How To Never Get Ripped Off - EVER AGAIN!

8 replies
I've been scammed, ripped off and hoaxed and basically burnt a whole lot of money and time online.

I have probably spent in the area of $5 thousand dollars on scams, I have been scammed by a lovely little Chinese lady re-selling video games, been scammed by Mexican rip off merchants for "turn-key websites" paid for products with title such as "become a millionaire in the next 15-minutes", gambling systems, affiliate courses, weight loss products, pills, powders and everything in between!

Over the years my experiences have turned me into one of the most suspicious people around, lol.

The good thing is, I have not lost any money to unscrupulous types in years.

Here is the quickest method's I use to find out whether I am going to pay hard earned money for something online that is not a well known physical product or something from a reputable vendor or merchant.

1. If it's too good to be true follow this rule and do not buy, instead run for the hills!

2. Reviews, I don't trust any review I read on the merchant/sellers sales page, this could be their own website or a third party page like fiverr, elance, their wso etc. Not because I don't trust reviews but because anyone publishing reviews for a product they are selling on their own sales page that they control is likely to never publish a negative review and will only ever publish glowing reviews, this is simple human nature.

3.Get your reviews from third party outlets or direct from the reviewer. Ask your group of social contacts, ask on forums, if your on a forum such as this one and someone posts that they have purchased XYZ product PM them and see what they say. Go to third party review sites and ask for a review etc. This one rule has saved me a lot of money!

4. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be rude, but ask away. If the answer does not meet your expectations, do not buy. Never let them talk you into it if their initial answer does not meet your expectations, this doesn't necessarily mean they are out to scam you but maybe their product is just not right for you...

5. Never buy a product if you have UN-answered questions.

6.Never buy a product instantly. Always mull it over. I have read dozens of sales pitches and wanted to instantly buy, I slept on it and came back to it the next day with a different perspective. Do not forget that sales copy is designed word for word to make you want to buy!

7. Never buy on emotions. This ties into the above. If the copy is scaring you into buying, making you feel like it will be the end of the world if you don't buy now or making you dream of how your life will be if only you had XYZ product -DO NOT BUY! Instead tell the person who wrote the copy what a good job they did, lol! Take the advice from rule number 6 and sleep on it!

8. If it is a product designed to do something, does it do what it says it does? e.g. "Ab pro ninja 3000 will make your abs rock hard in 30 days and turn you into hunk zilla! All with only 30seconds per day" Does it do that? Have you confirmed this?

9. Never but a make money online (MMO) product if the seller can't show you
sufficient evidence to back up their numbers. Some people may disagree with me on this, sorry. Im not just talking about fake screen shots, I'm talking about real numbers such as profit and loss, revenue, over heads, fixed and variable costs, tax, etc. Legitimate people will provide this because they have nothing to hide. Think about the last wealth book you bought from a well known author, they all reveal their numbers, all of them! Its the same if you want to buy or sell a website on flippa, all of the merchants show you their figures, as does any other business that is for sale. Why should a digital product, ebook, course or anything else differ? It doesn't.

10. Never, ever, ever let anyone tell you that it's your mind set that is holding you back. Being positive or negative should have no effect on the outcome of XYZ products ability to do what it say's it will do. Many scam artists will tell you that you need to change your focus, be more positive etc. Let me tell you something, in science if something can be re-produced over and over and over again, it does not require the scientist to have a positive mind set or rely on psychology, meta-physics or anything else (unless of course it's one of those products e.g. a become more positive product) making money, getting fit, finding love all seem like subjective tasks but in reality there is a science to all of them!

11. If you are not satisfied ask for a refund! Even if they don't offer one, ask. Some states and countries have laws that govern the sale of products and services that state refunds, returns or replacements must be given or have osme other set of rules that specifiy what needs to happen if there is a dispute, seek assistance where available.

That is all I can think of right now.

