RhiannaC

I joined AC to learn CPA. I stayed with it through this morning beyond my 30 day period which expired on 1/12. I send 5 emails asking if they would allow the 30 days to begin once the class went live. I explained if not, I would have 6 days to decide and wouldn't stay around for week 2 if the didn't. No reply to any email.

I requested a refund this morning stating if they did not refund because the 30 days had gone by, I would dispute charges with my bank. I waited six hours and no reply came. I contacted my bank and the charges were disputed. I just received an email from AC that both payments were refunded. If they refunded because it was a wise business decisions, that is great. If they refunded because I wrote the charges would be disputed, that's another story. I would like to know which one but never will.

I've read through this entire thread the last few hours. Legally, they must follow the terms of the guarantee as it was written on the day you purchased--not how they changed it later. The terms of a contract cannot change by one party to a contract after the fact. It requires agreement from both.

I was looking forward to a "concise" learning experience. When you purchase a class and you, the student, has to implement changes to the instructions, you are walking blind without prior knowledge. You could probably figure it out in time, maybe spend another $500 but you didn't spend $2K to do that. That's what alarmed me the most. Not having prior knowledge to rely upon meant you might spend weeks learning, only to unlearn.

For those who want a refund and are beyond their 30 days, wanted to leave this message for you.

RhiannaC

I think so, Ken. That's why I asked for a refund now. Too many things rang alarm bells--delays in the beginning, changing guarantee, webinars failing, late on week 2, videos dragging. But most importantly, no one responded to 5 emails. One saying "we've received your ticket" would have helped.

I hope everyone has great success with AC. This is not for people new to PPC or new to the basics of affiliate offers.

veotis

Thanks, you took it the way I intended. I'm grateful that I found this thread when it first started, for this is where I first heard of The Arbitrage Conspiracy. When I saw that James was an affiliate and was offering some great bonuses ( his Traffic Secrets Monthly with Double Digit CTR and a private forum ), I knew I'd better check AC out. I had bought Xsitepro through James, so I knew his bonuses and his willingness to help was first class. Sure he made money off of me, so what? Isn't that what internet marketing is all about? But, and I'm sure others who have purchased anything through James will agree, it doesn't stop there. He will answer e-mails, reply to posts, etc. Just a heck of a guy!

Cataclysmic

My stats so far:

Total spent: $70.39 (on clicks only; I've also registered domains, etc)
Total earned: $7.10

A net loss, obviously, but I'm not concerned so far.

My biggest challenge is getting Google to actually display my ads without putting the CPCs through the roof (i.e. it obviously doesn't make sense to advertise if the CPC is $3 and the payout per conversion is just $1). I'm getting better at it though, and am hopeful that success will come. It's a lot of work!

mikewa

I live in New Zealand and this is how I view ads which are being displayed in the USA.

I just use my local Google browser (google.co.nz) and type in eg ‘dog training tips’.
This is what comes up in the address bar:

http:// www. google. co.nz/search?hl=en&q=dog+training+tips&btnG=Google+Searc h&meta=

I then add ‘&gl=us’ to the end of the address so that the total address is now:

http:// www. google. co.nz/search?hl=en&q=dog+training+tips&btnG=Google+Searc h&meta=&gl=us

– then press enter again

Up will come the ads as seen in the US. If for some strange reason you wanted to see the local ads in Australia you would change it to ‘&gl=au’

Hope this helps

templar

Yes, but he is a cpa newbie...yet an seo expert. Goes to show you need to find what each persons really knows.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss, but the painful part is waking up.

Free Crypto Coin Empire

James Schramko

Try this tool:

https://adwords.google.com/select/Ad...ingPreviewTool

This is where you get real information (backed up by proven results)

buzzword

You would be best served by moving to Yahoo, or MSN, or (heaven forbid!) the second tier PPC markets. You'd be surprised how much traffic you can get for literally pennies per keyword. Yeah Google dominates the market, but you PAY for that convenience! In a direct comparison, what would cost $0.25 for a first page click in Google (not even first PLACE!) you could pay $0.02 for a click in 7search.

So, say you manage to convert 1 in every 5.

If the payout is $1.50 for the lead, you'll spend $1.25 to get the $1.50 on Google.
But, you'll spend $0.10 to get the $1.50 on a 2nd tier PPC engine.

