Stores Online OVER PRICED. UNDELIVERED PROMISES. EXCUSES ripoff OREM Utah
I attended the free Stores Online seminar in Valencia CA a couple of weeks ago, and was intrigued enough by what they said to decide to attend the day long session, which was promised to be filled with a bounty of strategies to help you better market your website for FREE, and which would be hosted by 10 or so experienced internet marketers.
Of course, I knew that they would be selling their own product at the full seminar, but figured I could filter that out of it (if their deal was not attractive) and learn something from the workshop leaders that I could apply to my own websites. What I didn't expect was how much of a hardsell act they would put on to promote their product and make it seem like panacea for selling online.
A very high portion of the day is spent getting everyone enthused about improving their quality of life, having financial freedom, getting everyone into a "you're so foolish if you do not follow-the-horde" mentality, etc. of course, with the caveat that your own results may vary. They are more focused on stirring emotions than sharing a specific business or technical advice. You are promised that they will teach you at least 8 key strategies at the workshop that you can use right away, but they then only superficially touch on a couple of them explaining the workshop would have to be several days in length if they went into detail and they did not want people to go into info overload.
Very little info /strategies of any "meat" to them was shared. In the early morning, one speaker promised to share something he had just learned in the past few weeks that was AWESOME that he guaranteed would move your site to the top of the search engines for free. I anxiously awaited this revelation. At the end of the day, when I heard no such wow-like tip that fit the promise, I asked him about it and he said it was the fact that you could pay money to search engine companies to have your listing ranked higher. First off, that isn't free. Secondly, this guy has been a successful internet marketing consultant for 5 years and he just learned about "pay-per-click"?
There were really only two speakers. One was from Stores Online, and one was supposedly an independent seller (who said he used to work for Worperfect Corp and who coincidentally lives in the same city in Utah as Stores Online). A local seller stopped by and gave a talk about her own experience for a few minutes, but she was supposedly not a part of the scheduled curriculum.
First thing in the morning, they sent around forms for everyone to fill out so they can run a credit report on you by noontime. Later in the morning, they ask you to commit to how many websites you want to buy and which add-on pieces you want, and how you plan to pay for it (you can use their --yikes!-- 18% financial if you like).. and all this before they have really shared much in the way of concrete info of what you are getting for your money.
Just before lunch, they reveal their "great" one day workshop offer of $2500 to sign-up for 3 sites or $4700 to sign-up for 6 sites, plus $399 - $499 for 400 links, plus $999 for set up of a credit card merchant account. They also let you know the hosting fee will be $150 for the first year and $24.95/month thereafter per site which they say is discounted from their normal price of $2500/yr per site. Of course, if you don't buy right now--TODAY--the price more than triples!
The promised one-on-one business consultation? Never happened. Instead, the Stores Online rep simply wanted to confirm how many sites I wanted to buy and which options I wanted so he could put the package of materials together for me by the end of the day. When I balked and questioned him about the value of the base arrangement and the options, he was defensive and told me he would let me think about it because he was busy with someone else and would come back later. He never did return.
A couple of times, they showed a feature in their system that lets you know how many times in the prior month a specific set of words was used in an internet search, and emphasize how valuable this is in tweaking your website to maximize hits. What they don't tell you is that there are MANY free sites on the internet that do exactly the same thing. Actually, the other free sites do it better because the Stores Online feature doesn't fully count the searches, and they tell you that you need to multiple their results by 5.
They overprice their offering from top to bottom Let's take a look at what else they offer in their package.
They talk about the Overture system and how you can use it to figure out how to budget your Pay-per-clicks, and they make it seem like it is an integrated part of their system. In fact, Overture is owned by Yahoo, and you can go to Overture's website directly and do whatever you want. There is no need to be a member of Stores Online to access any of its features.
Links4Trade - 400 links for $399 for 3 sites or $499 for 6 sites, plus $7/month per site after the first year. You can go to Links4Trade directly and pay a $39.95 registration fee, plus $7.95/month, plus a fee based on the # of links you want. Other companies offer many more links at lower prices (e.g., 25,000 links for $19.95/month) than the option offered by Stores Online.
