Scams & Drop Shipping Frank Ross on 26 May 2007 06:27 pm
StoresOnline Internet Ripoff Company
Well I keep hearing buzz about this company - StoresOnline - and have some time today so let’s take a look! It’s yet another Internet company that supposedly has a plug and play website waiting for you where you can just fire it up, load with products, and start raking in money. That is after you pay them about 6 grand for training and start-up materials. It’s just an old scam with a different face. Here is their website:
The first thing you might notice is the lack of pricing information. This is red flag number one. No available usually pricing means ‘look out’ and run the other way.
Furthermore, there is no live chat and no toll free number. 2nd red flag. There is contact information on their Contact page, but it’s all email, and an 801 (Utah) phone and fax number. The number is not answered after hours.
It looks like you must go through some sort of live seminar presentation to even get to the pricing and structure of the so-called ‘opportunity’. Taking a look at their so-called ‘training page’, it looks as they’re taking the “it’s a dog eat dog world and you need training” approach to selling their ’system’.
Another thing to note is the plethora of reports at RipoffReports.Com (link here). 357 when I checked. And oddly enough, Ripoff reports has this disclaimer at the top of each of them:
Rip-Off Report Investigation: shows that StoresOnline & iMergent is fulfilling its commitment to provide excellent customer service. Rip-off Report gives StoresOnline a POSITIVE rating in customer support and quality assurance. StoresOnline pledges to resolve complaints and address any issues from the past, present and in the future - committed to 100% satisfaction - whatever it takes - say company executives.
I suspect Ripoff Report has been sued so many times that they must have to cave in to deep pocketed companies that can pay for waiver comments like that. I’m sorry, but the large amount of negative complaints casts a huge shadow over that ‘thumbs-up’ comment.
Reading through the complaints I see some common threads: high pressure ’seminar style’ sales tactics, an extremely short guarantee window, and a high startup price in the 6 to 7 thousand dollar range.
Now there are some real questions about Ripoff Reports which I won’t go into, but even if we ignore the 357 reports there, that still leaves lots of questions about this company. For example their record at the Better Business Bureau is hardly exemplary and even includes information about government actions against this company (link here).
Back to the StoresOnline page, you can read some testimonials there and of course they sound good. But they are prefaced by this comment:
Testimonial results are not typical and your individual results will vary. Your success depends on having the right price, product, and marketing efforts.
In other words, you will have to work your business and differentiate yourself just like you would in another other business effort. So why do you need to spend $6000 to $7000 with StoresOnline to get that when you can do it yourself for about $800 or less? That’s about how much each of my drop ship websites have cost me to start up (made up of setup fees for the website and merchant accounts, along with money I’ve paid for having someone help me with design).Then of course I have to market them, but you must do that with StoresOnline as their disclaimers says. The places I setup drop ship sites all have built in templates like StoresOnline so why the difference in price?
The difference is: big fat company and lots of marketing overhead to cover! Save yourself the unnecessary expense folks and do your own drop ship site(s); it’s just not that hard. And you will be more satisfied with your efforts and less likely to feel resentful toward a company like this.
Tags: Internet Ripoff Companies, StoresOnline Internet Ripoff, StoresOnline Ripoff, StoresOnline Scam
on 26 May 2007 at 8:47 pm 1.Fulano Detal said …
This post is a big complain session based on assumptions. Why don’t you go to a seminar and _then_ tell about the company.
This person seems to be doing fine with their Stores Online website: http://wordpress.com/tag/storesonline/
Anyone can criticize a company (especially with no first-hand experience with the company). You _say_ you can build a successful site for $800 or less, but you don’t give any details to back up your claim. How are you any better than Stores Online?
on 26 May 2007 at 9:06 pm 2.Frank Ross said …
Fulano, my assumptions are based on observations. What I DON’T see on their website (proper contact information and proper disclosure). And what I DO see on the BBB site (a bunch of red flags). Why would I want to attend a seminar for a company like this? The seminar is a teaser. Do you work for them? And the link you posted was not all that favorable.
A drop ship site can be setup for that amount in general because it’s about $200 for setup fees at shopping cart systems like Monster Commerce and Finest Shops. Another $200 for setup fees for Merchant account. And the rest to pay an Elancer for design.
So again, why on earth would I pay 6K or 7K for their questionable system?
on 09 Jul 2007 at 10:11 pm 3.Trevor Ginn said …
I went to a stores online presentation which was a real hard sell. They were trying to sell the idea that selling online is easy, the search engine just provide free traffic for you and off you go.
