Thursday, November 27, 2008

Is Stores Online a Scam?

If you have heard of Stores Online and are thinking of signing up with them I can offer a little insight before you make your decision. You've probably been to the free dinner and are waiting to go to the training seminar. They are very persuasive at the free dinner and I thought I would at least give them a chance at the seminar.
The seminar was informative, but very high pressure. They pushed everyone to buy six websites using that number as the minimum number of sites required to be successful. They repeated that anything can be sold online, the marketing is the key, not the product. They also promoted using dropshippers, saying that they were easy to find and use. I have found these two ideas to be less than honest at best.

The Storesonline product itself I have found to be adequate, as long as you use the tech support phone number that was not readily available. We had to use their live chat line and call every number we could find before one of their reps gave us the tech help number that actually connected us with people who could help. The entire search for that number took about two frustrating weeks. Those two weeks were all that the sales rep at the seminar told us it would take to get the site up and running. Don't believe that for a second. Two months would be more accurate. Once we got the site up and running it seemed to work just fine.

The sales pitch also said that the site would be automatic if you used a dropshipper. Orders would come as you peacefully slept, the dropshipper would process the order, and you would see the money in your bank account. That is just what I was looking for because I already had a job that left very little time for anything else. Well, it doesn't quite work that way. All of the dropshippers that I could find required that you place the order with them as well as up front payment and they will then ship to your customer. This was not what I had expected, after what had been presented at the seminar, But by this time I had put too much effort into the site to do anything else, so we did it this way.

So now, my site was up and running, and since I followed the directions that Stores Online had outlined in their program and very carefully chose keywords in my domain name and throughout the entire site, I searched for my site, expecting to find it on the first page of the search engines, like they told me it would be, and voila... nothing! Zero, zip, nada. My site was nowhwere to be found. It took several more months, dozens of hours of link trading, search engine submission, and frustration before we even started showing up on the sixth or seventh page. Needless to say, we weren't making any sales. We were however still paying the site hosting fee,bank card processing fees, and for the actual purchase of the sites. Luckily we only bought three and only had one up and running,which took a large portion of our time. At least we didn't go for the six.

We finally tried using pay per click to try to make our site visible, and although it was expensive, we did find ourselves on the first page of the search engines using some fringe keyword searches. Then it happened. We got an order. A customer had ordered a couple hundred dollars worth of our products and payment had already been recieved. It was awesome, I was so excited! So we placed the order with our dropshipper right away, only to find out several days later that that item was out of stock and they would not be getting any more in. Now I had to contact my first customer and give them a refund, which cost us money in bank fees. Our fist sale was a loss!

We kept the site up for a while, making it a link sharing affiliate directory, only to spend money on ppc advertising without any affiliate commissions. Then we finally took it down, no longer willing to throw money into the seemingly bottomless pit.

So, would I call Stores Online a Scam? Although you do get functional websites, the amount of deception and misrepresentation at the sale seminar leads me to say yes. There are cheaper opportunities available on the web that allow you to acheive the same or better results. If given the opportunity to do it all over again, I would not.

122 comments:

Green-Eyed Momster said...

Tag! You're it!!

Love you, T

Anonymous said...

I recently went to the 90 minute seminar, paid $30 for access to their software which allowed you to create a site. I was told this $30 was a one time fee for their software and you had it for life. I was also told I could use the site as much as I wanted to build as many sites as I wanted, and could host them somewhere else and just use their software to build them. FOREVER, for $30!!! Or I could host the site for $24.99 a month with them, plus I'd get tech support.

ALL LIES! I called the next day and ended up canceling because as soon as I signed into the site, it triggered them to start charging me $24.99 a month without even having a site up and running yet!!!

The rep reassured me I wouldn't be charged $24.99 until I had the site designed and opted to host with them. I was also told I could opt out at any time from their hosting, and of course could host elsewhere.

So I canceled within the 3 days and got my $30 back. But along with the $30 and lifetime access to their software, they allowed you to come back in a week to an all day training. In this training they claimed they would show you how to get your site to the top of the major search engines every time!!!!

I wish I could have been there for that, because I don't know of a foolproof way to do that.

HAS ANYONE GONE TO THE ALL DAY TRAINING? WHAT WAS THEIR CONCLUSION TO GETTING YOUR SIRE TO THE TOP???

O'Dell Mitchell said...

I've been to the all day training. Basically what they teach you is if you use pay per click advertising, ( these are the ones that come up as sponsored links on the search engines ) you can reach the top of the first page. This does work but if you use popular keywords you will pay more than you will ever make. I used " fringe" keywords which are keywords that directly relate to your site but are not as popular as the main keywords your site is geared towards. You can use a reverse search tool to identify fringe keywords. You can get these keywords for five to fifteen cents per click, but I found that when I had keywords that were getting clicks, those keywords would become inactive and the cost per click would be raised. If I agreed to the higher per click fee, the keywords would then be reactivated. This happened with Google Adwords, Microsoft, and Yahoo. There is nothing that StoresOnline has to offer that can't be found for free or nearly free if you just look. I've heard of a site building program called NVU that can be downloaded for free, and hosting as cheap as $9.00 per month. Good luck, O.

Colby said...

We went to the 90 minute seminar too. I'm a bit skeptical with this company, but we're going to try it. You just have to watch them. The software is nice, but DO NOT USE THEIR HOSTING/DOMAIN NAMES. You can get it soooooo much cheaper with godaddy or host gator. Please don't be discouraged with making money online! Building an online store takes time and patience just like any other business, but there are many other ways to do it without selling items. Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to go, but remember that it does take time to get customers/traffic with search engines or not. Please look at this site http://www.2createawebsite.com/. The lady that owns it is Lisa Irby. She has been in the affiliate marketing business since 1998 and she makes a full time living. One last words of advice that stores online did not teach you..... never pay for advertising unless you got the money to put to it. Google loves information pages, so make one, then put a link to your online store. Good Luck! I wish you all well!

-CP

Green-Eyed Momster said...

Thanks for the information Colby. We are pretty disgusted with Stores Online right now. We are still paying for websites that we can't use. I'm not going to get over that fact for a long, long time. I tried to leave you comments on your blog but I wasn't able to.
I appreciate your comment here. My Hubby does too!
Thanks again!

Colby said...

I had my blog on pop up commenting, but I changed it, so it should let you comment. Anyway... I have a question before the second class. Is the $6,000 for start up fees? I'm a bit worried about that!

saundrak said...

Stores Online And PMI Coaching Are A BIG SCAM
I had seen the TV commercial auction for income and I had purchase it, after I had received
it I got a call from a company called PMI Coaching.
Very smooth talkers I fell for this SCAM For $6850.00
They told me that amount was for all the setup fees for a business.
That is not true!!!
All they are is a coaching program
you still have alot of other fees.
When I got my domain name, I looked
it up and it is registered with Stores Online.
I ask for my money back I did
get my money back from Auction for Income No problems, But they
have a F with BBB
What happen is Auction for income
sold my information to PMI
Coaching. I ask for my money back
from PMI coaching and that don't want to give it back. I have up to 18 months to do a charge back on my credit card for a service that I am not happy with. Alot of People
don't know this, but your credit card company should help you
PMI coaching don't want to refund
my money but they have a A+ with BBB why? because
This companies have used layer upon layer upon layer of ‘business entities’ to try to protect themselves. Here is a brief list of companies associated with Stores Online:

Professional Marketing Group, PMG, PMG Mentors, Private Mentoring Group, Vermotion, Secure Gate, Fortius, Auctions for Income, NMR, IDI, Auctions 4 Income, Quicksite National Marketing Resources, PMI, National Marketing Resources, Iworks, Inc, Virtual Contact Inc, Paynet Merchant Services, Professional Marketing International, PMI Coaching, ITC Internet Treasure Chest, IDI Global, Summit Consulting, Online Supplier Coaching, onlinesupplier.com, online supplier, Netgateway, StoresOnline.com, Galaxy Mall, Imergent, Internet Treasure Chest, Stores Online, Foreclosureworld, Summit Group, Summit Consulting, Internet Development, Income Success Team, The Tax Club, Links 4 Trade, Professional Consulting Services, PCS, nmrcoaching, pmicoaching, quicksite builder, Nathan Kenyon, Dave Espino, Jim Cochran, Greg Cooper, Frank Kerns, Colton Moody, Dolf De Roos, PROSPER INC., Prosper Learning, prosperlearning.com, pmgmentors.com, pmgicoaching.vermotion.net, pmgtech.com, multiple streams of income, PMI coaching, usight home Inc., EPenzio, Russ Dalbey,Hacket Media,John Beck, Robert Allen, auction secrets, auctionsecrets.com, brightbuilder.com, bright builders, foreclosures.com, foreclosures, EPI, epibiz, power profit system, mentors in motion, passport to millions, wealth and self, cash secrets, Auctions for Income, NMR, IDI, Auctions 4 Income, Quicksite National Marketing Resources, National Marketing Resources, Iworks, Inc, Virtual Contact Inc, Paynet Merchant Services, Professional Marketing International and the list KEEPS GROWING!!!
If you are really interested in knowing more about Stores Online read this article to see what these companies are doing with
your money they scammed for you.

