Is Shop to Earn a scam or a legitimate business?
It you’re considering getting involved in ShopToEarn, don’t miss this post with lots of important information!
A fellow financial blogger recently went down the road of examining a new multi-level marketing company called Shop to Earn. He was considering signing up, and did a review based on the information he had up to that point. He asked readers to chime in with their views. Here’s some of what he had to say in that first post:
Pros:
- It’s so early (they just had their first public forum this weekend and it just hit my workplace; I think you’ll be hearing more in the coming weeks, but this is the closest to a “founder” that I’ve ever heard, only 6 or 7 levels away), that the likelihood of making some decent money is quite high.
- Of the various MLMs I’ve had some familiarity with, the time commitment seems quite low. My friend has sworn he’s doing no conferences, no recruiting sessions, etc. He’s signed up a few of his friends and family already and he’s done. At this point, he’ll passively mention it to people as he comes across entrepreneurial types, but he doesn’t “have to” to anything else at this point except watch the checks roll in (and eventually sell or buy some Earthy stuff).
- Each signup’s $100 and 200 points and these points all roll all the way up, so the bigger your network gets, your points end up accruing rather quickly. It’s roughly 10 cents per point, so if there are like 20-30 signups per month under you (many levels), that’s ~$400-$600 per month. It’s not a flat number though, the growth is exponential (unless it dies!)
Cons:
- As is usual for MLMs, there’s an up front buy-in fee. In this case, close to $400 to get the full benefits of a website and business owner. While $400 is nothing to sneeze at, it’s not as bad as some programs I’m familiar with where people have to take on all kinds of inventory, sell stuff, etc. Essentially, at this early juncture, I’m told (and I’m trusting my friend here) that everyone’s making it back in month one and from there, the growth is expected to be explosive.
- Frankly, I don’t like the Earth products. I don’t really see much use for them and I don’t know if I’ll find anything I actually need. Apparently, they’re adding new companies and products as they’re going and at this point, you don’t need to start with the $100 minimum. Apparently, that doesn’t start for a few months, so there’s a period where it’s income only.
- I’ve usually associated people involved in MLMs as being a bit different; especially the enthusiastic ones. My friends are one thing and they never got so into them that they started acting weird, but you always here about the Amway people or the ACN people who go overboard with the whole thing. I don’t want to be “That Guy”. So, all I can do is approach this with great skepticism and balance putting in the time for due diligence with waiting too long and ending up missing the boat while my friend’s bankrolling a few thousand bucks a month.
- It might peter out quickly and it wasn’t worth the time and energy.I might not be able to sign anyone up. I have a few people in mind, and of course, I have Everyday Finance as an outlet, but I’m not turning this blog into an MLM outlet. I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I guess 2 people sounds easy; would have to wait and see.
- Based on the presentation I saw, there are still many unanswered questions. I have a list out to my friend who has access to one of the early adopters, who pretty much knows all the details. I question why much of this isn’t in writing, but I guess if the top members are displeased and feel duped, this would quickly trickle down and everyone would quit and the whole MLM would tumble. So, I tend to trust what I’m hearing; I do fault them for a lack of communication though.
- Apparently, the two people you sign up (or have at least one placed under you) are your left and your right. At least 1/3 of all your points must come from either side to get the cash rewards. The points don’t disappear, but you might have say 10,000 points in queue on the left and only 2,000 on the right. You’d have to get the 2,000 up to 5,000 in order to get your reward of ~$1,500. I can see how this is a tool to keep your network strong on both sides. It’s just not ideal in that it might force you to replace a weak performer later on when you thought you were done putting any time in.
The blogger did not join Shop to Earn, and did a follow-up on the problems he found with the concept. He was planning on joining (ultimately changed his mind, though), and got onto a conference call to find out more. He found the person conducting the call to be a slick talker.
He was able to log into the site for a demo to see exactly how things worked, and here are a few things he found:
When clicking around the personnel network in the top earner profile, I noticed something pretty odd. Many of the people pretty close to the top, just a few levels below him, were already inactive, meaning they exercised the 14 day opt-out option.
