Any experience with StoresOnline.com?

[midwesterly]

Has anyone had any dealings with an outfit out of Utah called StoresOnline.com or StoresOnlinePro.com? They give an all-day workshop for $20, and use it to sell you on the rest of their services. They seem to have a legitimate business model, but I'm trying to gauge their support and other usefulness against their package price, which is pretty steep.

Good, bad, anything?

[rich4300]

I went to the StoresOnline all day workshop last week. They spent a lot of time trying to get you to buy their software license. They wanted $2700.00 for three websites, and $2200.00 for the next three websites. They want you to fill out a 'confidential' pre-qualification form at the very beginning of the session. They asked for your SSN and Income, where you work, etc. I didn't fill it out because it's none of their business. In addition, they want you to buy their credit card processor for $999.00 and their estore tool kit for $399/499.

The presentation was very informative, however, again, they're constantly trying to sell you on their product. I explained to them that I can buy e-commerce software from off the shelf that's just as good and very in-expensive. People were buying their product right there on the spot without having any product, or product sources.

Let the buyer beware.

[midwesterly]

Thanks for the reply rich4300. Fools rush in I guess. Thanks for some details - I really had figured that the high price would at least get you a full featured online store, but to ask another Grand for credit card integration - wow! And it looks like it doesn't stop there.

Thanks again

[TipPro]

I really had figured that the high price would at least get you a full featured online store

ahh, there are so many overpriced services online that complicates the saying... "you get what you pay for"

[midwesterly]

An update: Although I had plunked down my $20 for the Workshop already, after rich4300 gave me some good info I contacted StoresOnline to attempt to reschedule to another date. I figured I'd have a little more time for self-education, so as not to be one of the lambs rich4300 mentioned. I left 2 or 3 voicemails for a "Skyler" at their headquarters, and have never heard back from them! If they are that bad at customer service BEFORE the sale, I can only imagine how it would go AFTER they had all that money.

[dugstur]

I just wanted to let you all know. I went to the seminar. It was great and I am the King of sceptics. I did not know anything about internet marketing. Now I do. I did not know anything about setting up a website. Now I do. For the money that I spent I get 24 hours a day 7 days a week online or telephone support and never had to wait more than 30 seconds to get a response. They have an incredible back end development with videos, tutorials, and if you get stuck, there is someone there to get you out. Now that's not bad. I have learned a lot in this past year. Was it worth it? Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY!. Go waste your money on cheap scams. I did, got me nowhere. Did this....It works. Best Wishes and Good Luck.

[cometmall]

buy a book or read free internet tutorials, after that you can go to the seminar and check if it worth it.

[Chris_WI]

My advice would be to STAY AWAY from StoresOnline! They have even been sued by state Attorney General offices for misrepresentation and fraud. See a couple of links:
http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/pressroom/2006_12/20061218.html

May 17, 2007 - StoresOnline barred from doing business in North Carolina:
http://www.ncdoj.com/DocumentStreamerClient?directory=PressReleases/&file=Imergent%20Prelim%20Consent%20Judgment%20fina l.pdf

These two links alone are enough to tell me... stay away!

[glfblz]

Chris WI
Thanks for the sites re: the law suits from ILL and NC stop order. I was at a storesonline (first) meeting tonight in Arlington Heights, IL and signed up ($20) for the "training" seminar on 6/11. But, after coming home and hitting the internet for info, and finding all sorts of negative feedback - well, you can guess I'm calling Citibank tomorrow to dispute the $20 charge. Thanks Much.

Norm T. :D

[erikj]

I attended the seminar and learned more than $20.00 worth. I did check them out and did not purchase because of the price and negative feedback. The speaker was outstanding and lunch was pretty good, but too much pressure to buy.

[Vossman]

Personally, they are way TOO EXPENSIVE. But if you are a nubie like me, the $20 spent on the all day seminar was worth that and more.

You can use much of what they "teach" and what they try to sell you. Think through what you learned, not only from the speaker, but from the individuals that tried to sell you their "packages".

