More on why ShopToEarn sucks (and so do MyPowerMall and TeamNational)
Online shopping multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) aren’t new. My Power Mall (MPM) has been around for a while, Team National has been in the mix too, and now Shop to Earn has popped up and is being aggressively marketed by its members.
My bottom line on all of these companies: Don’t waste your time or money. You can find better deals on your purchases outside their systems. And the systems are really nothing more than typical MLM recruiting schemes. Shopping is not the objective, recruiting is. Let me explain these programs to you…
The guy who started the ShopToEarn, Patrick Welsh, supposedly spent 10 years planning it. Any business professional worth their salt knows there’s something desperately wrong with spending ten years setting up a company, but who are we to judge? Here’s what the site says:
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.
The concept of this program seems simple enough: Get money back on items you’re already going to shop for. Except there are already programs out there that offer this, and there’s no fee to sign up. For example, a site called Jellyfish rebates part of every purchase you make through the site. No fees. No catches. No recruiting.
What does it cost you to become a part of ShopToEarn? To become a “website owner” it’s $349, or to become just a “business builder” it’s $99. To become a “broker” which is a website owner and business builder, it’s $448. There is also an annual renewal fee that is charged, which is $69 for a website owner or business builder, or $119 for a broker.
How does ShopToEarn work? Basically the site is a huge collection of affiliate links owned by Shop to Earn. When you want to buy something, you click on an icon, which takes you to the particular retailer’s site. Shop to Earn is paid a commission each time you shop using those links to the retailers, and you are given part of that money.
You can see that all the icons are affiliate links just by holding your mouse over them and looking at the URL you’re going to be clicking on:
- click.linksynergy.com.*****
- www.jdoqocy.com/********
- tkqlhce.com/******
Most of these affiliate links offer payments in the range of 1% to 10% of purchases, with the most typical payments being 2% to 4%. The company says you can make up to 30% back, but those payouts don’t occur often. Sometimes bonuses or volume incentives are offered by the retailers.
But under the best case scenario, the “owner” of a ShoptoEarn store could get a little more than half of that affiliate money. And that’s only if you max out every possible commission and bonus, and meet the rules of the complicated commission pay plan. I bet your actual payout will be much less if you’re like about 90% of the people involved.
Who will make money from ShopToEarn? How many people do you suppose will even make their initial investment back from shopping? Even if you were to make 5% back on your purchases, you’d have to purchase $9,000 of merchandise to even earn back your initial investment of $450. And I’m not even convinced that most people are even making an average of 5%.
Those figures demonstrate that without recruiting new people into the company, the average consumer is probably unlikely to make their initial investment back.
Could you do this without Shop To Earn? Absolutely. You could earn affiliate money with almost all of the retailers featured on their site, and you would keep all the money. You could do this on your own, and for only the cost of web hosting.
These affiliate links aren’t hard to get. All you need is a website. You sign up with LinkShare or CommissionJunction or Performics (now ConnectCommerce via Google), and voila… you have access to the exact same retailers. I have accounts with all these companies, and therefore have access to the exact same retailers that ShoptoEarn does. Except I get to keep all the money. (Hmmmmm… wanna sign up with me? I’ll only charge you $350… Just kidding!)
Is it about shopping or recruiting? The truth with this company, like all other MLMs out there, is that the purpose is not really to get you to shop online. It’s not about the product or service they pretend to sell.
The purpose (in my opinion) is to continuously recruit new marks into the scheme. They’re each paying about $450 to sign up for the opportunity to receive money back when they shop online. And you’re going to get a piece of that when you sponsor people into the scheme.
The actual money to be made from shopping is very little. The affiliate payments aren’t huge, so it only stands to reason that the portion of the affiliate money paid to members is even smaller. Unless you recruit a bunch of people in, you will probably never make much.
The die hard MLM fans will say, “Of course you have to work hard and recruit. It’s a business. Go out there and sell it!”
Except who wants to sell a recruiting scheme, disguised as an online shopping mall? Do you want to lie to your potential recruits each time you tell them it’s all about shopping from their own store? It’s not about shopping, in my opinion. It’s about recruiting. Every MLM is not about the product or service. It’s really about recruiting new marks to the scheme.
Is it a pyramid scheme? People pay a fee to become a member of the scheme, hoping that they can recoup their money by recruiting more members who also pay fees to join the scheme. When you recruit a downline, the structure sure looks like a pyramid to me.
This recruiting goes on continuously, and the bottom of the pyramid is ever-expanding. The people at the bottom can only hope that they can find enough new marks to recoup their original investment. Check out this graphic from the company itself, and see if you think it looks like a pyramid or not.
Now the company and its representatives will tell you that they’re not a pyramid scheme, and that pyramid schemes are illegal. Pyramid schemes are illegal. And MLM companies like Shop to Earn use the guise of a product or service to make it appear that they’re legitimate. After all, a pure pyramid scheme just exchanges money. If an MLM injects a product or service into the mix (no matter how undesirable or worthless that product), they have just legitimized their operation.
Is this a new idea? The idea of buying items “from yourself” and getting a piece of the action is not new. This has been one of the main principles in Amway (Quixtar) forever. Go to any indoctrinated Amway person’s house, and you’ll see all of their products being used in the kitchen and basement and bathrooms.
And they’ll tell you, “I’m going to use cleaning products anyway, so I might as well buy them from myself and make some money along the way.” Why add to the profits of Wal-Mart, when you can profit for yourself?
Except it’s really no bargain to shop from yourself if you don’t have a chance to find the absolute best price on the internet. If you’re limited to a finite number of retailers, you’re probably paying more for your items than you really need to. So where’s the profit if you’re overpaying or not getting the specific brands or items you’d prefer?
Isn’t this an inexpensive way to be able to start my own business? Ummmm, no. You don’t really own a business when you sign up with ShoptoEarn. Heck, you don’t own anything with them, other than your login and password. You can build a downline, but you don’t own them either. The company really owns them, and you operate as long as they allow you to. When the company goes away, so does your “business.”
Don’t I earn commissions from purchases by my downline? Yes, you can get commissions and bonuses, but as with any MLM, there are lots of catches and confusing details to the pay plan. As with all MLMs, you must “qualify” to get commissions. You don’t just get them automatically when someone you recruited buys something. You initially need 3 recruits to purchase the website owner option and generate $100 of “monthly volume” to even qualify to get a commission.
Then there are the complicated bonuses that you could get depending on your number of recruits and and their purchases. Check out these two illustrations of the commission structure here and here.
But I know someone who made $10,000 last month with STE!!! Yes, claims of huge earnings with MLM companies are normal. That’s how they entice you into the scheme. Sometimes these earnings are real. But the people getting the big checks are far less than 1% of all the people involved in the scheme, and that check has been generated based upon massive recruiting of new marks.
Your chances of making that much money are slim to none. And the claims that all you have to do is work hard and you’ll make that much money too? Hogwash.