Heck, you can even do as bad as convert 1 in every 100 and STILL MAKE A 50% PROFIT!
There are a lot of 2nd tier PPC engines available. I would suggest using them to perform your "testing" on. When you find a winner that you can convert to 1 in 5, THEN move it to Google and duplicate.

STILL buzzin' [8D]

lifeclucks

Thanks for your advice mikewa and James, I will try the two ways that have been suggested. Several days ago I did try the &gl=US and found my Ad, but when I clicked on my Ad it took me to the Webfetti - Canadian redirect promo. Nice to have response from down-under, I was born in Adelaide, too many years ago.
I am disappointed that after 9 days of e-mails to AC, that I could not get even an acknowlegement that I even sent an e-mail. The plus side is that I was forced to look elsewhere and found a great group of people at this forum. When I listened to the webinar yesterday and negativity was mentioned, I do not believe most people are negative, it is just when you get really stuck you need some support. I sent them the screen shots of what was happening, they could have helped me with this 9 days ago. I am running campaigns in Canada and very limited in the US, it has not stopped me. Thanks again.

James Schramko

Marchex is also a good 2nd tier PPC network

This is where you get real information (backed up by proven results)

James Schramko

I'm guessing you are using a neverblue offer,

The default offer for out of area clicks is webfetti. (You can sometimes still jag a sale !!).

I use www.proxify.com to see sales pages when I am doing my keyword list.

Glad to share.

This is where you get real information (backed up by proven results)

mikewa

Thanks for reminding us about this tool. At one time it did not work for months but Google have obviously got round to fixing it at long last!

James Schramko

thx, I rely on it since I can't see most of my offers!

This is where you get real information (backed up by proven results)

mikewa

Good question! I find it impossible to sign up for some CPA and affiliate programs which are not mainstream just for the fact that I do not live in the US.

Cataclysmic

Good to know. I was thinking of doing it the other way around.

LifeClucks - I'm in Ottawa too.

Black Hat Cat

Jerry isn't a cpa newbie.

mrsrp

Here's an email I saw on another discussion forum. Apparently it's from Gauher Chaudhry, the PPC formula guy

======

I have received a number of emails from my readers
and customers regarding the launch of "Arbitrage
Conspiracy" slated for today at 12:00 pm EST.

I was invited to the $10,000 Las Vegas show but
didn't go because it was too short notice for me.

I have not seen the course, so I can't comment on
the calibre of the material.

Therefore this email is not an endorsement (you
will NOT see any affiliate link), but rather my
opinion based on the number of emails I have
received asking my opinion and the forum thread
that has started in the PPCF members area.

What you will read is not hype, but rather the
truth. Sometimes the truth can get distorted
during these rather large product launches.

I was well aware of this course almost 3 months
ago because the guys behind it, Aymen and Emmanuel
are both Pay Per Click Formula and Pay Per View
Formula owners.

In fact, Aymen and Emmanuel met each other at my
PPV Formula seminar last December in Toronto.

Most of don't know this, but Emmanuel goes by the
username OSR in the forums and you can spot him by
the quality posts he has made in the forums.

A lot of you are asking whether the numbers being
thrown around (i.e. $100K net profit daily) are
legitimate.

Yes.

I know these numbers sound absurd, but it really
is quite possible to make these type of profits.

How do I know this?

Because for some of the CPA networks they were
driving the traffic to, they had signed up under
my REFERRAL link so I was getting anywhere from a
2-3% percent commissions.

I was stunned when I started receiving huge
referral checks.

I called them up and said, keep doing what you are
doing because I like the nice large referral
checks for doing nothing.

I met up with Emmanuel at the CX Digital affiliate
advisory meeting in October and he further
explained to me how they were scaling their
campaigns to get massive results.

I told them that when they were ready to launch, I
would be their number one affiliate.

But that will not happen because I have not seen
their material and therefore can't endorse their
course in all fairness.

Now, when the Arbitrage Conspiracy report first
came out, I was a little bit taken a back when
they started revealing the Alexa technique.

Now, I don't claim to own the concept of bidding
on domain names, but I know that the strategy of
harvesting related domains from Alexa is only in
PPC Formula.

