Storesonline Review – Part 2
In the afternoon session of the storesonline workshop, we were taught five strategies to help us succeed in our online business.
The first was on the use of joint ventures. Bascially, a joint venture is a collaboration where two partners cooperate to earn money. For example, person A might have a product but no traffic while person B might have traffic that is relevant to person A’s product. So person B sends traffic to person A and they share the profits.
Kory did not really go in depth into this strategy but he shared one of his methods of doing JVs. Basically, it was to search the search engines for a particular keyword and then go a few pages deep in the search to find a partner to do JVs with.
This was a decent strategy but his next step of this strategy spoilt it all. He told us that we could simply duplicate the entire site (with minor changes), get it to the top ten of the search engines and start making money! He made is sound very easy but it doesn’t take a genius to realise straight away that:
1) We will get into potential copyright issues.
2) Duplicate sites are not favoured by search engines and hence do not rank well.
3) It takes good quality (and relevant) inbound links to rank well search engines. If an existing site (with established links) can’t rank well, what more about a new site?
He then showed us his tax site where he’s using this strategy. I can’t find his exact site now but it looks something like this. Apparently, many people had already copied his idea. But seriously, would you buy from a site like that? For that matter, would it even rank well for relevant tax keywords?
You need to build trust in order to sell anything online!
Strategy two was about search engine optimization. He gave us a few rules for getting our websites ranked well. Keywords appearing in url, titles, descriptions, etc. Pretty basic but useful stuff.
There was a demonstration of a storesonline tool that was able to analyse the top ranked (on search engines) sites and provide a comprehensive report. We were told that with this tool, we could use the report to copy what they did and get our sites ranked in the top ten listings. Would this work? Go figure.
The third strategy was not on how to make money, but on how to save money by buying cheap items on ebay. The gist of it was that there were some ebay sellers who had typo errors in their item title and description. These items had no bidders because no one could find them. Thus, we would be able to buy them cheaply. To find those words commonly typed wrongly, you can make use of fat fingers.
While there could be a couple of really blur people, my opinion is that the majority of sellers on ebay are quite experienced. Some sellers might have purposely mis-spelled their item listings to reach more buyers. As for why they would sell their items cheaply, I’m sure you will be able to figure it that out. But this idea is still worth a shot as we can use it to find items that has less competitive bidding.
The fourth strategy was on the use of vertical portals. Essentially it meant having multiple websites with different products down the product chain.
The fifth strategy was on the use of affiliate programs for selling products. Having an affiliate program is a must have if you are selling any of your own products. This one is a no brainer.
The guaranteed method to get your website on the first page of a search engine within three days turned out to be using pay per click advertising (as expected). There was a very brief introduction about using ppc on overture and some using tips like bidding on non main stream words and mis-spelled words.
Overall, the workshop provided a fair bit of content but some people might be misled by some of their strategies which wouldn’t work. They made it sound very easy and many people were tempted to just jump right into it by buying their software and hosting.
I wouldn’t call the storesonline product a outright scam but at the price they were selling, it was definitely a rip-off. There are defintely better alternatives around.
For example, Sitesell provides more than what Storesonline was providing for less than 10% of the price and has most of the things that you need to get started online. It is something that I would recommend if you want to build a profitable website. For more details on the different alternatives available to you, please read my article Building Your Website.
Furthermore, the top few results in the search engines about storesonline were mostly complaints (too numerous) about their prices and customer service. There was even a website setup for people to re-sell (or get rid of) their multiple sites purchased from storesonline. Not to mention the multiple name changes of the company. This is surely a red flag.
If you found this storesonline review useful and feel your friends might benefit from it, please do tell them about it.
There have been questions on the blog about getting in touch with Mari Silva. In order to contact her directly, you need to call 801-234-5976 or email her at msilva@storesonline.com. Mari is working with merchants and others who have questions about StoresOnline and seems to be very passionate about her work. She is someone you can talk to and get help from, so I recommend that you get in touch with her.
Dave: I did email her and haven’t heard back in a week or so. Why is she asking us to contact her? Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Bruce: I have been in contact with many respondents to blogs, not only by email but by phone as well on a daily basis. These questions and concerns are of the utmost importance to StoresOnline, so we do not miss a response, however you have stated that I did not email you back.
I personally invite you to call me directly at 801-234-5976 so that we can discuss whatever questions you may have.
You asked why I am asking people to contact me. The answer is clear: these blogs are a place where people are going for information. StoresOnline should have the opportunity to provide information and a direct official contact to these people. I take this work very seriously and this is why I have put my information out here.
From you posts, it seems like you may have other questions that I can answer. Until I hear from you, I will look forward to your call.
I have a free genealogy website I built several years ago but not one for selling anything. My husband and I attended the 90 minute seminar in Poplar Bluff Missouri last night. I came home after purchasing the $50 dollar empty notebook and minature mp3 player (LOL). I went to the storesonlineexpress website (thinking about logging in) but my little voice said “You don’t even have a product in mind yet, slow down, don’t get in and screw something up that you can’t undo” so I just looked around. The first thing I noticed was that the “testimonials” were the exact ones the speaker had mentioned. Are they the only satisified customers? This was enough to set a bell off and I decided to google storesonlineexpress, just like that all one word….. I found this site and have been reading and following links all night. I went to the BBB this morning and found their report. Looking at the most recent dates, I am wondering if they slowed down for a while or got better? I noticed that the rip off web site now says they are ok. Please let me know if you guys are still experiencing problems. I am going to attend the all day workshop in Cape Girardeau Missouri on the 9th of September mainly out of curiosity. I will not be purchasing anything!! I would like to know if any of you were compensated or if you still are having problems. Thank you email: crankiemo@yahoo.com
I guess lack of sleep causes vision problems… after posting I reviewed and noticed more recent dates. I will just go on about my business and consider it a lesson learned. Thanks.
