Comments on: My Thumbs up – Shopster.com http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/ Discussion of Online Marketing, SEM, Social Media, Mobile and Video, Micro-Content, and Affiliate Marketing Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Cosmicsus http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-21125 Cosmicsus Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:19:03 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-21125 Well Have to say, long time that i haven't laughed like that, Randy/Sportguy, u are unbelievably funny, i was crying of laughthers reading the whole fread, I am signed up to the free trial, i have already a Ebay store and I am Powerseller and i needed to have some good reliable dropshippers that i could use so thought Shopster would cut it but after reading all of this, as much as it entertained me, it put me off it at the same time! So i just cancelled it, don't want to take the risk to fork out on another non-sense scheme! Thanks for laugh, man this thread is ACE!!!!!! Well Have to say, long time that i haven't laughed like that, Randy/Sportguy, u are unbelievably funny, i was crying of laughthers reading the whole fread, I am signed up to the free trial, i have already a Ebay store and I am Powerseller and i needed to have some good reliable dropshippers that i could use so thought Shopster would cut it but after reading all of this, as much as it entertained me, it put me off it at the same time! So i just cancelled it, don't want to take the risk to fork out on another non-sense scheme!

Thanks for laugh, man this thread is ACE!!!!!!

]]> By: Randy http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-17508 Randy Sat, 12 Jul 2008 08:37:23 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-17508 I told everyone a year ago. Now do you believe me? There are so many complaints against Shopster that the BBB button has been dissabled from their website. I told everyone a year ago. Now do you believe me? There are so many complaints against Shopster that the BBB button has been dissabled from their website.

]]> By: Jim http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-17333 Jim Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:16:41 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-17333 As a current shopster retailer, there are more than a few things you should know prior to joining the shopster community. First and foremost, don't believe much of anything Shopster advertises. While that should be common sense, they have a very effective marketing department whose sole aim is to attract new retailers to create new rshops, thus making Shopster money. The online retail business is tough. Actually it's not tough, it's almost near impossible!!! Profit margins are quite low, and advertising is difficult without shelling out more than a few bucks. Shopster does offer many ideas as to how to market your business, but truthfully, very few of them make sense if you are looking to make money to live on, or even go out for an evening or two per month! In addition to the marketing aspect, you have to deal with Shopster's rather high wholesale pricing. Shopster does in deed have many products which are far below normal retail pricing, but those are also the products most likely to sit in your store and not be sold. The most popular items are at best at current retail price or above. In a nutshell, this means you are attempting to sell the most popular products being sold online for more than almost everyone else. When your business model depends on price, Shopster is no help. Assuming you finally make a sale, a company called secure2u conducts the transaction, and without your attention or effort, the sale is put through and you collect profit. Shopster, not one to miss out on an opportunity to cash in on your effort, removes 3.75% of your profit. So basically should you sell 1 product for the month for $100, and the profit is $10, you will see a check in the mail to you in the amount of $6.25. Doesn't sound too bad right? Well take the previous comment about high wholesale pricing into account, coupled with the ridiculous 3.75% surcharge and your profit margins become very very small indeed in addition to the monthly charge Shopster charges you to keep your store online and active. I am not bashing shopster since I have in fact made money from my shop, but, there is very real and distinct feeling that I could be making more money elsewhere. As for others who comment about postings on the internal Shopster blogs which are critical of Shopster in anyway -- it is 100% accurate. A guy whose screen name is Johnny K will remove any comment which is deemed to be somewhat negative towards Shopster. For instance, I found identical products which were offered cheaper through another retailer's site (not even a wholesaler, but a retailer), posted it on the board and asked why pricing couldn't be better. A terse response and a locked message board was what followed. Any comment questioning why pricing can't be better, why better contracting with the wholesalers can not result in better pricing is immediately removed and you are subsequently forwarded a stock e-mail indicating you must play nice with Shopster's delicate sensibilities. As for Sarath's comments, Shopster is not unique. There are dozens upon dozens of online dropshippers who all compete for your business. Shopster is unique in that they charge higher wholesale prices and extract a precentage of your profits, but otherwise, they are just a run of the mill dropshipping company. In addition, prior to signing up with Shopster, it would be wise to check with the Canadian Better Business Bureau (Shopster is based in Canada). They have more than a few Shopster complaints filed. -Jim As a current shopster retailer, there are more than a few things you should know prior to joining the shopster community. First and foremost, don't believe much of anything Shopster advertises. While that should be common sense, they have a very effective marketing department whose sole aim is to attract new retailers to create new rshops, thus making Shopster money. The online retail business is tough. Actually it's not tough, it's almost near impossible!!! Profit margins are quite low, and advertising is difficult without shelling out more than a few bucks. Shopster does offer many ideas as to how to market your business, but truthfully, very few of them make sense if you are looking to make money to live on, or even go out for an evening or two per month! In addition to the marketing aspect, you have to deal with Shopster's rather high wholesale pricing. Shopster does in deed have many products which are far below normal retail pricing, but those are also the products most likely to sit in your store and not be sold. The most popular items are at best at current retail price or above. In a nutshell, this means you are attempting to sell the most popular products being sold online for more than almost everyone else. When your business model depends on price, Shopster is no help. Assuming you finally make a sale, a company called secure2u conducts the transaction, and without your attention or effort, the sale is put through and you collect profit. Shopster, not one to miss out on an opportunity to cash in on your effort, removes 3.75% of your profit. So basically should you sell 1 product for the month for $100, and the profit is $10, you will see a check in the mail to you in the amount of $6.25. Doesn't sound too bad right? Well take the previous comment about high wholesale pricing into account, coupled with the ridiculous 3.75% surcharge and your profit margins become very very small indeed in addition to the monthly charge Shopster charges you to keep your store online and active. I am not bashing shopster since I have in fact made money from my shop, but, there is very real and distinct feeling that I could be making more money elsewhere.

