how do you tell a scam sales page from a legit one?

I don't usually say this, but ... what a load of CRAP!

Stock photos as a "red flag"? Geez, you just flagged 99% of the top marketing firms in the world as scammers! Who hires their own models and shoots their own photos just for web pages? I mean, who has the time and resources to hire a model, a Ferrari, drive to the beach, and take a bunch of photos? Sounds like a fun way to spend a weekend, but ... when you can get a stock photo for $5 and 5 mins of your time, why would you even think otherwise? (Unless, of course, that's your job and what you're offering on the web site!)

As for testimonials ... it's common practice to put initials beneath them, but it's far more rare to put somebody's web site URL there. In fact, as a rule-of-thumb, bigger vendors are less likely to provide URLs or even names in testimonials, just initials. So, your advice in this respect would have the reader shunning sites run by larger, more solid and reputable vendors.

"If it sounds too good to be true" ... then 99% of the weight-loss products on the market would be gone! This tidbit of advice does not seem to have made a dent in the areas that the FTC says are the most prolific for scammers: weight loss, credit and debt repair, sexual dysfunction, and sites offering to sell "real" prescription drugs at 10% of their cost through the mail (a fraudulent act in itself).

Look, here's the bottom-line on that: if you can come up with an even half-way decent "fraud detector", I'm sure there are TONS of companies who'd be happy to hire you for 7 figures. Like eBay, Craigslist, most classified ad sites, dating sites, .... need I go on?

On the face of it, I don't think it's easy to tell a fake offer from a valid offer.

You need to dig a little. I like to send the vendor a few questions and see how quickly they respond, and HOW they respond. If I get no response, I won't buy.

Just a heads-up: there are tons of sites around the internet that have been up for quite a while and that aren't being monitored by anybody. People die and don't leave instructions on how to access their hosting, PayPal accounts, etc., perhaps after having prepaid their hosting accounts or paying them through their PayPal acct automatically. As long as the sites make enough money to cover the hosting, and the domain name is paid up, they'll keep on filling orders.

(Oh, yeah, you forgot one other supposedly "tell-tale" thing: the Whois record shows that the domain name owner only paid for one year. Yeah, right. I know very few people who DO pay for more than a year at a time on any domains other than their "primary" ones.)

HTH
-David

It's not always easy to tell (BTW, I use stock pics on my salespages and webpages but I'm not a scammer...LOL) - but I don't worry about it too much. If they use Clickbank as a payment processor, you're safe because you can get a refund whether the seller is honest or not. Paypal maybe not quite as cut-and-dried as Clickbank.

Most of the time I'm referred to a product salespage by someone here or one of the lists I'm on, and I try to take those recommendations only from people I feel are trustworthy.

If I happen to find a salespage on my own and don't know the seller, I'll see who their payment processor is and go from there.

Wendy

Thanks JWB and Jesse Kemmerer,

I agree with the notion of getting the product and it turns out to be junk, is their something to look out for when clicking the "Click Here" buttons or when going to the payment page?

I agree with JWB,

Scam pages just have a "bad feel" to them. They're usually too uniform and read like they're written by H.A.L. rather than a human being. And the testimonials, if they have any don't read like they're written from real people. You just kinda have to develop a feel for it.

But if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck...

That said, those nigerian scam e-mails... evil as they are... are often very well written using some pretty stealth copywriting tricks.

So I'm not being much help am I... :-)

First, it really depends on how you define what is a scam.

If you are looking at any kind of internet marketing sales pages, I think the suggestion to look at the review section in this forum is a good starting point.

Mostly you need to use your judgment and common sense. If the sales page
promises great results with no experience and no work on your part ever and you will be making more money than you can imagine 15, make that 14, no 12 minutes from now...well at best they are exaggerating...at worst total lies.

The quality of graphics is absolutely meaningless...the most successful scammers are more than willing to pay for excellent graphics. And frankly, there is nothing wrong with using stock photos...legitimate marketers and advertisers use them all the time.

As a general rule, if you read the sales page, and your gut has you questioning whether it is a scam or other BS, it probably is a safe guess that it is.

Spend some time here educating yourself for free before you start spending money without having a clue at what you are looking at.

Just my opinion,

Robyn

You can't go by the sales page necessarily. When I'm thinking of buying something online, I usually look for reviews or comments from other people who've used it. Not testimonials or affiliate review sites, though. Also, I look for any free content the person has, whether it be a newsletter or a free report or a blog or video. The free content offered is usually a pretty good indicator of what you can expect from their paid product.

Thanks to everyone that replied, I got some really good points to think about. What I've done is to get the best points and summarise them below for easy reference.

The point of the post is to help in writing up your sales page and it 's good to get other peoples points of view on what they look out for and what will stop them from buying.

1. Check out testimonials are going to pages they state

2. Go with your gut feelings, if it's sounds to good to be true... then its probably isn't true

3. Grammar and use of English, it may come from a foreign country

4. Check out the review section here inside the Warrior Forum

5. Check to see where the payment processor is sending you from the site, clickbank, paypal etc.

6. Look at testimonials to see if they are over stating and read false

7. Research website by looking at whoIs, email addresses, phone number.

8. Use Alexa.com to see how long the website has been up and running and traffic it's getting.

9. Check that whole names are used in testimonials and initials like C Says etc

10. Look at the free content being offered with the main purchase does it match the product

11. Check the earnings pictures and see if the math is correct

Hope you enjoyed this post and see you on the battle field

Nick (ironfist55)
aka - IMDETECTIVE

Almost as ridiculous as replying to a year-old thread just to say the last post in it is ridiculous.

Nice sig Kevin.

I actually have the same quote above my desk. Coolidge - 30th US president for those with defective memories like mine - was an all American boy born July 4th 1872 although I discovered some time after printing this quote of his that apparently he was not a very nice person and had a somewhat dark history.

His quote is cool though and very apposite for IMers - budding or otherwise.