THANK YOU,THANK YOU,THANK YOU. I just went to the seminar with my girlfriend and left a deposit for the package. Thank God I found this website and all the complaints about this company together with BBB and we are sending our cancellation letter before the 3 days. Hope all goes well
Frankie: What is the address for the genealogy site? Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Cathy: I have attended a number a meetings, I see nothing wrong with SOL if you are an adult and careful, just learn how to say no! Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Bruce said:
Cathy: I have attended a number a meetings, I see nothing wrong with SOL if you are an adult and careful, just learn how to say no! Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Bruce, I don’t understand why you keep on justifying them. It’s like giving you 2 options – buy pet food from a normal store and pay $15 for a bag or buy it from a crook and pay $1500 for a bag.
I don’t understand what’s the problem to go to BlueHost.com or GoDaddy.com or many other Webhosting and Domain registrars, pay them $100/year for a domain + hosting, go to affiliate networks, register for FREEEEEE and make money from your site without spending $6 thousands on crap!
Goodness sake. Stop encouraging people to use this SOL, they will just spend too much money for nothing.
Arie: All I am being is honest, people should learn on their own, if the product or program is not right from them they should say no with no help holding their hand.
It is good to hear from you again, now I know you are alive and well. What is BlueHost.com Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Likewise Bruce, nice hearing from you too and I appreciate you as a good person whose goal is to help, but as I said it’s ok to sell to a person GPS for $2,000 but if the person is naive and doesn’t know he can get the same thing for $200 then it’s a scam, or ripoff and that’s what the people who dealt with SOL, most of them anyway, feel, in my opinion.
Bluehost.com provides you with a free tool to build your website, I forgot to mention NetworkSolutions.com does the same thing, they even have a better tool for people who don’t know anything about computers.
I gave those names as examples for websites that can help you have a store, personal or business website, whatever you need without paying a dime for it.
In other words those websites if we look at my very first story “sell” GPS for $200, but SOL does it for $2,000
I hope my point is clear.
Enjoy the rest of the day.
Arie,
Anyone can see you’re 100% correct.
Some people comment here to get their website link posted. When Bruce doesn’t put a link to his name each time he posts, then I’ll change my mind about his agenda. I used HostMonster to host my site, which is $5.95 a month, (there are a ton of other hosting sites), and did my own pages with SiteGrinder. (Which you have to know photoshop to use.) In total I paid less than $100 for my domain name(s) and hosting, $350 for the software program to create the site, and I learned how to make sites from it. All in all, my total cost was $450 with an education I will have forever. If I wanted, I could create a site for anyone now. As you said, you can use the provider’s tools to create a site, so you don’t have to buy a software program to create one. Then my cost would have only been about $100. Yes Arie, your point is very clear.
Chris: It is easy for you to state information about computers etc, but when ou are older like me it isn’t as easy as you young guys think. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old people will try to take advantage of you through the computer. The two sites I have are: http://www.barclaysbe.com, http://www.seaweedman4you.com, I did not know we should have link etc. I will welcome any help! Thanks, Seaweedman, Bruce
Bruce, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having less knowledge about computers, however when you justify SOL and other people read it, they get the impression that SOL is “Kosher” whereas in practice charging $6,000 for the information or tools they give you is a joke. What Chris and I were saying here is that you can get the same thing you got from SOL, or even better, for a cheaper price, much cheaper than paying $6,000, it’s absolutely a ripoff.
By the way Bruce, a friendly suggestion, don’t post your links here too many times, Google “punishes” people who post the same link in the same page many times.
If you want a good Page Rank in Google better post your links a few times and no more than that.
Regards.
Bruce, I’m 57 and female. Don’t give me any of that stuff. I learned. Again, all you’re doing is promoting your sites on here. Stop it.
Chris: 57 is way younger then 71, you grew-up with computers I did not. The only reason I put my www.’s is bacause someone memtioned something about links. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Arie: The only reason I put my info here is because someone mentioned something about links. The young lady Chris thought wrong about me. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
No, I didn’t grow up with computers. 13 years isn’t that far apart. We both had the opportunity to learn when we were ready. No excuse.
Bruce, I think what Chris is trying to say is very simple, I don’t know why it’s hard to understand, but I will try to make it very simple:
1) Look at this picture for example:
http://i34.tinypic.com/2zey0yo.jpg
2) The Website field is optional, not required.
3) In every post that you make this field has your website, Chris said it’s not good, if you ask me I don’t care, but in order to respect the other members I suggest to leave this field empty.
Thanks.
Arie, I don’t mind if someone is posting their site once or twice, but you have to begin to wonder when it’s each and every time. It’s one of SOL’s tactics to get noticed. Like you said, anyone can get a site cheap. It’s a crime what SOL charges. This site is to help people with information regarding SOL. I digress. ‘Nuff said.
Arie: I thought you were supposed to put the web site address. All she had to say was remove the address from the Website(optional) where you post your comments. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
I totally understand, and I hope all is well now.
Arie: Do you see what I mean, everone seems to be suspicious like Chris. I had no idea what she was talking about, I do think people in her age group are much more informed when it comes to computers. How often should I include my www address? Thanks, Bruce
I totally understand. I’m not the admin of this webpage but I assume mentioning your site “here and there” is fine. Yet, posting the site in the page itself is good but until an extent, because as I mentioned before Google automatically index your site keywords but when you use the same keyword over and over again (e.g. website name) then Google gives you a low rank, thus your site doesn’t show up in the very first pages of Google when someone runs a search of something related to your site.
I hope we could only learn from each other and not be suspicious but I understand all sides here, I’m just another side in our discussion so, I hope things are well now.
Fascinating! This is listed as
“An Independent 3rd Party Review Site”
but some folks have managed to slip ads into their comments disguised as accidents.