Merchant Services Support - $999 for an interface to be able to accept credit cards (plus monthly fees and transaction fees, of course). If you already have a merchant account, Stores Online will charge you $1500 to add the interface from their shopping basket. Generally, merchant service operations charge $300 or so for the software interface to accept credit cards online, so the Stores Online "discounted" deal is way-overpriced. Their monthly and transaction fees are high, too.
$2500, plus $150 per site, is the price for them to set up three boilerplate websites for you for the first year. They don't tell you this directly, but you need to plug the products and the pictures in yourself if you have more than 25, or you can pay them extra to do this, too. (Of course, they really push for you to buy 6 websites right away for an additional $2200, and emphasize that they won't let you get more than that to start.)
Is this good value? Well, there are numerous hosting services which provide free shopping basket software, no set-up charges, and monthly fees of $17.95 and up per month to do basically the same thing you get with Stores Online. I still have not quite figured out what the value is you are supposed to be getting for the $2500. It's all smoke and mirrors, if you ask me.
I feel sad for the hundred or so people who stood in the long line of lemmings to pay for the package. My guess is that Stores Online probably took in close $400,000 at the session yesterday. Are those people going to get $400,000 worth of value? Unlikely. Could those people have spent 1/10 of the amount and gotten the same value? Yep. Of course, as Stores Online likes to say, your own results may vary.
In doing some research on the company last night and today and after reading through their service disclosures in more detail, I have to laugh when I think of one of the points they mentioned at the workshop as it relates to their business model, that they strive for multiple residuals streams of passive income. What this means is that they nickel and dime you to death for eternity for doing nothing. Is this something you really want to sign-up for?
G
Canyon Country, California
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Storesonline
8 Updates & Rebuttals
D
Washington,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Thanx so much!!!
#9Consumer Comment
Sat, February 11, 2006
G, from California, I am so appreciative of the time and effort that you put into your posting. My husband and I just attended the 90-minute seminar this morning and had signed up for the all-day workshop. My internet search for info on Stores Online led me to this site and ultimately your posting. You can bet that we won't be wasting our time! Everything you observed during your 90-minute session is what we saw. There were some very obvious (read aggressive) sales tactics but we figured we'd attend the all day workshop and take advantage of all of the GREAT information that was to be shared. Clearly that ain't gonna happen! Thanks again, G, for taking the time to post your experience (and in great detail).
D
Washington,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Thanx so much!!!
#9Consumer Comment
Sat, February 11, 2006
G, from California, I am so appreciative of the time and effort that you put into your posting. My husband and I just attended the 90-minute seminar this morning and had signed up for the all-day workshop. My internet search for info on Stores Online led me to this site and ultimately your posting. You can bet that we won't be wasting our time! Everything you observed during your 90-minute session is what we saw. There were some very obvious (read aggressive) sales tactics but we figured we'd attend the all day workshop and take advantage of all of the GREAT information that was to be shared. Clearly that ain't gonna happen! Thanks again, G, for taking the time to post your experience (and in great detail).
D
Washington,Alabama,
U.S.A.
Thanx so much!!!
#9Consumer Comment
Sat, February 11, 2006
G, from California, I am so appreciative of the time and effort that you put into your posting. My husband and I just attended the 90-minute seminar this morning and had signed up for the all-day workshop. My internet search for info on Stores Online led me to this site and ultimately your posting. You can bet that we won't be wasting our time! Everything you observed during your 90-minute session is what we saw. There were some very obvious (read aggressive) sales tactics but we figured we'd attend the all day workshop and take advantage of all of the GREAT information that was to be shared. Clearly that ain't gonna happen! Thanks again, G, for taking the time to post your experience (and in great detail).
Jennifer
Antioch,California,
U.S.A.
Thank you!!
#9Consumer Comment
Sat, September 24, 2005
I received an invitation to this workshop. The envelope had, among other things, an ebay logo, and since I do list things on ebay, in addition to selling other items online, was considering going to this workshop put on by a seemingly legitimate company. Many times, FREE was mentioned in their literature. After receiving my packet before the workshop, I noticed one small thing in the confirmation letter. "The enclosed DVD outlines our pricing structure." Pricing structure? For something supposedly free?
