Has anyone heard of Shop to Earn?

Doesn't it concern anyone that there is not phone number or email for STE????? How do you contact them? Do you need to mail them a letter to contact them? I find that very strange!

Yolo,
all the money that was due to me was deposited this month thanks.

robinator
- Hows marketamerica doing for you? Think i can get in that program as well? kinda shitty way to drum up business by tearing another one down but hey whatever. I'm glad your so concerned about me and my family and friends that are all working at this business. But as far as i know there are no investigations or even charges on going against STE and to say "I have been saying that the FTC is definitely going to be looking into STE and after speaking with Derek today I am even more convinced" until there is an offical FTC inquiry or any other ruling in that matter it seems that your only trying to scare off people from other mlm opportunities that deal with shopping, since your a part of marketamerica. By the way isnt that also an "online mall". (I could be wrong about the online mall thing i didnt take the time out to investigate market america)
... in the famous words of the church lady on SNL "aint that special"

This is a forum to discuss the pros and cons of shop to earn. not to qualify or disqualify STE as a burn lounge or other pyramyd scheme. Leave that to the FTC.
As far as the business mechanics goes, STE is a business and sorry to say pa mom your pricing analysis is awesome but as far as i am aware, people usually dont go into business not to make a profit.
If you shop around enough you will always come across someone that does or sells something cheaper than the next guy.
But if by paying the extra premium for some products, yes someone is getting rich but i am also helping out some friends and family in my upline as well as giving the company my 100 dollars of buying power each month wich collectively equates to 30k+ members giving 100 dollars for 3 million dollars a month buying power to influence other companies to go green or induce more people to catch the green wave by creating more green products well then i will donate the 20 mins it takes me to make the 100 bucks each month and get some green products lowering my carbon footprint as well helping my friends and family make some residual income.

I am looking forward to the next few months with the holidays around the corner as well as some improvements that are being worked on as we speak the future is looking brighter and brighter each day.

As far as STE being unapproachable... if you ever go to one of the training seminars all you have to do is ask. I have pat's cell number as well as dan's and soda's stay in contact with them frquently thru emails and phone calls. If you have any questions feel free to contact me my number is on my ste site or even pm me on here and i will relay any questions you have for them.

And No i am not a part of the STE brain trust i am just very enthusiastic about this opprotunity that i was blessed with and as you can see I'm not a super recruiter by any means Nor am i a genius or some CEO of a multi billion dollar company. I am a just a regular joe have a wife two kids I do well for myself but i see how much better it can be and if i can help my friends and family along the way i see it as a blessing. so robinator tell your friend to get some color back because he hasnt done anything wrong. He's just obliged himself to helping out those he recruited to qualify and hit their bonuses as well now if he doesnt do that then shame on him.

well that's it for now ... maybe i should start a thread anyone hear about marketamerica see what that's all about as well.

Dpark, you know what I said to my friend Derek? I said, I'm happy that you are doing well, as long as your making money, do it as long as you can and make as much as you can. I just told him what I know. I hope all of you make a lot of money, I have concerns about the pay structure, but hey I'm not in STE. How did you know that I do business with MA. I have never written anything about it because it has never been my intention to talk about it here or recruit anyone from here?

Just another quick note. I have been in this industry for almost 20 years, I have known Derek for 8 years and half of his personally sponsored people I am friends with, and I have never talked any of them about what I do because I do not like to do business with friends or family. I network through business owners and professionals. I also do not like to do business with people at a distance. I'm not looking for anyone in this room to join me. I am soley expressing opinions, as are you and I respect evryone's opnion even if I do not agree with them.

Never mind Dpark, I see that it was visible in my profile.