There are millions of Americans who have invested significant time and money into MLM ventures and have lost money because of them. Your odds of success in an MLM are extremely low, and unlike real businesses, your hard work isn’t a good predictor of how much money you’ll make.
MLM recruiters tell you those people failed because they were lazy, didn’t want to work hard, didn’t really want to make any money, or just wanted a get-rich-quick scheme. Those are nice phrases to explain away the high failure rates in multi-level marketing schemes, but they’re just not true. The truth is that the structure of MLMs ensures that the vast majority of people will fail to turn a profit.
What other problems are inherent with ShopToEarn? The prices of the products through these online shopping malls are said to be higher than with other retailers. I don’t know how true this is, but I do know that you’re limited in what retailers you can buy from. It’s not like ShoptoEarn is a free-for-all and you get money no matter where you shop.
There are only certain stores (a lot of them, yes) but not every major store. And remember that the retailers themselves have to make money and might be pricing items a bit higher to cover this affiliate commission that they pay.
Another problem I see is that membership in a program might encourage people to buy things they otherwise wouldn’t. Oh, I know it’s all about self-control and stuff. I’m just saying that you might be tempted to spend more than you otherwise would because it seems like a good deal.
And as always, shipping charges can be a problem when shopping online. It’s important to factor that into the purchase. There are plenty of times when the shipping charges more than cancel out your commission on the purchase, so it’s not worth it.
What about the other companies that offer these shopping programs? MyPowerMall initially looks like a better option than ShoptoEarn because there is no sign-up fee. However, there is a catch, of course. You must buy at least one thing a month to keep your store with MyPowerMall.They cleverly call this program “One Thing.” If you don’t make a purchase during a month, you lose your store. (Well, the owner of the company gets your store and anyone who thought they were shopping with you is now shopping with her!)
Team National uses a similar concept as Shop To Earn and My Power Mall, but it is much more expensive to sign up. Depending on who you believe, the TN membership costs between $795 and $2,195. They call what you’re “buying” a “benefits package.” Apparently jewelry and insurance are some of the more prominent offerings of TeamNational, but there are other things available as well.
It’s going to take a lot of recruiting and buying to earn your money back with Team National. And as with the other shopping sites, consumers often find that they can get better deals elsewhere on their purchases, so they’d actually be losing money if they bought via TeamNational.
What’s the bottom line? In my opinion, ShopToEarn, MyPowerMall, and TeamNational are a waste of time and money. You’re not really building a business with them, you’re just participating in a grand scheme to recruit as many new victims as possible. The amount of money you’ll save by shopping through these sites is questionable at best, and in many cases, I think you’ll actually lose money. Avoid these companies like the plague.
Note to promoters of these schemes: You will not be allowed to offer your services here. Don’t link to your site or ask for people to contact you. If you do, your comment will be deleted. This site is not a place for you to advertise your scam.
14 days and you can get out and get your money back? If that’s the case, after the last few days I’ve spent researching, I think it’s time to get out. Thanks Beth.
Hey all,
I have been solicited about 9 schemes just like this. I have a BBA and am working on my MBA and PhD in Business and Commerce and let me tell you, this is NOT good for economics.
Commerce/Trade lesson 101:
Lets all say that we all lived on a dessert island. I am a fisherman, and you are a carpenter. I need you for survival, you need me for survival. We trade. I supply your food, as long as you can supply and maintain my home. This is called trade. Throughout the evolution of time, we traded Chickens for Wheat, Horses for property, etc. Then when the coin came along, we used that to replace the barter system.
We dont go to best buy and say, “HEY, Ill trade you my bed, and my two dogs for that plasma TV”…We have notes (money) that replace the ‘thing’ we were to trade, for the item we want’s equal value. So in other words, we give 899.99, and best buy gives us the TV- thats called trade.
These MLM’s are bad for business because there’s no “tangible item” being sold for the money you give, or for the money you get. It is in comissions for recruiting. I truly feel, after careful analysis that this is a way of stealing from people, buy selling them, not an item – but a dream. You sell them hopes that they will be able to get rich, and that all of their current financial issues will go away. If money were the answer to everything, why do so many lottery winners commit suicide? Hmm….
Anyways, There is no trade in MLM, just recruitment, and psychological pressure. I went to one a few months ago called “ONE VISION” that does similar to what this MLM does. It is based in London, and i pushes hard here in the US. Now lets think of this for a sec.
Lets make two ficticious countries ok? MLM-Land, and Victim-land.
In true commerce, mlmland would send products to victimland and they would trade. So what ever the output of one country is, is the same for the other country. Now, assume mlmland asks for victimlands’ money, without giving them a tangible product or service in return for the same amount given…victimland would eventually be depleted of its funds, and mlmland’s money would eventually be worth MORE than victimland’s, given that there is only an X amount of notes circulating one country.
I think this is bad for the economy, commerce, trade, and business all together. I DO think that you can make a lot of money, no doubt about that, but in order to be sucessful in this, you need to have a line of victims who hope to reach where you are.
Just to ley you all know, I am reporting this to the SEC, and I invite all of you to do the same. If they can get SEC’s approval, I will at least have respect for these “companies” who are alleging legit business.
http://www.sec.gov/answers/pyramid.htm
http://www.sec.gov/
It Took patrick 10 years because when he had the idea, software and technology wasnt advanced enough to do it. Now technology and software has caught up to his idea “Shoptoearn” and “Shoptoearth.”
No, EJ, the software and hardware capabilities have been available for several years now. I personally think they say 10 years because they thought that would sound impressive. (I think it sounds just the opposite.)
Just waiting to hear from “hhhmmmm” because he/she said they would report back in a month. Let’s see if we hear back????????
I came to this site wondering what an acquaintance had gotten himself into by joining that shopping company – what was it called – ah, after a bit of Google search, I recognized it – Shop to Earn (though the first Shop to Earn I found was a Turkish MLM or pyramid scheme – not sure which). My acquaintance said this was what he had come to America for – make lots of money, no need to spend years earning a college degree.
Thank you all for a most informative discussion!
I have two comments about this ongoing Sho-To-Earn discussion, and one complaint.
First of all, there are no exclusive portal shopping arrangements with big box retailers or online sellers. For the past decade, anyone who has a web site has the ability to negotiate (quite easily) with these companies, who will gladly pay you a per click fee (sometimes as a precentage of the sale price) for the customers referred to them through your web site. It takes time, effort, and skill to set up a web site to perform these functions, and more time, effort and skill to market that web site to the public, so it’s not something that anyone can do.
The key, however, is the ability to drive business to your web site. Unless your web site has some unique attraction that brings viewers to the site, you are in competition with all the other, essentially identical web sites for that traffic.