So I sent an email to both Aymen and Emmanuel
yesterday before their teleseminar asking why PPC
Formula material is being revealed and how closely
related their material is to PPC Formula and the
subsequent release of PPCF 2.0.

They both immediately called me and explained that
their was no bad intention to use my material and
that their course is very different.

Aymen told me he tried to reach me before they
released the report for review, but I was in
California for the PPC Classroom event.

Did I believe them?

Yes, because both are stand up guys.

It was Aymen who lent me his tech team and servers
for months to host some of my web sites and he
NEVER charged me for this.

Aymen has been gifted with great intelligence. He
is only around 25 years old, but talks like he has
50 years experience under his belt.

No joke.

Aymen actually called my the day before the Las
Vegas event and went over the highlights of his
presentation with me to get my opinion.

I told him him that thatthere was no way he would
be able to cover everything in one day.

Emmanuel has shared with me insider tips and even
sent me some of their PPC tools that were created
in-house.

So while I can vouch for their credibility, I
*still* can't say anything about the course
itself.

Aymen did indicate to me on the phone call that
PPCF members were not the targeted audience and it
may not be a good fit because of some overlap.

But I *may* have to disagree.

*If* the course itself can provide some insights
into how they can scale up so large, then it may
provide some good value to PPCF members.

The course is not cheap. It will cost around
$2,000. If you have not done anything with PPC
Formula when you bought it, then you will probably
not do anything with Arbitrage Conspiracy either.

Brad Fallen is behind the launch as Aymen and
Emmanuel needed a top guru to promote them because
they were not known to the IM world until this
launch.

I almost feel sorry for Aymen and Emmanuel because
it doesn't seem like they have full control of
this launch.

The Arbitrage Conspiracy launch has gotten too
hypey now with almost all the major gurus
promoting it.

While there were a few people who paid $10,000 to
attend the seminar, all the gurus (maybe 95% of
the group) got in for free.

So if some guru who is promoting this says he/she
paid $10,000 to attend, chances are he/she is full
of s**t.

Now, most of these gurus who went to Las Vegas for
the seminar were dumbstruck by the presentation.

And they should because most don't do PPC.

They sell their own products and have email lists.
So this was all new to them. But they were there
because Brad Fallen wants them to promote the
course.

If this was an event on how some guy was making
$100K a day with PLR info products, then people
would also be freaked out right now about PLR
rights.

It is really that simple.

I heard from other heavy PPC marketers who did
attend the seminar say that they only got a few
nuggets of info, but not a whole lot.

So your response to the Arbitrage Conspiracy
course will really depend on how advanced you are
with PPC.

Aymen and Emmanuel run a very advanced operation
with staff and there is quite a bit of technology
involved.

If you think they live the affiliate lifestyle
where they work for a few hours and than surf the
waves the rest of the day, then you are mistaken.

Both are workhorses and sometimes only sleep a few
hours a night.

It has required A LOT of hard work and dedication
to achieve these staggering results.

There are only a handful of affiliates that I know
that have received these incredible results and
the only other friend I know pushing similar
numbers is Amish Shah of the Hexatrack fame and he
has indicated that he has a team and also uses
advanced technology.

So it is not as simple as buying the course and
you will be making $100K a day in a few weeks.

You have to have a passion for this PPC to CPA
stuff in order to make it work successfully.

The main reason for the Arbitrage Conspiracy
course is for a lead-in to their own CPA network.

So that is my take on this entire launch.

I really have nothing to write about the course
itself because I don't know anything.

Use your own judgement.

Best wishes,

Gauher

mrsrp

The 13th Warrior

Thats the way I took it.

The 13 th Warrior

The 13th Warrior

The question with any course is , is it realistic, do-able in the real world, and for the "average" user.

AC has yet to answer that either way.

There is one extreme of the scale, where a few can make almost anything work to success, even crap.

Then there are those who either cannot or will make something work.

I feel the truth and the people that should be listened to just a tad more is in the middle of these extremes. It's the folks who lay in the middle and their stories are worth noting more.

Same goes for Yaniks stuff.

If Donald Trump speaks highly of a Real Estate course and believed it can work, or tried it and made it work....,...