As for others who comment about postings on the internal Shopster blogs which are critical of Shopster in anyway — it is 100% accurate. A guy whose screen name is Johnny K will remove any comment which is deemed to be somewhat negative towards Shopster. For instance, I found identical products which were offered cheaper through another retailer's site (not even a wholesaler, but a retailer), posted it on the board and asked why pricing couldn't be better. A terse response and a locked message board was what followed. Any comment questioning why pricing can't be better, why better contracting with the wholesalers can not result in better pricing is immediately removed and you are subsequently forwarded a stock e-mail indicating you must play nice with Shopster's delicate sensibilities.

As for Sarath's comments, Shopster is not unique. There are dozens upon dozens of online dropshippers who all compete for your business. Shopster is unique in that they charge higher wholesale prices and extract a precentage of your profits, but otherwise, they are just a run of the mill dropshipping company.

In addition, prior to signing up with Shopster, it would be wise to check with the Canadian Better Business Bureau (Shopster is based in Canada). They have more than a few Shopster complaints filed.

-Jim

]]> By: Bill B http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-16539 Bill B Wed, 21 May 2008 12:35:14 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-16539 SHRKB8, I remember JohnnyK and Zach as being very unprofessional with me as well. I used to have the Live Chat enabled on my store but when I realized it was JohnnyK and Zach that my customers were chatting to, I cancelled the Live Chat. Zach and JohnnyK also told me flat out lies about how badly they MIS-handled a very important order that would've made me over $250 profit. Shopster unilaterally cancelled the order because the shipping price was incorrect. (Shopster is the one who sets the shipping price by the way) They told me it was cancelled because the customer gave a “Bad Shipping Address”. But the DAY AFTER Shopster cancelled the order on me they changed the shipping price on the item from $9 to $215!! That's right, from $9 to $215! They swore up and down that they told my customer about the increase but my customer insisted he was never contacted. Support said it was a Live Chat they had with him; my customer said no way. So I asked Support for the transcript of the chat (since they said they keep all of them). Guess what? That one single chat I had with them somehow got "lost" and could never be recovered. Yeah, right. Then they said, "Oh it was actually a phone call we had with him", again my customer said he never ever heard from anyone at Shopster. So I asked Shopster for any phone record to back it up. They couldn't find that either. Complete BS. Liars, pathetic liars and even when they were caught in their lies and knew they were caught, they kept right on lying. At any rate, I wanted to get this order out to the customer at the original price he ordered it because that is the right thing to do, but Shopster would have NOTHING to do with "making things right" with my customer, and I personally had to eat the difference just so that the customer would get what he ordered from my store at the price he ordered it at. Oh and the 2nd time he put in his order, that “Bad Shipping Address” was the EXACT SAME address that they ultimately delivered the order to! When I posted a comment on the Shopster board asking if this shipping price problem had happened to anyone else...just like SHRKB8 noted, JohnnyK deleted my post and told me not to discuss support matters with others. I’ve probably had 4-5 posts deleted by support, and all were very important matters that other Shopster clients needed to be aware of, but that is Shopster’s way of keeping things buried. Lie and delete, then tell the sheep all is fine. I defy anyone from Shopster to come in here and post a different account of this matter, those two kids Zach and JohnnyK both know it’s true. SHRKB8,

I remember JohnnyK and Zach as being very unprofessional with me as well. I used to have the Live Chat enabled on my store but when I realized it was JohnnyK and Zach that my customers were chatting to, I cancelled the Live Chat.