Why would people who got in so early opt out when they stood to make so much money?
Next, I noticed an interesting geometric pattern. Especially for an initial member…a guy at the top…I figured his network would be filled up completely underneath him. But it wasn’t.
What I actually saw was that he had primarily filled up tons of people out his outer LEFT and RIGHT legs, but the center of the triangle was virtually EMPTY! This leads me to the FLAW.
Since you’re only able to sign up one person on your left and one on your right, what do you do with the extra people you sign up? If you sign up, say 4 people in your first month trying to get that “Score” bonus of 5 required, you end up basically forcing these new 3rd and 4th people under someone else below you.
[snip]
What I discovered through both the telecon and through asking questions of a member is that they actually recommend that you seek to place all additional signups on your outermost left and outermost right legs. This drives an exponential increase in membership the deeper you make those outer legs. Why waste time building up 1 level below you when you can build 6 levels down on the outside, right?…still seems OK I guess…
[snip]
Where this is problematic is that you only get your bonuses if your points are distributed with AT LEAST 1/3 on your RIGHT and 1/3 on your LEFT. Now, this is where the trouble comes in. By looking at the picture above, you probably shrug this off, right? You say, as long as each of the guys directly under me perform well, my points will usually be like 60/40, 40/60 drift and I’ll always get paid, right? WRONG. What struck me as I thought more about it is that YOU ARE ON THE OUTER LEG OF THE PERSON ABOVE YOU!
Because you are on someone else’s outer leg by necessity, you are locked into a massively lopsided point score immediately. You want that bonus, right? Well, by the time you figure this out, you’ve already placed multiple members on your outer left and right legs. Well, that outer left leg is like 6 deep in a week and the point score on the left has now run away from you because the guy above you is placing more people on that leg. If you want that bonus, you better work like hell to get 5-10 signups over on your right side.
Guess what? The same thing is happening to the guy above you. The same thing’s happening to the woman above him. It’s beautiful- Beautifully Evil. It forces everyone in the chain below say, the top couple founders, to scramble to fix this weighting issue. It forces them into a panic to sign up more and more people. Since everyone’s in the same boat, it’s a runaway scenario though, they cannot keep up because everyone above and below them are facing the same scenario. This now explains why one of the initial members had total empty slots in the center of his triangle and why others were dropping out so early on. They may have figured it out!
What is all of this saying? The only way to get your bonus money is with a somewhat balanced downline in order to meet the requirement of at least 1/3 of your total points on each side. If one side of your downline explodes, you won’t get your bonus unless you can add people (and points) to the other side.
And people above you can add to your legs, meaning that you have little control over this balancing issue. Oh sure, it sounds good that someone above you added to your downline. After all, you get a cut of the action. But if a person added to one side of your downline causes you to go out of balance, you forfeit your bonus money. Not so good.
I am going to look into this company more and write up some of my thoughts. I will say that this has some common red flags of fraud: It seems to have an overcomplicated pay plan. It relies on an endless chain of recruiting of new members. It seems to only offer a substantial benefit to early adopters.
MLM’s are all about getting the serfs to work their tails off for next to nothing and channeling the bulk of the profit to the top.
Take a look at Amex’s so called financial advisers. It is the same game but for much higher stakes. They get young people right out of college and promise to train them to be financial advisers. What they really get trained in is how to pitch a rigid script, just like STE. The only way they can make their quotas is to bring in their natural clients, as in friends and family.
Most only last a year or so, but once all their friends and family are signed up the people doing the pitch are expendable and the people they sign up are stuck with expensive exits or a long term low yield contract. Win-win for Amex at the expense of large numbers of losers.
The difference between Amex and STE is that one is big enough to get away with it and the other isn’t.
Good business relationships are built on mutual and equitable profit. Unfortunately there are lots of businesses whose models are built on gouging a steady stream of new marks.
Amex credit cards are just as lousy a deal as their financial services.
