Blogbuzz

You’ve probably seen this email or others like it. The subject line reads “Secrets to eBay fortunes”. The email body shows as a single picture with a green background. It shows logo’s for msnbc, cnn, and cbs news without actually making any claims about them

The main part of the graphic is somebody holding what looks like lots of money and large red and white text “Get your FREE kit today”

The entire email links to: http://visitbridge.com/lwevgjfhpgwd/yzeplldt/

Which automatically redirects visitors to:

https://secure.subscriptionmarketinginc.com/wealthtools/new_offer4/index.php?sub={numbers]&sub1={numbers}

Red flag #1:

On this page is more news and media logos above the words “in the news”. There is no actual claims about what these may or may not be saying about the product nor do they link to anything. My guess is that they’re there to take psychological advantage of any trust the visitor has in the news and media that the logo’s represent.

Essentially it manages to look like an endorsement without actually being one. I consider this deceptive marketing unless they actually show, along with those logos, links to things that the news and media in question have actually said about them.

Red flag #2:

There’s a couple of “testimonials” but since there’s no links or contact information to allow them to be verified they don’t actually contribute anything useful. More empty psychological window dressing that tries to give the visitor a “we used it and it worked, you should too.” kind of message. Unfortunately without the ability to verify them it’s best to ignore them.

Red flag #3:

There is no mention on the page itself saying anything about shipping or membership fees. And while I’m sure that most people never actually read it, The Terms and Conditions page does disclose fairly early on and in clear terms that:

As more fully described below, after your risk-free 10 day trial, you’ll be charged the monthly subscription fee of $48.73

However I didn’t find any mention of what the shipping fee would be for the “free” kit.

Filling in dummy info to get a look at the second page shows right away that they’re charging $3.87 for shipping. Naturally, this is how they get your credit card info for the monthly subscription.

Under the “ship my kit” button in small print you’re informed that you have immediate access to “The Seller’s Lounge member website” and that the starter kit will ship within 2 to 3 business days. They also spell out that you’re on a 10 day free trial of the member site and after that time your credit card get’s billed 48.73 every month until you cancel.

You can cancel membership Monday through Friday, 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM ET by calling 866-785-7328, or by emailing support@thesellerslounge.net

Red flag #4:

A couple more important tidbits about cancellation can be found in the terms. Essentially that if you log into the site even once, you’re no longer entitled to a refund:

Because access to the Online Resource Center is granted as a membership in a training and informational online resource, money paid for membership is not refundable after the customer has logged into the site.

You also don’t get a refund on the shipping fee:

For our 10-day risk-free trial, you will not be entitled to a refund of shipping and handling fees if you choose to cancel your subscription.

So you can cancel, but be prepared to not get much, if any, actual refund.

Red flag #5:

Looking at the privacy policy shows that any email & contact information you provide them will be shared:

when we determine that the information will be used in a way that will greatly benefit the consumer. We enjoy assisting our clients with the best quality and economical information to assist them in their financial education

My translation: If you give us contact information, we’re going to use it.

I recommend hitting “Delete” when the “Secrets to eBay fortunes” email arrives.

I honestly don’t believe that it’s necessary to get hooked into a membership site like this in order to succeed on Ebay or any place else for that matter. What’s really needed is some simple tips that can very often be had for free.

In fact, I’ve got an ebook “Automated Ebay Sales” that I bought a couple of years ago for $7.00 that provides a lot of tips for selling information products on Ebay. it’s aimed at selling information products on Ebay but a lot of what this ebook talks about can easily be applied to other products.

I’m not even selling it!

Instead, I’m giving that $7.00 ebook away as a bonus offer for a backup program that I’m selling for only $1.99!

Yeah, I’m giving away a bonus item that’s actually worth MORE than the product I’m selling. I’m doing that because I want the backup utility to be easily and cheaply available. I got caught without enough backups once and it cost me a lot of lost files.

Technorati Tags: fortunes, ebay, ebay secrets, deceptive marketing, membership fees, msnbc, psychological advantage, credit card, testimonials, cnn