(This means you, Bruce. I’m truly not trying to be mean but I find it hard to believe you require help…
“…people should learn on their own, if the product or program is not right from them they should say no with no help holding their hand.”
One minute you say we should have no hand holding and right after you cry “I will welcome any help!” That kind of duality smacks of snake oil salesman. You said it yourself, “It doesn’t matter if you are young or old people will try to take advantage of you through the computer.” Your age means nothing.)
While I appreciate the involvement of Storesonline via Mari Silva posting her information, I would like to put a challenge out to those using the Storesonline system. Get some OTHER people who are having success using the tools to post on this review. I restarted the postings with my research comment on Aug. 2 but so far NO ONE BUT BRUCE has posted their marketing dream come true story! If the company wants to honestly have more informed customers, let’s get some verifiable proof here. Otherwise, it appears just as Arie said,
on September 3rd, 2008 at 6:11 pm
“…it’s ok to sell to a person GPS for $2,000 but if the person is naive and doesn’t know he can get the same thing for $200 then it’s a scam, or ripoff and that’s what the people who dealt with SOL, most of them anyway, feel, in my opinion.”
This review is to present ideas from both sides – so far only one person has taken up the fight. It’s a big internet, aren’t there more of you out there?!
GA: The successful ones have not stumbled upon this forum because they are not looking for Storesonline reviews. They have no need or desire to find a site of this nature.
Beside, if they do post now, you’ll accuse them of advertising for Storesonline!
GA: Who are you, please identify yourself? Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
These back and forth comments and digs between Bruce Chris and Arie are getting sickening. Enough already!
Gail, I’ve said ’nuff said, and haven’t posted since. Guess you didn’t notice.
Chris: I told you I had no idea what you meant, I am in the process of sending out a letter with the heading, but I know you won’t believe me, My Mission In Life Is Helping People & Animals, if you like I can send you a copy by email or fax. Thanks, Seaweedman, Bruce
Arie: My friend is about half finished making the Hydrogen Kit, I will keep all of you up-to-date with his progress. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Arie: He still working on the H Kit, almost finished. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Beverly: Why did you purchase six sites and not three to start, why are you now asking about your situation and not at the time you purchased the sites. In my case I have only delt with SOL and no affiliate, is it the affiliate who is not helping you or SOL? This does not sound correct to me! Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedmn
Arie: The H Kit person had to delay making the Kit to help his father-in-law, but he will resume this week. I will keep you up-to-date. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Arie: The H Kit is still being worked on but not forgotten. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Has anyone ever signed up for the Internet Marketing training or mentorship offer? The one where they offer to “take you under their wing” so that you can become one of their “success stories” etc… for a small investment of 6500, or 15000. I’m not supporting it or knocking it. I genuinely want to hear feedback FROM SOMEONE WHO DID IT, please. Bruce by any chance, did you follow this program? I saw a few people mentioned it above, but has anyone actually tried it, and if so, what of it? I’m not interested in ratings on it from people who haven’t tried it, you’re really not qualified to comment unless you have tried it.
Thanks,
R.
Rachel: No I signed up for to purchase sites etc, anytime I have had a question I was always able to get help, but I was not in a mentor type program. The support people answered my questions and helped me build my sites, I did not join any affiliate program which I think you are asking about, please respond. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweeedman
Hi Bruce. Thanks for the prompt reply. They called me, apparently they’re a third party, and offered to walk me through the process over a six month period. I listened objectively to a 90 minute spiel, took notes, and then I indicated that I was not about to take such a leap without thinking it over. The ball was left in my court, so I spent time formulating a few tough questions. When I called the guy later to resume our discussion, the number was out of service. This is very strange since it was the same day.
Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone knew how they select the candidates for the mentorship program or if anyone has had any success with it.
For the record, I did not buy a Storesonline site. I have an Express site which cost me nothing but a day at the workshop, and I’m not even using it.
I think a lot of the complaints on here are the result of people having unrealistic expectations and needing somewhere to point the finger when the cash didn’t come falling into their lap. If they didn’t fully understand what they were buying, they were setting themselves up for disappointment. I don’t think SOL are crooks. I think their business model is to sell repeatedly to the same customers, which doesn’t make them scammers, it makes them sales people. They’re doing exactly what we all wanted them to teach us to do, so why are they being condemned for it? That’s my take on it.
Best to all,
R.
Rachel: You are correct, nobody put a gun to their head. I have always felt SOL is a good company. I would hope being adults we have no one to blame but ourselves. The scam artists are the affiliates, sometimes it is hard to separate the two since they come across as being from SOL. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
I went to the Seminar November 3rd, 08. I ate a sandwich, some potato salad and 2 cookies out of a styrofoam box, after a 90 minute session. I bought a binder and a seat at the training session for my guest and I for $50.00 CAD. I just recently emailed them, asking for a refund. I should get it seeing as I have 3 days to ask for it. I only asked for a refund because the speaker never mentioned anything about having to buy the software or that you would have to pay a fee to build a site during the 90 minute session. He only mentioned that it would cost $50.00 to attend the training session and then 24.95 per site monthly. I only found out about having to shell out money to build your sites while reading this site and others like this. He might have mentioned a little something about it while everyone was eating out of their styrofoam boxes on their laps, but I don’t think many people were paying much attention…I know I wasn’t. I was famished! I didn’t know that they would be serving the “meal” after the 90 minute session. Anyways, I asked for a refund because I can’t possibly afford $3000+ right now, nor will I put myself in debt by financing it. If I would have known, I wouldn’t have purchased the binder. Hopefully I get my refund.
