SMC, Specialty Merchandise Corporation ripoff false promises, tricked and lied to us Van Nuys California

I joined SMC back in the early 1980's.  I don't remember exactly how much my initial memberhip fee was. I think about $235 or $240..

I live on the East coast and shipping charges killed my profits, but I only had one other person with SMC products. I did very well despite the shipping charges because the items I bought we very inexpensive (Retail). I bought gift items and nic-nacks that retailed for $12.95 and under. Most of which retailed for under $7.  The wholesale price structure was great back then.  A $5.95 retail item cost me $1.95 less 5% (.10) for a total of $1.85. The 15% shipping was .28 for a total of $2.13.  I had no problem selling this item for $6.  Unfortunately, someone in the company decided to phase out these old low dollar items and replace them with higher dollar junk.  They had ceramic rabbits, cats, owls, etc... most from Taiwan and some from Thailand. They were excellent sellers for me. Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not rich. Most of my orders ranged from $100 to $150.  All with these low dollar items and I placed at least one order a week for years from February to November.

When whomever bought out the Levine family and became Smart Living Company that's when I personally noticed that they changed the total concept that Mr Levine started years ago to help small business owners. Higher priced junky items and now they wanted me to pay 50% of the retail price.  I called and talked to several people about bringing back lower dollar items, but they seemed not interested.  So for the next 2 years I bought only close-outs and would only buy them when they had reduced or free shipping.  I also had to ask them about my refund (in merchandise credit) after surpassing $5000 worth of merchandise purchases. First they balked stating it was $10,000 and after researching my membership, they credited me.  I severed ties with this company in 2013 after about 30 years  They had nothing to offer me any longer except higher prices, more shipping costs, and poor quality merchandise.

I don't think SMC was a rip-off, but I don't understand how a company can tell you that your cost for a product is 1/3 of the retail under your membership agreement, then change it to 1/2, even if the company is sold. The new owners should have to honor everyone's agreement. That's my only issue.  Seems shady to me.

I had other wholesalers as well.  And i would arrive at a flea market and plenty of other people selling the same thing. That's business.  You just have to scout their prices and adjust yours to sell.

 When people said that everyone at the flea market sells the same SMC products I don't think they were being literal.

I from personal experiance know of 8 places withen walking distance of my home that ALL sell some SMC products most have more than just SMC as a supplier but ALL have some of the SAME products I order in my SMC catalog.

I was an SMC Member but didn't make any money. they force you to either BUY products your not ready to sell or charge you more money for your renewal fee at least they did last time I renewd my Membership. Though I lost money from the cost of membership and forced purchase with membership thats my own falt.

I didn't put enough effort in trying to sell things I am however starting to extract PURE essance from plants and extract my own Essecial oils form plants and flowers to make my own products and am thinking about renewing my membership with SMC just so I have a larger selection of items but if they make me purchase anything to renew my membership I'm not doing it.

If I have to purchase 40, 50, 75$ worth of products in addition to my renewal fee and they won't just put the 40,50,75$ as a credit in my account so I can buy WHAT I WANT WHEN I WANT I'm not going to renew. That is the only "scheme" I see I shouldn't have to place an order to renew my membership or get charged extra to do so.

I was a Menber of SMC and had a website I never got one hit on the website so when i cancled my account they said i owed $30.00 and yes i missed the last payment witch was ont intented and year and half later. I have sent the $30.00 once i figed out it was smc? the FBI agent was to busy thriting me, and said i  owed $10,000.00 in Taxes. i told him at the time i was talking to my taxe lawyer  Taxe Defense out of Jacksonville, FL 32224 1888-829-0563 so i gave them taxe defense the phone# and figured that would be it? I payed taxe defense $2,600.00 they were to help me cutt my taxes by 75% iam 64 yrs old and don't have a pot to piss in. i pay $460.00 a month for taxes to catch up. don't need another $10,000.00 on top?

I empathize with your issues regarding SMC as having been a past "member" of SMC myself.  All of the products I received were made in China and that is one reason I quit business with them after one year.  The products I received had a low level of integrity - flaking paint on bird feeders - splinters on wood products and even several broken plastic garden statues, which they made so difficult to return I gave up eventually - although they gave me a "discount" the first two times it happened applied to future orders.

With regard to the BBB - I found out that they were interested in membership first - complaints came in a long distant second.  After some searching I discovered they were a 501(c)3 Organization.  That they charge a fee to be a member and they are not members of their own organization - ironically - so if someone has a complaint about their own organization it appears to  go "nowhere."  A State's Attorney General is the best bet in filing a report of abuse or illegal action regarding a business - or any complaint.  Then there is www.badbusinessbureau.com which is how I found this site ripoffreport.com!  And this is a very good resource for conducting diligent research into a company past history of complaints.  There are other ways - just start Google or any search engine and type in the company name and do some digging.  I did.  Only took me an hour to do the work!

FYI, the BBB files an IRS 990 tax form and you can look that up for your own area i.e. Riverside County California, etc. to see their non existent board of directors, report of income (which looks surprisingly small for such a "large" organization), and organization programs.  If you are not a member of the BBB but you called and answered their information/questions you will find that information on their site after that call and they will rate you - usually with a BB rating - even though they have no idea who or what you are/do! 

Look up Lowes as in areas I checked they were not members - and some have a lot of complaints and F ratings while WalMart will have maybe one complaint and an AA rating for resolution of complaint - WalMart "is a proud member of the BBB." So the BBB will record the complaints on non members with no follow-up on resolutions - although I "believe" if the one filing a complaint with a non member does contact BBB with a resolution they may record that, but they themselves do not follow-up on non member complaint/resolution issues.

Under my new SMC business name - which SMC allows a member to do - I had called and they started with the questions, and then came the "you can pay using your credit card..."  pay for what??  Membership!  At over 400.00 a year!  For a home based business on the Internet?? This was in 2008 and I only had the SMC membership for a year.  As far as a business SMC was a BIG disappointment and the BBB was a "joke" as far I was concerned.  You would imagine that the government would have a watch-dog/over sight committee dedicated to this issue?  Lobby groups would not like that!   

I have had family members that use Send Out Cards and have been very satisfied as well as the old stand-by Amway Products.  I have no idea if they are BBB members or not, but family members have been pleased over the years with both - but not without bumps/problems along the way, but both companies from what my family members have said did resolve their issues quickly and satisfaction was gained.  I have no vested interest - nor am I member or representative- in those businesses - I am just suggesting two that I have known people in my family use and have been satisfied with. 

I am writing a book; I think using your own "talents" is the best way to have a "home business."  Rely on your own good talent and I believe you will have a better shot at success from home!  Good luck in your pursuit for a solid "home based business." 

i really do not understand what it is that people expect from a company like SMC.  try to start a housewares/giftware business on your own. 

you'll need more than 300 bucks, i guarantee it.  you'll need suppliers.  you'lll need a warehouse.  you'll need trucks.  you'll need
employees.  SMC has all of these things, and lets you use them to start your own business. 

Frankly i'm surprised by the level of vitriole being spewed on the subject of SMC. 

pay attention to the way people express their opinions...isn't it funny how the people defending SMC are calm, quiet, rational, while so many of the detractors sound positively rabid?

the bottom line is this:  SMC is NOT a ripoff, they are a wholesaler (contrary to what some writers would have you believe) who sells their products to you at low (sometimes ridiculously low) prices.

they will drop ship directly to your customers if that is what you wish, with nothing to indicate that SMC is actually filling the order, and no information as to the prices YOU are paying.  this enables you to keep your profit margins confidential - your customers will not know your mark up.

they offer business advice for three months, which, if you're smart, you'll take advantage of.

they offer all kinds of brochures and catalogs, trendy new items with tie ins to current movies, items for every holiday under the sun, marketing ideas...ALL available to you.  if you were starting any other business, would you have this kind of stuff?

SMC is NOT a get rich quick scheme.  like any other business, your degree of success depends on how hard you work.  this is a volume business - you make a little bit of money on a lot of items.  just like SMC itself does.  so you have to really hustle if you want to get rich.  problem is, most people don't want to actually work hard, they want to win the lottery.

if, however, you are serious about starting your own company, then SMC offers a way to do it without a huge outlay of cash.  they provide just about everything you need to make a go of it.  it is up to you to provide the common sense and the hard work. 

if you can't or aren't will to supply that much, then don't expect to get much in return. 

WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get....SMC does not sell tiffany and lalique...they sell middle of the road housewares and giftware that appeals to a wide range of consumers.

