Simplx .com

I wrote a post recently regarding finding products to sell in your online store. In that discussion, I explained why trying to find products to sell through drop-ship membership programs is a bad idea. Thanks to Simplx.com for providing an illustration of what I mean.

Simplx.com is one of a few different aliases used by a group of people who typically market to people with "pie-in-the-sky" dreams of becoming wealthy overnight. They've used other names and websites, including:

www.simplicitygroup.com
www.simplediscounts.com
www.mallshare.com
www.simplerebates.com
www.irebates.net

Companies like this get leads (typically from seminars or opt-in lists) for people who are eagerly waiting for their chance at making quick windfall profits from the Internet. Customers are told how easy it is to make a fortune with no prior knowledge of Internet marketing, website design, SEO, etc. In fact, the names Simplx.com and "The Simplicity Group" make ecommerce success seem just so, well...simple. Sounds perfect, doesn't it?

The salesmen for these kinds of companies are like hungry sharks determined to extract a credit card from the voice on the other end of the line at all costs. Years ago I applied for a job with one of these types of companies before I knew anything about their tactics. I was told that getting hired there was a tough sell itself, because the leads were valuable commodities, and they didn't want me wasting any. The owners of the company asked me to listen in on a few sales calls to see if I thought I was cut out for what they were doing. I listened in as a "setter" called on some leads to prep them for a more experienced "closer" sales guy. Later, I listened to the closer act like he had the potential customer's best interests at heart, like he was best buddies with the person on the other end of the line. After he found out the customer wasn't qualified at the time because she didn't have enough credit available on a combination of her credit cards (Yes, they graciously allowed customers to spread the fee, which was thousands of dollars, across more than one credit card), he abruptly ended the call and spouted off some vulgar, expletive-laced insults about the person.

While I was listening in on this guy's calls, I overheard one of their top salesman behind us (who boasted over $10,000 in sales commissions from the week before, most of which probably went into buying accessories for his truck, gel and dye for his hair, and tanning supplies) cheerfully extracting over $3,000 from an older fellow who apparently didn't have enough savings to retire. He was looking for a way to quickly fill his retirement coffers with some quick cash. The poor guy thought he'd found a rare opportunity at a financial second chance. Instead he was simply donating to some punk kid's leisure fund. I wish I would have taken the phone from the sales rep to tell the guy to run while he still had an intact credit card. At least I ran from that job opportunity without wasting too much time.

It's only after a victim of one of these companies has forked over hundreds or thousands of dollars that the honeymoon soon ends and reality sets in. The customer realizes that making money online isn't so easy. It doesn't come without effort. Worst of all, this new partnership the victim has forged is all give and no take. The promised one-on-one coaching and expert advice turn out to be a phone number that's rarely answered. When someone does pick up, the "expert" voice on the other end is reciting general marketing techniques he's never used from a script that was probably written years ago by other people who never used the techniques either. Otherwise, they'd be employing those techniques instead of trying to sell their schemes. All this wonderful help and advice can be accessed for a low cost of hundreds of dollars at a minimum. Most likely you'll be out thousands of dollars along with the time you spend trying to get your money back.

If you're ever tempted to get in on this kind of "opportunity", don't be fooled. Take that energy and zeal you have for building your online empire, and expend it learning and implementing the principles that make up the legitimate (albeit longer and more painstaking) road to a successful career online.

For those who have had the misfortune of getting tangled in one of the nets I just described, feel free to post your experience here. Your experiences will be most helpful if you include the facts about what you experienced, including what was promised to you versus what was delivered.

Addendum to this post - October 13, 2009:
I was contacted by one of the owners of Simplx regarding this post. He was obviously upset about what I wrote, and I agreed to meet with him so that he could review with me the Simplx model for selling products on eBay and ecommerce stores. After the hour and a half meeting that involved each of us presenting our side of the Simplx business model, I told him I would edit this post to give more of his perspective. Despite the many online postings about Simplx being a scam, he seemed sincere enough in telling me that his product works for some people. With that said, a general principle to follow when contacting or being contacted by any kind of drop-ship membership company is to consider what's being offered by them, and think it through before making a decision. As for the Simplx model, I still have a hard time believing it's a good route for anyone who can set up an account with a distributor or manufacturer directly. However, I've removed it from my "Drop-shipping Scams" category.