The presentation used phrases like “residual income” which always gets me worried…
on 19 Sep 2007 at 9:56 pm 4.Jeanne Pietro said …
OK, I’ve heard enough from those who haven’t done it and about others who “did well” with SOL…the term, in my situation, could be used as a disparaging acronym, if you get my drift. Yes they are a hard sell and pressure you into buying “right now” because their offer of “3 for the price of one” won’t be available after the seminar. I am the not so proud (well, proud of what I accomplished on my own), and very discouraged owner of 3 SOL websites, their total cost including a $200 down payment the day of the seminar: $2695.00 plus interest. I have only one of these sites up and running so far and do not plan to utilize the other 2. In fact I found a place in Google search and contacted them about selling them the other two unused SOL sites, don’t know if they are affiliated with SOL or not.
Back to my point: the first site, using their supposedly “turnkey” site building software was a nightmare to create, 3 months later I was finally ready to go online, I purchased my domain name (an additional charge of 29.95 for 2 years) and published to the internet (also an additional $24.95 monthly charge) and I still have made only one sale of $50 in the two and a half months since publishing 7-7-07 and that was sold to a dear friend. Short of paying SOL webdesigners $150 an hour to “go over” my site or pay an equally outrageous fee to some SEO company to optimize my site (yet another charge in the never-ending list of additional charges) I had to learn to do it myself. I am a computer applications instructor, I am no slacker when it comes to using or figuring out how to use 95 out of 100 programs presented to me. I have worked long hours creating the keywords, meta tags, descriptions and other features the average internet novice wouldn’t know about, and am finally within the first 10 pages of the two most popular search engines, but only with specific search terms. SOL reps propose that “anyone” can create their own website using their software…NOT!!! I have used other web design software over the years, including FrontPage (which itself is difficult and non-versatile, but its even far easier to use than the SOL software). I have never used anything, in any of my 15 plus years computer experience, that is so difficult, with so many redundant features and have never seen anything this pricey that had so many additional charges for minimal services.
Right from the beginning I figured on paying the small per purchase fees thru PayPal merchant services and I have no problem with it, that was the easiest part of the website to create…SOL wanted another additional charge of $1000 for their merchant services package, plus other fees. (i.e. to take credit cards on line) And as far as their support is concerned, their reps either don’t know what I’m asking about or know just enough to get themselves confused and then refer me to one of the many worthless tutorials I have already viewed. How hard is it to answer a question about proper placement and content of keywords, within a pre designed template?? Shouldn’t be hard for someone who is supposed to be trained in the support end of the SOL business!
Suffice it to say, I am one of several THOUSAND dissatisfied, frustrated SOL website owners. By the way, would you please check out my site and be so kind as to click on the contact page, leave me a message and tell me what you think about it?
Thanks for listening.
on 16 Jan 2008 at 9:32 pm 5.Paula Sylvester said …
Oh Franko!
You’re very observant and right on target. I’ve been following StoresOnline for years. I even attended one of their “dinner meetings”. Let me share this to all who read this post: Before the “seminar” presenter appears, there’s an “announcement” made in front of all attendees, which they specifically state to all present that if ANYONE tries to “tell meeting participants” anything different than “what” they say, they will remove you from the meeting. Furthermore, they specifically stated that if ANYONE in attendance is a “web developer” or “in the industry” to NOT solicit business. (Which of course is understandable). HOWEVER, when “hosting rates” are GREATLY inflated and the web design looks like my 8th grade nephew did the site, and only ½ truths are told and out-dated “web sites” and “google pages” are shown is WHEN I put my foot down. When I was in that “dinner meeting” 3 tec heads were present. An elderly person leaned over to ask them [the tec head #1] a question, which I could see was answered by a “nod” of the head. Of course, the hawk-eye presenter noticed this immediately. Two seconds later that particular tec head left the room. No sooner than the door closed (and out of ear shot) IMMEDIATELY the “seminar presenter” stated in front of all and directly to his assistant, to BAN HIM from re-entering the room. You can read all about my personal experience at my web site. I receive LOTS of visitors who, unfortunately “impulse bought” or, bit on the “pie-in-the-sky” opportunity biz. Making money whether online or offline is a process. This process IS NOT a 10 minute nor 20 minute nor 24 hour or 7 day process to “set-up”. There’s literally - as you know - LOTS to learn, and LOTS to do, and personally speaking, buying into a $2,500 or $5,000 or in some cases $10,000+ “opportunity” is A LOT of moo-la to spend and THAT’s not including marketing and promoting. Out of convenience (for my clients), I wrote a book and, as a result of seeing people bamboozled I just up-dated the public version titled NetSenseOnline. It’s NOT in Borders or Barns and Noble yet, BUT, with the “online version” I literally include almost everything that the reader will need to get going i.e., I include real PC software, videos, tons of real home based business ideas about “real people” who are doing a “real home based business from home”, tons of PLR articles, show people “what” to look for with “finding” a goldmine niche (if that’s what you want to do), discuss domain names, writing copy, images, hosting, spoofing/Phishing (which there’s more than one type), etc. Over all, I literally break it down in plain simple English and address everything that needs to be brought to the surface IF you want to be successful in your business. Point being: If you want an “online” or “offline” business, this is information that you literally need to know. By trade Frank, I’m a corporate trainer for a State of Florida course provider. And when I conduct a training class, I am ALWAYS asked about “the Internet” and “what they should do”. I do not claim to know it all, for there are people out there who are more knowledgeable than myself. However, with the knowledge and experience that I have I feel that I can at least contribute to the “education” to those sincerely interested in “the Internet” or “starting their own business” in hopes of saving them TONS of money, aggravation and time.