I just want to say that i have been a member of SMC for maybe 10 years and have never had a problem with them.  their products are exactly as described and their prices are more than reasonable for most items.  i have several items of theirs in my home, but more importantly, i have purchased many items for resale.  of the items that i have sold on eBay  (the only place i sell), i have never had a complaint from a buyer. 

i have not been actively selling any items for the last couple of years so i cannot say if their products have declined in quality.  i CAN say that i think the 1 year membership fee is reasonable, they provide pictures for all items, which they allow you to use for resale, and they have all kinds of brochures and catalogs for people who wish to use them. 

bottom line - i would definitely recommend SMC to anyone who is interested in making a few extra bucks.  i don't know if you'll become rich, but i know you can certainly make a profit if you pick your products wisely.  SMC has a wide variety of low-cost items. if you are looking for expensive stuff, then you'd best look elsewhere. 

To begin I must say I feel anyone can make more than $10.00, provided they are willing to go out and work for it, and would challenge anyone to open a business of any type, in Arkansas or elsewhere with a readymade inventory of over 1400 items at an out of pocket expense less than $400.00. Especially with the opportunity to re-pay the expense month to month, therefore I dont view SMC as being misleading as the potential is there. 

I have personally been involved with SMC on and off since around 1988 and like you read and/or heard the information designed to get you Pumped Up, as you say, however like any other business person with any sense I took it all with a grain of salt. The root of this business is SALES! Therefore, they are not only there to just supply product, as most vendors in the business world, they truly want to help and try to motivate you to go out and work.

True, Wal-Mart has seen the catalog over and again; that is why a smart salesperson would not take it. They would take a unique item that is new to the catalog and try for a sale, and then go back the following week ECT A few minutes of your time each week will bring a sale at some point, then your foot is in the door.

As a suggestion to anyone attempting a go in this business from a small town, travel somewhere better populated. For Ray, its not that far from Rison to either Hot Springs or Branson, and both places gobble that stuff up.

I was able to take my family to Branson for a week's vacation one summer, and for two days got up and started walking the main drag from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM making enough sales to cover our rooms for the week. For the rest of the trip I had flyers stuffed in my wifes purse and passed them out if I thought a place we visited may be a prospect. End result, our initial expense was only fuel, meals, shows we saw and souvenirs. However, after returning home I received additional orders from those I had sold to, several from the flyers I had passed out and was able to deduct the entire trip from my taxes as a business expense. I should also mention several businesses remained loyal customers for years with one, an Antique Museum placing large orders twice a year.

Have I become rich doing this? Why heck no, but as I said my relationship has been on and off caused by health issues. During the times Im able to go out and get after it, I do okay and when I cant it sure has been nice to have the repeat business.

As for them Flooding the airwaves with their infomercials, causing everyone to expect everything at price, here again we go to salesmanship. This is a SALES business, and you have to DO SOMETHING! This stuff sells, but first of all you have to get it in front of people and sometimes you have to overcome the obstacles of your friends in the small town of Rison thinking you should give them a break. I'm sure the grocer dont charge you less for meat or the filling station less for gas because you're known there, so your business should be no different. Pay for it, mark it up and re-sell it is how the world goes round.

Take the time to understand the price sheet, it is not that confusing. The white sheet indicates what YOU pay, what you should charge a RETAIL CUSTOMER and what you would charge someone who is WORKING FOR YOU. Its that simple. And you dont ever let anyone see that price sheet.

Then, if someone wants to WORK FOR YOU, meaning they buy from you so they can re-sell the items, you show them the yellow price sheet. That tells them how much you will charge them, and they are free to charge whatever they want to. (Although there is a suggested price for them, they are not bound by that.)

When YOU go to make a sale be sure you take only the YELLOW PRICE SHEET with you; that way if the customer asks about prices you pull it out and do two things. First explain you had to make an investment to start your business and have to make a profit, then show them the them the yellow price sheet and tell them these are your WHOLESALE PRICES, however, ( this is the second part) if they place an order over a certain amount you will lower the price of a few items, or include the shipping for free. The WHOLESALE price is roughly 33% of your actual cost, therefore you will still be making money.

The only other thing I would like to address is your coach. Such is the world we live in and instead of becoming frustrated and risking failure at something you have invested your money and time in, ask to speak to another coach or a supervisor. Simply explain what the problem is and I would be surprised if they didnt correct it. They want you to make money, honestly they do! The more you make the more they do. If its a language barrier they will probably change coaches, and if there are other problems as you say Im sure they will want to know that as well, so she can be corrected or dismissed. But remember, sometimes its frustrating for folks from other parts of the country to understand those of us from Arkansas too, or that's to say them folks what ain't from round these here parts git riled up by the way we'ns talk's sometimes.
Wuzafuz
Ozark, Arkansas!!!

I have been with SMC since 2007.  I have never had ANY of the problems you have described.  Most people think that this is a "get rich fast" company.  It takes hard work and discipline to make the money.  SMC DOES provide on-line webinars and very good training tips if you take the time to study and learn, as they ask.  So just because you put out a little bit of money don't expect to just sit back and have "tons" of money rolling in without putting forth effort.  I will continue to use the web site for support and order things because I have purchased great items and have made money from them.

I am a member and have been for many years.  I am also lazy to a small degree, so if my house can get messy from time to time, then why shouldn't my business do the same?  Think about it, if I cannot find the motivation to stay on top of my chores in my house or in my business then nothing will get done...  

Honestly I am finding peoples fears to my advantage, Why? Because with less wanting to sell these products the more exclusive mine become...  I was afraid with all the ads on TV it would be over populated and making it more competitive. And if this person had in mind to create this page for that purpose it sounds like it is working for many.

As for SMC being a rip off, I cannot see it in my budget which is small.  We can only rip ourselves off where they're concerned, by not doing our chores.  

What is the Rule of Thumb:
1st question; Who's business is it?  Answer: Mine
2nd question; Who's responsible for making it a success? I am
3rd question; Can I blame others for my failure? No
4th and final; Does SMC really owe me more than I pay for? No

It is like any item we buy to resale once a customer see's it they are more app to buy it.  I held off because I was scared the product was not going to be of good quality until I ordered my first package, which was my start up kit.  It is as good as anything else out there so I knew it could sell.  Who else is thinking the same thing...

It is good for us who are members at this point that some of these people are trying to discourage new members, it helps to keep the competition down for the rest of us.  But if I really think about it in the long run could also be causing the member prices to be higher, someone has to carry the load... Well until I can find new items cheaper, which I am always searching for or the products become too high I will continue to buy from SMC. 

I will share a little secrete with you all, I paid less for my start up fee, because I held out and finally got an offer really cheap, I received all the benefits, I get all the sale pitches and offers,  I pay my yearly membership, so I can buy cheap also get my new free catalogs and pricing sheets.  Have no trouble getting full credit for damaged products during shipping, which the damages are few and far between.  Customer service has been good, I place my orders online but don't check out, I follow through by phone call to confirm they have a copy of my order and it is in stock before paying for it.  Service has been as good as any others if not better than a few I have had from other companies a time or two like mentioned above.  

Hopefully all nasty rude operators loose their jobs because they acting that way and being out of line with a troubled customer. Customer service requires a gifted person to handle complaints, someone who allows our rudeness as consumers to roll off their backs and not take our anger too personally.  We can help those not so gifted by choosing our words wisely and by trying to control our frustrations a little better.  I have called many companies and get someone hard to understand because speaking English is hard for them, who hasn't gotten angry with this kind of frustration, get a way from it, you can't till they can speak English better. 

Honestly I really try devote my frustration in a more productive way, like with an auto parts supplier online who also mails out catalogs, I had to followed through with a BBB report but only after I received the run around for some time by the man in charge. After 6 wks I informed him I mailed my complaint to be filed with BBB, only then did he compile and make his error correct.  If you have a great reason for filing a complaint with BBB then take that step that is where it really counts and can do the most to help others.
    
Really, who cares if SMC is a middle man or not, until someone can give me a connection to the front man I will keep doing business with them.  SMC lets you know how much it cost before you add it to our cart, It is up to you to know if you can make money off it or not.  This I have found really depends on your customer demands. One location for incense and dragons sell hot, while in another location they become harder to sell.  I would say this is all part of marketing and knowing your customers needs.  

I buy only what I believe will sell at a profit worthy of my troubles and cost.  But this is with any of my buying for resale.  If I cannot resale it for 3x's my money then I don't buy.

I do have a web site of my own which is cheaper than going through them. If you are paying for SMC to create a web site for you, know this it is not a guarantee that you it will sale anything. 

I have my own New and Used Shop and sell a few of SMC products.  I keep these new items in their own display along with the catalog.  I price the items at catalog prices which allows me to give a discount to make a sale if needed.  I will say it is easier to sell the products off the shelves then it is to get catalog orders or on-line orders, my customers don't want to wait for it, while people who don't know me may not trust my site enough to want use it, who knows, but I really don't care I use my website for information on my shop and what I have to offer my customers and I have the same guarantee my stuff will sell online as if SMC created it, which is no guarantee and their fee is way above my cost.  