If you are new to e-commerce and do not know where to start or what to look for in shopping carts, software, marketing, payment processors, then use what you learned from them during the seminar. There are many less expensive strategies to perform duediligence on than them, but to be setup in a good basic format for e-commerce you need most of what they are selling, just maybe by some other company.

Use what you learned from the whole seminar (speaker and sellers), perform duediligence and go your own way. There is good in what they have to say at those seminars, you just have to figure out how to use it to your benefit.

I hope this helps and let us know how it goes for you in the future. GOOD LUCK!:D

[JEccles]

Chris WI
Thanks for the sites re: the law suits from ILL and NC stop order. I was at a storesonline (first) meeting tonight in Arlington Heights, IL and signed up ($20) for the "training" seminar on 6/11. But, after coming home and hitting the internet for info, and finding all sorts of negative feedback - well, you can guess I'm calling Citibank tomorrow to dispute the $20 charge. Thanks Much.

Norm T. :D

Hi Norm. I was at that same meeting. My friend (and future business partner) is going to go to the training. I've already chosen the shopping cart solution we are going to be using but need her to get up to speed on the whole internet marketing thing. I'm a horrible teacher, so for $20 she gets some training and lunch. A win win situation for us.

[Chris_WI]

Certainly, if you don't mind the sales-pitch oriented day-long seminar, $20 is a great deal for the introduction you receive about how to do business online. My mom went to the day-long seminar herself, and respects my opinion so called me to ask if she should plunk down $5000 for their setup. That's when I did my Internet research and said no, don't do it. Armed with the day's knowledge and some of your own Internet research (and cheap purchases like the World Wide Brands directory, and low-cost shopping carts), you can do everything Online Stores is selling for a whole lot less. $20 for the day is a good deal - just be sure you have the fortitude to say no to the $5000 IMO.

[opensourceforce]

We have seen way to many people who use the platform and paid WAY too much.

1- good seminars
2- good tips
3- months go by and you still dont have a website up and running with your products to sell online
4- once it is up you spent all your money on the site and seminars and training...that you have no budget for anything else...like marketing.

[Barn Boutiques]

I purchased 6 storefronts from them and have been fairly happy, It is alot of hard work but persistance has paid off. I joined the onlinemerchantforum and they walk you through building your site, they have been very helpful
I now have sales almost everyday on my first site. I am getting ready to launch my second one ine the next few weeks.
Take a look at my site I designed it all myself and I had no experience zip nil none.
www.barnboutiques.com

[cometmall]

Barn Boutiques
i have to disappointyou, it looks nice, but you can see that it is not the Designer work

[RogerB]

What can you do about it if you feel like you were misled or lied to?

#1 - Contact the Utah Division of Consumer Protection.
Contacting them is MORE powerful than contacting the BBB. The BBB is biased since they receive their money from the businesses.
Here's the Utah DCP complaint form:
http://consumerprotection.utah.gov/enforcement/complaint.html

There is no statute of limitations, according to the lead investigator for the Utah DCP, for filing a complaint.

Utah state laws says that on business opportunity sales:
"a warning after the representation in not less than 12 point upper and lower case boldface type shall appear as follows:"

"CAUTION

No guarantee of earnings or ranges of earnings can be made. The number of purchasers who have earned through this business an amount in excess of the amount of their initial payment is at least _____ which represents _____% of the total number of purchasers of this business opportunity. "

Does anybody know if StoresOnline includes this at the bottom of their contracts?

The above is from section 13-15-4 of Utah State Law -- source: http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE13/13_14.htm


#2 - If you want to, you can always hire a consumer advocate -- I recommend Carl Shoolman of CX.org.
He is very tenacious on getting a resolution without a gag order from the company. He does not sell out and his fee is $43 plus a % of your refund.
Check him out at http://cx.org. He was recommended in a story by US News & World Report.

#3 - Make a report at http://ripoffreport.com

#4 - Contact the FTC -- http://ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml

#5 - Contact the BBB -- http://www.utah.bbb.org/


Note that I've ordered the list in terms of effectiveness, IMHO.
If you have time and the desire to make sure they don't do it again, then I would do all of the above!