Tasha: If you read my blogs you would understand one has to pay for the sites which include a number of programs. I pay $24.95 per month to have my site with SOL, but I could purchase it from any place. I did pay the $2500 for three sites for life in 2002. Please ask me any questions re: SOL I will always be honest with you re: the company. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
I attended a full day meeting yesterday in Perth, WA. I read this site today, I am so glad I am not the only one who realised the emperor had no clothes. Not one question was taken from the floor. The Presenter used every known sales technique in the book- a little background, a glanced picture of his family, a mention that his dad was on his last legs and that he had spoken to him that morning and said ‘Dad, hold on, I’ll be home in two days’. Bud Lethbridge if you were any man you would be home now, not lecturing spam and making money. The killers for me were – Today only $5998.00 (Come on people, disguising marketing whilst teaching marketing!!!). Personal stories used by Bud, most embarassing moment (to get you on his side) old jokes from years gone by. I’m gutted I lost a days wages and I didn’t even buy it. The most annoying thing is they skate on the edge of the law and cannot be stopped, there were ten sign ups yesterday!!! Oh and Bruce I notice a great many emails from you defending them, surely you have better things to do!!! It would seem that your defence is a little too protracted however and as such the sceptic in me thinks your affiliation is a little deeper than that of a customer. Anyway unlike you, I’ve said my piece and I’ll leave it at that, I’m sure you’ll be keen to make sure the last comment is a positive one so over to you!
Actually, I’ll step in on Bruce’s behalf, for now. I take exception to your suggestion that anyone who doesn’t consider them a scam MUST be affiliated with them. Good grief, Paul, open your narrow little mind just a bit. Do you really believe that yours is the only possible opinion of validity?
The bottom line my friend is this: You were offered a product you didn’t want to buy, so you didn’t buy it. Kudos to you for making an informed decision. To each their own. Why oh why must you harp on those who do buy it, and on those who didn’t buy it (me) but still don’t believe them to be a scam?
OK OK Last ever – Subject – My Narrow Little Mind – That would be the narrow little mind that has $6,000 still in my bank account, that’s the mind that hasn’t really got the capacity, I admit, to absorb the countless disaster stories and law suits going on against this company. I may have a narrow little mind Rachel – thank god – but I know a scam when I see one. You can make this work and you can make money on it, my narrow little mind knows that but my experienced head knows I don’t have to pay $6000 for it and NOBODY REPEAT NOBODY has to sign up today and today only. That is the oldest one in the book and were it not for the people I had given a lift to I would have walked out there and then. Also ‘harp on’ I have put in one blog only just to re-inforce the emperor has no clothes, hardly harping on. Good bye
So tell me Paul, where else is this same product available, for any amount of money? Yes, you can get fragments of the same product, scattered all about, and end up spending collectively a lot more than 6000 over time, and many many hours tracking down all the information and tools… Or you can simply decide that internet marketing isn’t for you. That’s okay too.
Storesonline is one option. It’s right for some and not for others.
A Ferrari is pretty pricey, (a rip-off, some might say) and yet it’s just a car. I can get a car for a lot less than the price of a Ferrari. But there is still a market for Ferraris. Get my point?
Today and only today. Funny: I bought the product, THAT DAY, and two days later, I canceled the transaction. Full refund. No questions asked.
What a scam!
Rachel, let me quote what you said:
“So tell me Paul, where else is this same product available, for any amount of money? Yes, you can get fragments of the same product, scattered all about, and end up spending collectively a lot more than 6000 over time, and many many hours tracking down all the information and tools… Or you can simply decide that internet marketing isn’t for you. That’s okay too.”
Okay Rachel, I would just introduce myself firstly and let you know that I used to have comments as well, above. Now your claim “where else can you find this type of serivce” has no legs. I would say where CANT you find this type of service? Have you tried to simply google “Site Builder” Rachel?
Just 1 example:
http://www.site2you.com/
Site2You.com is a user-friendly advanced website builder that lets nearly anyone create and handle a successful website quickly, and at a great price!
Price: $49.95/month
Here’s another one:
http://www.sitebuilder.ws/
Over 7 hours of training!
Price: $99.99 only
And these are just 2 websites I pulled out of google but I can assure you there are many providers and other websites that will get you to run a website in a professional way and the amount of $ you would invest would be much less than $6,000. Maybe the worse case would be $500 and that’s the “worse” case.
Rachel, just to conclude, you said:
“Or you can simply decide that internet marketing isn’t for you.”
I used to work a lot with Internet Marketing and Affiliate Programs and I can tell you that SOL won’t take you far way. $6,000 for what they offer is a joke, completely a joke.
I understand Bruce had success with them and he likes to defend them, and I already argued with Bruce about it in our comments above. I will be straightforward with you – You might get something from SOL but whatever you get is a rip-off. you don’t pay $6,000 for what they offer, period!
there seems to be a lot of people with positive and negative feedback about the Online Stores Pro web based software. I am interested in the functionality of this product and would like to offer an independent review for myself and others. If there is someone who has made a recent purchase and would appreciate some help using it, while i also make an independent decision to purchase myself please contact me by replying to this email or directly on vloudy@hotmail.com
best regards Anton
Anton,Rachel, Paul: Please understand you are all adults, nobody needs to hold your hand. I have had a positive experience with SOL, but maybe I am the exception as per Paul etc. The support team has helped me anytime I have had a question, in the begining I had many, build my site, make changes you name it, but I went through the company not an affiliate. I think most of the negative comments are from people who have been contacted by scam affiliates. Please comment. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Well, lets start this off by saying that, I did attend a seminar. We did our research and of course nothing “negative” came up. However, this is our story and this is very real and true.