As far as ebay, I don't even try to go there with this product because so many other are doing it, does it sell? I have no idea, but I doubt it, I haven't seen one yet that is...  Supply the demand and don't set up house where there is heavy competition for the same items.  And with ebay's new fees, ouch! I use it to sell used items only, I know will sell for a good price over cost and only if I need too because of all the new add on fees.  Want to talk about middle man!!!   I hear no one blaming ebay for their % of add on for shipping fees to the seller nor the % of a final selling fee, not to mention an insertion fee most of the time. After paying their over head who can afford a shop, it is cheaper to sell out of your house.  Sorry different issue... 

USPS rates are to blame for our shipping. Most companies have service charges they are designed to keep the orders from being to small which increase shipping cost, someone has to pay for the boxes and packing it takes to ship a single item as it does to ship more.  In most cases shipping is passed on to the buyer. A major plus most places offer free shipping if you buy enough.

What it all boils down to if you leave your chores to someone else, it will never be to your satisfaction. Take responsibility for yourselves and spend your money wisely.  We all know how hard money is to come by and making any investment should be taken serious.  Know your market before you spend and buy within your budget for inventory.

I made the choice to become a member of SMC and don't regret it, I spent more money than I put out to become a member buying stuff like this in other stores before, so even for my own personal use it has saved me money. Not to mention still having inventory in stock while ordering more as soon as I get a return on my seed money repeating this until my stock is built up. I never buy in lots of one item unless it is cheap enough to set on, and only display one of each item at a time, I find it sells better. 

Making good judgments, listening to your customer feedback, keeping an open mind to advice while paying closer attention to what is in your needs, having a safe budget to work with for inventory, and in my case I wait for the right buyers for these product as I do on any of the items I sell out of my store.  My success can only be measured by what I make it out to be by supplying the demands of my in store customers, not what I want to think others will do for me or that this product will sell online or out of a catalog I have not had any luck waiting for something to happen in these departments... I am not making a greedy mans dream by no means, but it is more than I would have if I did not carry SMC products in stock.

This is what is working for me and could work for others if this is what you really want to do, but don't expect to be lazy and get your chores done by someone else without a little motivation from yourself and putting in what you want out of it... If you want to loose money you can, if you want to make money you can, it is up to you to peddle your products. I would suggest that you don't do it, if you just don't have the motivation to succeed on your own. 

Think what you want, do what you will, I am and very satisfied with my choice.  

I have been a member of SMC for quite a few years.  In my opinion, it was much better back in the 90s.  That's when the founder was still alive and running everything.  They really did have below wholesale prices, and unique selling programs.  Now they are up and down with prices everywhere.  I sold their stuff at flea markets about 10 years ago, like a lot of others.  No problem.  It was fun and I did it over and over.  The only problem I had is when I calculated all of the costs at the end of the year,  my flea market business resulted in nothing or a loss.  Keep that in mind.

I showed the catalog around to people in the past.  People like it and bought stuff.  Some of the stuff broke, which caused problems.  That didn't stop me, but I am kind of a reserve person and don't really like going out and putting a catalog in someone's face, but I still do occasionally.

Like many others, I sell some of it on eBay.  Those results are less than good, because so many other people are doing it, and the prices they charge are often at wholesale.  Why bother?

I keep thinking, now I will really get into my SMC business, but the thought that so many other people are out there doing it, just keeps me sitting down on this.  What kind of feedback do you have on this.  

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I've had an account with SMC in the past and found them to be a great company to work with. I hate dealing with operators with a heavy accent or weak command of the english language so I won't use their operators, you really don't need to anyway because all the instructions are laid out and easy to follow. I refuse to buy their website to promote my product because people usually avoid those sites. In my opinion the best way to sell SMC merchandise is to open up a gift shop in a hospital, airport or other place that a retail store is not normally at. If you know alot of people the home parties is a good way to go. Trying to open a store in a big city is hopeless because of all the Walmarts, Targets and other stores who would roll over you without blinking an eye. Try a small town instead. Overall I give this company a double thumbs up because they are not perfect but a good way to go. 

I only want to thank this website and the people who took the time to write here.  The legitimate people, who aren't trying to buff up any company.  Thank you for sharing your pain and saving me more heartache and sleepless nights over financial problems. 

When I was younger - I didn't listen to experience.  Now that I'm within spitting distance of fifty - I have finally learned to listen.  AND I can stand behind the statement "If it sounds too good to be true..."

I appreciate the time you took to warn me.

I have been a member of SMC for several years. Am I rich? No. Do I sell only SMC products? No. Does run SMC operate my business? No

Running your own business is hard, expecting SMC to run your business is foolish. It is up to you to be succesful not others. So how can SMC make you succesful if you expect them to make you rich? I operate a small ice cream shop in Vulacan Michigan called the Big Bear Ice Cream Shop and it is across from the Iron Mountain Iron Mine in case anyone wants to visit me and see what I do sell from SMC.

Case in point. Last month I bought 24 dollar bill pens and 24 feather roses from SMC. No I do not sell them at the suggested retail price but guess what half the roses are gone and so are half the pens, my cost of these products including shipping has been paid along with some gross profit. What am I trying to say you ask? Running a business is not cheap, it takes money to make money. One cannot expect to show a catalog and then make money, it takes sweat called equity sweat.

SMC is not perfect but what you get out of it is up to you. SMC's e-commerce sites are expensive along with competition on the internet, it would be common sense to anyone not to get into the ecommerce business because of the competition. I have done mail order, broke even. I have done the flea markets, made money. SMC did not make me this money I did it myself. It is my business not SMC, I make myself successful and do not depend on SMC to do this for me.

As for shipping charges well I never recieved a broken item from SMC I do not care if I have to pay extra in shipping and handling charges. Wait shipping and handling charges, shipping charges plus handling charges? So we pay the exacft shipping charge plus the cost of packing the items in a box? Seems fair to me.

Go to otehr mailorder catalogs and check on their shipping charges, and will be about the same. Currently during the month of August SMC is offering a flat shipping rate of 10 percent of orders over 100 to 499 antyhing over 499 is shipped free. Not a bad deal at all in my opinion.

Conclusion, everyone is an individual, if you want to be a business owner it is all up to you and not the people you buy the products from. One does not need to use SMC but can use SMC along with other wholesalers or dropshippers to get products from. Your success is only up to you not anyone else.

SMC is okay if you reside and do business within the the US. If you do not, you cannot get all the so called benefits such as drop shipping or a website from them. The shipping rates are extremely high. They include taxes that you may not be subject to. To make it easy for them they charge by percentage (45%) not by weight and extra for oversized items. This high cost for shipping is a deterrent to getting consumer orders. In some cases shipping costs are higher than the value of the goods. Orders are lost or canceled because of this fact. The member loses profit because of this high cost. This is a ripoff for international members.

My mother has been selling out of SMC catalogs for about fifteen years. Granted, she never did make as much money as they claimed she could. But over the years, she has made personal contacts who put in regular orders, and she has opened a very small storefront.

Mom never charges full price. Our prices are so low, she generally gives a 15-20% discount off the catalog price. While we never have managed to get rich off her sales, we make enough to get by and then some.

She recently came up with the idea of recruiting high school students to sell. She works with the schools, giving catalogs to members of sports teams and clubs. They collect orders and contact information, then she contacts the people putting in the orders. The school gets a percentage of the sales. Some students choose to sell for her (with parental permission) personally, with no school connection, and then they get a share of the profits instead.

I don't think it is fair to say that the company rips people off, just because someone else can't make it work for them. That's like buying into a restaurant franchise and saying the restaurant is ripping you off because you don't generate business as quickly and easily as they do.

After reading reports about these "wholesalers" and researching the internet....I have come to the conclusion that you should just avoid these companies and deal with a direct wholesale dropshipping companies. I found one...they ask you for your FEIN and they don't charge start-up or monthly fees. They don't charge for shipping to your customers. They are legit. I was checking out thid one and thought I'd look on here to see if they had any complaints against them...I only found 1!!! Oh and they do offer websites and I'm sure they are alot cheaper than eMerchantclub. Just search : direct dropshipping wholesalers .

