I was looking for a part time job and found the Auction for Success company. It was an add in our local paper and said "Ebay, can't beat em, join em. Earn $ weekly with a cash generating website. 1000's of electronics, easy plug-in to eBay, Amazon or Yahoo stores. Call now! 1-866-489-6781" I called them and they send you a CD and tell you all about selling on ebay and give you a dropship account for stupid stuff.
They give you information to call about starting your own business and a free consultation. So we made the call because I would have preferred to work another job from home and not miss the dogs, my husband and work my own hours (5-10 a week).
The place we called was IDI Global, they counsel you and tell you all about their people doing great with selling online.
We talked about whether or not we should try it and the charge was $7,000. We decided after talking a couple of days, we would go for it. They talk a great talk about how easy it is and had us believing we could make a go of an online business. Then they tape you saying how you understand it is not a guarantee that you will make money. They then recommend you pick out 3 things in your home you want to sell to make money on ebay to pay your credit cards, because the bills will be coming soon.
You paid for counseling sessions with a coach to get your store going. We worked with the coach for about 8 weekly sessions and he helped build a lot of the store. Shortly after you purchase the package, somebody calls you to talk about your business licensing and whether or not you should be a corporation, what the advantages of an s. Corporation are and so on. Now that costs another $1,295 (which the first company never said a word about). So now you have to decide, since you bought this big package that you better become an s. Corp to protect yourself and get the most off your taxes.
These business people recommend you base your corporation out of Nevada because PA can be creative with their taxes. So for an extra $49.95 a month, you get an office out of Nevada (This is Advantage Corporation and they do your corporation paperwork, business license, EIN number and the whole thing) and you only charge tax for things sold in that state. Okay so now that seems to be a good deal and you go that way, because these business people know more than we do. We still continue to pay this $49.95 per month for the corporation and I can't get it stop right now, unless I pay $275.
Next you get a referral to the Tax Club. Now the tax club will tell you all the advantages of being a s corporation and how they can help you get around $3-4,000 back on your taxes, the amount they usually help people get back. So now you figure you'll have 1/2 of the money back after you get the tax check back and everything will be okay.
You'll have the store and money to work with until your selling. Well they came back with us owing, but I got that straightened out and we got a whole whopping $800, about the amount all the bills were costing now, especially with selling on ebay. The builder site tells you to expect to take a loss in the beginning selling on ebay. I bet in the beginning I was trying so hard to sell on ebay that my bill was around $130. Per month for several months. Now this cost an extra couple hundred dollars, plus another $49.95 per month (to the tax club and another $49.95 per month to Advantage Corp, plus $34. To the builder site) and you'll learn all kinds of ways to get money off on your taxes (being a corporation and in the tax club). These bills don't include the stuff I went and bought because you could sell anything on ebay. So ebay is cut way back and we spend probably more than we make, but I learned to link ebay with our store and believe that is why we came up in the search engine rankings a little.
I was contacted by a woman in Ohio and I cannot share her name, but she was another person scammed and in serious trouble financially for it. This woman is not allowed to contact anyone anymore and they were talking of sueing her for using their names in an email. I am hopeful if this happens to us due to filing a complaint here, that someone would help us fight it. I have filed with the Better Business Bureau and 2 of our credit cards. The total we may see back from that would be around $4,000 but we have lost a whole lot more due to recommendations from this company. I say $4,000 because much of the money came from our bank account too.
Even after filing about 2 weeks ago with the BB, our store is still online and we still are not selling. We had the coaching sessions and everyone kept saying you'll be ready to sell in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately they really don't tell you how bleak things are for companies on the internet and I think this is wrong.
Our store is still on line. We keep trying to make it go, but have not had any luck yet. It still costs us money and I really had high hopes. I realize that the only true way to get ahead in this world is to own your own business, but why can't these people be honest. Putting all the charges on your credit cards and money out of your pocket made it so we did not have the funds for a business plan and means to get a business loan. We are behind on all our bills and this is ruining our credit and I can't get it to stop.
I contacted Advantage Corporation several days ago to dissolve the corporation and was told it would cost another $275. To dissolve. I don't have another $275. I owe taxes on our home that I can't even come up with right now and we are heading into winter, with heating bills.
These people need to be honest with others about how bleak this whole thing is and then let them decide if they want to take a chance.instead they make it sound easy and charge everything to you so we could not even file bankruptcy against the corporation and get rid of these bills.
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