Zach and JohnnyK also told me flat out lies about how badly they MIS-handled a very important order that would’ve made me over $250 profit. Shopster unilaterally cancelled the order because the shipping price was incorrect. (Shopster is the one who sets the shipping price by the way) They told me it was cancelled because the customer gave a “Bad Shipping Address”. But the DAY AFTER Shopster cancelled the order on me they changed the shipping price on the item from $9 to $215!! That’s right, from $9 to $215! They swore up and down that they told my customer about the increase but my customer insisted he was never contacted. Support said it was a Live Chat they had with him; my customer said no way. So I asked Support for the transcript of the chat (since they said they keep all of them). Guess what? That one single chat I had with them somehow got “lost” and could never be recovered. Yeah, right. Then they said, “Oh it was actually a phone call we had with him”, again my customer said he never ever heard from anyone at Shopster. So I asked Shopster for any phone record to back it up. They couldn’t find that either. Complete BS. Liars, pathetic liars and even when they were caught in their lies and knew they were caught, they kept right on lying.

At any rate, I wanted to get this order out to the customer at the original price he ordered it because that is the right thing to do, but Shopster would have NOTHING to do with “making things right” with my customer, and I personally had to eat the difference just so that the customer would get what he ordered from my store at the price he ordered it at. Oh and the 2nd time he put in his order, that “Bad Shipping Address” was the EXACT SAME address that they ultimately delivered the order to!

When I posted a comment on the Shopster board asking if this shipping price problem had happened to anyone else…just like SHRKB8 noted, JohnnyK deleted my post and told me not to discuss support matters with others. I’ve probably had 4-5 posts deleted by support, and all were very important matters that other Shopster clients needed to be aware of, but that is Shopster’s way of keeping things buried. Lie and delete, then tell the sheep all is fine.

I defy anyone from Shopster to come in here and post a different account of this matter, those two kids Zach and JohnnyK both know it’s true.

]]> By: SHRKB8 http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-16446 SHRKB8 Mon, 19 May 2008 13:06:24 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-16446 Don't bother with Shopster. The base prices are outrageously high, forcing retailers into little to no profit margin, their shipping charges are astronomical and constantly fluctuating which drives business away, and their customer service is beyond horrible. I am a retailer with Shopster, and will soon be switching to another wholesaler. Shopster does not provide listings for Google because Google refuses to work with Shopster. Therefore, the largest search engine in the world is off limits to everything you sell through your online store (rshop). They host an internal chat room, allowing shopster retailers the opportunity to discuss their online stores. Anything negative posted about Shopster is promptly removed by Johnny K, and you are sent an e-mail. Any questioning of pricing on the forum is removed as well, including any complaints regarding anything at all really. Believe me -- don't waste your money and especially your time walking through this process. The few website templates they offer are as bland as they come, and a readily identifiable by everyone who has ever set one of these things up. So should you decide to continue on and sign up for Shopster, to you I say "You have been warned!" Don't bother with Shopster. The base prices are outrageously high, forcing retailers into little to no profit margin, their shipping charges are astronomical and constantly fluctuating which drives business away, and their customer service is beyond horrible. I am a retailer with Shopster, and will soon be switching to another wholesaler. Shopster does not provide listings for Google because Google refuses to work with Shopster. Therefore, the largest search engine in the world is off limits to everything you sell through your online store (rshop). They host an internal chat room, allowing shopster retailers the opportunity to discuss their online stores. Anything negative posted about Shopster is promptly removed by Johnny K, and you are sent an e-mail. Any questioning of pricing on the forum is removed as well, including any complaints regarding anything at all really. Believe me — don't waste your money and especially your time walking through this process. The few website templates they offer are as bland as they come, and a readily identifiable by everyone who has ever set one of these things up. So should you decide to continue on and sign up for Shopster, to you I say "You have been warned!"