So I looked further through the materials and noticed reference to "Stores Online," which I seemed to remember seeing referenced here on these pages. So, as I have done with everything since I found this wonderful site 3 years ago, I did a search.
Thank you not only for your report, but all of the details backing it up. Thank God I didn't waste a day to these people. By the way, today is Saturday, and I was to go to this "workshop" on Monday.
G
Canyon Country,California,
U.S.A.
More thoughts about the Day Long Waste-of-Time Workshop
#9Author of original report
Wed, September 21, 2005
The first red flag that is set off in the day is that they do not want anyone to ask any questions or make any comments in open forum. Of course, this runs counter to the idea of a "workshop". However, they explain that the reason for this is to stay on schedule. As an alternative, they ask that you write down any questions you have and take them to a Stores Online representative at the back of the room for a personal answer later in the day.
In reality, they hope you just forget about asking. Bottom-line, they do not want anyone to ask the obvious question that scrutinizes the legitimacy of the sales pitch... or for any attendee to make any comment that would open up the eyes of the 300 or so other people in attendance that what Stores Online is offering is not a good deal at all.
In the morning, the host starts off by telling you to ignore any complaints you may have read about the company online. He explained that all large companies get customer complaints, but there is nothing to them, and they have traced back all of the complaints to their originators and all of their customers are now satisfied. He also noted that they are a publicly traded company, and that supposedly validates their legitimacy as well.
Both in the 90 minute seminar and in the day long workshop (which was supposed to go until 6:30, but ended two hours earlier than that, even though they kept saying they were behind schedule as they tried to jam in all of the info they wanted to share), they stage little demonstrations where they end up giving away $1, $5, $10 and $20 to attendees... evidently to plant seeds people's minds that money is free-flowing with them... and you can get in on the money bandwagon, too, by signing up with them.
I am always a bit leery when a speaker in a sales presentation gives examples of real-life customer experiences, because they are often bogus, canned, or atypical (and used by every single speaker). Sure enough, the speakers here recanted examples of successful online sellers, sometimes using the same examples that a different speaker used in the 90 minute seminar or which are described in the printed promotional materials. And in all cases, they associate the example with themselves, as if they played a personal role in working with the seller to set up their store. What's ironic about that is that there are tons of complaints online from frustrated sellers who claim they could not get any help from Stores Online staffers...while their seminar and workshop and other materials highlight a few examples of successful sellers who seem to have been working in conjunction with every person who has anything to do with Stores Online.
The speaker at the 90 minute seminar promised that the attendees would receive an invaluable workbook crammed full of ideas to help you better market your internet site. They also stressed that it was filled with all of the details so that you would not have to take any notes. However, whenever a workshop speaker said anything, he would also say "write this down...it's not in your workbook". And what is in that workbook? Honestly, not much. The first chapter is a single page with pricing for the store "certificates". The 2nd chapter is 11 pages devoted to explaining what the internet is, where it came from and some key glossary terms. The third chapter is a one pager telling you to keep an open mind to get the most out of trhe workshop as you can. Chapter 4 is seven pages of overview info telling you that you can sell products or services online to make money, with some trivial tips to help you be sucessful. Chapter 5 is entitled "Do I need a computer?, and also lists some of the mainstream Internet Service providers (AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc.) Chapter 6 contains detailed info on some of the added costs of doing business with Stores Online. (They give you this chapter and others as well, at different times during the day to minimize your opportunity to study them in detail before committing to buy.) Chapter 7 contains seven pages of summary info on the way you can accept orders / payments on the internet (most of which is known by anyone who has ever made an online purchase). Chapter 8 & 9 were not handed out. Chapter 10 is filled with blank pages for you to write notes. Invaluable workbook? Uh, not quite.
The invited seller-speaker from Utah also spent the afternoon hawking an accounting "software" package that he sells online for $695 but would sell to the workshop attendees for that day only for $199. In looking at the description of the software on the order form he handed out, it is not clear what the software actually does other than offer you tutorial advice on taxes... which you can also get from the help tools within packages such as Tax Cut and Turbo Tax for alot less (and get software that helps prepare your taxes as well). He repeatedly commented that anyone who did not buy his package was foolish.