Check out http://www.AmexSux.com. And no, I do not own the site but I would have if someone hadn’t beat me to it.
Ronald J. Riley,
Speaking only on my own behalf.
Affiliations:
President – http://www.PIAUSA.org – RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director – http://www.InventorEd.org – RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow – http://www.patentPolicy.org
President – Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (202) 318-1595 – 9 am to 9 pm EST.
Ok, so what are your facts? What are your stats? What is your reasoning? Its well known that 95% of the U.S. population has FAILED and can’t survive financially at age 65 and beyond as I stated before, wouldn’t you say that is the biggest scheme/scam in the history of the world? These aren’t my stats; they come fro the social security administration. 95% of all small to medium size traditional turn key businesses fail within 5 years!!!! Tracy, statistically they would all be considered scams, RIGHT? Do you not agree with this? If not then please enlighten me? Because if you go by statistics, you have a better chance at succeeding in this industry then having a job or owning your own business and it’s not going to cost you your whole life, or bank loads of money to figure it out. So how does what you say make any sense based on facts?? Tell me because I truly want to know. Go to school; pay thousands of dollars for an education and HOOOOORRRAAAAAY you FAIL! But you think that MLM/Network Marketing is bad? Are you kidding? If what you said made sense I would listen, but it does not. But hey this is what makes the world go around, there are people like you and people like me. If we were all the same, life would be boring! LOL
Alvy – I invite you to support your 95% figure. Please give me the link where this statistic is proven.
My numbers come from here:
http://pyramidschemealert.org/PSAMain/news/MythofIncomeReport.html
This report uses figures reported by the MLMs themselves to show how many people lose money in this industry.
I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying about going to school and failing. The vast majority of people who get a college education and wish to be gainfully employed are able to do so, so I don’t understand the failure behind going to college.
Sadly, participating in MLM has cost millions of people “bank loads of money.” Their families suffer because of it. They have credit card debt because of it. And as I’ve said over and over on this site, I’m not just talking about those you would deem lazy losers. I’m also talking about people who devoted years of their lives working 40 to 60 hours a week on developing their MLM distributorship… and now they have only debt to show for it.
Ronald, I completely agree. I’m simply stating that to say that all MLM/Network Marketing/Direct Sales companies are bad is foolish, how someone could disagree with that makes no sense to me.
I know a friend that joined the YTB network and has been in it for about 6 or so months. I just talked to another friend and i asked how he was doing and he said he he puts all of his time into it even traveling to different states for conventions and seminars. He is by no means lazy and also holds a full time job. My friend says that he is deep into it and has a negative return from his efforts, but it’s as if it got “cultish”. My friend has tried to talk him out of it, but is obsessed with the making it work. I also was told that the so called “support group” was more like that of Scientology. Making it very difficult to leave or having that type of emotional and mental control over an individual. Look…this is a true story and it is very sad that this is happening to a decent person.
I have heard of someone making $500.00 but really nothing significant. It just is not worth the headache and time it takes to get a few bucks. why drag your friends, family and yourself into such a scheme. Your only making someone else rich from your time and efforts… from your family and friends. And these guys are just laughing all the way to the bank.
Some of these bloggers may be higher on the pyramid or some may be real optimistic in their early stage. They will write anything to defend their scheme… wouldn’t you? don’t trust what you read. Just check out politics today are you watching the debates? people will tell you what you want to hear and if you are struggling or want easy money you will be taken by a savvy talker.
Be the leader and not the follower! That , after all is an MLM principle.
One more note:
I have been to a few meetings of different MLM’s is it a coincidence that the hosts they all have the same pitch…the same smarmy sales like tactics? They are just to creepy. They all seem like the stepford wives
Yep – The MLM pushers are, of course, going to say only positive things because of the slight chance that they might recruit someone. They’re constantly on the hunt.
Similar pitches and tactics work because they’re so effective! If you’ve ever been involved in an MLM, pick up a copy of Believe: The Movie. It’s a comedy (fiction) about MLM, and I would put money on it that whatever MLM you participated in used the same lines as in the movie.