]]> By: Bill B http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-13284 Bill B Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:30:14 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-13284 Shopster uses very deceitful tactics. The "wholesale pricing" they offer to you in their marketing is 100% unattainable. Once you pay to sign up, you discover they jack up your "wholesale price" by 3.9%. But they tell you that you get to keep all of your profit, until you discover they are keeping 3.5% of YOUR PROFIT for themselves. It won't take you too long to find out how much of YOUR PROFIT is being siphoned off by Shopster; unfortunately, it won't be after they've collected your non-refundable payment. If you used Shopster in the past and want the 3.5% they took from your profits, just simply petition the BBB of Calgary, <a href="http://www.betterbusinessbureau.ca" rel="nofollow">www.betterbusinessbureau.ca</a>. Tell them Shopster's agreement said that NO FEES would be taken from your profit and that they kept 3.5% of your profits. After I filed my complaint, (case 1150176) Shopster admitted that their Agreement was missing "overlooked discrepancies" and sent me my refund. Funny how those overlooked discrepancies can translate into up to 75% of your profit being kept by Shopster. Other problems: --Shopster does NOT own any items they offer to you to sell. THEY ARE A MIDDLEMAN SERVICE, NOT A WHOLESALER! Since they don't own the items.... --Their inventory numbers are completely whacked, what has hundreds in stock one day is discontinued the next. What costs $9 in shipping one day, costs $158 the next. When you auction an item on EBay and it winds up not in stock, guess who gets stuck with the fees and the negative feedback? --Shopster gave a customer of mine a bad shipping price and when Shopster discovered the bad price, they just cancelled the order on him citing a "bad shipping addess". When the customer re-ordered with the correct shipping price, Shopster said the bad address suddenly was good and delivered to that very same address that they said was bad. --SEO Optimization on Shopster sites doesn't work, don't waste your time trying to optimize it. --They censor their support board to stifle member communication about problems with Shopster. --They brag about how awesome they and their clients are doing, but when pressed for proof, they come up with none. A person once posted on Shospter's board asking anyone who had made a profit with Shopster to reply and guess how many people replied saying they did? NONE. What else do you need to know? Caveat Emptor Shopster uses very deceitful tactics. The "wholesale pricing" they offer to you in their marketing is 100% unattainable. Once you pay to sign up, you discover they jack up your "wholesale price" by 3.9%. But they tell you that you get to keep all of your profit, until you discover they are keeping 3.5% of YOUR PROFIT for themselves. It won't take you too long to find out how much of YOUR PROFIT is being siphoned off by Shopster; unfortunately, it won't be after they've collected your non-refundable payment.

If you used Shopster in the past and want the 3.5% they took from your profits, just simply petition the BBB of Calgary, http://www.betterbusinessbureau.ca. Tell them Shopster's agreement said that NO FEES would be taken from your profit and that they kept 3.5% of your profits. After I filed my complaint, (case 1150176) Shopster admitted that their Agreement was missing "overlooked discrepancies" and sent me my refund. Funny how those overlooked discrepancies can translate into up to 75% of your profit being kept by Shopster.

Other problems:

–Shopster does NOT own any items they offer to you to sell. THEY ARE A MIDDLEMAN SERVICE, NOT A WHOLESALER! Since they don't own the items….

–Their inventory numbers are completely whacked, what has hundreds in stock one day is discontinued the next. What costs $9 in shipping one day, costs $158 the next. When you auction an item on EBay and it winds up not in stock, guess who gets stuck with the fees and the negative feedback?

–Shopster gave a customer of mine a bad shipping price and when Shopster discovered the bad price, they just cancelled the order on him citing a "bad shipping addess". When the customer re-ordered with the correct shipping price, Shopster said the bad address suddenly was good and delivered to that very same address that they said was bad.

–SEO Optimization on Shopster sites doesn't work, don't waste your time trying to optimize it.

–They censor their support board to stifle member communication about problems with Shopster.

–They brag about how awesome they and their clients are doing, but when pressed for proof, they come up with none. A person once posted on Shospter's board asking anyone who had made a profit with Shopster to reply and guess how many people replied saying they did? NONE. What else do you need to know?