I literally spent 7 hours reading (and sometimes deciphering) all of the comments made by all of you. I finally have a chance to give you my opinion, so here it is. 2 different SMC reps called me on my cell phone, and a lady named Pilar called me first (about 3 days ago), and tried to really lay a heavy sales pitch on me. I did listen to what she had to say, but when I sounded even a little bit interested, she laid it on thicker, and would not take no for an answer for much of the remaining conversation. I got a bit irritated, and I had to practically cut her off and hang up without yelling. Ok, done deal. The next day, another rep (a lady whose name I cannot recall) called me on my cell phone, and told me that she was from SMC, and right away I asked her, "could you please not call me on my cell phone?". She asked, "what is your home phone number?". I replied, "this is the second call I have received from your company. I don't want you to call me on either phone, because I have already told another of your reps that I am not interested." She said, "ok, then you have a good day", then hung up. I really do not know how either of them acquired my cell phone number, but I think I received an e-mail from them, thinking it was a job offer. And, until I got the calls, I put 2 and 2 together, and I am thinking that I must have given out some personal information that I shouln't have, since I have been applying to different jobs online, and each headhunter and other jobsites ask repeated, basic information. Anyway, up until that point, I had no idea who SMC was, or what they did. Then I went onto THIS website to read about this company's reputation, and BAM!--I ran into all of your comments. At first, since I have not yet logged onto the site, I was going to complain about them, and when I tried to comment, I was informed that I first had to register, check my e-mail, and then click on the link to get me back here so I could confirm being a "member". Ok, fine. I did that, but only AFTER I had read the 7 hours' worth of comments, which really opened up my eyes. All of the anger, all of the bitterness--I originally related to that. Plus, seeing the picture of Tom Bosley as I scrolled down the page, it occurred to me that YEAH! That's where I remember this company form. This made the negativity come back into my mind, and I thought, "another stupid way a company wants to lure the weak or desperate people into a dead-end scheme." That is, until I started reading from the top of the comments to the very bottom.... Some of you were former employees. Some of you were thought to believe that the company was cheating them. Others thought that it is the greatest thing that has happened to them. I read the success stories, the technical website problems, saturated markets that couldn't stand to see another SMC product, etc. There were jokes, names and insults being tossed around, rage, solutions, misconceptions--you know what you have read. I compared the bad with the good, and it really opened up my mind to draw 1 basic conclusion, and that is STAY NEUTRAL, people. Not easy to practice what is easily said, but I see good and bad in this company. The GOOD is that it does give a person who is struggling financially (or not) the freedom to set his/her own goals by working harder or not so hard at building the business. It allows that person to be creative in trying to market the product in different ways, whether it be on a website by the company, a custom website, mail order, swap meets, or door to door/word of mouth. All different ways of how that person chooses to ship, order, present, and sell the product--that's awesome! If the company (SMC) feels that you are committed, no matter how much, they will help you if you work with them--in bad times and good. I am happy to hear of all of the advise and constructive criticism that I have read. Some of you have owned other businesses, are computer savvy, are dedicated, positive people who are persistant and determined. I enjoyed reading those stories. SMC is like any other company, and the bottom line is, they want to make money, and try to provide some level of customer service to keep their (and your) business going. They are careful about how material is presented on the CD's, supply you with the necessary fineprint in the manual, and abide by the laws that apply. NOW....that is all good, BUT....the BAD is that judging by the complaints that I have read, it seems that the company should be a little more ethical in their presentations over the phone. This problem is what should be addressed, not the idea that they have ripped you off. True, companies are going to hire the sales reps who get results, but the aggressive, too-attached-to-seeing-dollar-signs for personal gain, promotion, whatever sales reps are what tarnish the company's image and reputation. Sometimes the rep will have almost no boundaries as to how far he/she may go to get the sale, and it IS usually laid on thicker (to people like me) who have financial problems, and are getting desperate, because that rep KNOWS that he/she has more leverage on those types of people. Often, the membership "deals" and services are higher cost, and the rep assumes that no real significant research has been done on alternative costs of initiating and maintaining the business by the potential client. THAT is selfish and pretty immoral, in my opinion, to take advantage of the weak, depressed, naive, or mentally challenged. Supervisors and other reps who witness (hear) the transaction will either mentally "hi-five" that rep for making the sale, and some may try to pretend that they didn't want to hear it, because they know that they would't want it to happen to them if they were in that customer's shoes--they are just on the right side of the fence. The good thing, is, that calls are sometimes recorded, and this gives the customer some leverage of his/her own, especially if that person writes down the time of the call, the name of the rep, the dollar amount(s) of membership, services, etc, and other terms and conditions agreed to. After all, technically verbal agreements are as legally binding as much as written ones, and if SMC "loses/misplaces/erases" the phone taped record (if there is one), then at least there would be a WRITTEN record by the customer that can be reviewed if a dispute should arise in the future. If it were in my power, I would enact a law to allow customers to tape phone conversations with reps so that way he/she could have iron clad proof of what was promised. But since this is modern America, all I can say to those who may have not read this a hundred times already is: Customer, beware! Research everything you can before you make a decision to join. Ask people you know (or any professional who may) about everything you can. Be positive, but be cautious. Don't rush your decision, thinking that if you don't join NOW, then you will lose that chance, no matter what the rep may tell you. They want your business. They would not even consider not accepting a call or e-mail from you to join. I would be lost money if they didn't. Just be informed, cautious (but courteous), and go over everything with the rep once you have made a wise decision. You will not be sorry, because you did what was right (and moral). d**n, my hands hurt! That is my 2 cents worth. I hope it helped some of you! GOD BLESS!

I literally spent 7 hours reading (and sometimes deciphering) all of the comments made by all of you. I finally have a chance to give you my opinion, so here it is. 2 different SMC reps called me on my cell phone, and a lady named Pilar called me first (about 3 days ago), and tried to really lay a heavy sales pitch on me. I did listen to what she had to say, but when I sounded even a little bit interested, she laid it on thicker, and would not take no for an answer for much of the remaining conversation. I got a bit irritated, and I had to practically cut her off and hang up without yelling. Ok, done deal. The next day, another rep (a lady whose name I cannot recall) called me on my cell phone, and told me that she was from SMC, and right away I asked her, "could you please not call me on my cell phone?". She asked, "what is your home phone number?". I replied, "this is the second call I have received from your company. I don't want you to call me on either phone, because I have already told another of your reps that I am not interested." She said, "ok, then you have a good day", then hung up. I really do not know how either of them acquired my cell phone number, but I think I received an e-mail from them, thinking it was a job offer. And, until I got the calls, I put 2 and 2 together, and I am thinking that I must have given out some personal information that I shouln't have, since I have been applying to different jobs online, and each headhunter and other jobsites ask repeated, basic information. Anyway, up until that point, I had no idea who SMC was, or what they did. Then I went onto THIS website to read about this company's reputation, and BAM!--I ran into all of your comments. At first, since I have not yet logged onto the site, I was going to complain about them, and when I tried to comment, I was informed that I first had to register, check my e-mail, and then click on the link to get me back here so I could confirm being a "member". Ok, fine. I did that, but only AFTER I had read the 7 hours' worth of comments, which really opened up my eyes. All of the anger, all of the bitterness--I originally related to that. Plus, seeing the picture of Tom Bosley as I scrolled down the page, it occurred to me that YEAH! That's where I remember this company form. This made the negativity come back into my mind, and I thought, "another stupid way a company wants to lure the weak or desperate people into a dead-end scheme." That is, until I started reading from the top of the comments to the very bottom.... Some of you were former employees. Some of you were thought to believe that the company was cheating them. Others thought that it is the greatest thing that has happened to them. I read the success stories, the technical website problems, saturated markets that couldn't stand to see another SMC product, etc. There were jokes, names and insults being tossed around, rage, solutions, misconceptions--you know what you have read. I compared the bad with the good, and it really opened up my mind to draw 1 basic conclusion, and that is STAY NEUTRAL, people. Not easy to practice what is easily said, but I see good and bad in this company. The GOOD is that it does give a person who is struggling financially (or not) the freedom to set his/her own goals by working harder or not so hard at building the business. It allows that person to be creative in trying to market the product in different ways, whether it be on a website by the company, a custom website, mail order, swap meets, or door to door/word of mouth. All different ways of how that person chooses to ship, order, present, and sell the product--that's awesome! If the company (SMC) feels that you are committed, no matter how much, they will help you if you work with them--in bad times and good. I am happy to hear of all of the advise and constructive criticism that I have read. Some of you have owned other businesses, are computer savvy, are dedicated, positive people who are persistant and determined. I enjoyed reading those stories. SMC is like any other company, and the bottom line is, they want to make money, and try to provide some level of customer service to keep their (and your) business going. They are careful about how material is presented on the CD's, supply you with the necessary fineprint in the manual, and abide by the laws that apply. NOW....that is all good, BUT....the BAD is that judging by the complaints that I have read, it seems that the company should be a little more ethical in their presentations over the phone. This problem is what should be addressed, not the idea that they have ripped you off. True, companies are going to hire the sales reps who get results, but the aggressive, too-attached-to-seeing-dollar-signs for personal gain, promotion, whatever sales reps are what tarnish the company's image and reputation. Sometimes the rep will have almost no boundaries as to how far he/she may go to get the sale, and it IS usually laid on thicker (to people like me) who have financial problems, and are getting desperate, because that rep KNOWS that he/she has more leverage on those types of people. Often, the membership "deals" and services are higher cost, and the rep assumes that no real significant research has been done on alternative costs of initiating and maintaining the business by the potential client. THAT is selfish and pretty immoral, in my opinion, to take advantage of the weak, depressed, naive, or mentally challenged. Supervisors and other reps who witness (hear) the transaction will either mentally "hi-five" that rep for making the sale, and some may try to pretend that they didn't want to hear it, because they know that they would't want it to happen to them if they were in that customer's shoes--they are just on the right side of the fence. The good thing, is, that calls are sometimes recorded, and this gives the customer some leverage of his/her own, especially if that person writes down the time of the call, the name of the rep, the dollar amount(s) of membership, services, etc, and other terms and conditions agreed to. After all, technically verbal agreements are as legally binding as much as written ones, and if SMC "loses/misplaces/erases" the phone taped record (if there is one), then at least there would be a WRITTEN record by the customer that can be reviewed if a dispute should arise in the future. If it were in my power, I would enact a law to allow customers to tape phone conversations with reps so that way he/she could have iron clad proof of what was promised. But since this is modern America, all I can say to those who may have not read this a hundred times already is: Customer, beware! Research everything you can before you make a decision to join. Ask people you know (or any professional who may) about everything you can. Be positive, but be cautious. Don't rush your decision, thinking that if you don't join NOW, then you will lose that chance, no matter what the rep may tell you. They want your business. They would not even consider not accepting a call or e-mail from you to join. I would be lost money if they didn't. Just be informed, cautious (but courteous), and go over everything with the rep once you have made a wise decision. You will not be sorry, because you did what was right (and moral). d**n, my hands hurt! That is my 2 cents worth. I hope it helped some of you! GOD BLESS!