This is what I use and how I go about buying products and services online and especially MMO products or non-physical ones.
#ripped
  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Great tips. Also, one key red flag is when the product is being promoted using HYPED text like 'I made XXXXXX (amount) in XXX (time)' It sets people up with unrealistic expectations
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    • Profile picture of the author goindeep
      Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

      Great tips. Also, one key red flag is when the product is being promoted using HYPED text like 'I made XXXXXX (amount) in XXX (time)' It sets people up with unrealistic expectations
      EXACTLY!

      That one always pisses me off.

      Most of the time if you break down their claims it's not even that much money, lol.

      For example take this I just made up "How I made $1232 in one single day!"

      Well what I didnt tell you is that it was selling on eBay, so that was my return but I paid $400 for the products, $35 in eBay and Pay Pal fees plus it took me about 14 Days of work loading the products, answering questions and finally selling everything out at the end of the auction... so I really only made $797.00 for two weeks work... that's only $398 a week and you would be better off working at McDonalds where your only responsibility is flipping burgers... but instead I have just had 14 sleepless nights and stressfull days managing an eBay gig all for $398 a week with no residual, lol! Oh and I forgot to mention my postage and fuel costs as well as overheads running my business from home and spending money on electricity, Internet, gas and water....
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      • Profile picture of the author writeaway
        Originally Posted by goindeep View Post

        EXACTLY!

        That one always pisses me off.

        Most of the time if you break down their claims it's not even that much money, lol.

        For example take this I just made up "How I made $1232 in one single day!"

        Well what I didnt tell you is that it was selling on eBay, so that was my return but I paid $400 for the products, $35 in eBay and Pay Pal fees plus it took me about 14 Days of work loading the products, answering questions and finally selling everything out... so I really only made $797.00 for two weeks work... that's only $398 a week and you would be better off working at McDonalds where your only responsibility is flipping burgers... but instead you have just had 14 sleepless nights and stressfull days managing an eBay gig all for $398 a week with no residual, lol!
        ABSOLUTELY. Also, another fairly common explanation for such HYPED claims is the fact that people were able to make a huge amount of cash in a ridiculously short period of time because they already have a massive mailing list. What all these SITUATIONS HAVE IN COMMON is that the person making the offer is NOT SHOWING THE COMPLETE PICTURE.

        Sure, it may be true that they are making that money in that short period of a time. I have no beef with that. BUT PLEASE show the full picture so people can make an INFORMED DECISION.

        The truth is that ALL systems can work IF given the right circumstances. The problem is that many of these are being hyped as if someone who has NO CLUE and NO EXISTING TRAFFIC ASSETS can, all of a sudden, buy a system and start generating all that cash.

        Things aren't helped when the sales text says:

        No technical know how needed
        No experience needed

        I agree with OP and this is a serious issue in the industry because aggressive overly hyped offers only ACHIEVE ONE THING: it 'Educates' people into thinking MMO/IM products are scams or digital snake oil. Not exactly the kind of message the industry needs.

        Online porn was killed by tube sites. Hyped sales page text (and the resulting pushback/backlash of blackhat ebook/software download sites) might just kill the MMO industry.
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        • Profile picture of the author goindeep
          I dont think the MMO industry will ever die out but it is interesting that the new Google Helpouts service seems to have purposely left out Internet & Business services.

          I think that the industry if we can call it that has shot itself in the foot by letting the scammers get away with it for so long which gave the industry a really really bad name.
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxTheMarketer
    "7. Never buy on emotions. This ties into the above." - I think this one is paradoxical.

    We tend to buy mostly on emotions. Do you use logic when decide to drive through McDonalds drive-in? ;-)

    I once experienced a selling process where a good friend of mine impulsively bought a course on how to make money buy outsourcing to Philippines workforce.

    The motion salesletters pushed all his emotional buttons perfectly and I doubt he would have thought of buying it if he really thought through the raw reality behind outsourcing.