Kind Regards,

Roger Brown
http://downtownweb.com

P.S. It's too bad that there are so many unscrupulous businesses operating out of Utah -- they give the state a black eye -- i'm committed to helping spread the word about how to fight back and win! :)

[The Librarian]

I went to the StoresOnline all day workshop last week. They spent a lot of time trying to get you to buy their software license. They wanted $2700.00 for three websites, and $2200.00 for the next three websites. They want you to fill out a 'confidential' pre-qualification form at the very beginning of the session. They asked for your SSN and Income, where you work, etc. I didn't fill it out because it's none of their business. In addition, they want you to buy their credit card processor for $999.00 and their estore tool kit for $399/499.

The presentation was very informative, however, again, they're constantly trying to sell you on their product. I explained to them that I can buy e-commerce software from off the shelf that's just as good and very in-expensive. People were buying their product right there on the spot without having any product, or product sources.

Let the buyer beware.
________________________________________________

StoresOnline doesn't offer merchant accounts or "credit card processors." They do recommend a company, ECI. You can use authorize.net, paypal or any other merchant account to accept payment. ECI's price for a merchant account is pretty standard.

StoresOnline offers fantastic customer service. They just beat out HP, Dell, Microsoft and other companies for the SSPA award. The SSPA is the most distinguished award for technology customer service in the world.

The software isn't expensive compared to what it would cost to otherwise have a web site. We were quoted between $5500-$23,000 for our bookstore to have a site built. I purchased a StoresOnline site for $2200, built it myself, and am very happy with the result. I paid $150 to have them set it up, originally.

Most of the people I was with at the seminar had brick and mortar stores. Granted, some wanted to start a business, but that wasn't the majority. If you're looking to expand your exisiting company it is very inexpensive to do it on the internet. StoersOnline acts as your IT department. There's no way I could afford to hire someone on staff to build and maintain my site.

With a bookstore you're constantly getting new inventory, want to put an item on sale, want to update content, we've added a calendar about events and signings, we've had great experience with getting local artists and authros to come to our place.

We looked at Yahoo Stores and some software that was for sale in Office Max. it was cheaper to go with storesonline than it was to go with theose.

We filled out the form for the credit that they offer through a third party. That form that was spoken about was so that those who didn't want to purcahse the software with a credit card or cash had another option. That's not uncommon and the interest rates were respectable.

We're very happy and highly suggest StoresOnline.

[The Librarian]

I think that you're mistaken about fools buying storesonline. You attend a preview, are told the price and then have two weeks before they let you buy the software to think it over. then they train you and then you can buy it. no other company trains you on how to market online and how to use their software before you can even buy it. StoresOnline has a very high customer satisfaction rate. If you look at sites like ripoffreport.com and stuff you'll see that the majority of complaints against them are from people who've never bought their stuff...but have invested in the company's stock hoping that the price will go down. Or they are former employees. StoresOnline sees over 70,000 people a month. In the past 3 years they've seen 2.52 million people. They have only 400 complaints over the past 3 years with teh BBB. That's so far below 1% that it isn't worth mentioning. And, all of their complaints with the BBB have been resovled. They've built sites for sports teams like Real Salt Lake 9www.rslgear.com). If it works for them it works for everyone.

[The Librarian]

StoresOnline just won the SSPA award. They have the best customer service in the countyr.

[agkit]

I just wanted to let you all know. I went to the seminar. It was great and I am the King of sceptics. I did not know anything about internet marketing. Now I do. I did not know anything about setting up a website. Now I do. For the money that I spent I get 24 hours a day 7 days a week online or telephone support and never had to wait more than 30 seconds to get a response. They have an incredible back end development with videos, tutorials, and if you get stuck, there is someone there to get you out. Now that's not bad. I have learned a lot in this past year. Was it worth it? Would I do it again? ABSOLUTELY!. Go waste your money on cheap scams. I did, got me nowhere. Did this....It works. Best Wishes and Good Luck.