Salt Lake City Weekly
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-7772-called-into-question.html
It is about time Stores Online and PMI coaching companies get their dues. Do not take another call from them. they are corrupt, trust me, I know.
My advice to people is close all your credit card accounts. Get a new number assigned for each card you have since you do not know how much credit information might be out there. Change any passwords too.
This companies will sell your information (name, email, phone number) to other companies
If you have been scammed by Stores Online or any of this companies and can't get your money back PLEASE do a charge back on your credit card
LETS STOP THESE SCAMMERS
Please file complaints
with BBB and keep the complaint on file with them till you get your money back you are not the only one that has been scammed by Stores Online
Hope this help!
GOOD LUCK To everyone that has been scammed by Stores Online
And PMI Coaching

Evelyn said...

i have been scammed too. I did not fall for the line PMI had for me, mostly because they caused me to seriously question my Stores Online purchase. I was promised the complete package with my platinum membership and LIFETIME access to services with NO MONTHLY FEES. This week, they called to tell me that I have not published my site yet and my license expires Friday, (yesterday) and I will be DELETED from their data base. This was the last call I could expect to try to get another $15000 out of me to keep going. THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD is what I have decided. I have sent a complaint to my attorney general. In a couple hours today, I see that I am not the only one who didn't get what they were promised.

Evelyn said...

I forgot to mention that they got $6000 for the platinum membership. I didn't want on going fees etc. I was serious about this. I wanted to do it right.

saundrak said...

I would like to tell anyone that been scammed by stores online or any other companies in UTAH
there is a petition for the UTAH Scammers Please sign and pass on
http://www.gopetition.com/onlie/27433/sign.html
Please file complaints with:
BBB in Utah
FTC
Attorney General in your state
Attorney General in Utah
Lets Altogether Make A Differents
To Get The Scams In Utah Out Of Business

Best selling Secrets said...

Ok seriously.. u need help on this article.. i guess u really dont know the art of marketing,,all the promice is true, its just that you as an individual need to think before u do anything. first of all.. there are keywords on google with zero to 5 cents per click, with a lot of trafic you just need to find the exact market to plug iin thoses keywords. Secondly if you can find any domain with unlimited pages for 24 dollars a month please email me at tobi-ogebule@hotmail.com because i can bet my money on it you will never find thoses. Thirdly its already created for you all you have to do is come up with a nitch market to sell. creat bloggs, news letters, facebook, myspace,, twitters to promote your buisness.No buisness is successfull without hard work. all what the company has done for you is creat a stepping stone for you to seucceed. they only bring out 10% form you the remainng 90% is all in your brian. Use it.

saundrak said...

Best selling secrets you need to
use your brain and learn how to spell before posting anything
on websites where people read it
and you are the only one that needs help because this is a website about stores online scam not how your business is good and how can you sleep at night at what you do to people when people are trying to make money and not getting scammed you need to understand that these companies are taken peoples money. Times are hard for people today.

Anonymous said...

Thank God I came upon your blog. I had signed up for a conference tomorrow and then decided to check them out. I will not be wasting my time and money now. Thanks to you!!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I've been unemployed for almost a year, early retirement, etc, earnestly looking again because it's not all fun when you have no money. I go to all these freebies and have been to this before. The food is awesome and I love to watch people. Scheduled to go again next month. Sadly, it breaks my heart to see these people scamming those on a fixed incomes who are looking for the dream at the end of the rainbow and are clueless how much work is involved in marketing. These con artists are fast and smooth talkers who convince people to share vital & confidential information, not to mention they don’t give a hoot’s a$$ about whether or not you are next in line to being homeless or know anything remotely regarding the internet. I may be wrong but in my observation I think the male species falls easier prey to these scams. If I can write code, anyone can. Do your own research and you will find a lot cheaper and free ways to market online. Good luck to you all.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I guess I am a Stores On Line competitor. I sell web hosting for information and E-commerce sites and am posting this anonymously because I am not trying to sell anybody anything with this comment.

I went to a presentation beck in 2000. Back then it was called Galaxy Mall (same parent company iMergent). Someone else had attended the initial 2 hour seminar and purchased the full day “training”. Other than very high pressure sales we did learn a lot about online marketing. We barley resisted the sales pitches for something like 20 web sites for $5000 US.

They showed us how we could sell our own products, someone else’s products and sell the websites we were not using. We learned the basics of on-line marketing but decided that any company that was telling you, you had to sign up now or looses the opportunity forever probably was not completely above board.

Last fall (September 08) my wife got an invitation for herself and a guest to a 2 hour seminar from Stores On Line. It was either free or something like $10 per person. I recognized the sales pitch and figured it was the same company. We decided it was worth the time (and whatever expense we had) just for the entertainment value but we would not buy anything.

The seminar was held in a local corporate class hotel and included a chicken salad sandwich lunch, nothing to write home about but not bad. We also received free MP3 players. The big pitch here was to attend another free full day session where we would learn hot to do everything that was discussed at this seminar all we had to do was pay $50 for the software which we would learn how to use to create our website when we attended the next one. We would also be shown how to do everything they had been discussing that is required for online marketing and be able to sell just about anything online.

We bought in for $50 for the two of us. I figured that I could always use a review of the information I already knew and it would be a good introduction for my wife to the world of e-commerce. I got what I was looking for. It was the same presentation I had attended eight years before. This time though the tools they presented were on available free on line you had to be a Stores On Line Customer to have access to them.

The showed how e-commerce works and what you need to do to market products on line. Almost everything a person would need to know about was presented. Don’t get me wrong this was not an in depth training session it made no one an expert in e-commerce. Of course to accomplish what you needed to get done you had to use the Stores On Line tools.

Here is the truth: Those tools are out there on line. Most are no longer free but they are available fro a lot less that Stores On Line is charging. Stores On Line was then (September 08) charging I think $6,000 (yes six thousand dollars) US for access to the tools and a recurring monthly fee of around $25 to host a web store. I sell the same hosting service for about $12 a month. I have paid access to the same sorts of marketing tools and it cost me less than $300.

Here is my advice based on my experience and it is only my opinion. If you are interested go to the first short seminar knowing that if you want to lean anything useful it will cost you about $50 more. If you spend the additional $50 and attend the full day training look at it as a learning experiences. Learn what they are teaching, go home and look for online tools that do what the Stores On Line tools do. Leave the checkbook, your cash, and your credit cards at home. In my opinion the education offered by stores online is worth about $100 US. If you spend less than that and learn something you got what you paid for.

I can sell you web store hosting with drag and drop web design, technical support, and e-commerce marketing tools for about $30 a month. I would not advise buying the $6,000 Stores On Line package.

Colby said...

I hate spamming, but I'm at least interested in an alternative to SOL. What is your website?

barb.mclaughlin said...

anonymous... i am interested in your services. my husband and i attended the 90 minute seminar this afternoon and are going to the day long seminar in a couple of weeks. i know its expensive. i'm leaving my checkbook & credit card at home. i'm going for the information only. i couldnt afford their prices. i only work parttime and my husband just got laid off. we are working with limited funds.

but, we are interested in starting something up....

please email me with more info, barbie.mclaughlin@gmail.com


thank you

Teresa said...

I am interested as well. My friend went to the seminar and not me. She bought into it. I am interested in knowing your website. Please email me at blksheep3661@bridgemail.com.
Thanks

Green-Eyed Momster said...

Thanks anonymous. It's too late for us though. We're out over $6,000.

It was an expensive lesson for sure.

GEM

Anonymous said...

Annonymos I went to the seminar today didn't get the package but I'm interested in your site plz email me at babynursecass@aol.com

Anonymous said...

I got an invitation in the mail for their seminar. Of course I went, but then, I also enjoy going to all those sleazy timeshare seminars too, if for no other reason than to attempt to talk my fellow participants out of getting ripped off!

Storesonline is a total ripoff! For $6,000 you could get a professional web development company do all the work for you--and provide you with REAL support and actual USEFUL information on how to get an e-commerce site up and running!

All that "software" that storesonline is selling you for that $30 and $24.99 monthly fee? You can get the same at Host Gator for single charge of $4.99 per month, and Host Gator's free templates are actually far better, and include a nice selection of premade "flash" templates as well--free of charge!

Storesonline reminds me of those sleazy timeshare presentations that will sell you a 1 week vacation property for $15-$20,000. What they don't tell you is that if you really want a timeshare property, you can usually buy an identical one on the resale market, often for no more than a couple hundred dollars!

wendy.k said...

Anonymous:
Please contact me with your services.
Thanks
wendykpa@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Anonymous

Please send me your info jlangton72@comcast.net

Anonymous said...

Anonymous I will be attending the seminar for SOL on Thursday in Richmond VA, thanks for the heads up I don't have 6,000 anyway so I know they won't scam me. But since I was sucker into the $50 seminar I will go get all the information I can for my own website any information can be value at the end but do give me information on your hosting uniquedesignpl@uniqedesignplansevents.com or cynthiaopm@yahoo.com but it may be spam at that that address

Josh Penfold said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Josh Penfold said...