Everyone who has engaged in this conversation has focused on the recruitment aspect of the business, without realizing that what Shop-to-Earn is really selling is a cookie-cutter web site that is supposedly designed to draw business from the internet to your portal and from your portal to the participating retailers. Without this element, the promotors of this site would be in violation of the statutes against pyramid trusts. (This doesn’t mean that the federal government isn’t above running its own Ponzi schemes; it’s running the largest one ever conceived: Social Security. But them’s that prints the money gets to calls the tunes, as it were.)
My second point is more arcane: shills can’t cash chips. If you want to know if a given individual is shilling for a disreputable firm, it requires serious investigative skills to determine if real dollars are really changing hands.
Whenver someone wants to wave a large check in front of me as proof of earnings, I want the following items presented as well: a certified deposit slip (with the bank’s franking indica) showing that the check was deposited. I also want to see both sides of the cancelled check to verify that tt has been transacted, the monthly statement showing the amount of the check credited to the account, and two following statements to verify that the deposit hasn’t been reversed by the bank, or withdrawn in its entirety by the account owner. Even with all this documentation, it can still be a scam. All of these materials can be, and often are, forged. Today, with Photoshop, it is possible to create an absolutely perfect forgery of any conceivable document. It happens every day in the real estate business.
As a matter of fact, the documents can be absolutely legitimate, but still be fraudulent. Here’s how it works: It is a common practice among con men to move real money between several different accounts….all belong to them or to a confederate….to create the appearance of earnings. A check is cut from a legitimate business account, which they own, to their personal account , deposited in their personal account, allowed to rest there for two or three months, and then returned to the business account by return check.
Done this way, the con man has tranferred money from his right pocket to his left, created the impression of earnings being made, without the money ever really changing hands. When done with a third party, a shill hired to impress the marks with the legitimacy of the business, the shill cannot draw the funds (without being killed, which happens) but has to return the funds to the head of the scam.
I am not saying that no one is making big dollars doing this. I am quite suire that several hundred people will make serious money on Shop-to-Earn, but these people were probably already pre-selected by the head of the company and are, for the most part, people who have participated in previous scams of a similar nature.
What I am saying is that everybody lies, and that there’s really no way to verify the earnings that these people claim to be making, even with all the documentation in front of you, so when someone is anxious to show you their dividend checks, you can be sure of one thing: there’s something fishy going on. Since anyone with any sense KNOWS that these documents are worthless, the mere act of showing them to the potential customer is indicative of a nefarious purpose.
Beyond this, as Tracy well knows, the velocity and trajectories of these MLM projects are so fast and so widespread that, by the time you hear about them, it’s too late to get in on the ground floor. The law of exponential growth requires that, with a two to one dispersion factor, using a standard square roots exponential factor, starting with 1 person at the top, you will have 714,029 people in the system by the end of the fifth week, and 509 BILLION the following week. I know that sounds absolutely insane, but it is a simple arithmetic fact. In the second week, each of the two recruits recruits two, which means that you have five recruits. In the following week, each of the five recruits goes out and recruits FOUR (no one stops at two) you end up with 20 recurits plus the original three…and so on and so forth. The reason that no MLM scheme every fully populates its matrix is because of the huge amount of fall-off, people who enroll but never enroll others behind them. We can extrapolate from the success figures issued by the company, based on these projections, that less than one percent of the enrollees are making this business work for them.
Forget the higher math and use a simple straight line arithmetic progression and you find that, starting with one person at the top and doubling each week, you will need more than eight BILLION people to fully populate the enrollment matrix by the 34th week. You would also exceed the population of the United States by the 29th week.
I know from past experience that you can’t save fools from themselves, but I applaud Tracy for making the effort.
I can’t resist one final comment: I am greatly amused by those people who have taken Tracy to task for wasting so much time debunking this company, especially since they are wasting even more time confronting, contradicting and rebuking her. Whenever I see that kind of behavior, I wonder, who gains from it, and what are they gaining.
(What I get out of it is a connection with Tracy that might matriculate into cross-references between web sites. Everyone has motive.)
Alan
I joined today before actually looking at products available. Has anyone heard of a recind policy where I can get out soon? please let me know asap as I am a single mom with two small children, and $440 is a lot of money to us. I thought I could get anything online and receive a percent back. Please let me know.
jecooney@bellsouth.net.
Received another notification today that people in shoptoearn caannot use the shoptoearn, shop to earn, or STE logo. Even online. The powers-that-be are not thinking. At least if we as participants could use the web to promote shoptoearn. Without that ability, the only info that will be found online is all the negative stuff about shoptoearn from those who do not work with it.. Since 85% of people will investigate online before buying, this change will cost us business.
RAY MAROLDI you are a moron men.
STILL waiting to hear from “hhhmmmm” because he/she said they would report back in a month. Let’s see if we hear back????????
STILL WAITING!!!!!
STILL WAITING!!!!!
Maybe he/she is waiting for 60 days since he/she didn’t make their recruits in the first 30 days.
Has anyone received a check yet? Seriously, deposited into their account or by a check which was successfully cashed. I don’t want to hear that you are on track to earn X amount or that your check online says X amount. Also, why is there no address or company phone number listed? There is only an email address and when you send an email it is rerouted back to you with your same inquiry? The concept sounds like a great opportunity, but what keeps the owners from picking up and running with the millions they have earned from all the milliions of members doing all the work?
Okay, so i actually do know someone who ligitamentally received $5500.00 within 3 weeks. This company lets face it, is a pyramid. People have made money off of them weather it’s morally wrong or not. This is a fairley new “pyramid” considering it has doubled since July, from 15,000 to over 30,000, which is what I last heard. Lets say for the sake of argument that, I am someone who would be interested knowing all the bad things about it ie; pyramid scheme, start up cost etc. What’s the deal here. Is it to refer OR recruit OR both and when can I sit back and enjoy the profits without any more work? I am thinking that getting into a pyramid scheme early is the best time? I am interested to know that if I do my part, it it conceivable that I will get a payout? AND how much do I have to do? If I get my two recruits and have a couple of people use my website as referrals, is that enough? With the assumption that they get their two recruits and the mathmatical logic behind all of that. I would appreciate logical thoughts on this. I get everyone’s opinion about it, but I just want to play devils advocate here for a minute if we could. Thanks in advance.
Have friends going on about STE and how it is making them buckets of money,in fact I have been invited to a meeting on how to get set up and started.Apparently there is going to an address by a guest speaker who has made $100,000 in 4 months and is going to pass his knowledge on to us.
That is what is good about informed choices had I not Googled STE and happened upon this site I would have only the positives from this so called fantastic business opportunity.
If decide to attend the meeting I will now know the upside and the downside,If anyone is thinking of investing in a business they should know all the facts before they proceed & STE should be no different if it has nothing to hide.Knowledge is king!
Thank you for enlightening me .
“another potential recruit” you ask about getting into a pyramid “weather[sic] it’s morally wrong or not”.