on 10 May 2008 at 12:20 am 6.Jvs Gooch said …
I attended one of their “free” 90 minute seminars yesterday. Didn’t know it would be for SOL (storesonline) as it was advertised as an “intenet marketing seminar” and when I called to confirm that I would be attending, the operator wouldn’t tell me the company name!
So my scam alert buzzers were already going off in my head before I even got there. The seminar was “cheezy”, the presenters second-rate and it took everything I had to keep from jumping out of my seat and screaming “Baloney!”
I actually do already have a website, and attended the seminar somehow imagining that because it was advertised as an “internet marketing seminar” that I might learn a little about internet marketing–silly me!
No, they didn’t sell me, but I still feel completely duped that they even managed to con me into attending!
In that 90 minute seminar though, there was also no mention of thousands of dollars! No, in the seminar SOL told us all it would cost was a 1 time fee of $50 to design and build a website, and then $24.95/month for them to host it! Seriously, that’s exactly what the SOL salesman told us was all it would cost to go into our very own e-commerce business!
And of course, that $50 1 time cost was good for “today” only! And for those who paid, they were throwing in a special bonus–of a full 1 day professional training course, complete with a free breakfast and luncheon, where they also promised to hook their newest partners up with all the manufacturers who offer drop-shipping to get started, and oh, all kinds of things!
Oh yeah, they made it sound so good even I might almost have been tempted, that is, if it wasn’t for the fact that “godaddy” hosts my website for under $5/month, instead of $24.95, but that’s just for a simple informational website; I’m well enough informed to know it costs a whole lot more to run a professional e-commerce site.
I have no doubt at that “full 1 day professional training course” is when they spring their big surprise–that it will actually cost $6-7,000 to run the “professional” type of e-commerce site, as opposed to the $50 they misled people into believing at that first 90 minute seminar!
Anyone who would trust SOL enough after that to actually hand over all that money? All I can say is I sincerely hope they check the company out on the internet before they attend that full day seminar!
on 29 Aug 2008 at 7:17 pm 7.Denny Johnson said …
We attended a 90 minute presentation last night. I must say, I was pretty impressed. They are smooth. After doing a search on my iPhone on google for “Storesonline and scam” I learned all I needed to know to stay away from this scam. A good illustration of their scam is how they had promised a free mp3 player for each attendee with pictures of the Apple iPod Shuffle. What we got was a cheap, worthless Chinese knock-off that didn’t work for more than the next day. This is typical “Bait and Switch” tactics. Stay away. But hey!,…the food was fabulous! Thanks for the memories! but “No thanks” on the websites.
on 12 Sep 2008 at 4:31 pm 8.Sarah said …
Hi everyone,
I attended a StoresOnline seminar just yesterday. The concept is GREAT, but the price was too steep for me. Fortunately, I found a company that will allow me to do the same thing for $199 down to $49 depending on what you want.
This includes a website, access to over 350,000 products, as well as 24/7 customer support. The testimonials are very good, and I am excited. The yearly renewal fee is $67. That’s it, and NO monthly fees. I am SO glad I found this company.
If you want tools similar to StoresOnline, check out Google Trends, and keywordlizard.com.
For info on partnering with this company, please copy and paste this site into your address bar:
http://www.dropship-business.com/index.html?aid=254122
Blessings to you all, and good luck!