I just received a stores online packet in the mail advertising their E-commerce solutions. I manage a small business tech company and we also provide web store solutions. $6000 for any web store of the quality they are offering is way overpriced. We base all of the shops we build on an Open Source Platform that is completely free and only charge our clients for design, setup and training if needed. A simple web store should only cost you monthly hosting and payment processor, and setup

I was even thinking of attending the seminar this week in our area and handing out our biz cards to people and telling them they can get a better solution for !0% of the cost of Stores Online. Which if anyone here is near Buffalo NY and wants E-commerce advice or consulting contact me and for the low cost of a beef on weck sandwich I will show you all the tools you need to build your site.

I started helping companies a few years ago with media/tech stuff and started doing E-commerce consulting after the struggles I had launching my own site www.voipmodo.com. The other poster is right that there are many tools out there to get your site going, and I think that companies like stores online take advantage of those who have the drive and ambition to start their own companies but may not have the knowledge yet of all the tools at their disposal.
let me know if I can help, If your not in Buffalo just send me an email and I will see if I can at least point you in the right direction

Josh Penfold PhD
josh@thepenfoldgroup.com

TonyC said...

There are number of places to get shopping carts, some even come with hosting.

StoresOnline is a rip-off, there are much cheaper ways to sell stuff online. But - as previous posters have said, it is a business and it will take time and effort to get established.

***Shameless plug***
TechHeroDomains.com has carts for as little as $10/month (only 20 items) or $50/month (unlimited items).
Check out www.visartpro.com for an example.

Anonymous said...

I got an invitation for free lunch and MP3, but I have no intention to buy anything (will be leaving all my credit card and check book at home).

My only reason for attending these things is for the free gift and free lunch, and I sat through some really high pressure stuff without buying a cent of stuff (well, because I know what they are and I have already made up my mind before going). My only question is, is Store Online lunch good enough for my 90 minutes of time? Do they really give out Ipod? If so, then I will go, if not, I will just stay home.

Anonymous said...

Oops, I just checked, not even an Ipod shuffle, completely not worth my time. I guess I am going to save them a sandwich lunch.

Colby said...

They give you a $15 dollar voucher for an ipod shuffle, but they do offer a cheap generic mp3 player. I wanted an ipod shuffle for my mom, so I got the voucher, but to my surprise it was only good for 3 more days!

I would suggest not going. They pressure you extremely and even more if they see that you are hesitant on buying the software.

Good Luck! :o)

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for sharing this information. this is most helpful! i want to start my own online store and is now doing my research. i too got an invite with a "free lunch and ipod" but i am sure not to go. i'm very greatful for everyone posting their experiences. thank you again.

Monica said...

Hello All--
I'm interested in finding SOL competitors. What type of company is it, so I can use the appropriate keywords to find them online?

Also, Anonymous-- Can you send me info about your company at monica_biswas@yahoo.com?

Thanks so much for the info to all of you, It has been most helpful to me and my mom who are considering purchasing their product (i attended the 90-minute session and thought it was interesting info, but am always skeptical of "buy now, or never get this price"-- after all, what are they afraid we will learn overnight?).

Monica

Anonymous said...

I'm a stay at home Mother of 1 year old twins, and thought what the hell I guess I could do this. I just went to the 90 min seminar yesterday in Petaluma, CA. Don't know what I was thinking, I went ahead and gave them a check for $48 (guess the price went up from $30). Just read all of your posts and promptly called my bank to stop payment. Thank God I didn't get suckered into the rest of the mess.

Unknown said...

Anonymous

Please send me your info speedypcexperts@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

We paid cash of fifty dollars thinking that this would free us from any further payments. I just read all your posts and am regreting not looking this up before going to the 90 minute presentation. Has anyone paid cash and been able to get a refund or had any problems with getting out of the website? Thank you in advance for you feedback.
Donna

Unknown said...

Posted on August 3, 2009 12:45 PM
Anonymous said
Ok, I guess I am a Stores On Line competitor...

If anyone had received their info can you please forward. Thanks

Anonymous said...

ARgh! that is all I can say I have been trying to get a refund after attending a seminar in Parksville, BC last night and I have been passed around from department to department...plus they hung up on me and then called my daughters phone. Funny they couldnt find my number but were able to find a cell number within seconds- has me concerned. Bottem line, I know there are great companies out there but this one just is not! Their customer service is not award winning by any means and they are just plain rude and impossible to deal with- I had to repeat my phone number 20 times and wait while they searched and searched for my account to cancel it. Then they told me not to bother faxing in the cancelation form as I had a number from them. I told them I would take it to my lawyer and have their office fax it to be sure it went through. I dont have time to deal with a company with low moral and integrity and from less of 24 hours of dealing with them I am certain they are terrible. Try to get your money back and run!

The Penfold Group said...

Our company is debating creating a seminar style information sessions for companies that are looking to create an online store or for people to build a website from home. After seeing all of the information from storesonline and the negative feedback they get, is there a right way to do it? We want to provide web, ecommerce, and print solutions in a complete package. We want to put customer service first and become a trusted brandname for the SMB market. Any ideas and feedback would be great

Farm Family said...

Anonymous, could you contact me regarding your business please, for I am interested also... and also attended the lunch seminar and glad you wrote in. You can reach me at papiney@worldshare.net

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this thread. We went to the full day seminar yesterday. There were many parallels with a timeshare presentation, playing on emotions of greed, fear, guilt and blame, etc.

One of the disturbing aspects was all the financing Stores Online provided. Early in the presentation the staff presented credit forms so people would have "options". Based on the table at the back, maybe 20% of the total audience took advantage of that. It felt like a way to squeeze money out of people who had very little of it.

Anonymous said...

I guess we feel stupid... we went to the one day workshop on the 24th and signed up for the $6000 package. Down payment of $450 was provided in a check stating and warning that it could not be cashed until the 29th. Well... it was cashed the following day.
We are two friends looking and seeking desperetaly for ways of making a living. I was laid off and my friend is worried of losing her job. The $6000 loan was seen as a huge sacrifice but with all the incentives and "promises" from a well built program that will enable anybody to start making money as soon as the site goes live, we took the chance and decided to face the monthly payments.
According to the paperwork, we have until the 29th to cancel, which indeed is what we are going to do and we have to thank your blog for this eye opening!

We met early today and discussed other options as to programs out there for SEO tools, web hosting, merchants tools, etc. We figured out that Stores Online takes advantage of people who do not have any knowledge whatsoever of what is needed for a succesful internet business, and accept a turnkey solution as a lifesaver for a better future. We feel embarrased we were in that pool but it is not too late to get back to reality.
We are preparing the cancellation letter as we speak however we are afraid of how effective it will be. If anybody has had a similar experience please share it with us.
Again, thanks so much for your postings. On another note, any information on programs will be appreciated. We are looking into All-in-One for SEO tools and Godaddy for hosting, website and domains.
Thanks,

EBM

josh@thepenfoldgroup.com said...

EBM,

If you are looking for a low cost and effect E-commerce solution, shoot us an email and we can help you find the tools you need to get started or can provide you a complete package from our service offerings. Godaddy is ok for domain name hosting but I would use a more robust hosting solution if you plan on running an e-commerce platform. There are many choices out there for not much more money then godaddy. An e-commerce site should have decent hosting to provide quick access to the site, a dedicated IP address and its own, not shared SSL Certificate.
We use open source software for all the sites we deploy and even if you dont choose us to build your site, we can show you what tools you would need to develop a complete and robust E-commerce solution. www.thepenfoldgroup.com

Poppa Bear said...

Anonymous, Please send me your website information at ge2560@gmail.com

TinaWerd said...

I went with a friend last week and smelled a rat. The small print on the back of the registration form (for the $48 seminar) read that we were under no obligation to purchase the $3600 software offered at the training session. We started asking questions and rather than provide answers they pushed the $48 training seminar. We did not sign up.
Interestingly, when the presenter, Aaron, asked the group why they were here, an older gentlement yelled out, "for the free dinner." The presenter became agitated and stated that he would get the hotel staff to package up his dinner and give him his mp3 player so he could be on his way. He repeated this twice.

Anonymous said...

Yikes, we just signed up yesterday, but after reading these posts, we will be asking for our money back. Thanks for the info.
Anonymous, we, too would like your web site info.
dianaf@app.com

Anonymous said...

I have an adult son who had a stroke when he was 4. He is very good on the computer but cannot hold a "normal job" due to complications from his stroke. He was invited to the initial seminar of stores-on-line in the fall of 2007 and I went with him in the hope that this would be something that he could use to build himself a future. What a joke. I wish I had seen your blog then. As any parents, we wanted the best for our son and he felt that the information they provided was good. My husband & I took money from our retirement plan to the tune of about $7,500 and took every step that SOL suggested. Two years later we are still paying and have probably lost about $15,000. Our son has never been able to get 1 website up and running let alone the 6 that they insisted we needed to be profitable. I guess we are just going to call it a loss and a hard lesson. We really couldn't afford the money and our son is now even more frustrated because he feels like a failure and is upset that we threw away our money for him. He lives at home with us and we would do anything for him to have a semi-normal life. This whole experience has left a rift in our family. We feel as though we were duped and can't believe that we left ourselves open to this. Don't believe anything SOL tries to sell you. Their customer service is next to non existent and is of no use. Thank goodness I at least stopped before we got involved with PMI for abut $1,900.