I literally spent 7 hours reading (and sometimes deciphering) all of the comments made by all of you. I finally have a chance to give you my opinion, so here it is. 2 different SMC reps called me on my cell phone, and a lady named Pilar called me first (about 3 days ago), and tried to really lay a heavy sales pitch on me. I did listen to what she had to say, but when I sounded even a little bit interested, she laid it on thicker, and would not take no for an answer for much of the remaining conversation. I got a bit irritated, and I had to practically cut her off and hang up without yelling. Ok, done deal. The next day, another rep (a lady whose name I cannot recall) called me on my cell phone, and told me that she was from SMC, and right away I asked her, "could you please not call me on my cell phone?". She asked, "what is your home phone number?". I replied, "this is the second call I have received from your company. I don't want you to call me on either phone, because I have already told another of your reps that I am not interested." She said, "ok, then you have a good day", then hung up. I really do not know how either of them acquired my cell phone number, but I think I received an e-mail from them, thinking it was a job offer. And, until I got the calls, I put 2 and 2 together, and I am thinking that I must have given out some personal information that I shouln't have, since I have been applying to different jobs online, and each headhunter and other jobsites ask repeated, basic information. Anyway, up until that point, I had no idea who SMC was, or what they did. Then I went onto THIS website to read about this company's reputation, and BAM!--I ran into all of your comments. At first, since I have not yet logged onto the site, I was going to complain about them, and when I tried to comment, I was informed that I first had to register, check my e-mail, and then click on the link to get me back here so I could confirm being a "member". Ok, fine. I did that, but only AFTER I had read the 7 hours' worth of comments, which really opened up my eyes. All of the anger, all of the bitterness--I originally related to that. Plus, seeing the picture of Tom Bosley as I scrolled down the page, it occurred to me that YEAH! That's where I remember this company form. This made the negativity come back into my mind, and I thought, "another stupid way a company wants to lure the weak or desperate people into a dead-end scheme." That is, until I started reading from the top of the comments to the very bottom.... Some of you were former employees. Some of you were thought to believe that the company was cheating them. Others thought that it is the greatest thing that has happened to them. I read the success stories, the technical website problems, saturated markets that couldn't stand to see another SMC product, etc. There were jokes, names and insults being tossed around, rage, solutions, misconceptions--you know what you have read. I compared the bad with the good, and it really opened up my mind to draw 1 basic conclusion, and that is STAY NEUTRAL, people. Not easy to practice what is easily said, but I see good and bad in this company. The GOOD is that it does give a person who is struggling financially (or not) the freedom to set his/her own goals by working harder or not so hard at building the business. It allows that person to be creative in trying to market the product in different ways, whether it be on a website by the company, a custom website, mail order, swap meets, or door to door/word of mouth. All different ways of how that person chooses to ship, order, present, and sell the product--that's awesome! If the company (SMC) feels that you are committed, no matter how much, they will help you if you work with them--in bad times and good. I am happy to hear of all of the advise and constructive criticism that I have read. Some of you have owned other businesses, are computer savvy, are dedicated, positive people who are persistant and determined. I enjoyed reading those stories. SMC is like any other company, and the bottom line is, they want to make money, and try to provide some level of customer service to keep their (and your) business going. They are careful about how material is presented on the CD's, supply you with the necessary fineprint in the manual, and abide by the laws that apply. NOW....that is all good, BUT....the BAD is that judging by the complaints that I have read, it seems that the company should be a little more ethical in their presentations over the phone. This problem is what should be addressed, not the idea that they have ripped you off. True, companies are going to hire the sales reps who get results, but the aggressive, too-attached-to-seeing-dollar-signs for personal gain, promotion, whatever sales reps are what tarnish the company's image and reputation. Sometimes the rep will have almost no boundaries as to how far he/she may go to get the sale, and it IS usually laid on thicker (to people like me) who have financial problems, and are getting desperate, because that rep KNOWS that he/she has more leverage on those types of people. Often, the membership "deals" and services are higher cost, and the rep assumes that no real significant research has been done on alternative costs of initiating and maintaining the business by the potential client. THAT is selfish and pretty immoral, in my opinion, to take advantage of the weak, depressed, naive, or mentally challenged. Supervisors and other reps who witness (hear) the transaction will either mentally "hi-five" that rep for making the sale, and some may try to pretend that they didn't want to hear it, because they know that they would't want it to happen to them if they were in that customer's shoes--they are just on the right side of the fence. The good thing, is, that calls are sometimes recorded, and this gives the customer some leverage of his/her own, especially if that person writes down the time of the call, the name of the rep, the dollar amount(s) of membership, services, etc, and other terms and conditions agreed to. After all, technically verbal agreements are as legally binding as much as written ones, and if SMC "loses/misplaces/erases" the phone taped record (if there is one), then at least there would be a WRITTEN record by the customer that can be reviewed if a dispute should arise in the future. If it were in my power, I would enact a law to allow customers to tape phone conversations with reps so that way he/she could have iron clad proof of what was promised. But since this is modern America, all I can say to those who may have not read this a hundred times already is: Customer, beware! Research everything you can before you make a decision to join. Ask people you know (or any professional who may) about everything you can. Be positive, but be cautious. Don't rush your decision, thinking that if you don't join NOW, then you will lose that chance, no matter what the rep may tell you. They want your business. They would not even consider not accepting a call or e-mail from you to join. I would be lost money if they didn't. Just be informed, cautious (but courteous), and go over everything with the rep once you have made a wise decision. You will not be sorry, because you did what was right (and moral). d**n, my hands hurt! That is my 2 cents worth. I hope it helped some of you! GOD BLESS!