1) What is the merit of ONE( 1 ) person who is making it work and,

2) He's a pro,.......most likely ANYTHING in the field of Real Estate, he could make work, so what would be the merit of that?

3) Should'nt a testimonial hit the advertising "copys" $$$$$$$ claim before saying, "see, told you so?"

Unless someone has Autism or other limitations, to say," I, personally, made it work, so the course is legit and anyone should make it work" is just a little myopic.

Say what you want about Jerry West, his APPROACH and Dispensation of information is very sobering and balanced, so far , in what I read of what he has written.

Only few has that type of approach.

Another similar in qualities to him refuses to and stays away from giving medical, financial or legal advice of any kind.

Day in, day out, information of stuff that works and doesn't in the real world as it relates to regular folks, hype-free, not based on some exceptions.

The 13 th Warrior

digabot

Never listen to anyone who is not doing (at a very high level) what you're currently trying to do. If they don't live this business model day in, day out, don't listen to them. Period.

Making $500 a day is easy with tracking, funds and a good AM. $5000 is something else entirely.

PPC-Coach

Only difference between the two is your desire to earn that much, your daily budget and your work ethic. IF you can do $500 per day, $5,000 is just adding a couple more successful campaigns.

buzzword

Key word. And obviously part of the problem here.

STILL buzzin' [8D]

JamesBoyd

Can anyone tell me, are payperclickformula 1.0 strategies still working today?, I know it's a 12-18 months or so old product

Cisco

Jerry has been doing CPA for over 10 years:

So, I invite you to learn more about CPA from someone who has been doing it for nearly a decade. Me. I don't profess to be making $100k a day, but I am very successful. Sign up for my course by filling out the information below. You will need a basic knowledge of PPC, keyword research, access to a good web designer, a solid web host, and a willingness to take calculated risks.

gt555

MSRP I think this was a little light at the end of the tunnel after the post you found from Chaudhry. I am still glad i did not take AC if I had paid 2000 and I could not get a decent customer support to deal with issues.

Srikanth D

MSRP: Thanks for the information. Seems like Aymen is a talent. But I still dont agree with the price tag especially for the kinda support that they are providing to AC members. Thankfully I didnt buy AC.

512byte

can you help me with my clickbooth account

StevePeterson

The Week 3 Videos have been posted on the member's site.

14 Videos in all...

And posted early.

Steve Peterson - Direct Response Copywriter
Steve@PetersonCopy.com
www.PetersonCopy.com

ToddieM

Some real world numbers from a newbie taking AC
I've cranked 25 campaigns.
PPC Cost: 333.87
Revenue: 66.95

Net: -216.92

I have, however, gained vast knowledge and have been goaded into taking massive action by the very nature of the course. I also have an edge because of my access to James Schramko's private forum. This fact alone is well worth what I've paid so far.
By week 4 or so, you will see me netting $2000, which will have paid for my course.

Wireless payment

rebounder trampoline

Shift

A few months ago there was a widely publicised course on PPC (under $100).

I bought it mainly because of some of the bonuses, but the course itself covered PPC in a lot of detail and even though I've been doing PPC for over a year I learnt a lot.

So I agree one doesn't need to spend $2000 to learn a great deal about what works in PPC today.

Shift

I read Jerry's blog post and at first it comes across like he has actually viewed the course when I don't believe he has, and then it becomes clearer that he has an issue with the way the AC was marketed/hyped up.

So I found it strange that he doesn't recommend folks to invest in the AC course when he hasn't even gone through the course himself.

I didn't buy the AC course because I think it's too expensive so I have no idea what value may lie inside it.
I suppose we'll be hearing about some feedback from people who've actually gone through the course further down the line.

M3C

I believe at the seminar they were explaining what was in the course and Jerry walked out saying it was nothing special and pretty basic.

I'm pretty sure that was it word for word.

JamesBoyd

Todd,

can you explain what specifically makes you think that you can turn around from -216 to +2000 in the next two weeks

thanks

The 13th Warrior

2nd thing would be, are the results or LEARNING PAINS matching what the "copy" of AC said would happen, you know, being EASY , so simple , fast results, getting to $50,000 and $100,000 days and all ?

Some may say people are being hard, but when people spend $2000 of hard earned money, and course creator makes claims in print, people bought based on what was claimed in that "copy", its not unreasonable to expect what the copy said, otherwise, everyone can legally say anything as true as factual.