Anonymous said...

So we went to the 90 minute seminar and paid 50 dollars cash...that was September 24th and they called to see confirm that we would attend the second training last week...I told the girl I had a cancelation number and that the money had better have been sent...she says it has been and that we were canceled but still no cheque in the mail for our refund....I will let you know if anything ever shows up but if you want my opinion look them up in the BBB they actually rated as a F .....enough said! STORESONLINE IS A HUGE SCAM...lucky we only lost the 50 with them...

saundrak said...

I was scammed by PMI Coaching and Stores Online $6850. I was only able to get 1/2 my money back.
Most people are paid off by these companies to keep quiet about getting scammed I was not. Make a blog about your story it is free to make a blog. People see your blog maybe it will keep others from getting scammed by these companies. More people need to step up and tell their stories so others will not get scammed by these companies.These Companies in UTAH are all bad news and something needs to be done about these companies scamming people.
If more people will file complaints will the Attorney General in UTAH and in their state then maybe people will get their money back and maybe these companies will get shut down.
Best thing to do is call Attorney General in your state to see if there is a lawsuit in your state because there is lawsuits in TN and Washington with stores online.
The lawsuits go back if your purchased from Stores Online in the past. Stores online also have been banned out of other states also.
You can click on my name or click on the B by my name to see my blogs to get more information about Stores Online Lawsuits and the other business in UTAH

Dan said...

Anonymous, I am interested in your services. dlt5075@aol.com

Anonymous said...

My daughter and I were talked into buying 6 stores with StoresonLine plus the coaching session 3 years ago. Due to many family illnesses and subsequent deaths, we didn't get our stores up and running. However, I decided this week that I would try and get a business started. I was unable to access my account and when I reached the SOL support, I was told I would have to pay ten dollars a month or one hundred dollars a year until my store was up and running! What they all forgot to point out was that you have a year to get your stores up and running, otherwise you pay the penalty!!! What a rip off. We lost money that we couldn't afford.

work-from-home said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
work-from-home said...

I have a client that was a past Stores Online purchaser. They spent a lot of money to get a dead web site. They also purchased the PMI deal to handle all the marketing of the site.... But was given advice. No work was done by PMI.

I am a web developer that also does SEO (search engine optimization) / SEM (search engine marketing) work as a profession. I can tell you that it works, but it is something that takes time.

Some people think you can instantly make it to the top of the search engine pages with little effort. I am here to tell you that it is not so. You need content on you site, you need backlinks connecting to your site and you have to have a good strategy for what you are doing.

My site WebYabber.com shows that I don't have a high page rank with Google, but most of my business these days is via work of mouth so I don't worry about high page rank.

Depending on what you want to accomplish, I suggest that one of the best ways to make money on line is either:

1) Sell your own digital products like eBooks
2) Become an affiliate and sell other peoples products.

I have designed many "minisites" for clients that sell other peoples products off of ClickBank. ClickBank is a digital marketplace that you can find thousands of different products to sell.

When you combine that with a good hosting package from places like HostGator or LunarPages ($8 per month) you can really start to move forward without spending the thousands of dollars Stores Online is talking about.

If anyone has any questions about this, you can visit my website and then drop me a note....

Have a Great Day!

Richard Whyte
WebYabber.com

Anonymous said...

Is there anyone on here that has been affected in Ontario? If so, I would appreciate speaking with you. You can contact me at tennis_fan123@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Anonymous, will you contact me at Queenbuttons@hotmail.com. I am interested in getting help to start an online business. Thanks

work-from-home said...

Hi All

O'Dell mentions above that you can build a site yourself... This is true and you can find free software to it with like NVU.

You just need to be prepared that no matter how good a piece of software is, when you are designing websites, it is very handy to understand the technology that you are build upon... In this case I mean HTML and CSS.

As for hosting, LunarPages is one of the best on the market. They have a number of Hosting Packages you can purchase, but I highly recommend the "Personal Page" plan.

With this plan you get three very important features.

1. Unlimited Storage
2. Unlimited Bandwidth
3. Unlimited Domains

OK, so what does that mean?

1. Unlimited Storage - This is great as no matter how much storage you use for your eBooks, images or whatever, you will never be charged for more...

2. Unlimited Bandwidth - Some hosting packages only allow so much traffic on your site per month, then they start to charge you more money for anything above that... Not with these guys!

3. Unlimited Domains - And this is the best... For your first Website (Domain name) you will pay something between $4.99 to $8.99 per month depending on how long you sign up for. $4.99 if you go for three years, $8.99 per month if you go for one year....

BUT, here is the best part. Once the plan is in place, you can have as many Add On Domains as you want for FREE... What is an Add On Domain?... This means that if you want to have another website site, and this is very common that many people in business have more than one, you can go to a registrar like NameCheap.com and register another Domain Name for only $9.69 per YEAR and then add this to your Hosting Account for FREE. So now you would end up with TWO websites and still only pay a single hosting fee of $4.99 per month... And each one has all the same features!!!!

We do a lot of Internet marketing and design work for my clients. We have 13 websites..... Our first site costs us $4.99 per month and all the other ones cost us only $9.69 per YEAR.... Think about how cheap that is...

This allows you to try different ideas without spending a fortune.

How does this tie into ShopsOnline? We have converted a number of our clients away from that package. The simple fact is ShopsOnline wants people that are not familiar with what is really available on the Internet.

We work as a web designers / SEO's and Online Business Consultants full time. What we do is build a site for a single charge and then let it run smooth for you. As you can see from above, the monthly charges should be very low after that.

We also do SEO work, so can design a plan that either we do completely by ourselves, or we work with you so that you can handle different parts of the plan with our guidance. Your choice.

As you can see from the above. With a bit of determination and searching, you can cut the cost way back on getting you business online.

I hope that helps some of you. If you have any questions or need assistance, I can be reached at my website below.

Have a Great Day!

Richard Whyte
WebYabber.com

Unknown said...

To have your own online store you DO NOT have to pay anybody. There are options. Free Open Source packages:

www.drupal.org
www.joomla.org
www.wordpress.org

You get code for free. It will take time for you to figure it out if you build website yourself but at the end you have knowledge and skills which itself can get you a job.

I have spent 3 months playing with my first web store. Now I can set up a site using Joomla in 1 hour. Text, pictures take time. My sample: www.LandsAndPeople.com

Not perfect but I do not pay anybody. Hosting at godaddy.com $7/month and domain name $10/year.

Regarding Search Engine rating just read on Search Engine Optimization online. A lot of tutorial out there. Hard to cheat Google. You get better results just following the rules.

Do not believe those StoresOnline, they are just making money using you. Do not give a penny anybody unless you really want to.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous in MS

I went to a seminar today and knew within a few minutes they were not up to snuff.

I am curious is Art the seminar presenter actually a former FBI agent or if it part of their sales talk.

I am new to SEO and web marketing and I wouldnt touch these guys.

Jason Mcinturff said...

My heart truly goes out to those of you that have gotten involved with "Get Ripped Of By Stores Online"!

My experience with this shistery company has fortunately been that I did'nt fall for their mess,but I can see where those of you have, and it's not right!

You can and should file a complaint with your states attorney general about their shoudy business practices!

This company like so many others preys on the high hopes and needs of so many,promises the moon,takes your hard earned money, and then they follow through with nothing!

I am extremely disappointed in this want a be company and would highly encourage all that are on the fence about doing business with them to turn and run-and if you are not the type to run-turn and forget about these con artists!

If there those of you out there that would like to learn how to make money online, I am here to tell you that that is very possible and that there are thousands of peopkle that make a very substantialliving through the internet, it just won't happen with this company,steer clear of
StoresOnline.com and I'm sorry if you have fallen prey to their terrible tactics!

Shakira said...

I believe that stores online is properly setup to deal with the internet and all the advertising available. I know that Big Ticket to Wealth is a great online internet marketing company that can help any business or any Entrepreneur start their business and make money online!

Shakira said...

I wanted to fix the comment I left in saying that Stores Online is NOT properly setup to advertise online at all... Sorry about that!

Anonymous said...

Just went to stores online conference, People don't waste your money. What a waste, their website templates look like shit.
29.95 a month for hosting your having a laugh. SEO inside info for $3600 your really having a laugh.
We had a real dick called Art or alf who said he worked for the FBI, I'm sure he was fired, thats why hes working for a second rate company as a salesman. He could not answer one question about how his product actually work.
Folks unfortunately their are people that prey on the desperate, and want to sell you shit that you can put together yourself for a fraction of the price.

Good luck, and be well.
Kev

Anonymous said...

I went to a workshop in April of 2009 and got sold into purchasing the 6 website package they offered. It took some time but after several weeks I got my first sale. I currently do anywhere from $1200-$2300 a month in profit thanks to their tools and software. The site doesn't look the best but the merchant service found in Pro is GOLD!!! I'm sorry it hasn't worked for so many on here but I am one happy customer so my advice it for everyone to be opened minded when they attend. SOI has been a blessing.


Charles
Alexandria,Virginia

Unknown said...