Tracy, what do you do for your profession?
What I do is all over this website.
I have a few questions:
1. In corporate america, do the people at the top make all the money,
Yes or No?
2. Do the people who get involved with a company in the begining, lets use microsoft as an example stand to make more money than the people who come along later, Yes or No?
3. In corporate america can employee on the sales floor at lets use Home Depot as an example make more than a VP, Yes or No?
4. Can someone buy into a franchise for lots of $$$$$$ and fail, Yes or No?
5. When you own a business and have employees,do you make money off of their efforts, Yes or No?
6. If you buy stocks at $10.00 a share and sell at $40.00 a share do you make money off the people who bought later, Yes or No?
7. If you buy a home at 150k and sell it for 250k are you making money off of someone, Yes or No?
8. In corporate america can you be the most productive employee in the organization and get passed on a promotion by someone who is far less productive than you because of who they are friends with, Yes or No?
I mean, honestly I could go on and on and on but when people are un-willing to see things for what they are its like trying to wake the dead.
Wow, how depressing
Alvy – None of your questions represents a valid comparison to MLM. The most common one (that MLM is just like corporate America) is the most obviously ridiculous.
In corporate America, people get regular paychecks for their work. In MLM, you must pay to play, and 99% will put more in than they ever get out. So while executives are paid more than their subordinates, all get paid. In MLM, less than 1% get paid.
All of these comparisons are made to make MLM look legitimate, but they’re just not apples to apples comparisons.
“I mean, honestly I could go on and on and on but when people are un-willing to see things for what they are its like trying to wake the dead.”
Then what are you doing here? Don’t you have a business to run?
Oh, that’s right…
No, I don’t find my career depressing at all. I actually enjoy investigating fraud.
You get to give your OPINIONS on what YOU think is wrong with this industry, while a bunch of people are living the good life!!! Like I said before there are opposites for everything in life
Quitters/People who never tryWinners/risk takers
Who says I’m not living the good life? And you should know that I find great joy in educating consumers about the real facts behind MLM schemes.
Wake-up, what are you doing here?
MLM/Network Marketing been around for more than 50 years and is a legitimate business world wide, just not to you. Direct selling has been around for 100 years and is a legitimate business worldwide, just not to you. Your opinion, not fact!
LOL your funny
I’m not only funny, I know how to spell too.
LOL, yeah spelling and math, just were not my strength. Have a good night.
I agree 100% with Tracy’s comments in this forum.
ShoptoEarn is a Scam that’s it.
Recruiting recruiting recruiting is the name of the game here….No one is thinking in buying from the websites……just recruit and make money!
Sorry but this business will not stay for a long run…you will see.
Thanks
Danny
Danny – Thanks for agreeing with me, but please stop trying to promote your own scam. If you link to it again, your comments will be rejected.
Alvey,
You mentioned in an earlier blog: “Everything in life Quitters/People who never tryWinners/risk takers”. You seem to have forgotten the Gamblers. And even a gambler has better odds than 1 to 99. In fact if i was considering joining I would actually recommend taking a large sum of money and just plopping down on ‘Red or Black” hey at least I have an almost 50/50 chance (those damn 00/0 can really piss you off though:) Plus you, your friends and family don’t have to waste countless days, moths perhaps years of precious time. You can figure out your fate in seconds and it could pay off BIG. Most people, almost all people, when put this way would not even think of it, but yet you actually have a better chance….how interesting.
Anyway…. could you tell us your percentage findings of people that actually succeed (not just making a few bucks either, i mean real money) and where we may find them.
Also, anyone who takes the time to spell check and proof read his/hers writing would look like a pro. So don’t feel so gifted because “you can spell”. whippee doo da look at me i can spell durr my name is alvy errr ahhh “which way did he go george, which way did he go”
I rarely check my grammar due to ….i don’t care. Just have to be honest with myself.
Spelling is not a great feat these days in case you did not know that. But what really tells us your I.Q. is your MLM rhetoric.