We bought the Pro and have been working on it daily (for 12+hours a day) for 7 months. We have gotten it up and running. However, everytime we go into “Chat” we ask questions and are given the run around everytime. The data in their system is old, they know nothing of what they are speaking of and talk miles of circles. When any questions have been asked they always gave an answer that was not right. For example: Which has higher ranking, one way links or two way links? Answer: YES. What the hello kind of answer is that? Circles!!!!! We have been told that our site is very professional and unique. We have called the 801-434-8582 Customer Service phone line and filed complaints and with chat online and not “ONCE” has our complaint been addressed by anyone.We are given the run around and then some. For those of you who have succeeded kudos to you, for those of you who have been ripped off, lets do something to stop this from happening to anyone else. I have gone in to the Utah Dept. of Commerce and they filled a complaint against StoresOnline in 2002 and in 2005 and they continue to abuse people. With our economy and people losing their jobs, they are seeking alternative means of providing for their families. Please don’t say that the people getting involved in this are deserving, they are not. They are hard working Americans looking to work for themselves because they are tired of being treated like SH*T, by the people that own businesses for us to have to depend on for work. Storesonline will continue to take advantage of people because they are snakes from Utah that do just that. Look into the history of Utah! Banding together is the only way we can take them down and stop the BS. I for one will do all I can to make it known across America that this company is a fradulent bunch of vermin to which we need to eliminate.
Karen: I also joined I think back in 2002 or 2005 or sometime. I also had a problem with chat people in the Philippines, but the support people in Utah were great, sometimes one may have to call a couple of times to find the person who can help you. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Bruce,
Are you currently using storeonline now? In the last 3 months the service has been getting worse not better. I also get my questions answered but they are wrong answers. “If they don’t know they should shut their hole” and find me someone who does. With storeonlines current problems it even effects my ranking on google which doesn’t seem fair. Don’t take this wrong but are you the Bruce we meet at the storeonline power seminar in Missoula, Montana?
Karen: No I am in Illinois, but as you can see by my comments over a period of time it have nothing to beef about. However I haven’t called in a few months. Yesterday I went on my first Secret Restaurant trip, afterwards I had to complete a survey which took 2plus hours and about 4-5000 characters, it was a big job for $23.00 worth of food. I told them I am not an English teacher. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Karen, are you a member of th onlinemerchantforum.com forum? You will find much better help there.
I read your comments all long and chose not to reply but Bruce, please, I really don’t know if you work for them or something like that.
Karen complained above about things that are so easy to predict to happen with SOL and yet you always go and defend on them. Even if you had success with them, you still need to be aware of the fact many OTHER companies can provide Karen a better service for a lesser price, much lesser (maybe $100-$200 for the whole thing).
Karen, if you read this, please understand that Bruce has replied to people in this thread all the times, I am not saying he’s a bad person, but either he works for SOL or either he is really obsessed with them that he chooses to defend them here all way long.
Karen, please try to get your money back from SOL and spend it on other companies, there are many other companies who can help you build a nice site and you won’t pay them more than $100, please don’t pay thousands of $ for something that simply doesn’t worth the money.
Arie: For some reason you think I am a company man, I am not, all I state is what has happened to me, not YOU, or Karen, I don’t know how else to tell you, my experience has not been bad. Why do people keep puting me down when all I am telling is the truth. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Bruce.
Let’s say you can buy coffee in store A for $5.00
Let’s say there is another store B that sells coffee for $100.00 and not only they sell it for a high price they also don’t provide a proper customer service that deserves that $100.00 paid for the coffee.
Now people complain about this store B that they feel like they got ripped off, and they’re very upset.
Now out of nowhere there is one Bruce who said he feels actually quite okay with Store B, and he keeps saying it again and again and again.
(End of story)
Now Bruce, when you do something like that there is nothing illegal but there is something dirty. The fact you said you’re okay with way B might be good for you, but I can tell you 95% of other people wouldn’t say that.
SOL charges $6,000 for something that in the normal market should cost $50-150 only.
So if you paid that $6,000 and you’re happy with it that’s fine, but please don’t take off the picture people are trying to show you here.
Arie: When I started working on my sites I had no idea what to do, SOL spoon feed me from the begining to the end and now. Yesterday I called SOL to see if anything had changed, after what I have been told, I could not see any changes. I bet you are much younger then me, grew-up with computers, I did not, however I do appreciate all the help you offer to many people including me. The only tool I remember is a slip stick which I used in college many moons ago. Keep-up the good work. Thanks,Bruce,Seaweedman
Arie, Thanks for the response and the information. SOL has been a big struggle from the beginning. Everyday is something new.
Thanks, Karen
Bruce,
Your evasive answer won’t fly with me. I was not born yesterday. You do seem to defend SOL, but the important question is, “DO YOU WORK FOR STORESONLINE” from Illinois???????
A simple yes or no will due.
You can be in Jamica and still work for SOL, thats just geography!
Karen
Karen: No I am too dumb, old to work with any computer company, but I did call SOL yesterday, talked to Nick, nothing has changed. I just wish people would be a lot less negative, help more people like Arie does, stop puting people down this would be a better world. I feel the best, natural organic product for your health is the seaweed I take, but people don’t listen, it really doesn’t matter to me. My father who was born in 1900 used to say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it. In passing I just started learning about genealogy , so far I have been able to go back to 1820 on my father’s side. Merry Xmas. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Bruce,
Im not a negative person! I just know that the more people I run into, the more I hear the negative things about SOL. As for my health, that has nothing to do with anything in here. Great that you are healthy, Im healthy as well, (again nothing to do with what were talking about here). I get it Bruce, oh by the way Imergent, (the parent company to SOL), is not a computer company. Do the research on it.
Karen
Karen: You missed the point!, people in general don’t listen to other people’s opinions, I was just making a comparison with the seaweed. I really don’t care if people listen to me. Many people refused to listen re: the mortgage meltdown, I was telling borrowers 2-3 yrs ago, just wait to see what happens when the 2, 3 5 yr arms, interest only, option arms come do. Many of the people I worked with as a mortgage broker were very demanding, not pleasant, would not listen, tried to tell me how to do my work, now I am sure they are in foreclosure. All I am making is a comparison, you have to read the information, make a decision on your own period. Thanks,Bruce, Seaweedman
I agree that $6000 sounds like a lot of money. But, this is for 6 sites NOT 1. Most other builders prices you are quoting is for 1 site.