The sales strategies that they use are carefully orchestrated to dissuade you from saying no. They pressure you to act now or you will lose out on the opportunity at great savings. They convey that you are foolish if you don't sign-up and have nothing to lose and everything to gain by buying. And they don't ask you IF you want to buy; they want to know how many bananas to put in your shopping cart.
G
Canyon Country,California,
U.S.A.
More thoughts about the Day Long Waste-of-Time Workshop
#9Author of original report
Wed, September 21, 2005
The first red flag that is set off in the day is that they do not want anyone to ask any questions or make any comments in open forum. Of course, this runs counter to the idea of a "workshop". However, they explain that the reason for this is to stay on schedule. As an alternative, they ask that you write down any questions you have and take them to a Stores Online representative at the back of the room for a personal answer later in the day.
In reality, they hope you just forget about asking. Bottom-line, they do not want anyone to ask the obvious question that scrutinizes the legitimacy of the sales pitch... or for any attendee to make any comment that would open up the eyes of the 300 or so other people in attendance that what Stores Online is offering is not a good deal at all.
In the morning, the host starts off by telling you to ignore any complaints you may have read about the company online. He explained that all large companies get customer complaints, but there is nothing to them, and they have traced back all of the complaints to their originators and all of their customers are now satisfied. He also noted that they are a publicly traded company, and that supposedly validates their legitimacy as well.
Both in the 90 minute seminar and in the day long workshop (which was supposed to go until 6:30, but ended two hours earlier than that, even though they kept saying they were behind schedule as they tried to jam in all of the info they wanted to share), they stage little demonstrations where they end up giving away $1, $5, $10 and $20 to attendees... evidently to plant seeds people's minds that money is free-flowing with them... and you can get in on the money bandwagon, too, by signing up with them.
I am always a bit leery when a speaker in a sales presentation gives examples of real-life customer experiences, because they are often bogus, canned, or atypical (and used by every single speaker). Sure enough, the speakers here recanted examples of successful online sellers, sometimes using the same examples that a different speaker used in the 90 minute seminar or which are described in the printed promotional materials. And in all cases, they associate the example with themselves, as if they played a personal role in working with the seller to set up their store. What's ironic about that is that there are tons of complaints online from frustrated sellers who claim they could not get any help from Stores Online staffers...while their seminar and workshop and other materials highlight a few examples of successful sellers who seem to have been working in conjunction with every person who has anything to do with Stores Online.
The speaker at the 90 minute seminar promised that the attendees would receive an invaluable workbook crammed full of ideas to help you better market your internet site. They also stressed that it was filled with all of the details so that you would not have to take any notes. However, whenever a workshop speaker said anything, he would also say "write this down...it's not in your workbook". And what is in that workbook? Honestly, not much. The first chapter is a single page with pricing for the store "certificates". The 2nd chapter is 11 pages devoted to explaining what the internet is, where it came from and some key glossary terms. The third chapter is a one pager telling you to keep an open mind to get the most out of trhe workshop as you can. Chapter 4 is seven pages of overview info telling you that you can sell products or services online to make money, with some trivial tips to help you be sucessful. Chapter 5 is entitled "Do I need a computer?, and also lists some of the mainstream Internet Service providers (AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc.) Chapter 6 contains detailed info on some of the added costs of doing business with Stores Online. (They give you this chapter and others as well, at different times during the day to minimize your opportunity to study them in detail before committing to buy.) Chapter 7 contains seven pages of summary info on the way you can accept orders / payments on the internet (most of which is known by anyone who has ever made an online purchase). Chapter 8 & 9 were not handed out. Chapter 10 is filled with blank pages for you to write notes. Invaluable workbook? Uh, not quite.
The invited seller-speaker from Utah also spent the afternoon hawking an accounting "software" package that he sells online for $695 but would sell to the workshop attendees for that day only for $199. In looking at the description of the software on the order form he handed out, it is not clear what the software actually does other than offer you tutorial advice on taxes... which you can also get from the help tools within packages such as Tax Cut and Turbo Tax for alot less (and get software that helps prepare your taxes as well). He repeatedly commented that anyone who did not buy his package was foolish.
The sales strategies that they use are carefully orchestrated to dissuade you from saying no. They pressure you to act now or you will lose out on the opportunity at great savings. They convey that you are foolish if you don't sign-up and have nothing to lose and everything to gain by buying. And they don't ask you IF you want to buy; they want to know how many bananas to put in your shopping cart.