My advice to you that if you get into a pyramid, there is a big risk that you will lose money.
On the other hand, if you get into the business of distributing either pornography or narcotics, there’s a huge profit potential available to you for a small investment.
Who cares if it’s morally wrong or not? Clearly that doesn’t concern you, so forget the penny ante MLM stuff and go for the real money!
Why don’t you pull up a list of questions that people have posed as far as negatives and bring them to the meeting. Be careful because it’s like a cult and for every ALLEGED $100,000 gainer, there are 90 losers. They’re salesman and sales women and their job is to sell you. Their not going to bring up the negatives. If you truly do ask these questions you will be considered negative.
Ask them about websites that do the same thing as far as paying back refunds on purchases for FREE (FatWallet, UPROMISE, Live Search Cash Back). The money you make from friend’s purchases will be very MINISCULE. That’s not where you make big bucks on this deal. It’s on recruiting.
Ask them, “If a recruit (broker) I sign up buys something for $15.00 on an 8% cash back site what would my commission be? How about if that recruit gets a broker who buys something, with the same scenario, how much would I get back? If it’s truly about shopping. I hope your not that naive that you believe you’ll be getting anything but PENNIES back on those recruits purchases.
Ask them about the $100 minimum monthly purchases from Shop to Earth. How long are you obligated to that minimum? How soon does your minimum monthly requirement begin? What happens if you don’t make that minimum monthly payment?
Ask them for a DETAILED copy of the payouts that you should earn
Ask them for a number to a corporate office and why none of that is on the website
Ask them why you can’t use the web to promote STE. I mean it is YOUR BUSINESS
Ask them what the percentages of people that don’t regain their money back as compared to making money and what type of timeframe. If they tell you that more make money than lose, they’re ABSOLUTELY LYING.
Good luck and please let me know how it goes. You do seem very logical at this point and are going in open minded. Be careful, it’s not just $450. It’s $100 minimum monthly also.
To “voice of reason” Okay then theoretically, every corporation in the United States are no better than a drug dealer?? It’s funny you say that, because JUST this morning I said to myself, well it’s not like I’m selling drugs or anything, so whats the harm? I guess it goes back to everyone matter of opinion, which is NOT what I’m looking for. I’m looking for information. If you don’t have it, keep your hostilities to yourself. It just takes up space. Good luck in your future endeavors.
There’s no way somebody received a $5,500 refund in less than three weeks. If they showed you an online check, I would love to see them bring the computer and cash that one. There’s no way anybody can be that gullible, can they? Before you sign up ask the questions that were posted for Loozegear. Unfortunately, I bet you’ll be considered negative too. If it’s about shopping then why not join plenty of the FREE websites that I’ve referred to on this blog several times.
Loozegear,
Also, ask them what the refund policy is, how do you get a refund if you don’t think this is for you, and how long do you have before your no longer elligible for a refund.
Again, please keep updated on your experience
Also, “voice of reason” Technically, I did NOT ask if it was morally wrong or not. I am well aware that you can lose money being involved in these sorts of companies. Which is why my question was (and still is) what is the best way to approach this mlm company? Is the timing right? It’s not a matter of IF I would do it but a matter of SHOULD I, based on timing and what’s needed to be successful. SOOO I welcome INFORMATION on this if possible. Thank you.
If you’re well aware that this company is a pyramid, which you already stated. You know that more people will lose money than make money, because that’s what happens in pyramids. You’re not asking whether it’s moral or not, so we can guess that your aware that it’s immoral.
Your asking whether you SHOULD do this based on timing. You’re perfect for this pyramid! What a joke!!!!!!!!! You’re typical of pyramid clientel. The only thing that would make you even a better mark is: Bad financial background looking to get out of it the easy way.
Why not just take $450, go to a casino put it on red or black and hope you win. Heck, you can double your money in about three minutes, better timing than STE and you’ll actually get your money back. Or you lose, just like what will happen to 90% who join this pyramid. If you don’t get in and don’t RECRUIT friends and family you will still have those friends and family.
WOW!!!!!!!!!! I think MOST will agree that you’re an unusual person and I’m not just talking about your responses. I’m sure your personality is consistent with your postings.
“another potential recruit” – Apparently you’ve bought into the lie that every company is a pyramid? Well that’s simply not true. At a corporate job, you don’t PAY TO BE ABLE TO WORK, no matter what your level. You are offered a job with guaranteed compensation, and you choose to take the job or not.
In a pyramid scheme or MLM, you must PAY TO BECOME A PART OF IT. After you pay, there is a slim chance (usually much less than 10% chance) that you will make more money than you spend on it.
Sadly well over 90% (usually around 99%) of people who get involved in MLMs or pyramid schemes lose money. That’s a whole lot different than corporate America, where every employee makes money… called a paycheck.
Ah, this is great. This debate will never end. Well, my buddy who signed up and almost got me into it (yes, my post on why I opted not to join at EverydayFinance kicked off this melee), has made the majority of his money from signups. Not much from residual. He’s been in for months now and he “got in early”. So, good luck signing up more suckers, guys!
you are a low life, you only print what adds to your silliness
***admin note***
The above was posted by Joe Occhiogrosso, President of All Pro Title in Morristown, NJ. Isn’t that who YOU want to do business with? A title company whose owner has nothing better to do than try to sell Shop To Earn as the answer to your problems, and harass blog owners like me? But what do I know. I’m a lowlife. Joe Occhiogrosso says so!
Joe,
WWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
I bet you are the type of boy that takes your ball and leaves the park in the middle of a game, just because your losing. It’s because of out of control members like you, and the wonderful attorney for STE, that causes a lot of damage to this scam. A lot of the negative publicity was started by the attorney attempting to threaten a blogger for posting his opinion.
Please enlighten us Joe of how much money you have made from SHOPPING ONLY. Then let us know how much you’ve made from RECRUITING?????
Joe O.,
I mean with proof. Not some fake check that you would have to bring your computer to the bank to get paid for. That must get expensive turning in every computer so that you can get your checks cashed. LOL!
I don’t think there’s any way to get out of shoptoearn. Or at least none i could find. I have searched the web and so far nothing came out. It’s really hard to come in contact with the people. If someone could help I’d honestly, greatly appreciate it.
