Complaint Review: SMC SPECIALTY MERCHANDISE CORPORATION - California

Ron, How can you defend a business like SMC? I would be ashamed to say I have an SMC business! They way they treat people is ridiculous! You do know when SMC goes belly up you will to! The way there customer service is, I bet they wont even contact you when they do go out of business! SMC must be putting a lot of anal lube in your butt cause you don't even know your getting SCREWED! SMC is a RIPOFF! SMC IS The BIGGEST RIPOFF IN THE BUSINESS HISTORY!

I am starting my second calendar year with SMC and I have profited well over $6,000 in just 7 months. I do this business part time and their products literally sell themselves. I started out by buying a catalog kit for just $50. It contained primary catalogs, their top seller collection catalog (Bayberry) and specific product brochures. My first month I sold $750 and profited about $300. This paid for my membership fee and the catalog kit and still left me with gas money. The next month I ran "10% off Specials" for my customers and sold another $1200. I made $500 profit. Once I reached the $2500 mark, this year's renewal is now FREE. In fact, since i sold over $5,000, I have received a refund of my membership. The funny thing is that I joined only to personally buy the products at a discount. I never intended to do this as a business. I was never really out any money when I did start retailing as I collected the money in advance since I live 10 minutes away from the warehouse and pick up my orders at will call. (Saves on shipping for an even higher profit margin) Now I keep products in stock for pending holidays as I have found that last minute shoppers love the convenience of buying from me. Running a business is hard work and it takes time and dedication to build it up. You get out of it what you put into it.

SMC is like almost every other company in shipping and stuff. I also sell Avon and we have a sliding profit scale, plus shipping, plus a lot of other charges too. course, to sell Avon we didn't have to pay a 300.00 fee either, it was like 15.00, and we get new catalogs every two weeks. and we are not afraid to say the word Avon. and Avon is way older than SMC. 120 years +.but, we also have simular problems too. we have people that will train thier people properly and help them get on thier feet. and we have those that basicly say, sign here, do this, and enjoy.

Jeffry in Albany NY, you make some good points with your perspective on SMC, Importer, Got it. the business system they sell is proprietary in nature geared to get rich quick types, however you stated you are doing an independent E-Commerce site featuring several of these dropship type outfits, this is a brilliant strategy I had not thought of and if you can get good hits and traffic from the search engines this could be something worth looking into further. i am attempting to draw some attention to this because it is a good idea and one of the main reasons i come to these forums. you have made the time i spent browsing this site worthwhile.Any other tips concerning processing and logistics you have to offer would be welcomed.i plan to revisit this post.

Regarding SMC being a ripoff, I would disagree for the most part, but not entirely. First, I have started, owned and operated 5 businesses in 25 years and am 53 trs. young. The avg. successful entrepreneur owned 5 businesses and was 55 yrs. of age before financial success and independence. SMC is a wholesaler/importer. Period. If you look at it like that, as I did, then you will be ahead of the game. If you are searching for someone to hold your hand, tell you all you eed and help you run your business... go get a job. That's not happening. I just bought an SMC membership, got the free website (non e-commerce) and free domain. But I had already searched and researched, and still am. I found another e-commerce company, not SMC, to build and host the site for a fraction of what SMC charges. Now I am lining up other drop-ship wholesalers in adition to SMC. Also, I searched the domains prior to signing up, and I landed almost the exact same SMC own domain name, free. Last, I have purchased software ($29)to promote the site, and a book form the internets leading online store authority on how to use the software I bought to market the site. And, I hired a professional marketing company to build, design and initially market the site so I would be free to learn. Total cost, $1400. I will be surprised if I do not gross $100,000 sales in my first year. That is my goal. Through SMC I have 3800 products. By March I expect to have over 20,000 products and may break the business into several. Bottom line, go in with your eyes wide open, expect to lose, but RESEARCH and keep learning... and remember to learn from your mistakes, don't give up, just do it again. You will eventually get it. Maybe before you are my age. :>) Cheers! Now go have a (locally brewed only, please) beer.

I am so sorry to have read about the tremendous number of people who have had terrible experiences with SMC. I was about to give SMC a call in order to get enrol, because I was looking for a second income. However, I decided to go to ripoffreport.com before I make my final decision. Lo and behold look what I have found. These stories are outrageous, and I do feel very sorry for everyone that has suffered their lost of hard earned money. Anyway, my search for a very good Company did not stop and I have finally found one that charges you not ONE PENNY to get started. that is the reason I am writing this update, so that all those who suffered with SMC can now turn around and become part of a Company that is really helping people. sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either the name of a competitive business, a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. This Company is great and you can have your worldwide web site in a few minutes, without paying a cent. Yes, it is absolutely free. I do hope that all you take advantage of this offer, and I know that you will find the success that you were seeking when you sent your hard earned money to SMC. I am not a selfish person, and I am quite aware of how hard it is to earn money, and after reading about all of the bad experiences people have had with SMC. Deep within me I had to share my success with everyone out there. Good luck and have a healthy and prosperous New Year. Thank you.