I used to work at StoresOnline until I was laid off. I can't help you with your complaints about StoresOnline, but I know what a hassle it is if you haven't got your site programmed before 90 days in the program. If you are a merchant who has "unlimited licenses" or a StoresOnline license you haven't used yet, you need someone to program your site for you. I can do that at way less than what StoresOnline will charge you. If you can't get out of your business, you should work on it. I can get your site programmed in a couple of days so you can start working on your business. I am not affiliated with StoresOnline, but I know their software and how to build sites that look great. Email me at programmingstoresonline@gmail.com for details.

Anonymous said...

I regret to say that I was one who has been duped by Stores Online. I purchased a work from home (affiliate marketing) program online and the next thing I know, I am building an online retail Web store. I want to get a Web busines site up and running to start recouping the thousands of dollars I have invested so far. But, I am reluctant to continue through Stores Online. My Web site is developed to the point where I need to set up a merchant account, although I have a couple of programming issues with the site that I am not happy with. What is the best way for me to proceed to make lemonade out of this lemon? Thank you for any suggestions.

Stress and Alternative Pain Relief said...

I wouldn 't say Storesonline is necessarily a scam. Just like all businesses they charge a fee (although a hefty one) for their services. There is no organization or law that regulates how much you can charge for your services so technically they didn't do anything illegal.

I attended the workshops and no high pressure tactics were used with me. I chose to buy the sites but I was ignorant to the fact that there were other options out there like Wordpress, Hostgator etc. I wish I had known because I would have definitely went with another option. I did however get what I was told I'd get with no problem accessing customer service. I just wished I had known other options. It would have saved me a lot of money.

Which brings me to my question. Now, that I know about the other options, I do not want to continue to pay $30 per website per month. That's ridiculous when Hostgator allows you to host unlimited sites with unique identities for only $14.95 a month AND you get the toll free # and a host of other stuff.

So, the question. Does anyone know if you are able to switch your Storesonline site to Host gator without losing the content. I have tons of content that I don't want to lose. I don't care about the design. I know I'll use that because of the template. I can redesign it. I just want to move the site so I can save my money now. Anyone know?

Thanks

vishal said...

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

Martin Russell said...

Yes you are indeed a winner!

Where can I email your prize to?

(You can leave your email on my blog if you wish - www.WordofMouthMagic.com)

Martin Russell said...

Stuffed that one up! :)

Anyway, did anonymous get back to anyone here? Sounds like a good deal.

Anonymous said...

They offered us communication phone system and I check the site, Avail247.com. The site indicated an actual phone but no phone arrived. Next thing I know, I was telling them that we'll be cancelling they say that the site was incorrect and no phone was needed since I have one already (a cell phone). they won't refund, was asking for all of the personal information again before they can refund and the support staff was grasping for explanation.

Anonymous said...

I want to say that they AREN'T a scam but the more you deal with them the more you become a target specially with all the hackers surrounding us. They were polite and very professional but they threw us off with this so called business partner, Avail247.com. the conversations did not sound anymore trusting. I hope that whoever was responsible for this misleading action(s) should repent by doing charity work in churches and schools.

work-from-home said...

I am a independent web designer that lives in the North Dallas area. Over the last 6 months, I have had a number of people approach me that bought into this program and felt that they were not getting what was offered during the presentation.

Seems like the environment was not only very expensive, but not what was promised. The story is the same almost every time.

Get them in the door, promise that any one can do this easy with no skills, make big money online as Billions are being spent.

Each of these people that are now my clients ended up getting call after call to offer them "Upgrades" to the basic package....

One of my clients spent over 25,000 with them and still did not have a decent site up and running.

She kept having to call the support center to get her site built and over and over they had reason why it was not done and when she finally had some up, it was broken and would not work for her.

It was only after a lawyer got involved that she was able to break the contract she had and stop any further payments to them.

Very bad way to do business.

I can tell you that nothing in life is easy. If you want a successful business online, just like an off-line business, you need to work at it. You need smart system in place to handle orders, do your marketing, communicate with your customers and potential customers.

I have been designing website for many years and come with a business / technology background. I also do a lot of "Internet Marketing" of selling downloadable products.

If you want an online store built upon a solid platform, you have much better options than dealing with this organization. And it will cost you a lot less.

I recently had a seminar that I taught people how to build an online business. I keep my classes very small. 10 - 15 people maximum.

During the 4 days, they learned all the basic foundation parts to running a business online including how to drive traffic to the website they are focused on.

I showed them how to do rapid site development that gave them a cookie cutter system they could repeat over and over again.

Within 30 days of completion, most of my students had websites up and already had visitors and some sales going on.

Most (the ones that followed the system and took action) pay off the investment they made in their education within 6 months.

Like anything in life, you need to make wise choices about what you decide to do and how you do it.

Having no been called in to help a number of people, it seems that Stores Online is not the way to build your online business and move forward.

Have a Great Day!

Richard

work-from-home said...

I am a independent web designer that lives in the North Dallas area. Over the last 6 months, I have had a number of people approach me that bought into this program and felt that they were not getting what was offered during the presentation.

Seems like the environment was not only very expensive, but not what was promised. The story is the same almost every time.

Get them in the door, promise that any one can do this easy with no skills, make big money online as Billions are being spent.

Each of these people that are now my clients ended up getting call after call to offer them "Upgrades" to the basic package....

One of my clients spent over 25,000 with them and still did not have a decent site up and running.

She kept having to call the support center to get her site built and over and over they had reason why it was not done and when she finally had some up, it was broken and would not work for her.

It was only after a lawyer got involved that she was able to break the contract she had and stop any further payments to them.

Very bad way to do business.

I can tell you that nothing in life is easy. If you want a successful business online, just like an off-line business, you need to work at it. You need smart system in place to handle orders, do your marketing, communicate with your customers and potential customers.

I have been designing website for many years and come with a business / technology background. I also do a lot of "Internet Marketing" of selling downloadable products.

If you want an online store built upon a solid platform, you have much better options than dealing with this organization. And it will cost you a lot less.

I recently had a seminar that I taught people how to build an online business. I keep my classes very small. 10 - 15 people maximum.

During the 4 days, they learned all the basic foundation parts to running a business online including how to drive traffic to the website they are focused on.

I showed them how to do rapid site development that gave them a cookie cutter system they could repeat over and over again.

Within 30 days of completion, most of my students had websites up and already had visitors and some sales going on.

Most (the ones that followed the system and took action) pay off the investment they made in their education within 6 months.

Like anything in life, you need to make wise choices about what you decide to do and how you do it.

Having no been called in to help a number of people, it seems that Stores Online is not the way to build your online business and move forward.

Have a Great Day!

Richard

work-from-home said...

I am a independent web designer that lives in the North Dallas area. Over the last 6 months, I have had a number of people approach me that bought into this program and felt that they were not getting what was offered during the presentation.

Seems like the environment was not only very expensive, but not what was promised. The story is the same almost every time.

Get them in the door, promise that any one can do this easy with no skills, make big money online as Billions are being spent.

Each of these people that are now my clients ended up getting call after call to offer them "Upgrades" to the basic package....

One of my clients spent over 25,000 with them and still did not have a decent site up and running.

Very bad way to do business.

I can tell you that nothing in life is easy. If you want a successful business online, just like an off-line business, you need to work at it. You need smart system in place to handle orders, do your marketing, communicate with your customers and potential customers.

I have been designing website for many years and come with a business / technology background. I also do a lot of "Internet Marketing" of selling downloadable products.

If you want an online store built upon a solid platform, you have much better options than dealing with this organization. And it will cost you a lot less.

I recently had a seminar that I taught people how to build an online business. I keep my classes very small. 10 - 15 people maximum.

During the 4 days, they learned all the basic foundation parts to running a business online including how to drive traffic to the website they are focused on.

I showed them how to do rapid site development that gave them a cookie cutter system they could repeat over and over again.

Within 30 days of completion, most of my students had websites up and already had visitors and some sales going on.

Most (the ones that followed the system and took action) pay off the investment they made in their education within 6 months.

Like anything in life, you need to make wise choices about what you decide to do and how you do it.

Having no been called in to help a number of people, it seems that Stores Online is not the way to build your online business and move forward.

Have a Great Day!

Richard

work-from-home said...

I am a independent web designer that lives in the North Dallas area. Over the last 6 months, I have had a number of people approach me that bought into this program and felt that they were not getting what was offered during the presentation.

Seems like the environment was not only very expensive, but not what was promised. The story is the same almost every time.

Get them in the door, promise that any one can do this easy with no skills, make big money online as Billions are being spent.

Each of these people that are now my clients ended up getting call after call to offer them "Upgrades" to the basic package....

One of my clients spent over 25,000 with them and still did not have a decent site up and running.

She kept having to call the support center to get her site built and over and over they had reason why it was not done and when she finally had some up, it was broken and would not work for her.

It was only after a lawyer got involved that she was able to break the contract she had and stop any further payments to them.

Very bad way to do business.

work-from-home said...

I can tell you that nothing in life is easy. If you want a successful business online, just like an off-line business, you need to work at it. You need smart system in place to handle orders, do your marketing, communicate with your customers and potential customers.

I have been designing website for many years and come with a business / technology background. I also do a lot of "Internet Marketing" of selling downloadable products.

If you want an online store built upon a solid platform, you have much better options than dealing with this organization. And it will cost you a lot less.

