong in life.
If you don’t understand why you are writing something maybe leave that part out if you are going to write it.
just a suggestion.