Has anyone heard of Shop to Earn?

Like you I recently joined Shoptoearn... it has been hard getting referrals but I am not giving up. I see it as a business not really to get cash back... if managed correctly it could be a great opportunity... You should set up weekly or bi-weekly meeting to present STE to other people... I do have meetings every week in my house (Miami, FL) and I am hoping to get more referrals soon!! What can I loose?? no more than 448 usd... 338 since I have my first referral...

Thanks PAMom. I read the report but didn't catch the majority (50%) thing the first time. I'm in STE and I know it works but gotta admit, I'm a little worried about the longevity of the company. I emailed the attorney of STE with these questions; I'm still waiting for a reply.

Hi Everyone,

I just recieved an email reply from the STE attorney and he states that the FTC does NOT require 50% of retail sales to come from outside customers. Also that if it was required, then more then half the businesses on the DSA.org (Direct Selling Association) would be shut down. STE has applied to the DSA but there is a one year waiting period before a company is listed as a full member.

gelo04,

I checked your STE Web site out on Oct. 10th before they took down the $ My Check information which was part of their open concept. They changed their tune quickly once it was revealed that many people were not breaking even months after they had signed up, making very little money on their cash back and primarily making money from recruiting.

Anyway, back to you. As of Oct 10th you had made $95 (from recruiting one person minus the $5 direct deposit fee). You had $0 from shopping. Even if you purchase $200 per month from Target and get 5 % back (Target states up to 10 % but most products are much less than that) or $10.00, you have to pay shipping which will cause you to break even or lose money. Then you have to wait weeks to months for it to post to your account, track your receipts and pay a $5 monthly direct deposit fee. Have you saved anything? Again, you can do the very same thing for free at sooo many other sites and get points for others that shop under you.

STE is all about recruiting and investors are upfront about that. They will tell you that you make your money recruiting. It's sad how naive the public is about this type of scheme. Most people grow pale when they hear that such a business model is illegal. Not only are they involved, they have "recruited" their friends, family and co-workers into a diabolical plot.

JoeO says:
Diabolical plot !!! funny stuff and there goes PA Mom again with her $5 direct deposit fee! Let's face it, if your counting pennies like this YOU ARE NOT FIT TO BE A BUSINESS OWNER OF ANY KIND.
Imagine taking a client out to lunch and cringing when they order an extra appetizer for $7.95 and then maybe a double espresso as compared to a single espresso? How would you even be able to concentrate as your money is flying out the window!! LOL

Instead of beating up people that signed on and are too lazy to get anything working with their STE program, why don't you try to motivate them? Are you type of person that bashes people for buying a fitness membership and don't show up anymore? How about people who buy DVD's on how to learn a new language and never watch it more than once. SCAMS!!!! Diabolical plot!!!


Such silliness really. More mis-information . . .Prices are higher on line? people are too lazy to go one block to get their stuff? shipping costs? everyone knows that some have them and some don't - it depends on the individual stores. And btw, sales tax can actually be less on-line.

And even funnier is Income Taxes? These naysayers are down to trying to slam STE with income tax issues? First off, no company takes any responsilbilty for individual tax returns. Companies pay out money and YOU are on your own with the IRS. The Gov't doesn't care what you were told by your company or even your CPA - in the end its your responsibility.
With regards to cash cash-back from a store, dealer or manufacturer IT IS tax-free. Everyone knows that. Do you pay taxes when you get your $50 mail-in rebate when you get a new cell phone from Verizon? NO, because your getting your 'already taxed money' back.

I will make over $60k this year with STE (signed up June 1st) and of course most of this is from commissions. I will gladly pay my taxes on the income! STE will give me a 1099 for the commission total. The cash back on my purchases is tax-free. This is business 101.

PLEASE STOP THE STUPIDITY.

Here it is directly from the IRS website:

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch12.html#publink100033109

Cash rebates. A cash rebate you receive from a dealer or manufacturer of an item you buy is not income, but you must reduce your basis by the amount of the rebate.

Example.

You buy a new car for $9,000 cash and receive a $400 rebate check from the manufacturer. The $400 is not income to you. Your basis in the car is $8,600. This is your basis on which you figure gain or loss if you sell the car, and depreciation if you use it for business.

PAMom,

I have a few questions for you.

1. Have you ever worked in network marketing?

2. Have you ever signed up for shoptoearn and had a bad experience?

And for your information they just did not take away the $ my check part off our website and not tells about it. They gave us the reason why they did it, and we can see the $ my check part when we log into our site.

To answer your question about the shipping you are dead wrong again, we ordered a 10 piece cookware set from Macy's on Friday and will be delivered tomorrow, I know this because we have a valid tracking number from Macy's........ Guess what the shipping was FREE!!!