Dpark, I'm concerned whenever I see a company that has the bulk of its money coming from recruiting and not through the actual selling of products. My brother was in burn lounge, they are gone now, and one of my best friends is in a company called YTB and now they are being sued for 25 million by the attorney generals office and they are being labeled as an illegal pyramid scheme. The reason this is happening is because in both cases the people were making the bulk of their money off of recruiting and not the sales of the actual products they were supposed to be. Now I know that many people make it a career to jump from different MLM's and network marketing companies when new opportunities emerge, and they usually make a lot of money. I have no problem with that at all. I'm sure that in both burn lounge and YTB there were people that most likely made fortunes, again, I have no problem with that. It's the people who are new to the industry, like my friend Derek that don't understand how this business works and I know for him when he first told me about STE and that many of his family and friends joined and they did so because they trust him, I knew immediately that he told me that because that is important to him, others may not care about that at all. So I know for him that if something negatively were to happen with STE, it would be more likely to really have an impact on him. I know that there are probably many other people like Derek that feel the same. People need to be informed of both the positives and the negatives to truly make an educated decision on how to move forward. I know that there are no guarantees in life, but I think that people should be well informed. The first two MLM's that I was involved in as a teen were gone in a matter of 3 years. After this happened to me twice I had a bad taste in my mouth and thought that all companies in the MLM/Network Marketing were bad and there were more people that agreed with me than not. I'm grateful to the gentleman who is now a great friend for educating me on this industry and who persistently followed up with me. He changed my life. It's the companies like Burn Lounge and many others that have had the same or similar issues that hurt all of us in this industry and to be quite honest, the last thing that I want to do is be one of the people that brings negative attention to this industry because inevitably it hurts us all. When I meet with potential prospects, I educate them on our industry, before I ever talk to them about what I actually do. If the value is not there for the prospect they will shut you off. But the fact that many people have negative information and have even know people to get hurt in different companies has to be addressed because it is an issue for many people. I honestly hope that STE does succeed and does become a power house in our industry because the more people that succeed, the more money can be made for all of us. So let me now apologize to you and everyone else on this blog for coming across as negative. I'm just concerned that the pay structure may bring issues in the future. I have taken my web address off of my profile as I did not know that it could be viewed publicly, and again, it was not my intention for anyone to ask what I was doing. Wish you the best.
-Rob

Maybe someone can explain the upline points flow which seem to go on ad infinitum with STE and I don't see how this can be as the levels grow deeper and deeper. Specifically, most MLMs limit the upline points to a definitive number of legs (e.g. five). For early investors, they are very high on the tree and for every new recruit, they get 200 points (approximately $20).

Herein lies my question. Let's say I joined in March, my right leg is 25 deep and a new recruit is added to the bottom at $448. $100 goes to the person who actually recruited teh newbie. That leaves $348. Now 200 points ($20) goes to 25 people upline which equals $500 but STE only has $348. How is this possible? Obviously the problem only gets worse as the legs become deeper and deeper. Someone in my town did join in March and he currently has 9200 recruits on the left and 3000 recruits on the right. So, his legs are getting very deep already.

I understand that the points flowing upline also apply to the cash back program. Each affiliate only rebates a finite amount of money. Let's say on $100 it is $20 of which 10 % goes to the purchaser. That leaves STE with $10. Each upline person receives 10 pts or $1 from the shopping. Again, if the legs are 25 deep, STE would need to pay out $25 yet only has $10 from the affiliate rebate.

If I understand the model, the company will be unable to fund its investors which is a classic example of a Ponzi scheme where the new recruits money is used to pay previous investors. The whole thing explodes when there are too many investors and not enough newbies.

I must be missing something. Can someone out there explain this or is this the reason the company reserves the right to "FLUSH" the points? This is noted in the back office. If yes, I foresee a lot of angry customers once their points are wiped away.

By the way, is anyone concerned that the STE Web site was down yesterday and it is down again right now (10:19 am)? Has the FTC stepped in and said NO MAS?

I am weary of any business in which we must question how viable the pay plan will be in the future.The STE plan is way too involved and seems doomed to fail as are most of these new MLM companies.

Since my last post I have went back to my colleague and told him "thanks but no thanks" on the STE biz/discount opportunity. I am just hoping he has enough time to recoup his investment before they are shut down.

Hey PAMom,

You mentioned that in order for a business not to be categorized as a pyramid, they have to generate customer sales above 50% of their revenue. I've looked on the FTC website and I haven't found anything. Where did you see this info?

Thanks.