    It is sad that buying on logic is much harder than buying on emotions when "everything feels just so right".

    However, I feel ya, getting scammed sux and it feels like you cannot trust anyone anymore.

    There is also this ethical challenge about hyping which I am also dealing with.

    I know that using "How I made $X in Y days without Z" is 10x more appealing than merely "How I made money online through hard and smart work".

    The sweet spot to find is where you can backup concrete, tangible and external results with real evidence and also be able to deliver it (of course, you cannot feed spoon customers even if that is preferable).

    If your headline/product is to non-specific, people will just see and respond as if someone is saying "How to lose weight" and if you get too specific, people will respond very powerfully but you might also be lying if, "How to burn 5 pounds of fat every week without any harsh exercise or or painful diets".

    Results may vary individually and although you should always do your best to motivate your customers to take action on your products and/or services, it is still at the end of the day, their own responsibilities.

    It is still your responsibility to do your best to motivate your customers to use your products and/or services.

    "6.Never buy a product instantly." - Ironically, this is what we marketers want our customers to do. If we let them think about it, they might come to the realization, which is usually very discouraging to them, that the world is always more complicated than what products and/or services describe it to be.

    What we marketers can do is to use all influence tools we have to make CUSTOMERS MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION THAT IS PRIMARILY IN THEIR BEST SELF-INTEREST.

    Finally, most people come to the world of IM to make money and not helping people which is why the first strategy is "how can I make money no matter what happens to other people" (not suggesting that you or that most people are like this, but it is always a possibility before proven the opposite).

    Let me take a different example here; if you punch someone in the face until they are bleeding, usually a sense of empathy will strike you that you cannot continue to hurt them because you are seeing what your actions are doing to them in real time.

    So, if you could see how you ruined someone (or someone's family's life) by making them buy "poop in a box" from you, you probably would have a different approach to internet marketing.

    You would do your best to always serve customers and make them buy something that is already in their best self-interest (i.o.w. make them buy what they already need and want, not something they don't want or need).

    I feel sorry that you have had to deal with so many scumbags scammers over these years and I hope more people can become more ethical even if the temptation to trick people is strong online (because you cannot see how much you truly hurt them from distance).

    For example, I currently translate from English to Swedish (I'm Swedish, a true shocker) and many of my real life friends say, "Why don't you just use Google translate and run away with the money?" and I respond, "Because I think long-term and I wouldn't feel good about it and I wouldn't like if someone did that too me either!".

    When you imagine being in someone's shoes, you can see them before you get the temptation to punch them. And suddenly, you can start to make more win-win decisions in internet marketing instead of hurting people from a distance.

    Alright, this probably went off topic, but I feel ya, scamming people sux and I hope more newcomers to IM will adopt this "win-win"-philosophy! :-)

    Take Care & Have An Awesome Day, Fellow Warrior! / Max "MaxTheMarketer" K.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillR
    When you say 'scammed', what do you actually mean?

    Do you mean the person actually scammed you by taking your money and not delivering a product or do you mean you purchased a product and were not able to make money from it? If the latter then I wouldn't call that a scam.

    Most products out there (even those being sold by people who have never made a dollar online) will actually work if people are prepared to put in the work. Reason being if you start doing something and it doesn't work, you adjust your plans, and keep going. You do this until you succeed. So to the person who really wants to succeed, any single product will be a good start for them. But to all the others who don't want to put in the hard work, they can buy every product under the sun and will still be sitting here in a years time having made no money.

    I guess it's not always the product to blame, in many cases the buyer is just as liable for their own lack of success.
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  • Getting ripped off is part of live I have been ripped off many times but I learn and it doesn't happen as much now. My first $997 product was a total rippoff, if I could go back in time I would have gotten my money back, but I didn't that was the first. Get your money back if it's not good!
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Then
    Is it really a scam? Or you just buy, read and never put in the effort to try?
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