Stop trying to talk about a product that you do not know anything about you are making yourself look stupid.

gelo04,

So I am the stupid one? (That's rhetorical.) Didn't your mother tell you it's not nice to call people names? I took the verbiage directly from STE about removing the $ My Check. Of course they notified you-duh.

So you got free shipping from Macy's. Good for you. But you probably paid too much anyway even with your cash back. I copied this from another blog and this comparison gives you free shipping as well. But I am sorry, you should have shopped elsewhere and not your STE portal.

"If it's true that they have to pay taxes on the cash back, then the business model gets even more ludicrous. Paying more for items than you should because you didn't use a search engine, paying taxes and shipping. Oh yea, this is the wave of the future.

Show me the facts you said. Here is just one example if you are purchasing the Nikon Coolpix 10 MP camera in black. You go to Best Buy on your STE portal. Wow, it's free shipping and I get up to 3 % cash back. But you should have gone to Buy.com because??”

Best Buy - $179.99 plus tax (6 %) = $190.78 minus your 3 % cash back (it's up to 3% and I will give you the best deal even though most products at Best Buy are not 3% cash back) of $5.40 plus your 30% taxes on $5.40 or $1.62 = $187.00

Buy.com = $158.70 plus tax (6%) = 168.22 plus $9 in shipping = $177.22

Yes you paid $9.78 more! Even if you don't pay taxes on your cash back you still are paying $8.16 more."
LOL. Thanks for the laugh.

This is the last time that I will reply to you.

You are not worth the time.

With your brilliant model listed below:

Best Buy - $179.99 plus tax (6 %) = $190.78 minus your 3 % cash back (it's up to 3% and I will give you the best deal even though most products at Best Buy are not 3% cash back) of $5.40 plus your 30% taxes on $5.40 or $1.62 = $187.00

Buy.com = $158.70 plus tax (6%) = 168.22 plus $9 in shipping = $177.22

Yes you paid $9.78 more! Even if you don't pay taxes on your cash back you still are paying $8.16 more."



Why would I not go through the buy.com link on our website and save an additional 3% ???



Can you please let me know when you write your book on how to make money on the internet I would love to buy a copy, and when I do I will through my website so I can get the cash back... LOL

gelo04,
Don't go away. Did you know that you don't get the best price on the Nikon Coolpix 10 MP S550 if you go through your affliate link on STE? That's right. It's $179. You will get $10 off if you spend more than $200. As for the 3 %, it's up to 3 % off with most of the products at zero off or under 3 % genius.

Here's the link from the STE site for the camera at $179 (you might have to copy and paste)

http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=nikon+coolpix+S550& qxt=home&display=col

Here's the comparison shopping link for the camera from Buy.com at $158.70
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=nikon+coolpix+10+MP&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid= 2412144734401447144&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=2&ct=result#ps-sellers

I love people who don't have the facts!
I love people who don't understand MLMs.
I especially love people who try to create doubt and scare people when they don't have all the facts..
The people involved in this MLM, if they work it can do very well. The one's who complain the most about it are the one's looking for the get rich quick schemes.
Shoptoearn is like any other business, you get out of it what you put into it. The money is in the shopping and refering people to shop. Recruiting well, determines the success of your downline. Do not sign up everyone, because most people are lazy, get people to join who like to shop online and are outgoing and not afraid to show people a business opportunity. The business model works fine for those who learn it and duplicate it. The main reason why this MLM is different and better than most, is because instead of one company and their product line, like most MLMs; there are 600 major retailers and products you purchase everyday. It's not a scam or a pyramid scheme, they are illegal. Funny most people don't even know what a pyramid scheme is. Network marketing is not a pyramid scheme people. If it was, shoptoearn would never have got the IRS and AG involved in State compliance laws to become legal. If you wants facts, let me know, if you just want to talk nonsense or argue, don't waste my time. This company is Real, their business model is simple. If you don't like MLMs, don't join and keep your opinions to yourself instead of filling peoples minds with doubt!

The money is direct deposted into your checking account, I've recieved 2 deposits, and another one is due on the 21st of this month. In total over $3,000.

PAMom

PAMom,

I just clicked on your comparison site and the price was the same. When you click on Buy.com (from your google comparison page) it takes you directly to their site. Then you have to click on price and it comes up a total of $179.00 with free shipping.

JoeO says::
Mr. Greg Souris, very well said my man!
Ms. PA Mom, this business is obviously not for you. You just don't get it. This is not for penny-pinchers that give a darn about $5 direct deposits and searching all day on the web to save an extra few dollars.