I give you a D I would have given you an F, but you can spell.
I must amend my last blog entry:(
I made an awful mistake. Reading through the countless email bogs i got this morning i though Alvey wrote the whole ” i can spell” bit. He did not.
My mistake and i apologize. I give you a C instead of a D.
WOOHOO!!! I finally got my chargeback!! Only took two months.(one waiting for legit refund and one doing a chargeback) Now let’s see some of those proof of income’s posted. On all of the blogs regarding STE there are plenty of people saying they will show the proof…WHERE IS IT?!?!?! I know you all should have been paid AGAIN on the 21st. Surely by now that money has cleared your account. Is it what you were expecting? How much of that check didn’t make it because one leg was shorter or STE added a few last minute members to the other to throw it off for you? I know the scam…now ‘fess up. Let’s see those MILLIONS!!! HAHAHAHAHA
My friend was expecting $1800. I told him there was no way he was getting it. He kept insisting that his legs were close enough to even and this month he was sure he was getting it. He got it alright…$105.00 somehow, yet again the legs collapsed. His check went to $485.00 and only $105.00 of it supposedly qualified for this paydate and the rest goes to next.(this way they have more time to wipe the rest of it away)
You know why this bothers me? My friend can’t afford STE. He spent money on his credit card he didn’t have because he was sure he would make money. I signed up as well, but I could afford the risk. This guy has a family and he is losing his A$$, not to mention his wife is flipping out on him. He was counting on that money that he worked relentlessly to ‘earn’ as he recruited everyone he could, even promising he would guarantee them their money back if they didn’t get paid!!!(that’s a whole different problem now)
The bottom line is that this whole thing is ridiculous, illegal and ruining people’s lives. Someone needs to put an end to this. When I signed up back in July, there were only about 5000 members, now it’s over 25000 and growing in suckers.
Revised blog without the “Alvey statement”
You mentioned in an earlier blog: “Everything in life Quitters/People who never tryWinners/risk takers”. You seem to have forgotten the Gamblers. And even a gambler has better odds than 1 to 99. In fact if i was considering joining I would actually recommend taking a large sum of money and just plopping down on ‘Red or Black” hey at least I have an almost 50/50 chance (those damn 00/0 can really piss you off though:) Plus you, your friends and family don’t have to waste countless days, moths perhaps years of precious time. You can figure out your fate in seconds and it could pay off BIG. Most people, almost all people, when put this way would not even think of it, but yet you actually have a better chance….how interesting.
Anyway…. could you tell us your percentage findings of people that actually succeed (not just making a few bucks either, i mean real money) and where we may find them.
Kudos to WaitingForRefund for being honest of their experience. Two months for a refund? Way to go STE! Just another blemish on your stinkin’ company. If you’re trying to avoid negative feedback you should do simple things like giving refunds to people that want out and are within the refund policies. 2 MONTHS????????? Now, please, let’s hear from others that have been scammed. Try to help others from being scammed.
Alvy,
I post on here because I, like WaitingForRefund, have friends who joined this crap thinking of making money. They invested $450, have to recruit (scam), have to pay $100 a month for INFLATED priced products, and have actually lost money. You do make some points about MLMs but we’re talking about STE. This is a pyramid, IMHO, and call a duck a duck.
One person who tried to convince me of how great this is said, “I’ve been in for only 2 weeks and I’ve made $250 and once I recruit one more I’ve recouped my money. It’s been about a month since that and they haven’t recruited anyone else and now they have to pay a minimum of $100 for the monthly fee. The person that was with her was one of their marks (recruit). They’ve made $0.00 in over a month.
Let’s do a little math and I’ll help.
$450 (sign up), $100 MINIMUM monthly MANDATORY fee for a total of $550 MINIMUM. Two recruits +200. So $550 – $200= NEGATIVE $350 in one month.
The second person whom I referred to above is even more simple. $450 start up fee and $0.00 made. NEGATIVE $450
GUESS WHO MADE MONEY?????????