I recently had a seminar that I taught people how to build an online business. I keep my classes very small. 10 - 15 people maximum.

During the 4 days, they learned all the basic foundation parts to running a business online including how to drive traffic to the website they are focused on.

I showed them how to do rapid site development that gave them a cookie cutter system they could repeat over and over again.

Within 30 days of completion, most of my students had websites up and already had visitors and some sales going on.

Most (the ones that followed the system and took action) pay off the investment they made in their education within 6 months.

Like anything in life, you need to make wise choices about what you decide to do and how you do it.

Having no been called in to help a number of people, it seems that Stores Online is not the way to build your online business and move forward.

Have a Great Day!

Richard

Tony said...

I know some of my friends are using stores online. I looked at their seminar and SEO package.

They have a good information about internet marketing. Step by step instruction how to set shopping cart and using SEO or PPC to get more traffic.

I'm a SEO expert, so I know they have good information.

I like the idea that they help you setup the entire online store.

But, there is always a but. After you have paid $3000 and they have launched your website, there is no customer support.

I called Stores Online several times to speak with the SEO specialist there, to see how good they are in SEO.

No tech support. No SEO consultant.
Little bit disappointed.

Regarding drop shipping? Forget, they have no support either. They automate everything, but there is no direct communication with the drop ship suppliers at all.

They put the product of different drop ship suppliers on their system one time. There is no update about the inventory. No update of the order tracking.

That's it.

It's better to deal with the drop ship supplier directly. One of my friend is using this drop ship supplier:

http://www.bigdropship.com

You can even call them.

Anonymous said...

My mother and I just went to the 90 min dinner the week before last and we are set to go to the seminar this Thursday. There's no way to get a refund for the seminar so we *have* to go. Does anyone have any advice about what we should do or say? How should we handle things? Also, for those of you who have gone, did you even get the free NetBook as promised? Or the free MP3 player for going to the dinner? Any advice that you guys could give us would be greatly appreciated. We don't want to walk into this blindly. The seminar fee set us back and we simply cannot afford to shell out any more money. Thanks so much! You can contact me on yahoo. My address is Sarad_Thamia_of_Corleno

Anonymous said...

Is Stores Online a SCAM...one word. YES....ABSOLUTELY....ok, that was two words! My son and I got 'lured' into all their hype back in the spring of 2004. They have incredibly friendly, charismatic, high pressure salesmen/women, who REALLY know how to confuse you, and just get you to SIGN THE DOTTED LINE, without telling you the TRUTH.

I lost $6200.00 to this SCAM. Their software didn't even work...AT ALL...and their SUPPORT desk, didn't have A CLUE! Found out 2 weeks later that they only allow "3 days" to cancel if you aren't happy. I harrassed them for 2 years, with emails and phone calls telling them they were a SCAM. They even threatened to SUE me for $10,000.00 if I went 'public online' and bad mouthed them. GO FIGURE!

I went to Daytona in 2006 for an Internet Marketing workshop, and spoke to 45 people there. ALL of them had been burned by Stores Online...from about 1400.00 - $15,000.00. They ALL said, 'The software just didn't work, and the Support Desk was useless'.

My advice. DON'T GO NEAR THEIR FREE MEETINGS...THEY ARE DANGEROUS!!

Martin Russell said...

It must be about 6 years since I went to one of their meetings. Their direct mail campaign to get me there was very impressive/aggressive.

Checking today www.storesonline.com is the 4250th most popular site on the internet. Wow!

Whatever they are doing right, they are NOT cheap and if things go wrong, the money is gone.

To be careful, it's not just about going cheap though. The most important thing is RoI - Return OF Investment - how quickly do I make my money back, ie how many sales does it take to be in true profit. So you can re-invest the profits, rather than keep dipping into your savings.

If it takes more than 5-10 sales to break even, like is the case with storesonline, then there are safer ways to begin.

Welcome to the shark-infested waters of the online 'make-money' world :)

Safe hunting!

Martin

Anonymous said...

Stores Online is a Scam!! Don't do it. I went to their seminar,and purchased 6 sites (like a fool). I went to their all day seminar that was supposed to teach you all you needed to know, which it did not. I changed my mind, and did not want the sites. I was told that I purchased them and that there was no return. Not long after that, I received a call from one of their "training experts", and was told that I needed to purchase 14,000.00 worth of training to get my sites functional. What happened to the original purchase was all that you needed PERIOD!!! The more money that they can get you to agree to spend the more that they will try to con you out of, and offer nothing in return except the reminder that you were conned.

Anonymous said...

I to just attended one of those workshops the consultant that was assigned to help us had absolutely nothing to say, he was well, I'll leave that for the imagination.
The day was spent talking about 1 thing and not finishing, then moving on to the next then 30 minutes later going back to the other subject all it seems was an effort to keep you so confused you feel like you can't do this without their PROFESSIONAL help BS is what it is.
Prior to that I also paid their 99.00 fee at the 90 min seminar only to attend this all day WORKSHOP that they strategically scheduled for 10 days later so you couldn't possibly get a refund because the 3 days had passed. But you wouldn't know whether you wanted to keep the service in 3 days because you haven't attended this workshop that they convinced you they were going give you everything you need blah blah blah.
Once you attend that you realize you were tricked and now it's to late to get your refund as far as the netboook goes yeah we got a cheap 7' notebook made in china by Who?? I don't know but it seems storesonline Is True to it's abbreviated name "SOL" and you will be Sh t Outta Luck if you believe they are there to help, have more on this matter but I'm sick of talking about it. Just beware it's true their sister companies contact you as well, PMI contacted me today same BS different name. I'm sure all of their affiliate companies will try to as well and by the way I did not invest another dollar with them, almost got tricked by their sister co today and decided to check them out and found this among other sites THANK GOODNESS I did

Anonymous said...

Thanks guys, you saved me a wasted trip. I thought it sounded too good to be true and as always research saves embarrassment. Why is it these guys actually stay in business if the politicians had anything in there brain cells apart from there own personal profit folk like this would be cuddling Bubba in the fed pen.

Anonymous said...

We've been using storesonline for our retail website for six years and also for their email hosting. I absolutely HATE them and am working on migrating to another hosting service.

The problems come when you need tech support, if you want to change something, rebrand, etc. Tech support tells you what you want to hear, but then you find out that they have effected the change incorrectly or worse, brought your website down, like they did ours yesterday when we tried to switch email hosts.

Also, since phone support is only available beginning at 10 MST, those of us in the east must wait until noon to talk to a live person.

Recently, I tried to get the IP address for our website so that we could migrate our site to another hosting service. All they would give us was the storesonline IP address, not our own particular IP address. Doing a "whois" search for our store did not provide an IP address, only the note that it was privately registered.

We are going to cancel all dealings with this company and hire a REAL firm to design a website for us. We need an internet presence not because we are a dropshipper and looking to make a quick buck, but because we have a retail store that relies on an easily-changed, easily-updated website, with good tech support. THIS IS NOT SUCH A SERVICE!

Anonymous said...

I attended the seminar for 8hrs yesterday in Charlottesville VA. IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT IS. I only went for the free, dry, lunch and the cheap netbook with no brand name. I knew from the time that the price of $5,998 was announced that I was not getting into this well-thought-out-scam. I listened and let them talk to me one on one like we were best friends or something and let them keep trying to "finance" me even after I told them that I had no job or income. They didn't care. How am I going to pay them back? I kept asking that question and the one on one guy kept on talking with a smile on his face. Finally he gave up. Good thing he did because I was going to keep him talking and waist his time like he was doing with mine. Bottom line, don't buy this mess. They keep stressing how they can get your website to "the top of the page"....if everyone signed up, would everyone be at the top of the page on line number one? Nope. Just 10min ago I got a call for CTI or some other company affiliated with them and still they keep talking about how I was "selected" for another chance..Puh-leez. I stood my ground bee essing them the way this very polite thief on the other end was doing me. He too, finally gave up.

Jon said...

Utah Consumer Advocate provides services that will help you get a refund when you feel you have been scammed or ripped off by a coaching company. Please contact us at utahconsumeradvocate@gmail.com or visit us at http://www.utahconsumeradvocate.com

Anonymous said...

We went to the original dinner for this and got the free lunch and two voucers for free MP3 players (sent those in an only got one which is no more than a really cheap player you can buy at the dollar store for about $10). We decided to pay the $139 and go to the second session which was an all day training and dinner and we would also get a notebook computer. The computer can be bought for between $35 and $108 dollars and I would say this one would sell for less than $50. We received it following the second day which was a training seminar. We did receive lots of information there the the emphemis was that we could use it ourselves and it would take months and maybe years to get our online business started or we could pay them $6000 and they would be there to make the set up of our web business smooth sailing. If you go to one of these things and your gut tells you there is something not quite right...leave your check book and credit card in your pocket. After coming home and reviewing the package of things we got we decided to cancel. My husband is 65 so he had the 15 days to cancel his contract but we did it immediately. We first went to our bank and let them know we did not want anymore money taken from our account for this company. We had made a $1000 down payment and they told us if we sent the software and materials back they would refund our money. Packaged it up and sent it to them in a Priority Flat Rate Box which cost us about $15 and we also had a "signature confirmation" tag put on it ($1.50) so we could track it and have proof when they received it. They received it on Monday and the money was back in our account on Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we received a call from the company and they wanted to offer us a better deal and we could go for the Silver package rather than the Platnium and we would still get most of the better package perks. After reading all the reviews we will be telling them no thanks when they call back today. I felt in the beginning it was all a bit over priced and now that I check it out online I see that it is so I will go that way.
Had we not gotten our money back I would have gone to our credit card company with a copy of the contract that said we could cancel (right away), called the BBB, called the company and let them know that the money had to be in my account within 24 hours of receiving their merchandise back or I would be talking to my attorney (I would have gotten one)and if that all did not work I would have called my states attorney general. The only reason these places continue to get away with taking your money is because most consumers do not follow up in going after them when they do not get what they have been promised. Good Luck to you all.