Note: Didn’t read all…
A successful Entrepeneur/Investor takes the time to analyze a concept and continue to modify it until it becomes a busines that will deliver results. The fact that reputable names such as TARGET, DELL and HOMEDEPOT would affiliate themselves with a company like SHOP TO EARN means they have also done their share of analyzing and strategizing. People spend countless hours cutting coupons, and what happens if you are in the mall with friends and find a dollar on the floor? I am sure all of you would pounce on it! Everyone wants a sale, a savings or a bargain. And you get that with SHOP TO EARN. But many fail to see the big picture. While yes you get a kickback from your purchases, I am sure that is NOT why you buy into this business. If you were to buy a restaurant today, are you going to be the only one consuming from it? You will never get the business grwoth you are looking for! This business is a consume and refer business. Have you friends and family buy from you rather than the retailers. But where you make $ is in educating others to consume from their own businesses. This concept and business does work! Have an open mind and really do your homework before publicly slamming a comany that someone like Patrick Welsh has been working on for 10 years to make sure that it not only works for him but delivers the same results to all independent business owners that buy into shop to earn. ….Good Luck to those who change their outlook on going into business for themselves!!!!!!!!1
Nina said: “The fact that reputable names such as TARGET, DELL and HOMEDEPOT would affiliate themselves with a company like SHOP TO EARN means they have also done their share of analyzing and strategizing.”
You apparently haven’t read the rest of the comments here about this topic. The affiliates like Target and Home Depot DO NOT endorse or investigate the people/companies they have promoting their links. All you need is a website and you sign up and you’re approved to be an affiliate. Unless your site has objectionable content, you can carry on being an affiliate no matter who you are. So the participation of these companies DOES NOT give STE any credibility.
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!!!!!!!
NINA, THERE ARE FREE WEBSITES THAT DO THE SAME THING AS ste, (Live Search Cashback, Fatwallet, Upromise). WITHOUT RECRUITING LET’S SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES ANYONE TO MAKE UP THE $450 ALONE. NOT COUNTING THE $100 MINIMUM PURCHASE PER MONTH ON ITEMS YOU CAN GET MUCH CHEAPER ANYWHERE.
I have heard about this twice now. Two friends of mine have signed up so far and I recognized it almost immediately though of course I did my research first.
It’s sad, they both think its the opportunity they always hoped for. I don’t want to crush their hopes, but I feel like I need to tell them just what they will be doing in the long run both to their friends and thousands of unknown people. Whether or not their conscience is as strong as mine I do not know. They do stand to make some money I am sure if they push the product (I use the word “product” very loosely), but they don’t know the cost at which they are attaining this money. Shit like this is a large percentage of what is wrong with the country, and it is only making the countless problems we have here that much worse.
Its a shame that corporations such as these have not been made illegal yet.
I realize they are all entirely within their legal rights to create companies such as this though I feel if people knew the full business model, not only would they opt out in terms of conscience but they would also
What can I as the average person do to help expose mlm’s such as this?
Not just shoptoearn but the countless others out there.
I signed on as a broker for Shop to Earn. Then I realized the only way I could have made money was to recruit 2 or more brokers underneath me Then there was the $100.00 a month Green Products purchase. That just didn’t sit right with me. I was able to opt out by mailing a letter to Shop to Earn, 3441 South Eastern Ave, Las Vegas NV 89109. I sent it certified mail; I didn’t receive a response right away until I email the company through their support email and an email to their lawyer. As soon as the lawyer, Gerry Nehra, received my email his office forwarded it to Mr. Walsh and then my funds were refunded back to my Credit Card. You have to make sure you are within the 14 day opt out period. Yes the address is hard, but it’s there.
I did like the idea about shopping and getting a % back. But I know I would never have been able to shop that much to cover the $100.00 a month Green purchases. So I created a website for myself that has the same companies as Shop to Earn. So far I have a large collection of Merchants, and all I did was go to the affiliate websites to get approval to use their links. http://www.allthebestshopping.com and it only cost me $10.00 to register. Anyone can do it.
first, an MLM is considered an illegal pyramid scheme when they have less then 50% pure customers who aren’t benefiting or earning from the program. With STE, all the ‘brokers’ purchase through their own sites to get cash back, which means, they aren’t actual customers (this is because being your own customer is a conflict of interest).
You can be sure STE will end up facing legal trouble over it and will be shut down like thousands of other crap schemes of it’s kind have, it’s just a matter of time until they get to STE.
second, they dont even have legit contact information. what mron signs up for something, hands voer bank account info and money, with no contact information to the company itself? jsut a little too trusting there aint ya? doesn’t the fact that there is little or no contact info make something click in your head?
All you’re doing with STE is pestering people you know to join up and buy in, so the company makes money from you and them. Who’s going to go to your site to shop at all the stores they provide? people will go to each of those stores websites themsvels and make purchases, without you knowing where they shop and how much they spend.
If these schemes were so good, everyone would be doing it and we’d have no poor people in this country, which is not the case. You’ll make some money at first if you get more morons to sign up, then it stops because you run out of morons, and they run out of morons, pretty soon, there’s no morons left, and no more income, then what your paying in yearly and needing to spend each month so you dont get kicked out of the program is way more than you get back…
Do you really think spending two grand to get back $100 is a good deal? I get a higher percentage back from 2 of my credit cards I use all the time, and I don’t have to buy into anything to get it back either.
It’s morons like the people who fall for these schemes that got Bush elected twice and screwed this country royaly. I call them Jerry Springer rejects.
It doesn’t shock me that me that there are so many uninformned, uneducated individuals on this site and many others like it! We are a nation of extremely naive people that live in debt (credit card, mortgage debt, student loan debt)that they can’t afford to pay off… yet most American still continue to spend money!!
It is unfortunate that someone would invest their time in miseducating people about a program that they could not possibly have any knowledge of unless they were involved in it or knows of people that were involved. It sounds to me that you have done a poor job of using the many available resources on the internet or simply going to a presentation, or calling one of the business owners, to do any kind of legitimate research, and you have just made assumptions based on you limited experience with other mlm programs.
I was introduced to this program by 2 seperate individuals and I see it for exactly what it is…network marketing..no more, no less! If you have ever had any experience with any network marketing opportunity, you know that you make the most money based on the amount of people you recruit, and their recruits, and so on and so forth…and with this particualar opportunity you also happen to make money from shopping online from retailers you likely shop at anyway..so my question is what’s wrong with that?? Just curious?
So, you recruit people…so what?? What’s the crime in that? It’s not a secret that recruiting people is a requirement..so what? If you make money and they make money and everyone you recruit makes money…who cares what anyone has to say? We continue to get paid, while others continue to discount the opportunity..but, the thing is it’s your lost because we continue to get checks every month while your wasting your time blogging about an opportunity that we “know” firsthand that we get money from. My friend just joined less than a month ago and has already made $6,000. I just joined last week and already have made my initial investment back!!
Is is a pyramid business model?? Sure, what business structure is not?? just curious?? All corporations are! Difference is at the end of the day…I make money at home, in my sleep, while on vacation, etc…not in an office…surrounded by dull grey cubicle walls, staring at a computer, and being micromanaged by someone idiot!
This is no different than a franchise. Many people establish their own businesses and all expenses are tax deductible so my mortgage, travel, food, entertainment, and most of my expenses are deductible.
So with all that said…there is nothing wrong with an opportunity!! if you have ever studied business in any way you will see that there are many ways to business ownership, and network or multi level marketing is just one of many!