I didn’t know that employees at Microsoft, Home Depot, etc. have to pay to become an employee???? As YOU referenced above. Secondly, I didn’t know they also have to pay a minimum monthly fee buying inflated priced products to receive their paychecks? Don’t employees usually get a significant “Employee Discount” when they buy products from their company? I definitely don’t want to work at a company that you own if you’re going to charge me to start working for you and then I have to pay you monthly, as described above. ESPECIALLY, WHY WOULD I WORK AND PAY YOU WHEN THERE ARE THE SAME WEBSITES OUT THERE THAT ARE FREE?????????????
Wake Up!
Wakeup, I feel the same way that you all do about STE, I am not involved with them and never would be and I agree that the way that their business model is set up it appears that they would be considered a pyramid scheme, based on FTC regulations. I agree with what is being said about STE.
I was able to get a full refund. The address is Shop to Earn, 3441 South Eastern Ave, Las Vegas NV 89109. I sent it certified mail and i also emailed thier lawyer. I was in the 14 day opt out.
Right after that i created my own shoping affilate site to get money back on purchases. And it contains the same merchants.
You can do it too. Just look at http://www.allthebestshopping.com
Alvy … you claim, “95% of all small to medium size traditional turn key businesses fail within 5 years!!!!”
The SBA, the SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, says over 50% of small businesses close in the first five years … considerably less than what you claim.
“Close” does not equal “fail” or “went bankrupt”. Because closures are tracked by counting permits and licenses, you can’t tell why a business is not longer there, it is just not there. Yes, some lose money and truly fail. Some businesses close because the owner retires or sells, some “close” because of a name change, some merge with another business, some close because the owner and business move to a different city or state and the licensing changes.
**************
1. In corporate america, do the people at the top make all the money, Yes or No?
No! I regularly get a paycheck from “corporate america”, as does my boyfriend. The paychecks are well into the “executive income” range, far higher than those received by all but a few MLM upliners, and include health benefits, stock bonuses, performance bonuses, and paid time off.
Training, business travel, conferences, and the like are paid for by the company, and they would repay expenses for college.
They pay the rent and utilities, buy the office equipment and supplies, pay for the advertising, pay for the samples kits the sales staff uses, make sure the payroll is met, etc. All I have to do to get that executive salary is show up and do the work they hired me for.
It’s a sweet deal! You really should try it sometime.
2. Do the people who get involved with a company in the beginning, lets use microsoft as an example stand to make more money than the people who come along later, Yes or No?
Sometimes – many of the “Microsoft millionaires” turned into thousandaires when the stock price dropped. One guy who left MSFT and sold all his stock right at the peak had only been working there about 3 years and he made out like a bandit.
I know people who were long-time manufacturing employees, and by doing the 401K, buying and keeping stock, and taking advantage of the employer’s retirement plans, retired with a net worth of a couple MILLION bucks, plus their retirement pay. These were assembly line workers!
With nasty old corporate America’s “vested pension plans”, if you leave one company, you don’t lose everything you have acquired. Heck, if you resign or get fired, you keep your vested pension and stocks in your 401K.
What happens to your invested time and effort if you leave an MLM? Can you sell your downline? Will you keep collecting commissions? Or does it all end up with your team becomeing an upliner’s team?
3. In corporate america can employee on the sales floor at lets use Home Depot as an example make more than a VP, Yes or No?
HD employees are working straight salary, with benefits. If they sell one pack of faucet washers, they make the same as if they sold enough plumbing for a whole house. If the customer returns the washers, or the plumbing, they don’t have their pay docked.
In car sales, real estate, and insurance, I know several people who make more than their manager, broker, or VP of sales In publishing, many writers (working for royalties) make far more than the publisher’s staff.
4. Can someone buy into a franchise for lots of $$$$$$ and fail, Yes or No?
Of course, just as you can inherit a thriving company and ruin it, The big franchises, like McDonalds, insist that you show existing business experience or education, send you to their schools,and have a pile of operating manuals to minimize it.
