I went along to a ‘Stores Online’ presentation in Brisbane on Monday. I had been to one in Adelaide about 4 years ago and thought I would see of they had changed their act. Basically I was promised a ‘free’ 3 course dinner for 2 (worth $50) at the Hilton Brisbane after the presentation and also a ‘planner’. This is what got me in as my partner and I thought this would be nice and we would never pay to go to the Hilton for dinner so we did not mind sitting through a 90 minute presentation to get a meal. Well some of the things that caught my attention during the presentation were:

a) The follow up workshop was ‘full’ apparently and that everyone needed to make sure they paid tonight to secure a place at the alternative one which happened to be at the exhibition hall as the Hilton was full, no supirses there. Funnily enough by the end of the 90 minutes there was space in all workshops.
b) People were repeatedly told to sign up now, leave your seats and pay your money.
c) It was just a hard sell for the internet. They claimed e-commerce software costs 10’s of thousands of dollars. Well I know some that are open source and some that are maybe $500 or so but 10’s of thousands. I don’t think so.
d) The was not mention of GST or BAS in the presentation as the software is written for the USA and not customised for Australia
e) They charge $2800 a year to run your web site but of course there is no talk of the other charges and fees when you sell something.

I would like to know what had changed from last year when the ACCC made Stores Online pay back the money they took from people in Adelaide when there was a class action taken against them. Just do a 'google' on ACCC and Stores Online and you will see what I mean. They try and trade and ecomm trainers but when you get there the whole presentation is for Stores Online.

To cap it off, we received a 3 course meal, yes I suppose you would call it 3 course. It was a rock hard pear (1 course), 1 dry sandwich (1 course) and 1 chocolate brownie (1 course) served on a plate in your chair where you pass the plates along the row. I cannot see how this equated to $50 and I must say that this was not only a bad reflection of Stores Online being stingy but also a very poor advert for the quality of food at the Hilton.

Needless to say there were a lot of unhappy people who left and all they remembered was the lousy 3 course meal.

I suppose the old phrase applies - "If it sounds to good to be true - .........."

bennob66 writes...

I went along to a ‘Stores Online’ presentation in Brisbane on Monday. I had been to one in Adelaide about 4 years ago and thought I would see of they had changed their act.

A leopard doesn't change its spots :)

This mob are just a blatant ripoff. I just hope that Internet ignorant mums & dads didn't fall for the hard sell.

I mean to say how hard is it - as you mentioned there are loads of both free & economical software on the market - & hosting isn't that expensive.

bennob66 writes...

I went along to a ‘Stores Online’ presentation in Brisbane on Monday. I had been to one in Adelaide about 4 years ago and thought I would see of they had changed their act.

The new Fairfax online 'Newspaper', The Brisbane Times, did a number on this lot late last week...

www.brisbanetimes.com.au...2.html?from=top5

Those that don't know of eComTrainers, StoresOnLine, or iMergent under any of their names would do well to read it and its links so that any decision to get involved can be informed.

I didn't even bother going to the 'Dinner'.

edit - dropped in the link...

I just got an invite .. was going to go to get my free meal and the free desktop organiser (assuming we actually get it).

I'm thinking of taking a printout of a document from the department of fair trading that warns against dealing with StoresOnline to give to other people there who might be tempted to sign up. They can't really complain if someone give out copies of offical press releases.

www.fairtrading.act.gov....esonline%202.pdf

Artful writes...

I'm thinking of taking a printout of a document from the department of fair trading that warns against dealing with StoresOnline to give to other people there who might be tempted to sign up.

That's exactly what consumer affairs did/does at events like this.

Just alert them to the fact you've received an invite, and they'll investigate it and do exactly what you've suggested :P

I just went to the 90 min show.

Artful writes...

www.fairtrading.act.gov....esonline%202.pdf

This is dated 2005, The matter has been listed for hearing before the Federal Court, Sydney tomorrow (3 June 2005) for further
consideration of the injunctive relief sought by the ACCC.’

Anyone know of the result?

EDIT: Except for this bit: The StoresOnline operation was the subject of ACCC action in 2005, resulting in customer refunds in excess of $600,000.

Anyone here sign up with storesonlinepro recently? What's your experience?

They were too vague for me to judge.

Here's the latest update in the Stores Online saga. About 12 months ago I'd been to a 90 min presentation at Caloundra but declined the $50 follow-up in Brisbane. A little over a week ago (Dec 7) I received another invite as I was obviously on their files. I again went to the 90 min presentation and decided to do the follow-up all day turnout yesterday, Dec 14, at the Novotel resort just up the road from me on the Sunshine Coast. This time the cost was just $25, half the cost of last year's $50.

The setup was impressive with tables for four all facing the spruiker's (sorry, presenter's) platform at the front. Heaps of coffee which you could help yourself to all day, and the spruikers (sorry again, presenters) were polished and very informative. My ploy of just going to gain knowledge of how to attract customers to my own website was somewhat diminished because the names of the tools and software they demonstrated were contained within their 'Stores Online' website, but I did know how to access their 'genetic' equivalent by typing their common names into Google. Tools such as the Reverse Search Tool, Keyword Analysis Tool etc.