Either course "should" or "should not" be expected to generally , on average, match claims of copy.

So yeah, you can advertise any claim you want, you are not REALLY expected to deliver on those claims, or even be reasonably close, right?

The 13 th Warrior

Shift

Here is Jerry's blog post : blog dot seorevolution dot com/2008/12/10/dont-buy-the-arbitrage-conspiracy-i-was-there-in-vegas

It's not clear that the presentation at the seminar was what was to be in the AC course.
I wasn't at the seminar and I don't have the AC course but I don't believe in bashing something I don't know about or own.

Quote Jerry West,`My issue is the way the launch was done - during a recession and most of the people signing up will be newbies, who can’t afford to lose the $2k.
I have nothing against Aymen personally, my issue was the launch, how it was misrepresented and how it was just basically injected with hype during a recession.
My issue with the program is not the content, but for how it was promoted.'

Quote from a person on Jerry's blog,`You are so skeptical of this guy Aymen and expect no one to be skeptical of you.
What do you have to offer besides bashing a course you haven’t seen?
What are your motives?
Why would any sane person fly out to Vegas and only stay for 40 minutes and storm out only to start bashing the guy without having seen the whole course or info?
How do you know he’s not making that kind of money?
Why are you sooo mad?
Maybe I should get a refund from Arbitrage, cross my fingers and wait and hope for your course to come out because your such a great guy that you will teach me for free.
If anyone didn’t buy the course because this guy didn’t like the first 40 minutes of a seminar, your an idiot and should consider keeping your day job.'

Quote from someone on Jerry's blog,`I was there in Vegas too and sat through the entire day. The first two hours were weak. Admittedly the first half day was just Ok. The afternoon got way better. How Jerry can say DON’T BUY without seeing the course and without staying for the entire day blows my mind.'

Quote from someone else on Jerry's blog,`I bought the damn thing because I’ve never seen anyone offering to teach CPA.'

Quote from someone else on Jerry's blog,`I don’t understand how so many people can doubt that it will work without actually going through the whole course. '

It appears from reading Jerry's blog post that he's definately not a newbie to CPA marketing because he writes that he does have multiple CPA campaigns.

Anyway we all have our own minds and know how to make them up.

And I hope that it doesn't turn out to be some sort of scam for those who invested $2k into AC.

beksworld

WEEK 3

Heavily promoted SPYFU software.....

jjjt

Yeah, and I can't see any sign of the so-called "AC Discount". The only discount going is the one you get anyway for paying for 12 months upfront.

The AC content for this week is more what I was hoping for.

But, for some reason, having your tutors recommend a product via an affiliate link doesn't sit well with me.

I think I'll be signing up as an affiliate myself and saving myself 45% instead of giving it away to the AC team. I mean we've already paid once (for the course)...

digabot

Yeah, the longest video is an affiliate pitch for SpyFu.

Their discount is in two added months onto your Annual subscription with bonuses of how they actually use it in their business - which seems should be included as part of the material, no?

It's kind of like:

"We make tens of thousands a day. We use some paid tools to help us make those numbers. Our course is $2000 but if you want to learn how we ACTUALLY USE those tools in our business, you'll have to buy them through our affiliate link to get the special training."

They also tell you if you don't want to sign up through their link, it's cool.

You can really see a lot of Gauher's course in this week's material.

Stuff so far is SUPER NOOB

M3C

Yep, read that some time ago, not relevent to the verbiage I was referring to which was quoted on here by a colleague of Jerry's , somewhere in the depths of this thread.

digabot

Left out a 0, meant $50000.

Talking teams, proprietary tools, private offers, host and post, Media Buys, list management etc. Completely different ballgame.

M3C

Ground breaking, this is really looking like an expensive hand holding product for newbies who simply haven't seen all the basic tools before. Wonder how many more weeks will go by before people stop saying .. "it's only at week (X) ,give it a chance".

Noah Fleming

How are you guys being provided the training?

Is live webinars or calls? PDF's, Videos etc?

Is there a members forum? What's going on in there?