Unlike MLMs, they also LIMIT the number of franchisees in an area to maximize the possibility that the franchise will succeed. MLMs have no control on the number of resellers, and a low cost of entry, which means most of them are unlikely to make enough to live on.
Thank you Tracy for understanding.
Well I have spent 3+ hours reading this entire blog and I would like to thank Tracy, Robinator and Jerry C for all of their entries on this site. I joined STE 13 days ago and will be opting for a REFUND immediately. If you don’t have time to read this entire site, I would primarily focus on Tracy, Robinator Ronald Riley and Jerry Cs entries – they were the MOST BENEFICIAL for me personally. The bottom line for me is that I don’t want to spend my time trying to recruit my friends and family to recover my initial $448 investment and make money by placing new recruits under the predicament I got myself into – get your investment back and hope that your family and friends can get their investments back and so on. Its a never ending cycle and as a christian, it makes no sense to put your fellow man in that predicament just so you can make a buck. Its not in me or my wife to try to work in a “business opportunity” line into a conversation with family or friends and then have them later find out that they too have to get 3 people to join and spend $100/month on green products with inflated prices (Robinator -you are THE MAN! – Thanks for the research!) to recover their investment, not to mention the high risk that the FTC shuts this thing down. This was an education for me and time well spent. I’m getting my money back and I appreciate the people who have laid out the facts and analyses. A sincere THANK YOU to all!
I am still getting bombarded with info from an acquaintance who insists this is the wave of the future. As if discount online shopping never existed before STE. I must laugh.
There are supposedly 39,000 members in this sect. And I’m sure none will ever have to work another 8 to 5 job again. Good luck with that.
Hi,
I’ve also read the entire blog and want to thank all contributors, especially Tracy. The information shared here is beneficial for people who are thinking about joining STE and other similar shameful life-ruining ‘occurrences’ – can’t believe someone had the greedy nerve to come up with these. It’s just unfortunate that so many have lost money but hopefully they learned the lesson. I am in Canada and got invited to start learning about STE – with the caveat that it’s not here yet but coming soon… no thanks!
Good luck to everyone with their aspirations.
You’re welcome.
Update:
My friend Derek has been in STE for 7 weeks and has made over $4000.00, yes I verified and he really make 4k. As all of you know, I have been saying that the FTC is definitely going to be looking into STE and after speaking with Derek today I am even more convinced. He is a newbie to this industry and when I explained to him about the FTC regulations on what is considered an illegal pyramid scheme and what is not, he turned white! I’m not kidding; he told me that he did not make any money at all from selling product, because he sold NOTHING!!!!! So that income was solely made from recruiting!!!! Now he is nervous because he has friends and family that joined up based on his recommendation because they trust him!!!
Doesn’t it concern anyone that there is not phone number or email for STE????? How do you contact them? Do you need to mail them a letter to contact them? I find that very strange!
Robinator,
You’re so cynical and negative. LOL!!
One more thought…Yes you need to spend 100.00 per month, but ONLY if you want to SCORE which means get overrides and points from people in your network. Now here is how I view this…for 100.00 per month, but it really comes out to 80.00 per month because of the 15-20% off you get when you buy earth friendly products from the shop to Earth sites. To me 80.00 per month is not a lot of money to own your own business. I have a friend who owns a small plumbing business he spends on average 6000.00 per month on insurance, inventory, gas, wear and tear on the trucks etc. etc. etc. So for me to spend 80.00 per month to have someone manage my web page to do all the work of book keeping and all others duties to own a business…it does not sound bad to me! Yes… my writings are positive, but that’s all I have seen so far! Oh…did I mention that I’m not just giving 80.00 a month away??? I’m getting product and having someone manage my web page and my books…Thanks again…just my 2 cents!
Charlie – You don’t “own your own business.” STE owns your business. They give you the right to use their website for as long as they permit you to. But you don’t own anything at all.
You’ve got to be kidding me Charlie. Wow, Tracy no wonder these people fall for this.
How long have been involved with this Charlie?
There really is nothing further to debate about this issue, so comments on this thread are closed.