Can you get hosting for less than Storesonline offers? Of course you can. But that is just hosting. It doesn’t include the shopping cart. The cart is a very important part of the website. If you just get hosting YOU will be responsible for the security of your shopping cart.
You have to compare apples to apples here. Similar programs to what Storesonline offers is something like Yahoo stores and Monster commerce. Each of those cost close to $100 per month for the same service you get through Storesonline.
In the long run, Storesonline will be cheaper. They just get your money up front and Yahoo stores doesn’t.
Nancy, I don’t like to name companies but just for the record you can see that almost every good hosting company provides you with free-tools to build a website.
Check NetworkSolutions, you pay $100/year for domain+hosting and their tool to create your site is very good and I’d say more professional than SOL.
Also, shopping cart? Just google “Shopping Cart”, you can get this for $50/year!! Fifty dollars for 1 year, how’s that being compared with SOL’s price?
One more thing Nancy, SOL invites people to come to their “Market Day” however you name it, they lure people to see what they have to offer, those free gifts, free mp3 player, food or whatever it is – all this needs to be covered someone, don’t you think?
The $6,000 you said is for 6 sites, so if you buy with hosting companies 6 sites, trust me, you will get a very BIG discount.
In the long run, you won’t spend more than $1,000 if you really NEED 6 sites (1 or 2 is more than enough, how can you manage so many sites???).
There is nothing to compare with real professional companies Nancy. Absolutely not.
Arie,
I did check Network Solutions and you are not reading the fine print. You are stating the cheapest non ecommerce web site. If you are looking for a Professional ecommerce solution Network Solutions will cost you $99.95 per month.
This is exactly what I am talking about when I say you need to compare equivalent products. SOL doesn’t just give you web hosting. You do get a website builder, secure website for credit card processing, and lots of tutorials. You just need to log in to the builder and read the information.
Bruce,
I am not sure what you want me to comment on. I looked at your websites and I am confused as to what they are about. I am sorry to say, they don’t look very well designed. SOL didn’t do a very good job at all with these. I think your sites lack focus. It seems like you are trying to do too much on one site. Your side menus are too wide on some pages and it is throwing the template off. It looks like you are using the 5.0 builder and I have 4.0 which is much easier in my opinion. I would suggest you go to http://www.onlinemerchantforum.com and get help there. You will find a lot of tips and information there.
I have a few websites with SOL and some I have moved off of SOL. The reason I moved is because of the amount of down time SOL experiences, especially during peak times.
Arie: As you know I am working with another company along with SOL, I have found out the other company does not offer the same services such as live directories etc. The templates are great but but for a person starting out SOL does a better job
Nancy: Karen thinks I am a shell? for SOL, I am not, if you look at my notes you will see how SOL has treated me over a number of years, but as I state I know nothing about computers, I have to rely on other smarter people. Have you visted my two web sites to see how SOL helped me build them, any time I have a question SOL has helped me?SOL also has tools to help you get on the various search engines etc. Please comment. Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Nancy: Karen thinks I am a shill for SOL, I am not. Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Nancy / Bruce,
Network Solutions is giving you, AS A PART OF THE HOSTING PACKAGE (like $90/year) a free-tool to build a site. I have no idea why you need to pay monthly or thousands to create a shop-site.
Again, I think I’m the only one who’s in discussion here but just enough to read all the posts above to get the picture.
Arie: I am in the loop I think? Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Arie: Are you familar with website.ws, if so what is your opinion? Thanks, Bruce, Seaweedman
Arie: I am only giving my opinion re: SOL, but as I state nobody listens. You are one of a few people who honestly try to help people when it comes to the sites, please keep-up the good work. Happy Holidays! Thanks, Bruce,Seaweedman
Hello. And Bye.
Arie,Gennick: Check out me new site, please comment on the templates!
Arie: the site is http://www.seaweed4u.ws. Thanks, Bruce
Bruce…
Hello. My boyfriend and I just attended a 90 min workshop with storesonline. We are very interested in doing something like this, but yes we are scared to invest my money if this company is what the other people say it is….I huge mistake…I guess what I’m asking you is would you buy into it? I’m still reading all the other notes others have wrote……Help!
Got busy, should have researched these folks before we attended the 90 minute, preamable to the pocket-picking session they wanted us to attend. BEWARE!
——————————————————————————–
Very informative read for the would-be dropshippers.
I purchased my 6 websites on 01/31/2008 Athens, GA. I now have the strength and means to fight this untrustworthy company with bad product and am doing so. I have officially requested a full refund both verbally and in a written letter. I then sent the letter to the StoresOnline, Inc. physical address and cc’d it to the attorney general in CA (because I recently moved to CA and didn’t know which state would handle it), UT, and GA, state senators in CA, UT, and GA, and the BBB of Utah. I also included supporting documents with the letter requesting a refund and why.
I did receive a response from SOL but it is a pressured attempt to get me to sign a quick fix to the initial and larger problem. (They offered free programming for 1 year and hosting for 3 months). The issue is the company is not trust worthy, the product is faulty, their business practices deceptive, and I am completely unsatisfied with the product after making reasonable attempts to work with the software. Normally this would work with any company that respects it’s product and customer.
Does anyone know what more I can do? Where can I send more complaint letters to? Has anyone had any luck with getting a full refund?
Update: They are now offering half a refund but I would only have access to one of my websites… if I only keep 1 out of 6 websites then I should receive 5/6 of a refund. They are also making me decide by the 29th… so for as slow as they move I’m being forced to decide in one week. The point is that the product is faulty… so I still think a FULL refund is warranted.
