Shop to Earn Disclosure
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Tracy Coenen posted a very revealing post by a distributor in Shop to Earn.
"I am hoping by posting my experiences on here I will help those of you who are thinking of joining and those of you who don't understand how it works.
Also, if I am wrong about something hopefully someone will let me know. These are my personal feelings and experiences.... I was led to believe that all you needed to do was sign up 2 Brokers (and buy $100 worth of earth products) in order to start receiving your SCORE commissions (this is when your points add up to cash).
What I wasn't told (but read in my back office after I had enrolled) was that not only do you have to sign up 2 but in order to keep your SCORE (point) commissions those 2 you sign up have to also sign 2 up and spend $100 through their earth web site.
Basically, your points mean nothing until those 2 Brokers you sign up sign up 2 Brokers of their own. In STE documentation it states... You can only SCORE as many times in a day as those who you personally refered that are qualified.
So if you sign 2 people and they are not qualified (meaning they signed up 2 Brokers/spent $100 on earth products through their own site) your not making any money on your points.
I am not sure but I hope that all of the points I am accumulating will turn into cash once I am able to sign up 2 Bokers and get them qualified......
As of now I have only signed up 1 Broker (and they have not signed anyone up) and if I don't sign up 1 more Broker by the end of this month (October) my points I have accumulated will be flushed and they will keep being flushed every month until I can find 1 more Broker to sign up.
Actually last month (September) my points should have been flushed due to this but STE gave all of us an extra month.
So, even if I do sign up 1 more Broker this month my points mean nothing yet because I still have to have the 2 Brokers I personally referred sign up 2 so I can SCORE."
I don't know if any of what the poster is claiming is true. But, what it highlights is the need for a disclosure document given to the purchaser prior to buying into Shop to Earn.
Oh, what a minute - Shop to Earn is a business opportunity in Florida, a state which requires business opportunity sellers to register and give purchasers their disclosure document so that there are no surprises about the business model.
So what does the Shop to Earn disclosure document say? Anyone got one?
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Comments
I joined STE & am very unhappy because of all the new changes made by the company like now not being able to sell your position. After joining I also found out that changes were made by the company which allowed certain people who signed at the beginning to get special advantages which now others do not have & was not made aware of this also. I have asked for my money back & of coarse have been refused by STE to do so. Does anybody know if a STE member can file a small claims suit against them in the state where you live? I can be reached at Rhondalonardo@aol.com with any suggestions.
Posted by: Rhonda Lonardo | May 25, 2009 12:59 PM
Craig,
There is 24 pages worth of User Agreements and disclosures BEFORE you even sign up. Try it on your own website. Click on join now and click on "click here to download and read". Regarding shipping, under the vendors of "ShopToEarth Select", STE has been able to group all these 70+ vendors and ship it in one package with only one shipping fee (try doing it on your own directly with the vendors). Under "ShopToEarth Direct", the vendors themselves ship it directly to you and yes, the shipping charges are a little steep, but in my opinion, it's only going to get better in the future. We have to bear a little bit with this young company. In the mean time, let's enjoy the convinience of having it shipped to your doorstep and Save the time, travel and gas. Take care and good luck!
Posted by: Riberto Leyva | May 18, 2009 1:11 PM
Michael,
If you yourself count as a qualified person to be able to receive SCORE! commissions. So if you're qualified, you have the ability to SCORE! once per day which is approximately over $16,000 per month. Would you complain about that problem? Any additional qualified referals will just add the ability for you to SCORE! additional times per day, i.e. you qualified plus 1 qualified referals equals 2 SCORE!'s per day. By the way, you are not required to refer 2 and spend $100 to get cash back on all vendors being a Website Owner.
Posted by: Riberto Leyva | May 18, 2009 1:01 PM
Dear Rudy;
Why don't you actually learn and use real affiliate marketing techniques for the products you want to sell.
Oh, I forgot you are not actually selling products, but instead you are selling the opportunity to sell those products that you cannot sell.
What a racket!
Posted by: admin
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May 16, 2009 11:26 AM
Dear Steve,
As a business builder you spent $100.00 A month in order to collect commissions. Every time we (score) we get paid $550.00 plus $50 gas bonus. We get paid to shop! It doesn't make scenes that someone will make commissions with out producing business for the company. Yes we get paid $100.00 training bonus to do exactly that train the person. The shopping generates us points daily. The shopping is the back bone of the company and the single most important thing. It's funny the amount of time people spend talking bad about SHOPTOEARN in blogs, when they could have gone through the slide show and understand how the company operates it toke me 15 minutes to understand. See the slide show, 24hourtour.net/perez
Posted by: Rudy Perez | May 16, 2009 12:13 AM
Against my better judgement I joined Shop To Earn and I am sorry I did. I was NEVER given disclosures of any kind. Finding them on the website is like trying to find the needle in the haystack. There are a number of unethical things that have been said at some 'meetings' I have attended. There is an email that says just sit someone down in front of your PC and tell them there is something you want them to look at, don't tell them what it is before hand, they will see the websit and be hooked. ( I saved that email) You must have 2 people under you AND spend 100 per month on the Earth side to SCORE. The shipping charges from those vendors are outrageous and not standard shipping fees plus they charge you a vendor handeling fee. I pay for a product that weighs about an ounce and then pay a total of 11.90 for S&H and make commission of 5.85$ I signed up to have my commission paid to my checking. Now they will only pay to a prepaid Visa card that I must pay 3 bucks a month for and each time they pay me they take five more bucks. If a commission is not posted to your account you must wait 90 days before complaining and then another 30 for an investigation. All complaints are met with standard broken record answers. I wish someone would create a class action lawsuit against this company.