G
Canyon Country,California,
U.S.A.
More thoughts about the Day Long Waste-of-Time Workshop
#9Author of original report
Wed, September 21, 2005
The first red flag that is set off in the day is that they do not want anyone to ask any questions or make any comments in open forum. Of course, this runs counter to the idea of a "workshop". However, they explain that the reason for this is to stay on schedule. As an alternative, they ask that you write down any questions you have and take them to a Stores Online representative at the back of the room for a personal answer later in the day.
In reality, they hope you just forget about asking. Bottom-line, they do not want anyone to ask the obvious question that scrutinizes the legitimacy of the sales pitch... or for any attendee to make any comment that would open up the eyes of the 300 or so other people in attendance that what Stores Online is offering is not a good deal at all.
In the morning, the host starts off by telling you to ignore any complaints you may have read about the company online. He explained that all large companies get customer complaints, but there is nothing to them, and they have traced back all of the complaints to their originators and all of their customers are now satisfied. He also noted that they are a publicly traded company, and that supposedly validates their legitimacy as well.
Both in the 90 minute seminar and in the day long workshop (which was supposed to go until 6:30, but ended two hours earlier than that, even though they kept saying they were behind schedule as they tried to jam in all of the info they wanted to share), they stage little demonstrations where they end up giving away $1, $5, $10 and $20 to attendees... evidently to plant seeds people's minds that money is free-flowing with them... and you can get in on the money bandwagon, too, by signing up with them.
I am always a bit leery when a speaker in a sales presentation gives examples of real-life customer experiences, because they are often bogus, canned, or atypical (and used by every single speaker). Sure enough, the speakers here recanted examples of successful online sellers, sometimes using the same examples that a different speaker used in the 90 minute seminar or which are described in the printed promotional materials. And in all cases, they associate the example with themselves, as if they played a personal role in working with the seller to set up their store. What's ironic about that is that there are tons of complaints online from frustrated sellers who claim they could not get any help from Stores Online staffers...while their seminar and workshop and other materials highlight a few examples of successful sellers who seem to have been working in conjunction with every person who has anything to do with Stores Online.
The speaker at the 90 minute seminar promised that the attendees would receive an invaluable workbook crammed full of ideas to help you better market your internet site. They also stressed that it was filled with all of the details so that you would not have to take any notes. However, whenever a workshop speaker said anything, he would also say "write this down...it's not in your workbook". And what is in that workbook? Honestly, not much. The first chapter is a single page with pricing for the store "certificates". The 2nd chapter is 11 pages devoted to explaining what the internet is, where it came from and some key glossary terms. The third chapter is a one pager telling you to keep an open mind to get the most out of trhe workshop as you can. Chapter 4 is seven pages of overview info telling you that you can sell products or services online to make money, with some trivial tips to help you be sucessful. Chapter 5 is entitled "Do I need a computer?, and also lists some of the mainstream Internet Service providers (AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc.) Chapter 6 contains detailed info on some of the added costs of doing business with Stores Online. (They give you this chapter and others as well, at different times during the day to minimize your opportunity to study them in detail before committing to buy.) Chapter 7 contains seven pages of summary info on the way you can accept orders / payments on the internet (most of which is known by anyone who has ever made an online purchase). Chapter 8 & 9 were not handed out. Chapter 10 is filled with blank pages for you to write notes. Invaluable workbook? Uh, not quite.
The invited seller-speaker from Utah also spent the afternoon hawking an accounting "software" package that he sells online for $695 but would sell to the workshop attendees for that day only for $199. In looking at the description of the software on the order form he handed out, it is not clear what the software actually does other than offer you tutorial advice on taxes... which you can also get from the help tools within packages such as Tax Cut and Turbo Tax for alot less (and get software that helps prepare your taxes as well). He repeatedly commented that anyone who did not buy his package was foolish.
The sales strategies that they use are carefully orchestrated to dissuade you from saying no. They pressure you to act now or you will lose out on the opportunity at great savings. They convey that you are foolish if you don't sign-up and have nothing to lose and everything to gain by buying. And they don't ask you IF you want to buy; they want to know how many bananas to put in your shopping cart.