I literally spent 7 hours reading (and sometimes deciphering) all of the comments made by all of you. I finally have a chance to give you my opinion, so here it is. 2 different SMC reps called me on my cell phone, and a lady named Pilar called me first (about 3 days ago), and tried to really lay a heavy sales pitch on me. I did listen to what she had to say, but when I sounded even a little bit interested, she laid it on thicker, and would not take no for an answer for much of the remaining conversation. I got a bit irritated, and I had to practically cut her off and hang up without yelling. Ok, done deal. The next day, another rep (a lady whose name I cannot recall) called me on my cell phone, and told me that she was from SMC, and right away I asked her, "could you please not call me on my cell phone?". She asked, "what is your home phone number?". I replied, "this is the second call I have received from your company. I don't want you to call me on either phone, because I have already told another of your reps that I am not interested." She said, "ok, then you have a good day", then hung up. I really do not know how either of them acquired my cell phone number, but I think I received an e-mail from them, thinking it was a job offer. And, until I got the calls, I put 2 and 2 together, and I am thinking that I must have given out some personal information that I shouln't have, since I have been applying to different jobs online, and each headhunter and other jobsites ask repeated, basic information. Anyway, up until that point, I had no idea who SMC was, or what they did. Then I went onto THIS website to read about this company's reputation, and BAM!--I ran into all of your comments. At first, since I have not yet logged onto the site, I was going to complain about them, and when I tried to comment, I was informed that I first had to register, check my e-mail, and then click on the link to get me back here so I could confirm being a "member". Ok, fine. I did that, but only AFTER I had read the 7 hours' worth of comments, which really opened up my eyes. All of the anger, all of the bitterness--I originally related to that. Plus, seeing the picture of Tom Bosley as I scrolled down the page, it occurred to me that YEAH! That's where I remember this company form. This made the negativity come back into my mind, and I thought, "another stupid way a company wants to lure the weak or desperate people into a dead-end scheme." That is, until I started reading from the top of the comments to the very bottom.... Some of you were former employees. Some of you were thought to believe that the company was cheating them. Others thought that it is the greatest thing that has happened to them. I read the success stories, the technical website problems, saturated markets that couldn't stand to see another SMC product, etc. There were jokes, names and insults being tossed around, rage, solutions, misconceptions--you know what you have read. I compared the bad with the good, and it really opened up my mind to draw 1 basic conclusion, and that is STAY NEUTRAL, people. Not easy to practice what is easily said, but I see good and bad in this company. The GOOD is that it does give a person who is struggling financially (or not) the freedom to set his/her own goals by working harder or not so hard at building the business. It allows that person to be creative in trying to market the product in different ways, whether it be on a website by the company, a custom website, mail order, swap meets, or door to door/word of mouth. All different ways of how that person chooses to ship, order, present, and sell the product--that's awesome! If the company (SMC) feels that you are committed, no matter how much, they will help you if you work with them--in bad times and good. I am happy to hear of all of the advise and constructive criticism that I have read. Some of you have owned other businesses, are computer savvy, are dedicated, positive people who are persistant and determined. I enjoyed reading those stories. SMC is like any other company, and the bottom line is, they want to make money, and try to provide some level of customer service to keep their (and your) business going. They are careful about how material is presented on the CD's, supply you with the necessary fineprint in the manual, and abide by the laws that apply. NOW....that is all good, BUT....the BAD is that judging by the complaints that I have read, it seems that the company should be a little more ethical in their presentations over the phone. This problem is what should be addressed, not the idea that they have ripped you off. True, companies are going to hire the sales reps who get results, but the aggressive, too-attached-to-seeing-dollar-signs for personal gain, promotion, whatever sales reps are what tarnish the company's image and reputation. Sometimes the rep will have almost no boundaries as to how far he/she may go to get the sale, and it IS usually laid on thicker (to people like me) who have financial problems, and are getting desperate, because that rep KNOWS that he/she has more leverage on those types of people. Often, the membership "deals" and services are higher cost, and the rep assumes that no real significant research has been done on alternative costs of initiating and maintaining the business by the potential client. THAT is selfish and pretty immoral, in my opinion, to take advantage of the weak, depressed, naive, or mentally challenged. Supervisors and other reps who witness (hear) the transaction will either mentally "hi-five" that rep for making the sale, and some may try to pretend that they didn't want to hear it, because they know that they would't want it to happen to them if they were in that customer's shoes--they are just on the right side of the fence. The good thing, is, that calls are sometimes recorded, and this gives the customer some leverage of his/her own, especially if that person writes down the time of the call, the name of the rep, the dollar amount(s) of membership, services, etc, and other terms and conditions agreed to. After all, technically verbal agreements are as legally binding as much as written ones, and if SMC "loses/misplaces/erases" the phone taped record (if there is one), then at least there would be a WRITTEN record by the customer that can be reviewed if a dispute should arise in the future. If it were in my power, I would enact a law to allow customers to tape phone conversations with reps so that way he/she could have iron clad proof of what was promised. But since this is modern America, all I can say to those who may have not read this a hundred times already is: Customer, beware! Research everything you can before you make a decision to join. Ask people you know (or any professional who may) about everything you can. Be positive, but be cautious. Don't rush your decision, thinking that if you don't join NOW, then you will lose that chance, no matter what the rep may tell you. They want your business. They would not even consider not accepting a call or e-mail from you to join. I would be lost money if they didn't. Just be informed, cautious (but courteous), and go over everything with the rep once you have made a wise decision. You will not be sorry, because you did what was right (and moral). d**n, my hands hurt! That is my 2 cents worth. I hope it helped some of you! GOD BLESS!

I recently signed up to receive information about SMC. A representative called to give their "pitch". I use a pre-paid cell phone so after a couple of minutes of this high pressure tripe I told the "lady" that I had limited minutes that she was using up. Of course, this was of no concern to her as she kept on with her scripted pitch. I started to get irate and then when she asked for my card # I told her I was not willing to give it to her at this time and that I just wanted information...."Oh but you'll miss out on the free merchandise offer if you don't take this right now,how about you give me your card # now and I'll wait until this evening to process it so you don't miss out." At this point I was flat-out mad and this idiot lady wondered why! All the "information" she spewed could have been done by e-mail.

When I went to SMCorp.website to complain about this lady's attitude and tactics I noticed that there is no "contact us" on their site. I wonder why? Did they inadvertently forget to add this? NO! It is probably because they know they would get inundated with e-mails from pissed-off people. BEWARE! Even most crappy web-sites add that at the bottom. Where is theirs?

I would like to get their (SMC) response and not from some out-sourced group/person. I'm waiting, but won't hold my breath!

OK...I have seen about every comment on here about SMC, but what surprises me is the ignorance of some people! NEVER once did SMC state that you would make alot of money! Those people who make a decent income on doing this, work their butts off for it and probably already had a good sized network before they joined. SMC will tell you directly that your results depend on how much effort you put into this business! They are very straight forward in their literature and DVD. I have seen the DVD, I have read the manuel, I have read every user/membership agreement on the SMC and eMerchant webpages. I don't think that even 90% of any of you making complaints read everything there was to read before you made a final decision to go through with it. You are your own business! You are in no way affiliated with them. SO YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN BUSINESS. They are just your supplier...as every retail store has a supplier! Since you are you're own business, you need (depending where you live) in WI 1)home Occupancy permit (if you're working at home), 2)If your going to name your business as something other than your real name...you need to register your "Firm Name (aka DBA) with your county, and 3)BTR# (includes seller's permit and consumer use tax). Although I think $495 intial fee is crap...I'd rather just pay it and have a membership to buy and resell whenever I please. Anytime someone starts a business...it's a risk!! People fork up alot of money to start a restuarant, store, or another business...and most of the time...fail. That means they lost out on more than $10000! So I consider paying the almost $500 for the member a pretty cheap way to get started!! I have looked at all the material including and I have decided that I don't want to fork out alot of money buying gift cards and so on.... I do think the gift card redemption site is a bunch of bull!! That's why I have decided to better invest my money into a website. Yes, it does cost over $1000, but like I state before I consider it cheaper than starting a physical business. Doing this is easier.... You don't have to go through banks for loans (most likely needed to stock up and purchase a property), you don't need a merchant acct. to accept credit cards, if you just use paypal, you won't have a hard time getting permits and licenses (cause you don't have loads of inventory), and so on....ALL n ALL ...I think it's cheaper and easier to go this route for me since I have really bad credit and can't even get a bank account, let alone a LOAN! I know the website that I am purchasing soon is gonna cost me $2900 (including the search engine optimization-unless I can't find somewhere else to do that cheaper), but I don't know anything about webpage design and I think it's nice that I will have someone hosting my site for me. I am confident that I will succeed at at least making $2000/mo pure profit. I know that you need to work!! I will do what I need to do to get my domain out there for people to find my business! I don't expect to make a crap load of money (even though I will have a website) cause I am realistic. I lot of people believe they can get rich fast and that's why in the end, they always get dissappointed. I also think that SMC is not the greatest, but if they did have really bad business ethics, how are they still able to stay in business?? And why would they still be accredited by BBB? If you go to BBB it explains what most of the consumers complaints were in regards to. And I'm not exactly sure, but I think I saw that most of their complaints were due to their unwillingness to actually read the agreements! You do have 30 days to return the kit (altough it might not even be worth it cause you pay S&H to return it and they do not refund you that, also the S&H charges when they sent you the kit is deducted from the intial $40, so your actual refund would only be like $10!). As far as them 'robbing' you..it's impossible! If they did deduct more than they were permitted to out of your bank account...you would dispute it and they would have to return it to your account! I know cause I have had to do this once with another company. If you think the Suggested retail prices are outrageous, then just lower them! Those are marked up 3x. It doesn't mean that you have to sell them at those prices. Those prices are just to give you an unreasonable profit. lol. That's why when my website is ready..I will be in there lowering the prices by at least 25% and I will still have a decent profit! But remember, you cannot not lower them to much, or you will lose money. As a Self-Employer you do need to file the consumers tax with your state and you do need to pay SS, Medicaid, and federal tax with your Federal taxes. And that's a big percentage of your profits (at least 17%). But there is deductions for almost everything involved in running your business. I'm sure there are other things I want to address, but I don't feel like sittin here all day! lol. I haven't sold anything yet, because I know I'm not gonna make anything off that Gift Redemption site, but I will start when my Super Deluxe website is up. Oh yeah, and as far as their Business Coaches, I think they are nobody more than a regular Joe. I tried finding out through my coach what licenses and permits I needed and she couldn't even answer that! I would think that to be a Business Coach that you would've needed to take business classes and I know those classes would teach you how to start a business n so on! So yeah..don't even bother making the first appointment with them, cuz they really don't help and you would be better of borrowing books from a library or researching the internet (like I did). or go to www.sba.gov. Make sure to do you research and if you don't join...expect a min. investment of $2000. I'm paying for all this cause I really have nothing to lose! I can't get a job anywhere! I've been out of work for almost 3 yrs. I have 4 kids now, so for me to work..it's pointless, since if I got a job, I'd probably only get paid $8/hr and that would about cover what I'd have to pay a babysitter or daycare! lol. So good luck to me and the others that have decided to give it a try!