JamesBoyd

what is the full unabridged definition of SUPER NOOB anyone?

niceweb

I got a refund today. I don't feel the content so far justify the hefty price. And i can't wait to see if it improves.

jjjt

Am I understanding correctly?

If so, it just gets better...

If you buy SpyFu thru their affiliate link, and pay for the year up front, you get the privilege of an added bonus of a "SpyFu Walkthrough video"... but not until 4 or 5 weeks until AFTER you've purchased it?! (once the refund period has expired)

Surely, after 4 or 5 weeks, you would know the tool inside out already?!

Oh, yeah, and exclusively for these people, they promise to do a webinar where they will answer ALL the questions being asked - even non SpyFu questions - THIS IS WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING *EVERY WEEK*!!

So basically, if financially you're not in a position to pay upfront for the 12 months in advance, you are getting LESS training/assistance than those who can, even though we've all already paid our $2k.

I haven't refunded yet... but this course seems increasingly to "take, take, take" as much as possible, and to "give, give, give" as little as possible...


I'm teatering... I really am teatering...

beksworld

SO, if YOU were a SUPER NOOB again like me......what software would you acquire in your first endeavor. I see rave reviews about SPEED PPC, Affiliate Espionage and, now, SPYFU as being good choices. Not that I know what the flock any of it does.......just humor me and tell me what you would put together as a winning combination. And you'd think someone would have come up with all this in one package anyway, huh? Ya, I know what youre thinkin..... "get off your ass and just dive in" ......

Problem is I have another job and do not have hours upon hours and would rather put on some flippers and THEN dive into the ocean. What flippers do you use?

Im learning real step by step...."do this, dont do that" type stuff in PPC COACH after joining last week, by the way. I gotta say, I literally feel like PUKING throughout the Arbitrage course as I sit there and listen to the generalized garbled " just do this, and you'll be ok, ok? Ok, like, just, what Im saying is, Like, YAH, Im excited for you......and BY THE WAY, MOST of the other members are doing GREAT....and a FEW are still struggling, umm, Ya, ok. So if they can do it, you WILL do it too, trust me. C yu in the next 8 min video guys." " Ok, here we are in our 15th video, it is a REPLAY of LAST WEEKS WEBINAR, just in case you idiots forgot it existed....I mean, for those that didnt get to it."

I know he's trying his best damn it, but its just not good enough for a 2k program so I am tired of feeling like its ok cuz he/they actually mean well.

General crap for 3 whole weeks, now...how can there be any change in the future? This week 3 was supposed to be the meat and potatoes of the whole program according to them. Bidding on domains, and getting CREATIVE with keyword research is what "sets us apart from the rest." Ummm, EVERYONE is making that claim!

Oh, and Im learning real ways to make landing pages at PPC COACH where I joined last week. Thats the only thing keeping my head above water. Does anyone here use Polls, or Review style Wordpress landing pages?

By the way, my attorney cousin says that the wording in his guarantee is referring to the value of the TRAINING...keyword...which officially started on January 5th..

"If for any reason in the first 30 days you don't see the incredible value in this training, simply contact us for a full no questions asked refund!"

Guarantees the (keyword=) ~training~ up to 30 days! Not the 2 weeks leading up to the training.....so how could we NOT start our judgement of training as of January 5th? I was one of the first to join, and you are more than welcome to join my couisin and I in taking this to the next step if refund requests are ignored.........thats if I decide week 4 is just as horrible.
Who knows, maybe it gets better......I would love nothing more than that.

Sorry, I had to vent..

nobodyspecial

I just went through the first video @ CashTactics. I don't know who the creator/narrator is but there was about 10 billion X the content as in the first two weeks of Arbitrage Con. (<--- that's not an abbreviation, it's the TRUE name of the course).

The 21 min video is clear, informative and provides actionable information.

Aymen and the gang should take some lessons from the CashTactics people and get their shit together.

chillpill

Crazy thread. Lots of good view pioints.

CanuckMike

I loved the cash tactics series. It covered all the basic information to get started and even presented a realistic view of what to expect with CPA. Not sure how far you got in the series, but at the end his one campaign he makes does not make money. His PPC costs were to high. He then explains what he is going to do to make it profitable. That is gold in my books.

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JamesBoyd

ok I worked it out NOOB = Newbie ha funny!, sorry I'm so slow at times