Caveat Emptor

]]> By: Shawn http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-4745 Shawn Fri, 25 Jan 2008 03:02:56 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-4745 I unfortunately have to agree with the criticisms of this business. Shopster is a good concept but its company doesn't execute this business plan well for its sellers. The main problem with Shopster is that it's not search engine friendly so you will have a very hard time getting customers. They make it difficult to optimize the webpages (by meta tags, titlepage, url, or descriptions) for the products! Shopster also marks up the "wholesale" price of the products so much that you hardly earn a profilt when you do sell something (1-5% profit). Yes, you can control the selling price but if you go higher, you will never sell anything due to competition. You also have to pay a monthly fee to keep the store open so if you sell nothing you still have to pay! Also their inventory is not always correct so you lose the sale! And you pay a $99 non refundable set up fee just to open the store! So after all the expenses, you can make more money working hourly at McDonalds! I unfortunately have to agree with the criticisms of this business. Shopster is a good concept but its company doesn't execute this business plan well for its sellers. The main problem with Shopster is that it's not search engine friendly so you will have a very hard time getting customers. They make it difficult to optimize the webpages (by meta tags, titlepage, url, or descriptions) for the products! Shopster also marks up the "wholesale" price of the products so much that you hardly earn a profilt when you do sell something (1-5% profit). Yes, you can control the selling price but if you go higher, you will never sell anything due to competition. You also have to pay a monthly fee to keep the store open so if you sell nothing you still have to pay! Also their inventory is not always correct so you lose the sale! And you pay a $99 non refundable set up fee just to open the store! So after all the expenses, you can make more money working hourly at McDonalds!

]]> By: Maldini http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-4744 Maldini Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:38:43 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-4744 Shopster is definitely a scam. I was with them for 8 months. I sold and they pocketed the margins. You set up your own margins. Say...10%...20%, but after everything is sold, Shopster makes their calculations, and you realize that you only got maybe 5% if you are lucky. They sell their products at a very high price to start with anyway, so it's hard to compete. Plus the fixed costs (website, advertising, their monthly charge) are such as you lose money no matter what. Don't believe their employees posing as business people trying to convince you of the contrary. You can't break even. They ignore your emails when you tell them about it. Now, at the end of the month, they send you a check...say for $12 for your efforts...Now surprise!!! The check is on a Canadian bank, and US banks take fees for every check ($5 or more). So basically, you end up realizing that your worked for Shopster and your bank for free (well, almost). Shopster is definitely a scam. I was with them for 8 months. I sold and they pocketed the margins. You set up your own margins. Say…10%…20%, but after everything is sold, Shopster makes their calculations, and you realize that you only got maybe 5% if you are lucky.
They sell their products at a very high price to start with anyway, so it’s hard to compete. Plus the fixed costs (website, advertising, their monthly charge) are such as you lose money no matter what. Don’t believe their employees posing as business people trying to convince you of the contrary. You can’t break even.
They ignore your emails when you tell them about it.
Now, at the end of the month, they send you a check…say for $12 for your efforts…Now surprise!!! The check is on a Canadian bank, and US banks take fees for every check ($5 or more). So basically, you end up realizing that your worked for Shopster and your bank for free (well, almost).

]]> By: Maldini http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-4743 Maldini Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:38:43 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-4743 Shopster is definitely a scam. I was with them for 8 months. I sold and they pocketed the margins. You set up your own margins. Say...10%...20%, but after everything is sold, Shopster makes their calculations, and you realize that you only got maybe 5% if you are lucky. They sell their products at a very high price to start with anyway, so it's hard to compete. Plus the fixed costs (website, advertising, their monthly charge) are such as you lose money no matter what. Don't believe their employees posing as business people trying to convince you of the contrary. You can't break even. They ignore your emails when you tell them about it. Now, at the end of the month, they send you a check...say for $12 for your efforts...Now surprise!!! The check is on a Canadian bank, and US banks take fees for every check ($5 or more). So basically, you end up realizing that your worked for Shopster and your bank for free (well, almost). Shopster is definitely a scam. I was with them for 8 months. I sold and they pocketed the margins. You set up your own margins. Say…10%…20%, but after everything is sold, Shopster makes their calculations, and you realize that you only got maybe 5% if you are lucky.
They sell their products at a very high price to start with anyway, so it's hard to compete. Plus the fixed costs (website, advertising, their monthly charge) are such as you lose money no matter what. Don't believe their employees posing as business people trying to convince you of the contrary. You can't break even.
They ignore your emails when you tell them about it.
Now, at the end of the month, they send you a check…say for $12 for your efforts…Now surprise!!! The check is on a Canadian bank, and US banks take fees for every check ($5 or more). So basically, you end up realizing that your worked for Shopster and your bank for free (well, almost).

]]> By: Brian http://www.revenews.com/online-marketing/my-thumbs-up-dh-shopstercom/#comment-4742 Brian Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:44:37 +0000 http://revenews.contentrobot.com/?p=1041#comment-4742 More people have filed complaints with the BBB about Shopster. The BBB is now having Shopster modify their advertising claim "Unlimited Profits". Click the BBB button on the bottom of Shopster's website. More people have filed complaints with the BBB about Shopster. The BBB is now having Shopster modify their advertising claim "Unlimited Profits". Click the BBB button on the bottom of Shopster's website.

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