I’ve read most of these posts with great interest. I am one of the satisfied SOL customers. Purchased unlimited licenses in April, 2008. Two sites published and more than earning their keep, two others under construction. It is a lot of work and helps to know business as well as internet principles. Keep your eyes and ears open for helpful ’support’ products outside the SOL platform. I’ve found a couple that have greatly improved site performance. I would be able now to use the ’scattered’ products to put together a site, but why go through all that when I know the SOL system and can make it work.
Attention Rachel E…just read your posting on SOL and glad to hear you made it work. I bought my 6 licenses two years ago, over 6 thousand invested and have struggled off and on trying to make it work. Is there any advise on getting the web sites up and running. I’d appreciate some real points on how to succeed. Please email me personally at financialray@gmail.com Thanks I hope you come back to read this. Ray
Thanks for all the info. I just got a flyer today about an upcoming seminar in Shelton, CT. You supposedly get an MP3 player. Keep it!
Those who bought in Washington can claim for their refund. You have until 21st Sep 2009 to file your claim.
http://www.atg.wa.gov/settlements/default.aspx
My husband and I attended the 90 minute seminar. We didn’t get a lot of information, but the lunch was good.
Having already gone through a scam of sorts over software with a company dealing with budgeting your finances, we had already agreed that we weren’t going to be suckered into buying anymore software.
I did pay for the workshop because I want to glean some of the information offered and see if it’s anything that I can use. I didn’t feel comfortable using my visa because they didn’t have a visa machine and all of the information was written onto a form. So I wrote a check on one of my smaller accounts. In the information that they gave me was a license and password for a website. After reading the agreement, I don’t intend to use this key, because once activated they will be able to charge me the $24.95 a month. During the 90 minutes they had said you could use it for 45 days. I know how fast 45 days is and how we sometimes forget to cancel things. However once the site is live, they can start charging you.
So I won’t even activate anything or start building a site because I have my own domain and website, and I’m perfectly happy using Etsy to sell my products. I pay a small fee each month to advertise my products and use pay pal for people to pay for my products.
The only reason I even went to this 90 minute seminar was because my husband was curious about what they had to say. I’ve been online for a long time, and pretty much know how to be successful with an online business but have been a little lazy about putting forth too much effort.
There is a whole wide world of customers out there and with the right marketing tools you can reach those customers.
The internet has many free tools available, as well as, software for a minimal price. Search out the tools, read the information and learn all that you can about starting an online business. Don’t expect anyone to do your work for you, and if they say you can go to sleep and make money, well, that’s only a small portion of truth. Yes, you can go to sleep and wake up with an order in your inbox.
You still have to package and send off that product, plus transfer their payment into your bank account.
Do your research. There is a lot of wonderful information available online, you just have to search it out.
Don’t stop at the first page of links in your search engine, go to the next page and the next page.
And lastly, the only way to be successful with any business is through good old fashioned work, time, and effort.
Hey… if you want to fight back at Stores Online, join us and together we will take down the giant. Email your story to nomorestoresonline@gmail.com, then tweet everyone you can reach and tell them not to use Stores Online! Tell them to tell everyone they know how crooked this company is! If we join together we can tweet the entire world…
Ian
Hows that workin out for ya?
I was with StoresOnline and while I cannot agree it’s a scam (I brought in ALOT of business since 2004) …they did (unauthorized) take out close to $400 from our account, majorly bounced us and I lost everything because I didn’t want to continue with them, so yeah- that was a bad thing! Years of work, templates, products- GONE….so instead of keeping my card on file with them, I turned to Webstarts (link under website) and I’m very happy. You can get a beginner website for FREE with them, and you can choose to upgrade to a VERY affordable hosting fee (around $6.00/month versus $25 that SO charges) which puts you on major search engines, allows scripting, gives you $50 in Google adwords……By the way, the Overture Reverse Search SO charges for, is here and it’s FREE
adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
I signed up for SOL back in 2004. I was a stupid 20 year old kid. I got lied to and jerked around with. They really knew what to say and how to say it to get me out of all my money. I tried for years to find some sort of lawsuit but I gave up. I wasted my life savings on that junk. I recovered from it but it was more the point of it than the actual dollar amount.
Anyone with any sort of updates or (if any) suggestions on getting my money back.. even tho 6 years ago or so, feel free to email me.
I do not know if SOL even does business anymore.
They still do business. I’m going to one of their conferences for fun here in Minneapolis on March 17th. I mainly just want the free dinner and to see what kind of “offers” they have. I run my own web development & marketing firm but I’m still interested in what they’re selling to have been in business for so long, despite the bad reviews.
Own your own web developing and marketing company but you have time to attend a beginners conference for website building. Mosy in here will believe you but I’m not buying it.
I am from Singapore and a Storesonline Pro user for over 2 years now. My site has been up for 2 years already and doing fairly ok with Alexa ranking of around 600k consistently. 70% of my traffic comes from search engines. As a user, my assessment are as follows:-
1) Is the price worth it? I believe it is fair price to pay. I have tried various platforms including building my own as well as lately Joomla. A custom site with such manageability of contents will cost more (Pls understand that manageability of contents is key to SEO). A platform such as Joomla takes more technical know-how, although it is very flexible and extensible.
2) Is it as seamless as they say? No. The platform has got certain strengths such as Search engine friendly URL out of the box and integrated shopping cart with inventory management. This is not the case for many platforms out there.
The page hierarchy structure is a lot easier to understand for beginners compared to platform such as Joomla’s menu driven ones. I do however find the Storesonline platform lacking in areas such as template design and editor. These are however not limitations that will be enough to restrict your site’s success online in my opinion. Content is king after all when it comes to SEO.
3) What I find most valuable? For me it is a good starting point. The online knowledge base included is good for someone who has no prior knowledge to get up to speed. However, they are not complete. I find it useful to start my learning from there and have extended my knowledge online and through more in depth research off line.