Unknown said...

Annonymous if you are still linked with this blog please email me your info at off2oz69@yahoo.com. I am signed up to attend an all day seminar on 4/16/2011. I paid $99 for 2 ppl and a netbook. I will attend for the info and the netbook and will leave my check cards at home. Thanks for the info on these people....

Anonymous said...

I wish I did a Google search on “storeonline scam” before I got suckered in. That was an expensive lesson – to learn that so many dishonest people are out there. I signed up and paid about $7,000 for the package from the seminar thinking that’s all I needed. My life is a living hell after that. Many different reps will call you after that and everyone wants a piece of your wallet, like f*cking hyenas. Every call from them ask for more money to do this and do that, setup corporation fee, setup bookkeeping fee, on and on. A few thousand dollar every time. You’ll end up with $50,000 in debt before you know it. I wish these f*ckin people burn in hell. Especially the ones from Utah. I expected Mormoms to be honest, but you mother f*ckers will burn in hell.

LINDA R. said...

I, too was ripped off by Stores On Line. I did the dance, paid for the extras and STILL no hits on the website. I personally listed over 700 items on it and never once got a sale or even any evidence that any one even FOUND my website. I did the same thing others did. I pulled the plug on the auto payments. Stopped paying the hosting fees after almost a year because it was like throwing money in the fire. NOW they have launched a collection agent after me....Universal something. They are the next on my list for harassment. They called yesterday, again today and after I hung up on them when they said even if I make lower payments, my credit score will suffer...I got a recorded message on my answering machine.
I am permanently partially handicapped. I needed to work from home and did what was required of me as well as purchasing this backloading to put me on other websites. Personally, I don't believe this was ever done. I would like a full refund from stores online. I would like an advocate to go after them on my behalf. How can I pay for something that is not making me any money??? They did a high pressure aim at my friend who attended the Scamininar with me to the tune of saying she could sell things to get the money up or borrow it from me. This would say that the deposit and monthly payments were all that was needed to get started...WRONG!!!! So, had my friend signed on...what would she have done about the other money you have to come up with in order to publish and be seen? They leave that off on the Scaminars when you attend. At this point, I would like it to just be a wash...drop the balance. I guess it is shame on me for trying to better myself. I dont know about one writer who said we waste time going after stores on line instead of devoting ourselves to it...I have two things to say. one...I devoted myself and my funds...believe me I did. two...If its so great for you, why dont you advise us here just what it was you did? I have an open mind. I would love to hear it. I have no problem paying stores online. I would have paid the whole chunk if I started making money like they promised. They are no better than the mortgage companies with preditory lending. Tell me...how are they ANY DIFFERENT????? Linda Richter

Dr Martin Russell said...

I attended one of these back in about 2004 - but fortunately I had already begun online with other methods. Doesn't seem they have gotten any better :(

Anonymous said...

I attended the 90 minute briefing in where we were promised a MP3 player and were going to be taught how to generate income on line. the entire 90 min the audience was beaten up and the speaker basically talked about how they make their money. It was called rent, from us paying their monthly fees. At first i was taken but came home and immediately cancelled my debit card.They pick the dirtiest old hotel and give you a cheap lunch and pretend that the hotel misinformed them of the room size when booking the conference room.The sales guys are real pushy and are real unprofessional on how they collect peoples credit cards and checks. They dont ask for ID and are just there to collect money and sell a hosting site.I'm so glad I found this site when i got home.

Unknown said...

These Liars came to conyers Georgia.

Anonymous said...

Yes I went to this low class event in Calgary April 2011.Same old story did not have any room for tables so they gave you 2 dollar lunch in a paper bag. No water or coffee was served and did not get the mp3 player.These people from stores online should be put in jail.OR hung by the neck until dead in town square. What a waste of my time.cre

asuch said...

StoresOnline is a scam! We purchased their package and whatevery they promised to receive 2 ipods and we received nothing and not delivery the services.

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Michael Rohrman said...

Well I have made millions with storesonline, I just travel around and the automated orders are sent to the dropshippers. I just sit back and relax counting my money.
Well to be honest I am about to sue these liers. I used the dropshipper alibaba theyy kept raving about, and guess what out of the three orders I placed none were delivered. The purchase price was refunded after about a month, but not the pos fee that was charged. The suppliers were eventually suspended, so how can stores say that they are great supplier they are just cons. If I was to do it all over again I wouldn't. 1 and 1 or godaddy has plans to help you out.
When checking to see if I could put verisign logo on header to assure customers safe site, no go the sign is only available at checkout and the way they carried on at the seminar.
They even gave me their personal emails and phone numbers, emails never returned and calls never answered. This company has been banned from several states so ck it out.

Alprazolam said...

Speaking of users, the Zune Social is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them.

Anonymous said...

I was scammed in March 2011 in baton rouge, louisiana. I have recently stop making payments to storesonline and filed a complaint with La attorney general office. Anyone from this area feels like they were taken advantage of and like to join me in trying to get a refund contact me at charlottemillerann@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Store online is a professional scam company.I was ripped of 6K BY this guys in April when they came to Edmonton.
With all their promises
1.GET integrated dropshiper 4 u.
Not true they will send wedsites of individuals or companies that sell dropshipers directory to u and that will cost u extra money.
2 they told us about Danna(The MAP BOOK WEBSITE)WHOM they said is a single mom, with no job ,has 4 kids not educated not computer literate.the good news they said is that she makes up to 62k monthly on her website.
For 3Month i spent time 5 or more hours on the computer and over the phone with store online to get my site ruining. each week never pass without a package not been offered to me to buy.and i kept asking WHAT ABOUT THE 6k I paid 4 platinum package dt covers all these benefits.I never get clear answer to my question.
later, I got several calls from 2 men who told me that if i want to succeed like the people they used 4 d success story, I have to pay minimum of $11K
thou i refused but what scared me most was that I finally find out from one of the guys from store online who was also persuading me to pay$699 for my site to appear on SEO That those guys asking me 4 $11000 are not from store online rather they are their affiliates
FOR this 6month now i NOT made even one sell on my site. next month they want me to pay 30dollars 4 hosting. but they won't succeed.
pls BEWARE OF STORE ONLINE BEFORE THEY WILL LEAD U TO UNINTENTIONAL BANKRUPTCY

Anonymous said...

Store online is a professional scam company.I was ripped of 6K BY this guys in April when they came to Edmonton.
With all their promises
1.GET integrated dropshiper 4 u.
Not true they will send wedsites of individuals or companies that sell dropshipers directory to u and that will cost u extra money.
2 they told us about Danna(The MAP BOOK WEBSITE)WHOM they said is a single mom, with no job ,has 4 kids not educated not computer literate.the good news they said is that she makes up to 62k monthly on her website.
For 3Month i spent time 5 or more hours on the computer and over the phone with store online to get my site ruining. each week never pass without a package not been offered to me to buy.and i kept asking WHAT ABOUT THE 6k I paid 4 platinum package dt covers all these benefits.I never get clear answer to my question.
later, I got several calls from 2 men who told me that if i want to succeed like the people they used 4 d success story, I have to pay minimum of $11K
thou i refused but what scared me most was that I finally find out from one of the guys from store online who was also persuading me to pay$699 for my site to appear on SEO That those guys asking me 4 $11000 are not from store online rather they are their affiliates
FOR this 6month now i NOT made even one sell on my site. next month they want me to pay 30dollars 4 hosting. but they won't succeed.
pls BEWARE OF STORE ONLINE BEFORE THEY WILL LEAD U TO UNINTENTIONAL BANKRUPTCY

Dr Martin Russell said...

"For 3Month i spent time 5 or more hours on the computer and over the phone" - that is horrible!

I even market MLM online - which is tougher than standard products - and I know Internet marketing ain't THAT hard.

Anonymous said...

SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM. I can't say it enough. They promise you that you can do this and make money. Make it sound so great than take your $7,000.00 plus and leave you there in the mud. I am so sick of calling and asking for help. After three years of not making a dime I have had enough of this company. To you that are thinking of doing this DON'T DO IT! They will take your money and laugh in your face while you lose your home and your mariage goes down the drain because you have no money left. THANKS ALOT STORESONLINE. They will not refund your money either. Ohh you get three days to decied if you want to back out or get screwed. What can you possiable do in three days to see if it's going to work or not, your webite isn't even live or even thought of yet.You don't even have time to think of a product to sell yet in this short of time,SCAM. This should of been our RED FLAG RIGHT THERE. They just keep charging my credit card every month for $39.95. Everytime I call I get nothing/please hold. So I use the live chat, which is a joke, they don't know what they are doing either. I was told once that my website is not making sales, because I'm not trying hard enough and not calling them enough. What a joke, like I have all the time in the world to sit and talk to them all day about things I don't understand .PLEASE DON'T GET SUCKED INTO THIS. Very unhappy sucker!