During the morning session strong hints were dropped as to how good a deal this all was, and mention was made of the great offer presented at the initial 90 min presentation, but also to prepare ourselves for an even better deal today. Just before the lunch break, the hard sell began. One of the spruikers (no apology this time, they were out and out spruikers) informed us of the advantage of signing up during the lunch break so as to avoid being trampled to death later on. If we weren't convinced now, we'd never be! The session ended with a short movie of a new immigrant from Guatamala who could hardly speak American who finished by telling us in broken English that her 6 Stores Online websites were the difference between her and her family starving or living the "American Dream". Just before lunch they hit us with the offer.

Okay, here's the offer, yesterday Dec 14.

SINGLE OFFER:

1 Stores Online Pro Web Site
Merchant Services
E-Store Toolkit $3199
ECI Merchant Account $1800
Bootcamp $399

Total $5399 (this amount had a line through it)

Today's offer ONLY $2700*

Plus Hosting and Support $29.95/Month

PLATINUM OFFER:

6 Stores Online Pro Web Sites
Merchant Services
6 E-Store Toolkit
**First Site programmed - No Cost
6 ECI Merchant Accounts
Bootcamp

Today's offer ONLY $5998*

Plus Hosting and Support $29.95/Month per ACTIVE Web Site

A few pensioners in the audience had to be revived and sat back up in their chairs before lunch was brought out. Mind you, after the initial shock, quite a few did sign up in the lunch break. An elderly couple next to me muttered something about this being the last hot meal they could afford for a while. Nevertheless, the hot lunch of 'chicken a la something' was quite tasty and brought to our tables, no hassles.

The afternoon session was mostly geared toward the people who'd "done the right thing" and signed up, outlining how the web sites and software all operated, and how to do the ordering of products etc. I made my exit around 4pm, even though we were promised it would be all over well before the scheduled 6.30 timeslot. By that time I'd had a beer and was tucking my feet under the tea table.

How many folks signed up in your estimation ?

I reckon about 120 out of a total of 500.

jackgym writes...

I reckon about 120 out of a total of 500.

that's 120 too many....

My God, This Is Terrible.....Can't believe this rubbish is still going on!

Bugger, this is what kills everything

A decent online store will cost much more than $10k.

I have no idea what these guys are providing though..

jackgym writes...

Dec 14, at the Novotel resort

Same one that I paid my $25 but decided not to go. I went to the initial presentation at Maroochydore RSL where they were displaying the one day course at "Twin Towers", instead of Twin Waters.

outlining how the web sites and software all operated, and how to do the ordering of products etc.

Do they offer any sort of products or drop shipping for those that don't yet have an online business?

I was thinking this might be a way for me to get my feet wet if I could find something to sell...

How nice.

The reason I revived this thread was because I got some mailing from them today and wondered what crap they were flogging off and this thread came up in my research. They are trying to sell their 'free' tickets for Melbourne now for the dates 20th May to the 24th at various venues.

I found their mailing address on the bottom of their correspondence and am contemplating ripping up the 'ticket' and sending it back to the US.

vjay writes...

The reason I revived this thread was because I got some mailing from them today and wondered what crap they were flogging off and this thread came up in my research. They are trying to sell their 'free' tickets for Melbourne now for the dates 20th May to the 24th at various venues.

Haha, I was just handed the exact same mail over dinner today. Looked suss.

Oh yeah, in regards to shopping sites, I could set one up with hosting for 2 years for $150! And I'm not even a developer :P

Formula = oscommerce + Siteground.com (Fantastico) = 10 mins max.

I was at 1 of those dinners last Friday 23rd of May. i was busy on the weekend and never looked up Google to check up on "Storesonline" im so glad i did..... OMG!!! i cant belive its a giant scam... Alot of people signed up on the night including me.. i sent my notice of cancelation just prior to repling to this post... it was to good to be true... btw .. the dinner was crap...

Whooshka I would love to do this in Brisbane. I was one of those stupid people who signed up over twelve months ago. I had not even heard of Storesonline at the time and thought I was going to a seminar on e commerce. So I hadn't done any homework on Storesonline beforehand.

Pity I didn't know about what the ACCC had done. In any event I and two other friends bought the package ("at a considerable discount") I bought one of the licences and one bought 2 and the other bought 3. I am on a pension and I thought that this would be a good way to try and get off the pension by working from home.

No go there I have tried for the past 12 months to get my website up and running on the premise from Storesonline that it is so simple a novice could do it. I have tried to get customer support to get my site up and running and they continually neglect to do their end of the work and I am left chasing them down so many times I have given up. I have, yesterday, sent an email to them to tell them to stop my hosting and refund me my money for both the hosting and the licence fee as they had not kept up with their end of the agreement.

To make a long story short, I have recently found out that they are holding a seminar in Brisbane on the 19th of this month and I would like a print out of what the Fair Trading Department has said to give to people before they are suckered in to this scam.

Can you help me with this leaflet?

I can only plead with people NOT to buy anything off StoresOnline. I cannot say how I know this, but just please listen to everyone who has said negative comments and think why is there so many of them out there ? I can also suggest that anyone who is not happy with the product, get the email address off them to lodge a complaint and most importantly, stay on their case. It may take months and months but you will get your money back.