4) How do I feel about the company? When I first started, I had relied on the help desk more. As someone might have pointed out some where in this forum, that can some times be frustrating especially when your problems cannot be solved. Guess no company is perfect. I got this far but I still hope that the company can engage the users better and have a stronger group of support staff that can handle more complex problems.
5) Would I recommend this to someone else? Yes & No. If you are expecting the platform to make you rich fast, I would not recommend this route. However, if you are keen to learn how to do internet marketing and do not have any idea where to start, this is a good starting point. The online documentation and a ready platform is a great way to learn.
6) Word of advice? I would advise you to limit your exposure by starting with one or two licenses although that would mean you pay more per license. I have 6 licenses and only one is live. One I use for testing purposes. There rest still dormant. You can play with the platform as much as possible. You only need to start paying when it goes live. I played around with my 1st license for more than 6 months before it went live. I still only pay for one live site after 2 years.
Also, hard work pays. Any chance you are sitting around doing and learning nothing expecting something to happen, you need a change of plan.
Good luck!
Donnie,
Very good advice and information though I expect it will fall on mostly deaf ears as most will accuse you of being an SOL employee. Misery loves company and your not welcome here unless you are miserable and victimised.
Good luck!
Thanks for listening. Chinese has a saying that you can force a buffalo to the river but you cannot force it to drink. I just share what I feel like sharing. Whether it is useful or not is up to whoever is reading.
Donnie I thank you for your information but I have not had the same experience with Storesonline as you did. We sent them our information within the first week. They looked at the two sites and said that they could work with the information and would do our sites and make them look better and that they would get back with us. We were not even assigned a programmer until two months later. We have gone round and round with these people and they have only given us ONE site and that one is not right even after we tell them exactly what we want removed and changed. We never did see anything on the second site to this day. They tried twice to charge us for a hosting fee and both times I called them on it and told them that we have not approved the site and they had to refund our money. As of right now we can’t even get into our site it comes up under construction. So I hope all goes well with your site and I wish you nothing but the best but as for me I just want out.
Dear Erika,
I am sorry to hear that you experience has been so bad. My experience is based purely on tinkering with the platform myself which leads to me believing that the greatest value I get out of the effort is the knowledge I gain from getting the pieces together.
I have never engaged the Storesonline help to develop my site so far which is probably due to my intention for this to be a DIY exercise for myself and also I prefer to have control over changes on my own site. I probably took longer than most to get the site going but it has become sort of 2nd nature now.
One thing perhaps Storesonline could do better is not to understate the effort.
In any case, I wish you all the best.
They had a seminar where I worked, bunch of people that hardly knew what the internet was. I knew instantly it was a scam. Seen it thousands of times, but this is different, never seen it in person. So I found this site, and I read a comment and noticed that they could replicate google searches, what if they were spoofing google, or had their own google copy.
That is pretty crazy to think that someone is spoofing google. some scetchy stuff seems to be going on. great post and very interesting! thanks
I just went to storesonline and purchased a license for $58.00. I think it could be good or bad depending on how much work you put into it> I do feel it is a good place to start, learn and experience. Does anybody have any recent information good or bad?
Storesonline is such a sham that they have to keep changing their name! They used to be iMergent. They have also been or still are Profit System Online, The Manhattan Professional Group, Robert Allen’s Multiple Streams of Income course and others worldwide. I would like to forewarn people of Lincoln, Nebraska as they have scheduled seminars in September. I just received my “free tickets”. You will have lots of trouble getting your thousands back. Let’s see if they don’t find a way to delete this posting! It has happened. There have been lots more since Kim’s of July 14th. Don’t Go. Thanks, Kelly Richards
I find this baby cloths site has consistently provided great info, and the Matt Cutts video is very helpful.
ok people, i’m going to try to do something about this but i want to know how many are with me. right now i’m trying to re-activate a yahoo e-mail i haven’t used in years. i live in california and am one of those who recently got scammed, in fact less than 1 month ago. i want my money back and i’m ready to act like it. so…for all those that want to ban together and force sol to pay back the money they conned us out of, here’s my email kissthatkat@yahoo.com. don’t send me your story, i’ve already spent 3 days reading them. just sent an email saying “i’m in”. ok, that will get a list going for the Attorney General for a class act. there will be other things we can do, too. i will let you know what they are every step of the way, when i figure them out. it’s not the first time i’ve done something like this and i can either do it for myself or try to help the ones who are serious. i was going to call them today and just try to get my own money back, but i will give it a few more days to see what kind of response i get. i’m gonna get my money back with or without you, but i’m willing to start building an army so long as i know your willing to fight. sorry about my punctuations, i’m just being lazy not lame.
I signed up for the stores online pro upgrade. Afterwards I reviewed the information in this blog and spoke to a freind who is makes his living creating and getting web sites placed. I also reviewed all of the information given to me by stores online. Yes it is true their are less expensive ways to accomplish the SEO placement and my decision based on the above review was to cancel with stores online. They refunded all of my money and handled the cancellation extremely professionally. It has been a while since I read the information in this blog, but my recollection is that most of the concerns expressed have been taken care of by stores online contracts or modified procedures. Some of the complaints seem to be because the purchaser appears not to have read the entire contract, or the contracts have been revised by stores onlline since the complaint ws logged. Yes, the free seminar is nothing but a sales pitch. If you sign up and pay $99 for the second seminar and read the material given to you, you will realize the real value is in the pro upgrade and without it SEO optimization is pretty difficult unless you will do a lot of research and learn a bunch of material which my freind says is available online. My review of the stores online pro package revealed what appeared to be valuable material and a doable process. It will take time and effort but the material to create and place your website appears to be in the material. Since I havn’t actually attempted to use the material I don’t know how realistic it really is. The bottom line is my experience with stores online was handled professionally.
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