WILL GIVE IT A LITTLE MORE TIME? I REALLY DO NOT WANT TO DISCOURAGE OTHERS BECAUSE OF MY EXPERIENCE. JUST SUGGEST EVERYONE DO THEIR HOMEWORK IN ADVANCE.

WHOEVER TIMOTHY IS, HE STARTED OUT WITH A PLEASANT REBUTTAL, AND ENDED UP SOUNDING LIKE A SPOILED CHILD. PLEASE LET ME HEAR BACK FROM YOU IN A YEAR AND LET ME KNOW IF YOUR SMC BUSINESS IS THRIVING. FOR YOUR SAKE, I HOPE SO, BUT FOR MOST IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

BY THE WAY, DID YOUR PARENTS TELL YOU TO SHUT UP A LOT WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD? CERTAINLY, YOUR LEARNED YOUR RUDE BEHAVIOR FROM SOMEONE.

WHOEVER TIMOTHY IS, HE STARTED OUT WITH A PLEASANT REBUTTAL, AND ENDED UP SOUNDING LIKE A SPOILED CHILD. PLEASE LET ME HEAR BACK FROM YOU IN A YEAR AND LET ME KNOW IF YOUR SMC BUSINESS IS THRIVING. FOR YOUR SAKE, I HOPE SO, BUT FOR MOST IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

BY THE WAY, DID YOUR PARENTS TELL YOU TO SHUT UP A LOT WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD? CERTAINLY, YOUR LEARNED YOUR RUDE BEHAVIOR FROM SOMEONE.

WHOEVER TIMOTHY IS, HE STARTED OUT WITH A PLEASANT REBUTTAL, AND ENDED UP SOUNDING LIKE A SPOILED CHILD. PLEASE LET ME HEAR BACK FROM YOU IN A YEAR AND LET ME KNOW IF YOUR SMC BUSINESS IS THRIVING. FOR YOUR SAKE, I HOPE SO, BUT FOR MOST IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

BY THE WAY, DID YOUR PARENTS TELL YOU TO SHUT UP A LOT WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD? CERTAINLY, YOUR LEARNED YOUR RUDE BEHAVIOR FROM SOMEONE.

I joined SMC in July of 2004. As of last month I have sold well over $6,000 in SMC merchandise. I have a full time job and do SMC on a less then part time basis. I am tired of reading all the negative remarks made by people who are failures and blame SMC. These people do not have any understanding of what a business is. SMC provides ordinary people the opportunity to sell over 3000 thousand items. These are items everyone buys. They offer a very attractive catalog which showcases the items. As far as the $300 membership goes this is peanuts in comparison to the amount of money you will make. I made my membership back in sales after two days of showing the catalog. In a traditional business one needs to pay rent, sales tax, advertising, insurance, employees, electric, heating, and headaches. All of this does not guarantee your business will succeed . All business takes hard work and persistence and so does SMC. It will not show the catalogs for you, talk to people for you that is your job. But they will provide you with great customer service. You can order online, by phone have them ship merchandise directly to your customer and so much more. You can even have your own sales force working for you. People who fail at this business are people who make excuses. After working out a strategy with my coach I went into 20 different retail stores such as pharmacies, gift shops, florists, religious stores, convenience stores and gas stations to show the catalog. And guess what only about 7 of them order from me almost every week. That's a about $400 to $700 a week in sales. Imagine if I had all 20 stores ordering every week. Then I put an ad in the paper for motivated sales people to make 50 to 60% commission a week in sales. I wholesale the products to them and they do all the work. Out of 16 people who applied and started selling only 4 have remained each sells an average $300 a week. How much easier could a business get. I have no over head no real employees and best of all no headaches. If the sales staff doesn't produce they don't earn money. I hope that by June of next year I will quit my job and start full time. So for all of you cry babies out there I am glad you do not sell SMC. Please stay at your 9 to 5 jobs being broke and always complaining about having no money. You will probably fail at anything you do.

I have been a member of smc since September and you just need to know how to make it work for you as with any other business. I have never been told that my products are too expensive and as far as your coach is concerned then maybe you should have asked for a new one because SMC will not do your business for you so shut up and quit complaining about how you faild your self because that is all it boils down to.