I plan to capitalize on this opportunity because I know that it can be done. If there are any questions about the legitimacy…you can always check to see if there are any pending claims, research Better Business Bureau, etc. What’s the big deal??
prosperouslife – Tell me what facts I have wrong, and provide proof in support of your claims. Please send me proof of the earnings claims you made. I want to see the checks. It’s easy for shills to SAY they made money. Much harder to actually provide proof.
Prosperouslife, seriously, your a moron.
Pyramid schemes are illegal. ShopToEarn does not have over a 50% pure customer rate as the customers are people signed up getting money back from the program. That makes it an illegal pyramid scheme, not an MLM program.. go find a good reputible lawyer and ask about that yourself.
second, the products in all the shops are way above what you would pay at the actual store.. even after the ‘cash back’. Then there are shipping fee’s added on to that or you don’t get your merchandise. t’s not saving anyone anything. You also have to spend $100.00 per month in their earth shops in order to get your commisions.
third, your lying to friends and family, and others, to get them to sign up for this scam. deny it if you wish, but you know how you sell the program, you leave out information that may turn the person off, alter info to make the sale, hopeing they wont investigate and get the real information from the companies own website, or find reports on them. You target people with money troubles, who may not have alot of knowledge with this sort of scheme, and you take advantage of them. That’s rather scummy.
finally, alot of people have been approached by people selling this scam, and did their homework. One of my clients (i’m a web designer) which is a non-profit, was approached, i was at the presentation about it, and did my research which is how I found this blog. The person tried to sell it to a non-profit as a ‘fund-raiser’, and specifically said no one makes a profit from it except the non-profit itself’.. which was a full out lie. needless to say after showing the information directly from ShopToSave.net’s own website, the non-profit’s legal council agree’d it’s illegal and should not be a part of the non-profit as a fund-raiser or anything else.
you’re comments about the BB among other crap that came from your figners, means nothing, it shows how uneducated you are.
First, you should have a red-flag up at the factthat you cannot contact this company at all.. the phone numbers are not their’s, and the mailbox/po box addresses (and there are several) go nowhere. you’re giving money, credit card, and bank information to total strangers with no way to contact them.
Second, shold their ‘free template’ they use for their site and the pages they create for ‘brokers’ give you a clue that a company, suppsoedly that took 10 years to create, is using a free, anyone can download from any web template website, for their site, isn’t much of a company?
Third, if you pull whois records on ShopToEarn.net and their old domain ShopToEarn.org, there’s alot of discreppancies there.They move their company to a new name, address, etc jsut short of getting caught by the FTC. This is typical of illegal schemes., and is why they dont have valid contact information, they don’t want to be contacted, they just want your money.
so before you try and put other straight, do your own homework.
p.s. this is to ShopToEarn’s lawyer who loves to send letters to anyone who talks negatively about the scam.. BRING IT! You may have scared a couple of bloggers into taking their blogs down, you don’t scare everyone, you don’t scare me, I wont need a lawyer to appear in court to defend my first ammendment right as I stated facts directly from your own site, without copying content directly from the site. It’s 100% legal, I am within my rights, so i’m begging you, BRING IT! the sooner you do, the sooner more of your scam gets exposed and the quicker it gets shut down.
You’re funny prosperouslife. STE is just so much smarter than everyone else. This is the first time this idea has ever been thought of. GIVE ME A BREAK.
This piece of crap company uses the cheapest design for a website, that most high school students could put together. It’s been 10 years in the making and that’s what they use. Maybe they should’ve thought about putting legitimate corporate information on the site, including: legitimate phone number, address, etc.
I do feel for the people that get conned into this crap. The same thing they offer you for $450 is FREE ON OTHER WEBSITES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wake Up!!!!!!!!
IF I HAD A DOLLAR FOR EVERY PERSON WHO ASK ME TO SIGN UP ,I WOULD HAVE MY $448.00,IF YOU LIKE MIXING BUISNESS WITH PLEASURE GO FOR IT,NOT MY STYLE AND MY PERSONAL TIME IS WAY MORE VALUABLE THEN TRYING TO PUSH MLMS,JUST TAKE YOUR $448 AND BUY GOLD IN THE LONG RUN I WOULD BET ON THE GOLD AND NOT A DREAM THAT YOU HAVE TO BABYSIT TO KEEP THE BALANCE OF 2 COLUMNS THAT YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OF.
Is Shop to Earn a Scam?
Some people bash Network Marketing also known as Multi-level Marketing (MLM) and say they are scams etc. Mainly because of ignorance and jealousy and also because of the recruiting aspect. I’d like to ask “What’s wrong with recruiting to grow your business?”
Don’t “normal” companies recruit and try to find the best talent? Good sales people that work on 100% commission with no promises but unlimited upside are always being courted to join a new company. Usually by promising them larger commisions.
Most big corporations actually reward employees for recruiting too! I have worked at a few large companies that would pay me a week’s salary as a bonus if I recruited someone and they stayed more than 3 months. This happens all the time. This is a free country and people decide for themselves if they want to get involved or not no?
BTW, I don’t just sign anyone up for STE, I only want the talented people. If I just wanted the lousy $100 referral fee I can sign up friends and contacts all day long. BUT I only want people that I think will be happy and want to succeed at STE. My initial of group of 22 sign ups is filled with presitgious attorneys, CPAs, succesful entrepreneurs and doctors. This is not for people who can’t make a decent living, this is for the best and brightest that “see” the opportunity of the 24/7 internet. These 22 people in 3 months have snowballed into more than 700 people in my group. I know less than 5% of these people. Are all these strangers just plain stupid? Have they all been conned?
When I graduated college in May of 1987 (5 months prior to the stock market crash), I was very highly recruited. I had about a dozen lucrative offers from all the best Wall St. firms at the time (Goldman Sachs, Salomon Brothers, JP Morgan, Shearson Lehman etc.) When I said “no thanks” to a few, they called back and offered me more money and asked me to re-consider. They promised me quick raises and promotions and the “fast-track” to the top. Hmmmm. During these go-go 1980′s they couldn’t hire top-of-the-class college kids fast enough. Then the Stock Market crashed in October of 1987 and they had massive layoffs. And of course all the recent hires were the first to go. Did anyone yell scam!! Were people calling the FTC and claiming that they were conned into an opportunity that didnt work out?
C’mon, we are all adults here. There are no guarantees in life. And trust me, $448 sign up fee is nothing compared to being out of work for weeks or months.
Some of these blogs are comical really. They don’t even believe that you will ever receive your money. Trust me, my $40,000 so far has been very real. And I have met and become friendly with some of those six-figure-a-month people. They are very real indeed. Some people just don’t get it. They won’t even buy on the internet for fear of identity theft, they keep all their money in CD’s because the stock market is too risky. Whatever floats your boat. I don’t waste my time on people that are negative or close-minded – I just move on!