Everyone has their niche. Some ppl aren't meant to sell ANYTHING but their time. For someone to accuse a company of fraudulent practices without the proof to back it up is absolutely ridiculous and they are setting themselves up for a law suite. I've had ppl tell me that they lost money on trying to sell SMC products. Well, sorry to hear that. Personally, I haven't made any profits as yet, but I haven't put forth the effort required to run a small business. Including membership dues, I have put out approx. 250.00 in business expenses. Obviously I am still paying membership fees but only have two payments left. Anyone expecting to get rich selling products without having an inventory is, in themselves, foolish. I chose SMC because of the fact that I can sell the products how I want, unlike with Amway. Selling perfumes and makeup isn't for me. The biggest factor for my signing up was the fact that I don't have to carry an inventory and the availability of drop shipping. As far as the websites go, you don't have to use their system. I used a website which hosting only costs like 100 bucks a year. I use PayPal for credit card processing. I use the free version of Quickbooks for accounting. Then there is always the good ole Ebay. The only problem with ebay is the fact that you are in competition with hundreds of other SMC members doing the same thing you are. Lol, selling products or services is like being gay. It works for some of my friends, but it's not for me. BTW, that was not meant to be a disparagement.

Have a great day and GOD's speed to you all.

It amazes me all the Bad Mouthing about SMC..All of those who are making complaints all have a few things in common..
You didn't read the information very well
You think you are going to get rich QUICK
You assume that the products are going to sell themselves

What I did was buy a few items for display.. Got my OWN Website and Domaine Name for under $40.00 per month
I buy the packets of brochures instead of buying a lot of OVER HEAD

Someone said that SMC said you could sell your items at Wal Mart
( NO THEY DIDN'T) they said you can ask little mom and pop type stores..
Sell at Flea Markets
( Someone said that EVERYONE at flea markets are selling the same SMC products ) No they are NOT

Someone said that they were charged $6.00 per product for shipping
NO you weren't, you were charged a FLAT rate PER BOX NOT ITEM

As you see it WORKS for us who make it about a REAL JOB unlike others who sit around complaining about their products NOT selling when they are NOT even trying

I sent in the online request for the information package. LOL. The next day I have received e-mails to join and/or upgrade to purchase their product. Tried to send an e-mail regarding that I have not yet received the package in the mail, but was denied because I did not have a subscriber number.

If I do not receive this, the free information package, I will fill consumer fraud against SMC. They say nothing about requiring additonal funds to their company. This is now misleading and enticement on SMC's part.

From what I have read, online, this is a very deceptive pratice. If the E-Commerce site is the required company to do the website, then this is highly illegal.

This is a form of requiring clients to sign up with the company and then using the specifed company for their business.

Basicaly tthis is the same as the gym fitness centers where requiredto purchase their equipment from the parent company. This is not legal, period.

If SMC requires you to but a website from there designated company, and/or if you have paid for such, contact an attonery at once.

I will throw their free information package immeditaley in the trash!

thank you

r. lang

This company is an awesome opportunity to make extra money. It is NOT a get rich quick scheme. It takes a lot of work and effort to market a business but once you get clients it takes off quickly. No business is going to succeed without a lot of effort, hard work, and investment of time and a little money on your part. People see this as a quick money maker and unless you know how to market you will not get far. You can't give up in thirty days just because you don't sell right away. perseverence is the key in starting your own at home business. As far as the web site. They promise to help you set one up. Of course you have to pay fees to e merchant. If you would have researched you would have known that. Also, you don't have to have a website. that is optional. As far as Gift cards. I couldn't get a paypal right away so i just asked for the payment up front. I had very little objections. Nothing is EVER free in this country. You have to work hard. I love this opportunity to make extra money. No i'ts not going to pay my mortgage but it helps with the extras.

I don't know what to think. I tried Amway twicw before they were on line.
Its hard to get that many people but there products are number 1 in qulity.

Today I got info From SMC and I might try it anyway.

Richie Cuninghams Father would not tell a lie would he?

I own a small store in michigan i joined smc and have found it to be very helpful in supplementing my income but that is all i intended it to do i never got suckered into any website deal that i have read about on here but they did offer me one but i just refused it and that was that. i think as with many other marketing business you have to do work and I believe ( because i have seen people like this) that alot of people go into this kind of business thinking they dont have to do any work and money should just fall into their hands , Its real life people you have to work for things and take the good times with the bad nothing is perfect in this world and you will lose money sometimes no matter what business your in but i have found smc to have helped supplement my income and have not had any of those shipping problems that have been talked about on here . Good luck to all

I am a former employee of smc/emc. I am glad that many people have had good or neutral experiences with the company. I am, of course, sad to hear that others have had less pleasurable experiences.

Let me state a few (or more) items for you:

1. SMC is fully aware that its Gift Card website owners struggle with the product. When I was working for smc/emc, a pilot program to see if employees could turn a profit off of the Gift Card site (maybe an attempt to prove that the biz owners are at fault and need guidance from better trained sales people) failed miserably. Soooo, did seeing biz owner after biz owner fail, many of whom were talked into plunking down thousands of dollars, make smc want to change its direction? No, actually, smc made efforts to increase pressure on its sales force to sell even more useless Gift Card websites. Less qualified sales professionals need not apply. Believe it or not, once upon a time, "coaches" were actually coaches. Now they are the top sales people in the company. Don't be foolish enough to think otherwise...When smc's own pilot program failed, did that make smc pause to contemplate the ethics behind its manipulative sales techniques? Ah, don't be silly. Every single smc/emc employee knows that when you buy a Gift Card website, you are almost doomed to failure. So, you are talked into spending as much as possible starting out, cause eventually you'll be left in the dust, with little funds left for smc to take. Eventually, you'll want to keep your money safe were you can see it. This is hardly a business for the small timers to attempt. I did love the occasional phone calls from large distributors who were doing well. And the story about the lady who supposedly was dating some guy from google, and so had the awesome fortune of getting a heavy amount of traffic on her eMerchant website, with great sales to boot...but those happy stories came mostly from people already well established and endowed with business savvy. Most people, business savvy or not, failed miserably. We knew they would. No surprise. If a so-called coach told you otherwise, you were lied to. And of course, they did tell you otherwise, didn't they? They have to pay their bills, get food on the table...better your money than theirs, you know?

2. There are good, amazingly exceptional people that work for smc/emc. They often try to make improvements in product and service for the benefit of the biz owners. But they are caught inside of a company that does not function as one that gives a rat's hindy about you. Why they choose to stay there and defend the company's practices, all in the name of the next paycheck (which is usually quite low), I will never understand. I always wanted out. And got out as soon as I could. Which wasn't before I learned to respect and care about a lot of people who are still there.

3. Everyone seems to post things that smc/emc cannot be held accountable for. But if you knew that they know you will fail, will that make a difference to any attorney trying to sue this company? I always thought it might. It shows prior knowledge of a product that cannot work. It shows premeditation.