Hi I am new to StoresOnline and recieved a call from someone about their mentoring program. It will cost $8-15,000.00 depending on what you choose. My sister and I attended 2 seminars and a workshop and were quite excited to get started. We are both raw to this market and we do find it complicated. I considered the mentoring program and talked to my brother and sister in-law who have alot more experience with the internet and we found this site. All of the negative feedback has me quite concerned and therefore have decided against the mentoring program. I am glad to hear this program has worked for you and any advice that you might have would be appreciated. Our money is already spent and now I want to make this work as well. Thanks for your positive feedback

[bumar]

Storesonline enticed us into purchasing 3 websites, than sent our way their partner EMS(Imergent Inc) to charge another $7500 for help constructing and marketing the site. In 1 1/2 year we haven’t recovered even fraction of the money SOL and EMS took from us!!!!!!! One month after the purchase and not getting anywhere we asked for refund!!! We are seniors, they lied telling how easy one can make money. There is not such a thing easy use and make money! They continue this marketing techniques in Canada with the same pitch, and getting more suckers like us into their fraudulent scheme, I wish Canada would act as did Australia. See links to Australian action!

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is seeking an urgent injunction to restrain US vendor, StoresOnline, from selling its e-commerce software in Australia.
http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;510803406;fp;2;fpid;1

Australian Office of Fair Trading
“We warned people against attending the Storesonline seminars. We were extremely concerned that the people attending the seminars would be subjected to an intensive and persuasive sales pitch for a product that was unproven.”

http://shouldibuyastore.com/Home_Page.html

[briancharlie]

I attended the workshop session for storesonline in my country as well as few online meetings too. I must say that their marketing is brilliant and many people signed up for their over-priced package.

[abestar]

About 5yrs ago I attended a seminar and bought 3 websites from Glaxy Mall which is now Stores Online. I had no experience in website building however I figured I could do it. I tried but I got frustrated and quit. Meanwhile I was always looking for that perfect product. I don't think it exist.
Don't make the same mistake I made. Find a product as soon as possible.
About 1yr ago a friend invited me to a store online seminar. To my surprise this was the same stuff I had. I went home call the company and they honored my 3 licenses. Since then I must congratulate the customer service and tech support that I recieved. With a little more experience and knowledge using my computer and their tech support I was able to put together my website www.FixMyHeadlights.com

My advice to anyone who already purchase store online websites don't despair. The tech support you get it's worth it's weight. They spend the time with you to help. There were times when I had them on the phone for hours.
Now I am able to go and make changes anytime I want.

I am now working on how to get more traffic to my site.

[Didn't listen]

Buyer beware. Unfortunately I disregarded other warnings about this company and am now another unhappy victim of Stores Online. After attending their free 90 minute sales pitch (which included a mediocre sandwich and a cheesy little “business organizer”, I bought their $50 “Express Software” and went two weeks later (March 2008) to their full day “training” seminar. I thought it was about training me to use the software I had purchased. Like other people warned, it turned out to be a full-day high-pressure sales pitch. I was told the “express software” was not useful without the $3,000 or $6,000 “upgrade” unless I just wanted a “hobby site”. After running a credit check, they graciously offer to finance this upgrade for a mere 18% interest fee, with $600 down.

The instructor was incredibly annoying and patronizing, part “motivational speaker”, part “angry parent”, belittling the attendees if they were not enthusiastic enough, i.e. raising hands in agreement with everything he said and parroting back his catch phrases.

Their “hot lunch” consisted of underdone chicken, eaten at the same crowded table you’ve been sitting at all day, while their “consultants” (sales team) roamed around offering to sign you up. When I asked my consultant why Stores Online was banned from doing business in Illinois and North Carolina, he pleaded ignorance, but did confess they were banned from doing business in California because, he said, the state was angry that as a service-based business they weren’t required to pay taxes there.

I called today to request that my $50 be refunded and was denied. In the process, however, I did learn something valuable – that I needed to submit, in writing, a request to de-activate my license or I would automatically be billed a hosting fee of $24.99 every month for a website I had no intention of designing (since it is effectively useless without the $3000 “upgrade”). I dodged a bullet there!

I give them credit - these guys are wonderful salesmen. Buyer beware!

[cometmall]

wow, i'm speechless... i dont understand how after all they managing to sell again and again