Posted by: Craig Madurski | April 21, 2009 12:02 AM
I have been a broker with shop to earn since july 03, 2008. Remember your are still a website owner as long as your qualifed you can score up to 1 time a day per month. You dont need qualifed referr's to score. In order for you to become successful in any mlm you have to make sure that you make other people in your team not (down line) success first! I have made great friends and money, over 11,000. SHOPTOEARN.NET/PEREZ. Good luck to all!
Posted by: Rudy Perez | April 9, 2009 2:07 PM
I just started Shop to Earn, and I am satisfied so far. I'll keep you posted on how my journey goes!
Posted by: STEINSTANTSAVINGS | March 17, 2009 7:29 PM
I have been a member for 7 months and having signed up two people immediately, I was able to hold onto my points. I have accumulated 80,000 points in that time. This has since sparked more interest, not only from myself, but my wife as well. I have recently added 4 new people into the business. With this, I have scored!! i amnow required to spend 100 on "earth" products. Between my score and the 4 people that I signed up, I am looking forward to a check of over 1,000 this month. I did not have to sell any products.
That said, I just dont undertsand why anyone would call this a scam. I know, as a fact, that you are paid back for your personal referrals and for your shopping, regardless of how many people you have signed up. If you would like to qualify for your scores, you need to have two referrals and spend 100. If you are not scoring, you are not required to spend...I am actually kicking myself in the rear for listening to these blogs as opposed to getting out there and earning for the past 5 months. I am meeting with my 6 refrrals this week to ensure that they do not make the same mistake that I made. Shop to Earn is legitimate!
Posted by: Nick | February 24, 2009 9:39 AM
Steve;
The difficulty with your analysis is this. The only reason why people have to "generate" $100 in business a month from their website is to remain in this silly affiliate wannabe program.
There is no other affiliate sales program that that requires this type of payment or "shopping".
It is an absurd requirement.
Posted by: admin
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November 28, 2008 3:45 PM
I'm not sure where in the documentation that the person read that they have to have their two people sign up two people. This is clearly not true. What is true that if your people do sign up two people, they become qualified and you have the opportunity to 'score' additional times. That is a bonus for you, not a requirement. You do not lose any points if they do not find two people.
It is very clear in all presentations that everyone must generate $100 in business through their shoptoearth website. This is a legal requirement that not only makes it legit but gets people using earth friendly products. Every MLM requires this. For myself, I have people I know who want the products but don't want to be members of STEarth buy their products through me. I only spend the money myself on things that I personally want, they are taking care of the rest and I'm over the $100 every month. With the money I'm making, and it isn't some grand amount but I'm very happy with it, my products cost me nothing.
Also, I believe that the disclosure is coming but you can't disclose when you don't have the numbers. Remembering that this company really didn't kick in until March and the numbers didn't start building until September, you need those numbers to be able to average. To disclose to early would actually give unrealistically high numbers. Example is that Monavie just started publishing their numbers recently.
For a young company, the officers have been very diligent on making sure everything is very legit. I didn't know it at the time because I was just looking for a way to make some extra money to pay down my mortgage, but I have learned that the company is very earth and people friendly. Something that others just don't seem to get. Everytime I hear problems like the one above, I research it and find out why and usually it is user error or something this young company is quickly trying to correct to make sure that they are honest and ethical.
Posted by: steve russell | November 26, 2008 8:34 AM
Hirsh, one of the main complaints I have about STE is that there is no disclosure about average earnings and the basis for the earnings claims.
It is pointless to say that "some people" have done very well. We need to know what the risk adjusted earnings are.
Posted by: admin
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November 3, 2008 9:28 PM
I just read the post about the disgruntled distributor from Shop to Earn. I am a distributor who has not made $4100.00 the first month, nor do I think I will. However, not only was I told and the company overview provides you with information, it makes very clear how much you can make if you refer two people who refer two people, who refer two people and so on. Just because this is MLM does not mean it's not legitimate, nor does it mean you do not have to work at it. I personally know people who have made six figures and I personally know people who have made their investment back and are earning several hundred dollars a month, and are building. If someone thinks that they can get rich without working, at anything, then blame yourself - do not blame the company.
Posted by: Hirsch | October 30, 2008 5:21 PM