Here's another one to watch out for if you're trying to learn how to make money online. I've got personal experience with being burned by this one, I'm ashamed to say. It's really quite ingenious. They offer to sell you a website containing a prebuilt online store that's already stocked with inventory and ready to go. They'll also allow you to sell the products on e-bay and they'll even pack and ship them for you! All you have to do is drive traffic to your store and create your e-bay listings.
Now, what you're doing here is actually called dropshipping and it's a legitimate industry - just not the way these people package it. It is possible to find legitimate companies who will dropship for you if you sell their products on e-bay or elsewhere. That's part of why this ploy is so effective. It sounds like it might be above board.
So then they show you a list of all the brand name products that they carry and that will supposedly "sell themselves". Sounds like a no brainer right? Well what they fail to mention is that all their brand name electronics are actually refurbished. I don't know about you but I've always thought of refurbished products as the kiss of death for an online retailer. If I'm searching for something to buy and I come across a store with refurbished products I'm outta there instantly.
They also don't let you see the so called "wholesale" prices until you've actually paid for the store. When you see their wholesale prices - which are the minimum you'll have to sell the products for - you realize that they're actually just as high, if not higher, than retail. How can you make any money if someone can just go to Amazon.com and get your products for less? And trust me - you're definitely not going to be able to sell them on e-bay which is one of the most highly competitive markets in the world.
They also offer to give you a commission if you sell their crappy store to some other poor sucker. You see, they never really wanted you to sell any of their merchandise in the first place - they just wanted to sell you the store. If you sold the merchandise they'd have to do a lot more work actually packing and shipping stuff. The only way to make any money is by helping them sell their store to other unsuspecting victims. All I wanted to do was to make an honest living with an e-commerce store - not get involved in some disguised pyramid or multi-level marketing scheme. And of course when you finally wise up and send them an e-mail, guess what - no response. When I realized they didn't have a money-back guarantee I really started to feel stupid.
There's really not much you can do in a situation like this. Technically they did give you what you paid for - a website prestocked with merchandise. It's just completely useless because you can't sell any of it. These jokers are treading a fine line here and managing to stay just this side of legal. They deliver just enough to keep from being shut down or forced to give you a refund. Take this lesson to heart: whenever buying anything in this business always check for a money-back guarantee and always use a credit card so you can do a charge-back if you need to. If not you will be S O L.
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