This opportunity has been wonderful experience for me. You get out only what you put in- like anything in life. I did have my 1st check post direct deposit on the 19th of September for $4,240. That was 2 days earlier then promised. Now I am up to $7202.30 in my 2nd month. It has been a consistant extra $1,100 per week for me. There will always be MLM haters and to each his own. Work hard and you will make your money back right away. That's what I did because I did not have a choice, financially. This company has changed my entire attitude towards MLM's. I was not a big fan! I was a skeptic and decided to give it a try before I judged and now I see the opportunity that was handed to me. It is your choice on how successful you become or not. You also want to join a strong team of professionals who will strive to keep growing with the company. I hope that this helps-Heather L-STE

I'm enjoying my ride with STE. I have been able to book travel, clothing, home products, & giftcards & receive cash back. I made my investment back in 13 days, & received my 1st check on time & correct, as promised. My Team members have received their direct deposits as well. I have not harassed or stalked anyone. I have only led my referrals by example, & followed my friend's advice who signed me up. I'm thankful she brought the concept to me, & I was her 2nd sign up. Points have alot to do with timing. You want to be signed up with a good Team member who will be helping you by continuing to sign up others. You benefit from being on top Good luck to anyone considering coming in to the program. It's a great way for supplemental income.... shoptoearn.net/hotprice

My opinion on this type of opportunity - over the years I have seen many MLM companies come and go - I have met people who have made fortunes and people who have lost fortunes. Assuming the people who start the company know what they are doing and are genuine then the secret is in the product - it must be able to stand alone, ie quality and competitive price and it must be something that people actually want! Otherwise the system will eventually collapse. The big hitters do normally make the majority of their money initially from recruiting other people - but you should be able to make a reasonable income just from product sales fairly quickly. If you can't do this think carefully - and at least go in with your eyes wide open. If the product is useless or overpriced - your money will definitely come from recruiting other people and how much you make will depend on (a) how early you get in and (b) how persuasive you are at getting other people to join your downline. Remember if you do recruit friends and family and the system does collapse or they fail to make money you may not be friends for much longer! I have no personal experience of this particular company but with any opportunity you should be able to speak to the owner or at least senior management within the company about any concerns you may have - you should be able to visit them at their offices if you want to and there should be adequate training to allow you to run your business efficiently and professionally. On the surface this appears to be an affiliate type of online opportunity - and you may be better getting the necessary knowledge to run this opportunity independently - that way you are not reliant on somebody else and you wont be affected if their business collapses.

Sounds like you must be one of the "high ups" in this company. Truth be told, they're rumored to be inconsistent with their program and have been slow to pay. This company just started and they already have a ton of negative press. Most of the Blogs that make negative comments are threatened by legal action by the STE legal dept., which has been successful at removing a lot of that negative press. Just try to google it. You might still find a few articles. At best, it's a very questionable company. They've been in business what, 7 months?

There are a # of company's that offer online discounts for FREE. Just google that. Let's call this what it is: a new wave version of Amway. It's all about getting as many ppl to sign up and pay the initial dues. Try finding a phone number to the corporate office or try getting a hold of someone who works for the company. BET you'll have zero luck. That says it all as far as I'm concerned.......

no it does not suprise me, this is a fast growing business, and has over 60,000 people involved if they had a phone number the phone would ring like crazy, to contact them you fill out a support ticket.. there is no need to contact them anyway if you have any problems you contact the person who got you signed up

i am currently involved in at and absolutely love it.. You have to be motivated to start making money.. tell people about this opportunity just liek the person who signed you up did, if you need help i can help.. This is not a scam what so ever and if it was it would not be on its way to being the largest web portal. and if it was a scam then major retailers would not be involved such as walmart, target,kohls macys and so much more

ALERT ! ALERT! ALERT ! REPLYING TO MARLY'S POST:::: i dont believe you because points and cash are rewards ones a month, GENERALY THE SAME DAY YOU SIGN IN! please dont lie to the others. how can u say that u earn more than 2k in two weeks?

FFVictor-

Most recently you can find the 50 % of sales to non-participants in the scheme in the case against Burnlouge which sold online digital music. This was deemed an illegal pyramid where participants made their money from recruiting others into the plan and not from retail sales to participants not in the plan.