When I'm shopping at the local super market I get what I need and I look for sales and bargains too, but I'm not going to toss and turn if I pay an extra $1.50 for Cheerios or a can of coffee when I know for sure its on sale down the road. Macy's is more expensive than Kohl's - and they carry a lot of the same stuff, how does Macy's exist? Macy's shoppers are stupid? Sometimes you just pay a little extra and move on. Maybe you never developed that coping skill?

If from time to time, I shop on my site and pay a few bucks more that's fine, its more important to me to generate points for myself and my fellow STE friends. This is my future retirement plan. I believe in the system.

Guess what? if you simply referred 4 people your website over the course of the year, and earned the $450+ your site is free. And next year its only $140 to renew. I don't see a need to worry about Best Buy vrs Buy.com.

STE is more than paying my mortgage and taxes these days, I don't sweat the small stuff.

And of course cash-back is tax free!!! time to start accpeting this...

Absolutely! Having been in the MLM industry for 14 year s(and having been a six-figure annual earner in a company that got shut down by the FTC for making medical claims), I am very sensitive to MLM companies that are not in compliance.

I was at a ShopToEarn meeting the other evening, and the presenter was showing top earners' 'checks' on the Shop to Earn site. Big red flag!

I asked if I just wanted to be a customer, how much would it cost? About $400! I asked what percentage of their base of people who have signed up were just customers. The presenter said hardly any. HUGE RED FLAG!

I can save more at another shopping site I have access to (as a free member) than I do at ShopToEarn, not even taking into consideration I would have to pay about $400 to have the privilege!

Just because people are making a lot of fast money means absolutely nothing. Value your reputation, and get the facts on FTC laws before you get too carried away.

Don't be uninformed. The FTC can come after you too. As a top 50 earner of the company I was in that got shut down, we were told the FTC was coming after us too, as well as the company. They fined the company $3 million, and the top two earners, respectively, $1 million and $500,000. I was fortunate- they never came after the rest of us. But I lived in fear for a year.

A couple in my group had to file bankruptcy after the closure of the company. I will never again get involved in anything I think is questionable- too many people get hurt. It's not just about you- it's about the people you bring in.

Think- if it sounds too good to be true, it is!

Mlm's are not scams and they are not for everyone. They give the potential for anyone to make money. It is the misleading things said that make mlms probably the most negative business in the world. But in all truth if you can sell and market you can be good in any mlm. If you are not a good marketer and can't sell for the life of you most likely your going to fail in mlms.

Shop to earn has a good idea and they give the potential for people to make money on things they already buy. Yeah you can be an affiliate marketer for every company on their and probably make a better percentage. But not many people are going to sign up for all those sites, get their own website, and then market their products. It's a lot of work. And shop to earn made it easier for the people who have no computer knowledge to make money.

Their start up cost is high in my opinion and their compensation plan is not the best but like I said people can make money in it. Not everyone will and thats not because it's a scam but because those people have no business being in it. In the end people fail in network marketing cause they don't know how. It is that simple. Don't blame mlms for people losing money.

Some more food for thought-

These are tough times for many financially. It's easy to get caught up in the promise of big money.

Ask yourself- would I shop with this company (or any MLM you are evaluating) if I wasn't involved in the financial opportunity? If not, why not?

Then ask yourself, do I believe this company, based upon due diligence- really checking it out- is here for the long term? Or do I think it might be questionable that they'll be around?

If questionable, do you want to bring your friends and family into something you don't think is rock-solid?

And if you do bring them in, and the company tanks down the road, how likely are your friends and family going to be to follow you to your next company?

I just became a member last month with Sop to Earn. I do alot of internet shopping and this is what appealed to me. I was just going to join for the shopping part (why not get cash back from my purchases), but when I tuned into the tour, I bought the Builder package. The girl that introduced me is gunho and is out there promoting STE. She goes to meetings once a week to learn out to sell the site, etc. I am going to start going with her next week. I bought the business cards and leaving them everywhere (bulletin boards at stores and malls, ladies rooms, etc). This girl also introduced me to someone who is making cash head over heals. The main thing is you need that "right and left" side, which I don't have. I sent an e-mail letter to some people in my address book and asked them to take the tour but if they felt this wasn't for them, can they use my website for their internet shopping. STE is suppose to be the best home business going. I sure hope so.

Thank you all for your help with shop to earn. I finally decided to join them I did last saturday. It has been one week exactly today and I have already earned $1145.00 I have maybe put in 4 hours of work. I am very glad I did it so far all seems great. If anyone has questions about shop to earn feel free to contact me I am in the Miami, FL area.

Thanks again

I have been looking for ways to make money but this one seems a bit risky speacialy because I probably would not be able to keep my self back from buying stuff I dont need. Thanks for all the great advice