SCAM?
Did you know that back in the 1940’s and 1950’s that the “Franchise Industry” was also considered a major scam?
Think about it. Many experts and most of the general public were bashing the franchise concept. If you wanted to open up a hamburger restaurant or donut shop why in the world would you ever “Buy a Franchise?”
You would actually have to give the Franchise company a lump sum up-front and then agree to pay them royalties forever before you even got started! And then contractually agree to use all their products and follow all their rules and regulations. You must post their signs and charge what they say – no more and no less. You can’t even run a special promotion or buy your own products from a local guy. You had to go to seminars and get ‘brain-washed’ into believing and trusting their supposedly “proven” system. If you failed and went broke in 3 months too bad, no refund. This was considered a huge scam! And very un-American too – sounded like a communistic dictatorship. Where’s the creativity?
Too bad they didn’t have blogs back then, can you even imagine what people would be saying???? They would so funny to read today! “You can get the very same napkins cheaper down the block !!” “their stuff is way over priced, chopmeat is on sale at the A&P for less this week!!” Its a business people, and you take the good with the bad sometimes.
Well of course we now know that Franchises have become a HUGE success. “An idea who’s time has come” hmmmm….sound familiar?
It wasn’t until the early 1960’s, that people finally understood the concept and power behind this great idea. And what happened to McDonald’s owners? how about the stock? Today its EASIER to get a business loan for a franchise than any other business loan.
Anyone that opened up a few McDonald’s franchises back then is very, very wealthy. Too bad my parents weren’t “recruited and brain-washed” and bought into this “scam” and followed their training program – I would be set right now. Scam huh? Sound familiar? Who’s laughing now?
The STE “scam” has grown from 4,000 to 40,000 in the last 3 months. It will be over 100,000 by year’s end. By 2010 it will be over 1 million. And it will never get closed down becuase they are very diligent and make sure they abide by all the rules, but mainly because there are way too many happy people. The success stories far outweigh the losers. BTW, the real residual money comes from the shopping – if you join and take a closer look, that’s the real money, but that takes months to start since the Fortune 500 retailers can take up to 90 days to give the cash back (which generate the points)
This opportunity is a major Home Run, if you can’t get past this that’s ok. I wish you well in whatever you choose to do with your time. Personally, I like helping and inspiring people to reach their goals. Its fun!
Joe “0″,
Tracy has challenged many to prove their claims but nobody, not one, has stepped up to disprove, us “negative” people. Of course you know the people who made so much money. It’s obvious you’ve drank the juice. Maybe you’ll step up and disprove this blog. Show your proof. Tell us your percentage made from shopping and the percentage made from SCAMMING, I mean recruiting. Your seminars are the most ridiculous things EVER. Borderline, if not, cult-like and it’s only $129 to go to.
Let’s see:
1. You MUST pay to join.
2. You MUST pay an annual fee.
3. You MUST pay to attend training seminars if you choose to become more educated in “your business”.
4. To get paid, you MUST pay monthly fees ($100 minimum) for products that are overpriced, double (If you’re involved with a company, aren’t you usually provided a discount????).
5. To make real money you MUST recruit. Every members names that I’ve looked at has made MINIMAL from shopping purchases.
6. To reach certain goals you MUST do this within the first 30 days to “score”.
7. If you sign-up and decide STE isn’t for you, you MUST wait about 2 months to get your money back. That’s if you consistently harass them in order to get YOUR money.
If I went for a job somewhere and they told me these requirements I would run for the hills. These are wonderful perks to a company!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
First off Wake Up, Joe “0″,
You MUST not do anything. You don’t hand STE your credit card and they just do as they please with it. You choose what you pay for and you choose how much you pay and you choose when to stop payment. What you said is probably the dumbest thing i have ever heard someone say. That is like saying when you go to BestBuy you MUST pay for a TV or they won’t give it to you. Obviously, just the fact that you worded everything in such a ridiculous way just shows that you actually have NO idea what you are talking about. Like with any investment, you pay money in hope to get a return on investment. I’m guessing you are the kind of person who has all your money stocked away in a savings account at your local bank earning 1.5-2% annual interest? i mean power to you when you finally save up enough money to be able to retire at the age of 80. No company forces you to do anything. Once you sign up, you aren’t locked into anything. Like with everything, there is a fee. To go to the movies you pay money, to go to college you pay money, to go out to eat you pay money. So for you to sit there and act like paying for something that has to do with STE is a big deal, then you are just a moron and should look around you and take in that everything in our world has a price. You don’t HAVE to spend $100 a month. If your check is for $6,000 then obviously you are going to spend $100. If your check is for $50 then obviously you wouldn’t spend $100. Before you attempt to put in your 2 cents about a company, you should actually go to the company’s site and go through the overview and powerpoints pertaining the business structure of the company. There is NO timelimit on when you have to do anything by. The 30 day period is a bonus period where IF you get a certain amount of people in the 30 day period you make bonuses of up to $4,100. Products sold through STE cannot be overpriced by STE being that when you click on the store you want to go to, it brings you to that store’s official website (KOHLS.com, CircuitCity.com, Target.com). Basically everything you said, doesn’t make sense at all, and all it did was make you look like a fool. So continue to earn your 2% interest in your savings account, and next time you feel the need to talk about something, research it so you don’t sound so foolish.
Wake Up, Joe “0″,
One last thing. I just think that investing isn’t for you, and you should just keep your 11-6 job at McDonalds making sandwiches. So before you waste anymore of your precious time telling us how we have wasted our time/money, just go apply for more hours at work and continue to rack in the $7.50/hr wage you get. So far for the few hours of my life ive invested into this company each week over the past 2 months, Ive made over $15,000 which is a 3333% return on my investment. so laugh all you want with your 2% interest and all the benefits of working in the fast-food industry (free food YAYYYY), and i’ll enjoy the finer things in life, like financial freedom and being able to spend time with family and friends.
Be careful easy money. I promise you that STE executives are screaming “your fee isn’t an investment!!!” Because if that fee is an “investment” then they’ve got a whole lot of other troubles with the laws.
And just remember, everything in this world does NOT require a fee to participate. You go to your regular job and THEY PAY YOU, not the other way around.
Joe “0″,
Actually do you know how stupid you sound? Please tell me what percentage you’ve made from recruiting? Please tell me how much you made from shopping? Of the seven (7) items I listed, please tell me which are incorrect statements? I sound silly? You’re exactly proving OUR point when you make IDIOTIC comments about YOUR INVESTMENT. How stupid are you? Take your foot out of your mouth. I’m sure that’s not the first time your arrogant, pompous ass was told that.
You’re probably involved in this because the “title” company is taking a dump and YOU didn’t invest your money, PROPERLY, when the market was good. DUH!! If you’re so successful then why scam people into a pyramid? So you can make quick money?