Anonymous said...

Liars came to eau claire,wi and gave us cold lunch, which tasted bad. Then gave us a long speech on how great it was going to be for us then gave us a stupid (free) planner book(piece of crap)and took our credit card number gave us a guarantee money making website, then Screwed my family out $7,000.00 and still adding. I'm telling you now DON'T DO IT!!! It will ruin you life,marrage, and lose your home ,because you have put your time and money into this just to get kicked in the behind by STORESONLINE. I HATE these people and they should be sued and closed down and not be able to do this to people anymore. Why hasn't anybody done anything about this company. WHY can't we get our money back. Americans need help to stop this company and all the people that work there and support this company. HELP!!!HELP!!!HELP!!

Audrey said...

Stores Online is a complete and total scam! Run away immediately and be forever grateful you did. They ripped off my elderly parents for $7000 for six websites - who in their right mind needs six websites? - and continued to get them to dish out money to "fix" things when they couldn't get their site up and running. My father struggled with the site for years before giving up and finally admitting that we were right about his being ripped off. I was horrified when my dad finally came clean and told us how much of their retirement money he had flushed down the Stores Online toilet. Needless to say, my parents made absolutely no money at all on their useless website. The only consolation I have is that my retired father made the tech people spend hours on the phone with him almost daily in his futile attempt to make anything productive out of the website. Buyer Beware!

SSGinWashingtonState said...

If ANYONE searches, reaches and reads ANY of these comments....BELIEVE them!
No matter WHAT excitement the presenters from Storesonline feed you...STOP! RUN AWAY....not just walk. Its ALL TRUE! This is NOTHING but a SCAM!! Please, please, please DO NOT invest in ANYTHING they have to offer....not even their $30 unlimited offer!! Its ALL GARBAGE!!

There have been class action lawsuits in many states, but most have pasted their inclusion deadlines by years. My parents got $1,700 of their $6,000 back. This company is SMART in THEIR marketing to the public! Basically, you are just investing in THEIR MARKETING to yourself and others! I personally lost $6,000. I'm furious with myself for doing this, but can only sum it up to an expensive lesson!

You CAN have an internet business and be successful.....just NOT with StoresOnline!!!

Randal said...

I went to the siminar, bought the license for $48.00 (did not upgrade for3400.00), biult my website, them paid $24.95 for web hosting. This was in July of 2009. Customer support was always ther when I needed them (24/7). And I know still own and run that website and make $30,000 to $35,000 a year and still growing. I am about to open another stores online website and maybe buy atleast 3 more. So, is it stores online? or is it that some people cant or dont put the time and/or effort into it. Is it a scam, no it is`nt. I am not affiliated with or represent Stores online in any way, I`m just a customer who is growing a business and making making a living with the services they provide.

Anonymous said...

We have dumped a lot of money into this project plus a lot of time over nearly two years.

Obviously someone, somewhere makes money but it sure isn't us.

I am a web designer. I have used many tools online and off to build web sites. I can't use their tools to build the site the way I want to and don't find the way the site would be created using their tools to be adequate to what I want to accomplish.

I give up. I"m not willing to continue to throw good money into this project.

Anonymous said...

I am a website designer / Online marketer that has built hundreds of websites for our company and out clients.

After working with three different people that have come from the "StoresOnline" world, I have to say that I am disappointed by the lack of true support or assistance they received while attempting to make money online.

As the online world matures, many people want to work from home or small business to make a living doing what they love to do. This is very possible and many people are doing just that.

Unfortunately, we sometimes run into "experts" that truly are only in the business to make money at any cost. You are a number and nothing more.

I believe this hurts all website developers / Online marketers as once someone is burned, they are not likely to want to try again.

Building web sites can have some daunting technical learning curves if you don't have a team you can work with for a desired outcome.

Having had a bad experience with StoresOnline, I hope that your don't give up. That you push through and make the move to be successful online. Life as it's challenges, but it is those folks with persistence that grab the dream they want.

Bill T said...

It's been a year since I signed up and gave away over $5000.00 for this service. To date, nothing. Phone calls to the company were either not answered, nor returned. A couple of returned calls were made to me in behalf of the company by a third party. Chase Bank investigated, stopped the auto payments from my account and returned all monthly payments made. Thank you Chase Bank!! Many promises by StoresOnLine were not kept, the others fell thru. Keep your money, don't give it to them.

Anonymous said...

Stores on line is a big scam, liars and ruthless.
God will take care of them because I am his child and although they ripped me off thousands of dollars I believe they will go to hell.
I do sympathise with all the people they took advsntsge of.
Keep the faith and do not give up.
"MUCH LOVE TO ALL"

Mark said...

I hate these people from Stores Online they are like Financial Rapists. There IS a way to stop these scaminars by publishing a list of where every event is to be held. Then getting a group of people together to call the venue, police, local TV and news papers. If they can't stop the event then protest the events.

We should not just sit back and let these people hurt any more people...

Anonymous said...

Hopefully anyone considering Stores On Line will see your blog. Thank you for them. Too late for me. I bought into the "free meal" and seminar and $6,000 and two unfruitful months of attempts to set up the web-sites later I knew I had been had. (I could have supported a few presidential campaigns with that price per plate.)I'm not sure which of is smarter, you for only purchasing three of the packages or me for NOT posting the site and throwing more money into that money pit with monthly fees. My husband and I kept three of the certificates and gave each of our children one as a very expensive Christmas present. Even our one son who could figure out how to dismantle an atomic bomb could not figure out how to get the site working. And they had the audacity to call to try to sell us some kind of additional help assistance!!! Like you, we each spent weeks trying to figure out how to get things up and running and never had an ounce of success. It's hard to think of anything that's more of a scam than Stores On Line. They all should be public flogged.

DonGarner said...

Storesonline is Not a scam. The one thing people need to think about when signing up with them is that any company or store being built whether Brick and mortar or online is ALOT of work. You cannot build a company or design a website that is customer ready in a few days unless you have built one before and can use it as a reference. I have been working with storesonline for about 4 years and never once had a problem with their service however what most people do not realize is you don't have to pay $6000.00 to build a website it only costs a little under $1000.00 and that is for merchant accounts, Authorize accounts, Hosting, Buying Domains ect.. If you want your site ranked to the top of search engines it takes lots of time even if you have a legitimate Seo company do it for you. Here's a good example of a site Not designed by an outside source Http:Infantsuppliesonline.com

Anonymous said...

what they don't tell you is that everything you can do with stores online you can do absolutly free yourself. They also don't tell you that when you get a dropshipper you have to be careful that the dropshipper doesn't take your money and run. Their sites are extremely limited in to what you can have your site look like pick a template and thats your site add your pictures blah blah blah. They charge hardcore fees you can register a domain for 15 or less a year they charge over 35 a month.

Anonymous said...

I can relate. High pressure sales and misrepresentation. They made it sound so easy and it was not. Too expensive and promised results were not there. I lost a lot of money on this misadventure.

Anonymous said...

It's a money making scheme for them. We were suckers and bought the six stores because they made it sound like time invested would equal success. Well after hours of searching for a product, I couldn't find a drop shipper. I finally just started looking at drop shippers to see what products were available that would interest me. More money.... Most drop shippers charge a fee to just look at their products. A year went by and I tried to get on their site. I found out my time had run out and I would have to pay more to get their help. I finally just gave up. We're still paying for something we can't use. It was our mistake for being so easily persuaded. I would not recommend anyone be suckered in like we were.

Anonymous said...

I bought into Stores on line am I am completely satisfied. Most people think you can buy the lisense and everything takes care of its self, get real folks in order to make money you have to put alot of time and work into it. I build and run my site so I am not dependent on Store on Line, that is where most make a mistake. Customer support has always been there and resolved any issues I have had. I dont work for Store on Line nor am I a spokes person for the company, I am just a web owner who has purchased their software , making money and happy with the service Stores on Line provides

MAS said...

Ive a read about a few lawsuits filed against them. Do you know of any in Ohio? They have tarnished our credit report and are charging us thousands of dollars for this product. We cancelled early on after realizing it was a scam. I don't want to pay them a dime but I want them off my credit report.

Anonymous said...

I bought 6 sites, paid PMI to program 3 sites - they did such a poor job on the first site it never ran. I paid a lot of money for the service. I complained to Stores on Line and they pointed their fingers to PMI. I also got sold a payroll program, setting up a corporation etc. ... which they did not do right ...Buy the time all the vultures were done ... I lost $20k.....

Anonymous said...

Got the junk back in 20008. Big mistake,Anyone out there run the other way so you don't get ripped off.

Anonymous said...

I too bought this junk in 2002! Ripped off ! 5 sites bought - still have the scars of this scam and the financial losses !!!!! Buyer beware!

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