D
Washington,#2Consumer 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,#3Consumer 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,#4Consumer 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,#5Consumer 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,#6Author 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,#7Author 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,#8Author 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,#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.