| OVERLOOKED DISCREPANCIES | MORE RESOURCES | TOP 10 | HONEST ANALYSIS |
OVERLOOKED DISCREPANCIES
My online store used to be inventoried from a service called Shopster.com.
My friends, I can't even begin to explain how bad this company tricked me.
What I got them to admit to the BBB of Calgary was that they had "overlooked
some discrepancies" that they had conveniently left off of my contract with them
(and everyone else who has signed up with Shopster)
I literally had to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of Calgary just to get Shopster to live up to the terms of their own contract with me and to also get them to send me my rightfully earned profits. They also admitted to me that they adjust the cost of the shipping prices that they charged my customers, even though they also admit that they do NOT own nor actually SHIP any of the items!
Unfortunately, after I filed the complaint, Shopster unilaterally decided I had broken the terms of their Agreement and stopped providing me services. I asked in four separate emails to Shopster.com to clearly identify exactly what part I broke and they have yet to get back to me. This is as of AUGUST 18th, 2008. I also know that they won't get back to me because I went over the Agreement and I know full well that I did not break a single word of it and they also know it. Shopster.com also knows that they willingly broke their own agreement in multiple places, cheating me and every single Shopster.com client out of our rightly earned profit!
Here are some other links that explain what other Shopster users have gone through:
http://shopsterisdeceptive.blogspot.com/
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/246/RipOff0246214.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcVTqSTwPJA&watch_response
http://shopstersucks.blogspot.com/
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8461205297330519946&postID=8973782341929508978&page=1
http://journeytocreatewealth.com/2008/04/17/muse-idea-using-shopster/
http://www.auctionsoftwarereview.com/software/shopster.asp
http://www.revenews.com/heatherpaulson/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/
If you use(d) the Shopster service and Shopster won't give you your money back,
please contact
the BBB of Calgary:
http://www.betterbusinessbureau.ca
and you can get it back! Inform the BBB in your complaint that the Shopster agreement stated
that they would not take out any fees and that Shopster did take out 3.5% in
fees. I did this (BBB case# 1150176) and the next month I had my apology
and check from Shopster, then I was kicked out of their service for detailing to
other Shopster clients how Shopster was cheating them, how dare I inform others
they are being tricked and fooled!
From what
I understand that Shopster is no longer part of the BBB Program, it may be true
or not (but that's what
getting socked with legitimate complaints about illegitimate practices will do
to a company). However, you can still file a complaint against them
even though they are no longer part of the program.
TOP 10
And now I present to you, the Top 10 reasons why Shopster.com sucks
| 10 | That wholesale price they market to you is a price YOU CANNOT OBTAIN, EVER! Once you try to sell it in your store, Shopster will add 3.9% to the "wholesale" price. |
| 9 | Shopster keeps 3.5% of all of your profit. |
| 8 | Shopster is a reseller of drop-shipping services, most of which can be found for MUCH LESS at inventorysource.com |
| 7 | Shopster's supplier's inventory numbers are extremely erratic and unreliable. |
| 6 | Despite Shopster insisting it is legal, it is 100% against E-Bay's rules to auction items from Shopster. Why? Because..... |
| 5 | there are no guarantees that the item will be available when the auction ends. Guess who is left having to pay ALL of the auction fees and suffering from the negative feedback? You! |
| 4 | Shopster.com uses completely bogus marketing terms like "unlimited profits". Shopster was asked by the BBB of Calgary to stop using the term "unlimited profits" and they are still using this term. |
| 3 | Shopster.com adjusts shipping costs even though they do not do any shipping at all. |
| 2 | It's impossible to obtain a good SEO ranking because Shopster's pages are ultimately branded with an "affiliate" tag and forced to the bottom of search results. |
| 1 | That coffee pot that they want you to buy from them for $40 and sell for $80...well, you can buy it for $22 at Amazon and save yourself the $18. |
AN HONEST ANALYSIS OF A SHOPSTER
RETAILER TRANSACTION
Below is an example of what you can expect when you work with Shopster.
Let's say you're going to try and sell a Nintendo Wii video game....
|
Item |
A Nintendo Wii Zelda Video Game |
|
$389.49 |
|
|
$404.66 |
THIS is what actually becomes the "wholesale price" when a client tries to
sell it. It is also the actual price Shopster should be marketing clearly
as the “wholesale price” because this is the absolute minimum price any
Shopster client can sell this unit at. In their Agreements and marketing a
person is led to believe it’s the above price of $389.49. |
|
|
|
|
$408.90 |
Let's say this is what you sell the game for |
|
|
|
|
3.5% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SUMMARY |
|
Unlimited |
This is what Shopster tells you beforehand what your “potential
profit” for this item is, a ridiculous claim that the BBB told them to stop
using, but they still do. |
|
$19.41 |
This is what Shopster marketed as the profit before I signed
up ($408.90-$389.49) |
|
$4.09 |
This is what I would actually get paid selling at $408.90
(($408.9-$404.66) - 3.5%) |
|
ripped off |
This
is how you'll be feeling after realizing Shopster wasn't exactly honest with
their contract. Don't let this be you! |
Shopster is not selling you anything at true wholesale price because it would be illegal to do so unless you held the proper wholesaling credentials. Shopster is not a drop-shipper either, it seems they are just reselling drop-shipping services. They seem to be pulling their wholesale lines from services like inventorysource.com, so if you're looking to cut out the Shopster middleman, simply sign up over at inventorysouce.com. Users of both services know full well what I'm talking about here. Shopster's service appears to nothing more than a piece of software, which is actually a decent, but outdated, package. They admit that they don't own any items, they admit that they don't ship any items. Shopster always kept the supplies hidden from the clients. I never knew who I was actually "getting stuff" from, but I know it wasn't Shopster, and I suspect it was inventorysource.com.
If any of you Shopster.com employs are reading this and care to refute a single word of it, I'm all ears.
If you've also been burnt by Shopster and want to add a link to your site or share your thoughts, I'm all ears, too.
Questions, comments, reactions? I'm all ears!
Thank you for your time, I hope I have shed some light on an otherwise purposefully darkened issue.