Here is the link to the indictment:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0623201/070709burnloungestipulatedorder.pdf

A. Pays any compensation related to recruitment;
B. Pays any compensation related to the purchase or sale of goods or services unless the majority (greater than 50 %) of such compensation is derived from sales to persons who are not members of the Mogul Program or the Marketing ProgramC. Otherwise constitutes a pyramid scheme.

Here is the link to the final decision from the FTC against Burnlounge

http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0623201/080701stiporder.pdf

7. Participating in any prohibited marketing scheme includes, but is not limited to, promoting, marketing, advertising, offering for sale, or selling, or assisting others in the offering or sale or selling the right to participate in, the prohibited marketing scheme.
8. Prohibited Marketing Scheme means a pyramid sales scheme, Ponzi scheme, chain marketing scheme, or other marketing plan or program in which participants pay money or valuable consideration in return for which they obtain the right to receive rewards for RECRUITING other participants into the program, and those rewards are unrelated to the sale of products or services to persons who ARE NOT PARTICIPANTS in the marketing plan or program.

Hey everybody...I just logged on to one of the 3 STE websites I am involved with and see that it has grown again. On Monday 10/6 it had 803 people and this morning I have 834. And I have done absolutely nothing! I haven't signed any one on in over a month.

Oh, and I also scored 2 more times the last 3 days as well = $1,200 ($550 + $50 gas bonus) PLUS 3 people I referred in my business also scored so I get another $150 (3 x $50). This one website has made more than $18,500 in 4.5 months. And its still in second place to my wife's website. She has less people but has actually made more money. Her legs are more balanced, why? because you never know when the next superstar will enter your business and run with this. I wonder how many we will have by next Friday???? This is fun stuff.

I don't understand why so many people keep watching some silly 30 minutes STE presentation and decide to join? Don't they read these negative blogs from PA Mom etc? Don't they know that this is all a scam? They must not fully understand that their is a $5 direct depoist fee every month !!!! That's $60 a year for goodness sake!!!! LOL
I guess all these people are stupid and PA Mom and the others have it all figured out.

Truth is, I can actually start bashing STE everyday on multiple blogs and my web-site WOULD STILL GROW EXPONENTIALLY. People are smarter than you think. They are voting with their dollars and BUYING WEBSITES!!! whether they work them or not is their responsibility not YOURS!

So let me get this straight, MLM's are scams and simply don't work because most people fail? hmmm like 95% of the people will just not make it huh? And this is proven when you point out a few websites that have show only $15.00 profit/cashback??

Well then, using that logic, why doesn't the FTC shut down Weight Watchers? and Slim Fast? and Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem? The facts are the same - 95% of the people that join these weight loss programs don't lose any weight. AND if they do, they put it back on and sometimes even more - which is much worse.

They SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO BUY TV COMMERCIALS AND BILLBOARDS! If 95% of these people will just waste their time and money, shouldn't they be shut down? Isn't all this just a scam to get them to pay their membership dues and buy their prepared frozen dinners and snack bars? SCAM!!!! If you are overweight and can't lose weight IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT !!! You're not lazy or uninspired, you've simply been scammed by diet programs that are statistically proven to never work for 95% of the population. So logically you should just give up and don't try to lose weight and get healthy, right?? - don't even try!!!
Oh, and by the way, if you happen to find a program that DOES work for you and you actually lost weight and kept it off DO NOT SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH ANYONE. YOUR FRIENDS WILL HATE YOU FOR IT!!! Because let's face it, you lost some weight but they probably still won't. So keep it to yourself! Get thin and healthy and tell no one how you did it.

If my friend was making money with STE and didn't tell me about it, then he is not a friend.

Hello all.

I just would like to respond to some of the comments here. I was researching how to open my own website that I was going to do affiliate marketing on. The time, effort, and money that I wasted on it was crazy.

I work in the IT field of a very large company, I truly see the earning power of this website, they are not trying to scam people they are only trying to get people to go through their portal to shop... Is that wrong???

I know for a fact that my wife and I spend at least $200.00 a month at Target, why not go through my own site and get paid back?

I do not think that this is a scam, there are affiliate links all over the internet. Big companies would rather pay a small affiliate fee then take a add out in the Sunday paper, or pay for a high price commercial. Think about it, it makes sense.