Why don’t you checkout what happened to BurnLounge? I’m sure you won’t answer any of the questions or requests honestly, if at all, because it will only make “your business” look bad. If you have a good product then what’s to defend. I think STE’s attorney learned this by bringing negative light by threatening a blogger.
I’m sorry I have to go. The burgers need to be flipped. Wake Up! Although you’re pretty comical!!!!!!
I’m guessing Joe ’0′ doesn’t pay taes on anything he gets from ScamToEarn either. If people are dumb enough to fall for these scams, their dumb enough not to pay taxes as well.
He Probably calls himself a ‘webmaster’ too because ScamToEArn made him a cheap page on their site and called it his.
GEEZ, such hostility. Not sure why. And Mr.”Wake up” please read the authors of the blogs carefully, you are attacking me, Joe O. for calling you silly etc., meanwhile it was someone else that responded to you.
Regarding the “investment” terminology, when you open any business it takes some kind of initial investment. I think the word investment here is OK, since its not in the context of an SEC type of investment, but more of an investment to buy the tools and back office to get your business up and running. Similar to buying a bunch of workstations and copier machines to open up a business office.
I still don’t see how recruiting is such a crime ONLY when it comes to MLM’s? Example: All the stock brokerage houses have recruited like crazy over the last 5 decades. They get nice people to quit their jobs with promises of becoming a millionaire stock broker. People leave steady jobs and try a new career as a “Financial Advisor” they spend money and time passing tests and getting licensed for their 100% commission job (no salary, just get paid if you produce) and then are trained to GET THE ASSETS OF ALL THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES INTO THE BROKERAGE HOUSE. Statistically about 85% of these people fail/quit after 2 years BUT the brokerage house gets to keep more than 60% of the assets because people just are too lazy to switch their accounts yet again. Brokerage house only have one thing in mind – to get assets, and they’ve always used recruitment to do it. When the new rookie stockbroker quits, the veteran brokers call them up ASAP and ask them to stay. These are the facts.
Can this be viewed as a scam? absolutely, almost anything can be viewed as a scam if you want to see it that way.
Hey negative bloggers, here’s something else to think about . . . if people are happy with STE and are making money and having fun, why does that upset you? Is it because you feel the need to save innocent people from spending and losing their $448? Do you have a ‘save the world’ complex? Or maybe you just get upset at people making money at something you could never see yourself being good at? If your next door neighbor built a technology company and sold it for millions would you be happy for him? sounds like you would be very jealous.
Speaking of arrogance, I find this aggressiveness and passion pretty arrogant of YOU, you seem to think that there are lots of stupid people out there that are so easily conned, that can’t think for themselves and its YOUR job to protect them. wtf?
This is not for everyone, but 40,000 people already jumped in. Of course you are going to have 5% of the people unhappy – and right now that’s 2,000 people – but 38,000 are happy they found STE. And there will surely be 100′s of thousands of “victims” soon and all your negativity is being wasted.
Lastly, I know you don’t want to hear this, but the real residual income IS ALL ABOUT THE SHOPPING – NOT THE RECRUITING.
Joe – You personally told me that the company is about the recruiting and not the shopping when you said that they’re giving to associates all the shopping income in order to get as many people signed up as possible. They’re going for lots of recruiting, and hopefully sales on the Shop to Earth side (which they will get as a result of the required $100/mo purchase by recruits or their friends).
MLM experts all see through this and realize it’s not about the shopping. If it was really about that, why charge recruits $448 to sign up? I’ll tell you why. Because it’s very lucrative for the owners of the company. There is not a lot of cost involved in setting up and running a company like this, so don’t tell me they’re trying to recover costs. But if they were really concerned about the shopping and not the recruiting, they’d stop charging fees to sign up in order to get more SHOPPERS and they’d instead make their money off shopping fees.
Keep calling the fee to join STE an investment and Gerry Nehra will be calling you soon. This company has a vested interest in that fee not being an “investment.
And I’m not concerned about all those who “made their money back.” I’m worried about the tens of thousands of people who will lose their money in these types of schemes that are doomed by design.
Joe O.,
I totally stand corrected and I do apologize for calling you out for something said by someone else. Please let us know how much of your income has come from RECRUITING? How much from Shopping? I don’t think anybody wants to answer that question. I wonder why? How about the taxes on the income, when does that get deducted? Also, nobody wants to show their proof of income. HHHHMMMMM!!!!! I would definitely stay away from advising it’s an investment.
ShopToEarn EasyMoney, (because you’re a scammer!!!)
My guess really is that you’re somehow affiliated with Joe O., but anyway, I challenge you to answer the questions, I rudely posted in error to Joe “0″ when I should’ve posted them to you on September 25th at 9:30AM. As I said before you won’t. Oh shoot, I gotta go flip the burgers again. WAKE UP!!!!
To the true Joe O. I do apologize for ripping into you about that.
Tracy:
I never said the company is about recruiting, its all about selling product. The website is the IS THE PRODUCT. And Shop to Earth, which is their on-line Health Food Store is the benefactor.
People say that “50% of the sales MUST come from customers not in the program!!! ” I’m trying to explain to you that ALL of the sales are coming from people not in the program!!!
Example:
I assume you are not a Shop to Earn website owner, you are currently NOT in the program. So if I sell you your own website/domain name/shopping portal/software/shopping tracking program. I JUST SOLD A PRODUCT TO A PERSON WHO IS NOT IN THE PROGRAM. I make a commission for the sale, I get $100 bux and get points. AND JUST LIKE ANY LEGIT MLM, I CAN ALSO GET POINTS/OVERRIDES ON OTHERS SELLING THIS PRODUCT TO OTHERS NOT IN THE PROGRAM. These guys have it all figured out. This is a HOME RUN! This adds value and will continue to grow like wildfire. Get on board. This will be the largest web-shopping portal on the planet within a few years. Sorry, but its inevitable. Have you ever seen anything that has grown this fast . . . ever? 40,000 people in 6 months, and now its exponential. It will be well over 100,000 by christmas. Soon there will be very positive press and articles coming out. Sorry, but people hated Amway/quickstar or whatever they call it, and its a billion dollar monster. With the internet and the economy and the environmental movement – this is a HUGE perfect storm.
Joe – You clearly don’t understand MLM. You’re looking at the 50% issue all wrong. If you recruit someone, they’re in the program. Anything they buy is not a sale to someone outside of the program.
This is a common standard used to evaluate MLM, and the concept is fairly straightforward. Are there retail sales (in this case shopping activity) to people who are not distributors (in this case website owners or brokers)??? What you see in the sketchy companies is that there is far more made from recruiting and minimum purchases made by those who have signed up.
I’m not going to quote your email to me because you asked me not to, but go back and read what you wrote about the goals for recruits who spend $100 a month each. That is the focus, you say. That means the recruiting is the real focus. And when recruiting is more important than actual retailing, you’ve got a problem.