G
Canyon Country,California,
U.S.A.
More thoughts about the Day Long Waste-of-Time Workshop
#9Author of original report
Wed, September 21, 2005
The first red flag that is set off in the day is that they do not want anyone to ask any questions or make any comments in open forum. Of course, this runs counter to the idea of a "workshop". However, they explain that the reason for this is to stay on schedule. As an alternative, they ask that you write down any questions you have and take them to a Stores Online representative at the back of the room for a personal answer later in the day.
In reality, they hope you just forget about asking. Bottom-line, they do not want anyone to ask the obvious question that scrutinizes the legitimacy of the sales pitch... or for any attendee to make any comment that would open up the eyes of the 300 or so other people in attendance that what Stores Online is offering is not a good deal at all.
In the morning, the host starts off by telling you to ignore any complaints you may have read about the company online. He explained that all large companies get customer complaints, but there is nothing to them, and they have traced back all of the complaints to their originators and all of their customers are now satisfied. He also noted that they are a publicly traded company, and that supposedly validates their legitimacy as well.
Both in the 90 minute seminar and in the day long workshop (which was supposed to go until 6:30, but ended two hours earlier than that, even though they kept saying they were behind schedule as they tried to jam in all of the info they wanted to share), they stage little demonstrations where they end up giving away $1, $5, $10 and $20 to attendees... evidently to plant seeds people's minds that money is free-flowing with them... and you can get in on the money bandwagon, too, by signing up with them.
I am always a bit leery when a speaker in a sales presentation gives examples of real-life customer experiences, because they are often bogus, canned, or atypical (and used by every single speaker). Sure enough, the speakers here recanted examples of successful online sellers, sometimes using the same examples that a different speaker used in the 90 minute seminar or which are described in the printed promotional materials. And in all cases, they associate the example with themselves, as if they played a personal role in working with the seller to set up their store. What's ironic about that is that there are tons of complaints online from frustrated sellers who claim they could not get any help from Stores Online staffers...while their seminar and workshop and other materials highlight a few examples of successful sellers who seem to have been working in conjunction with every person who has anything to do with Stores Online.
The speaker at the 90 minute seminar promised that the attendees would receive an invaluable workbook crammed full of ideas to help you better market your internet site. They also stressed that it was filled with all of the details so that you would not have to take any notes. However, whenever a workshop speaker said anything, he would also say "write this down...it's not in your workbook". And what is in that workbook? Honestly, not much. The first chapter is a single page with pricing for the store "certificates". The 2nd chapter is 11 pages devoted to explaining what the internet is, where it came from and some key glossary terms. The third chapter is a one pager telling you to keep an open mind to get the most out of trhe workshop as you can. Chapter 4 is seven pages of overview info telling you that you can sell products or services online to make money, with some trivial tips to help you be sucessful. Chapter 5 is entitled "Do I need a computer?, and also lists some of the mainstream Internet Service providers (AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc.) Chapter 6 contains detailed info on some of the added costs of doing business with Stores Online. (They give you this chapter and others as well, at different times during the day to minimize your opportunity to study them in detail before committing to buy.) Chapter 7 contains seven pages of summary info on the way you can accept orders / payments on the internet (most of which is known by anyone who has ever made an online purchase). Chapter 8 & 9 were not handed out. Chapter 10 is filled with blank pages for you to write notes. Invaluable workbook? Uh, not quite.
The invited seller-speaker from Utah also spent the afternoon hawking an accounting "software" package that he sells online for $695 but would sell to the workshop attendees for that day only for $199. In looking at the description of the software on the order form he handed out, it is not clear what the software actually does other than offer you tutorial advice on taxes... which you can also get from the help tools within packages such as Tax Cut and Turbo Tax for alot less (and get software that helps prepare your taxes as well). He repeatedly commented that anyone who did not buy his package was foolish.
The sales strategies that they use are carefully orchestrated to dissuade you from saying no. They pressure you to act now or you will lose out on the opportunity at great savings. They convey that you are foolish if you don't sign-up and have nothing to lose and everything to gain by buying. And they don't ask you IF you want to buy; they want to know how many bananas to put in your shopping cart.