I, like many others, have experienced the truth behind SMC. Like most members, I was watching the SMC infomercial late one night thinking it sounds good, so I decided to give it a try.
What a mistake that was...
Granted, this was a few years ago. But after seeing the infomercial on the other night, I was prompted to write a complaint.
After signing up, I received all my items shortly in the mail. I had elected to pay the entire membership fee upfront, instead of the quick-start amount because I was sure I wouldn't regret it.
I immiediatley began looking through the catalogs and looking at the "confidential" price guides, showing members' costs, MSRP cost, and suggested sale cost. I immediately noticed the prices were ridiculously low compared to their suggested price.
Anyway, I started listing things on eBay. Days went by and no bids. Weeks went by and no bids. Before long, I had racked up so much money in eBay listing fees, I was becoming very discouraged. I finally came across a couple items that did actually sell, granted they weren't worth much, but I did sell a few. (buckwheat neck pillows).
I then discovered one of SMC's dirty little tricks... If you don't place an order for more than $25, you are charged a $2.50 "service fee". That may not sound like a lot, but considering that most customers will only buy 1 item, your chances of making a big order are very slim. So basically after all the eBay fees, PayPal fees, SMC fees, I barely would break even on each item.
SMC's items do not "sell themselves", as the commercial says.in fact, they are junk. They are cheap nick-nacks you would expect to find at flea markets (which is one of their big selling strategies... Go figure). And don;t even bother trying to sell their jewlery. If you look on eBay right now, there are 1000's of listings selling all his gold and diamond crap, and they are all SMC (you can tell by the generic stck photo SMC gives you to use for listings). Who in their right mind would buy a diamond necklace with a supposed value of $1000 when the seller is only selling it for $100? Think about it...
SMC's MSRP values are VERY inflated, and in my opinion, VERY misleading.in their commercial they claim you can sell items for 200-300x what you pay for it. Well... in theory yes. But in reality... No. They put their MSRP values on their items at such high amounts, it is laughable. You will be lucky to get anywhere near what they claim its worth.in fact, most the things I was able to sell I could only get less than half the amount they claimed it was worth. And even then, I was still barely breaking even.
One thing thy also fail to mention in their commercial is the fact that once you pay the $100's in membership fees, you have to renew your membership yearly, or they drop you like a used kleenex. Beleive me, I know. You can spend $100's or $1000's on buying their items, but if you don;t renew your membership by the day its due, they will cancel you and won;t even give you a grace period to get back in if you forgot the date (not that you would want to).
SMC's success stories on the commercial literally make me laugh. When I watch those, I always think "who in their right mind would walk into those little stores and actually buy that junk? The products actually look halfway decent in the catalog, but once you actually see some of it in person, its cheap plastic junk.
SMC is simply another "get rich quick" company on the late night infomercial TV lineup. Don;t buy into it, and don;t get sucked in like myself and many others have. It isn;t worth the hassle and definitely not worth the money.
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