4. Why don't Gift Card sites work? Uh, well, they are boring. They have few features. It used to be impossible for you to differentiate your site, which you may have spent thousands on, from someone's site, who may have spent much less. The Gift Cards are generic...and they suck. Your customers don't want to buy a Gift Card from you that they can only on your weird generic website. Really, they don't. And so that's the main reason you didn't recover your investment. You didn't get much for your money, except for even more Gift Cards that you can't sell...often you couldn't even give them away as presents. Am I right or am I right? I wonder if much has changed? Of course, all employees knew these. Every agent who took your phone call. When I was in training and asked how successful the Gift Card sites are to biz owners (they hardly looked like they could be profitable by my assessment), my instructor refused to answer my question ("We don't keep track of that kind of information"...Which poses the obvious question: Then why are you promising biz owners that they are about to strike it rich?) Employees aren't assuming you will turn a profit. We witness failure after failure. I often wondered how, in God's name, could a company bilk consumers of so much money and care so little for their welfare? Who's crazy, stupid, low budget ideas were these anyway? Most failed biz owners fall away quietly. We rarely had to hear from them once they realized they were in over their heads. It must be shameful to lose. Few of you suspected we all knew you were going to lose. How many Gift Card card biz owners failed? (whether innocent civilians or company employees AND from sales directly from Gift Card sites ONLY, not other avenues) Few of you suspected that we hated our company heads as much or more than you did, because of the loss we expected was sure to occur to you. I cannot tell you how many times my stomach turned when an excited new biz owner would chirp to me over the phone about how many thousands they had just spent...the coaches promises of sure success still ringing in their ears. Oh, my heart sank. I would swallow, and then proceed to do my job. And did you ever feel like smc's Little Engine That Could because the sales force kept talking you into buying even more and more? You know why? Because those bonuses really help to pay the bills (smc's base pay certainly doesn't). SMC is a corporate parasite, squeezing the last penny out of the customer and squeezing the lifeblood out of the rank and file employees. Lucky are those who rise above the rank and file level and no longer have to take those calls.

5. The only real way to make money with smc/emc is to either have a brilliant knack for selling things, to have lots of people who love you (and are willing to buy away your living expenses), to have a profitable store front already, or to be really really good at promoting your eMerchant Website. I used to suggest that people buy into the eMerchant websites that allow them to also carry non-emerchantclub merchandise (hint hint). This was the nicest way I knew to encourage biz owners to use their heads at this game. Optimizing your site and carrying well-known fast moving merchandise alongside less exciting smc merchandise gives you a little more of a chance, I believe. I could only try. Did people listen? I don't know....but I tried.

6. eMerchant websites can get very expensive, and though they offer much more opportunity/flexibility than Gift Card sites, they are a net loss for most people. And I would dare to suggest that they are very overpriced. It's greed that drives the price up, not your chances of making more money. As with the Gift Card sites, the more money you spend, the more money you are likely to lose.

7. The Search Engine packages used to really suck. Do they still? Do they work now? I don't know, you tell me.

8. The refund policies are arbitrary. But some of you already know that, don't you? If we don't have to refund you, we won't. Our lawyer doesn't want us to. He wants us to stick to the rules, no matter how sad your story is. Sometimes we can go to bat for you, sometimes we can't. Our company lawyer (a distant folk hero) is one of those prime examples of why lawyer jokes keep us all bitterly laughing. If he could phrase what he really thinks of all of your refund requests, he would probably say something like, "bite me."

9. I sometimes got calls from people who were terminally ill (cancer, so forth). I don't know what other employees did when these calls came through, but if these callers were concerned that they "owed" us money, I always took the time to tell them that there are much more important things to attend to than what the world thinks they "owe" them. I would tell these callers to enjoy the time they have left, to enjoy their families, and that these lesser issues would resolve themselves. You think smc's lawyer should sue me for this underhanded tactic that I took, clearly in violation of the holy grail eMerchant Standard Membership Rules that he staunchly defends? Well, I guess he can bite me too.

What it really comes down to is this...most of you made a poor business decision. Many of us who have been desperate for a better life have. I have been involved in businesses that have lost me more money than most people who lost to smc/emc. It is a learning experience that makes us stronger, but hopefully not one that takes our dreams away. Hope should be ever eternal. It is in hope that the good will often find you. I am doing okay. I can only wish that you are also.

...Don't forget to use that brain.

Let me say first of all that after an absence of 20 + years, 19 of them living outside of the United States, I have recently reactivated my SMC membership.

I am not an employee of SMC and am not in anyway connected with them, other than the fact that I've reactivated a long decades old account.

To date I have made zero dollars on any of the marketing programs, due in large part to my getting the cataloges today, 28 January,2009.

Let's take a look at these comments as they were written shall we?

Ray JR. RIP-OFF REPORTER Rison, Arkansas wrote:

"When a person first signs up with SMC, the company tries to get you 'Pumped Up'. To enroll they will charge you a fee somewhere in the ballpark of 325.00 - 350.00 dollars. They will let you pay the fee off by month. "

And this is a bad thing in what way? "Pumped up?" You were pumped up the moment you responded to the infomercial, you got excited about the prospects of earning an additional income. Advertisements are like that.

The overall fee is a mite hefty for some people, here's a clue, if you express interest in them, they will send you around three seperate mail shots, assuming you don't respond to the first two. On the final one they will offer you a full membership for $100.00. No strings. Again, what is your point here?

"When you get everything you need to make your first sell, they have you thinking that you are going to make tons of money. This is simply not the case. You might be lucky to a $10.00 sell. Then they claim that you can sell to large corperations like Wal-Mart, and other large retail stores."

Excuse me, but I've got the current manual in front of me and I'm not able to see any reference to Wal-Mart here. What is writen is rather clear, consise and too the point.

If all you can get is a $10.00 sale, I would have to ask about the method you used to get it. In 1985 I bought over a dozen cataloges and placed them in some reception areas of some people I knew. That's all I did. Total sales as a result of just "setting it and forgetting it"? Zero.

I gave a cataloge to my mother who took it into work for me. Total sale after a single day? $30.00, net. I got address details of the individual who made the purchase, networked that out into other customers. Purchases were made as/when needed.


" Lets be realistic, with the membership base volume that they claim to have, the retail stores have alreasy looked the product catalog over ten thousand times."

Really? Alll the retail stores? Have they really looked at ALL of the product over 10,000 times? - Your proof please.


"Then comes their '60 Day Business Coach'. The business coach I had was the rudest person on the face of the earth. She would not listen, acted like it killed her type in some information, and she had a hispanic that could not be understood. Don't get me wrong, their is nothing wrong with Hispanics, they have brought their culture to America, and have enriched our lives.

"The reason I brought this point up is to warn all English only people that you will need to know quiet a few words of Spanish to understand what she was saying."

Next thing you'll be telling us is that some of your best friends are Mexican.

Have you worked in call center enviroment? I have. It's not easy under the best of times. Your use of the business coach was free. So why moan about it. Of course they're going to offer you additional products/services, that is part of the job. But unless you're going to tell us that they forced you somehow to say "yes", your arguement is a smoke screen.

By the the way, I've spoken to the staff at the company on three seperate ocassions over the past three weeks, no problemo with their speaking. It must have been the Hispaics day off or something...


"Since they have flooded the air-waves with their infomercials, everybody has become aware that the markup on the catalogs that They provide is too high. People expect to get everything at 1/2 price. Their shipping chart is confusing. First they went with USPS for orders and charged a whopping 15%+ shiping charge to UPS with a 'flat' fee charge of $6.00. That sounds reasonable untill I was charged $6.00 PER PRODUCT!"

Catalog pricing can be on the high side, but given the rather high markup I can work with, offering a 30% discount, isn't going to make me lose money, with the possible exception of a $199.00 set of luggage, That appears to be the only product that I'm not going to be able to give a decent discount to.

Shipping charges are not confusing and, as anyone would tell you, it would make more sense for you to combine any orders you have into a single shipment, and then send them onward to your customers.

"The company also clames to ship orders to you within 48 hours. I have waited for a month to get a rush order. How did they send it I wonder? Maybe Pony Express?"

You leave out some things here. 1. Did you check to see if the products were in stock before placing your order? A phone call or a check on their web site will tell you. 2. What instructions did you give them when placing their order? If you were asking for a rush order, did you pay the additional fee for it?

"In closing, this company is a 'Rip-Off of the Century'. I wish I knew then what I know now! I never would have called them in the first place.

Buyer beware. On a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the best, I would give them a 0."


"Rip-Off of the Century"? Really How?

I'm no employee nor am I conncected with SMC. I'm also over 20, have more than a degree of common sense and was taught early on that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Putting 12 catalogues in a few offices will not make you money over night.

Putting a web page and then expecting the money to roll in isn't reality, as much as it's Fantasy Island.

It takes work, and a bit of patience.

I got my set of catalogs this afternoon. The last set I had were printed in 1986. It's been that long since I had anything to do with SMC.

The changes to this company, insofar as product diversity is concerned is impressive.

To those who say that they can't sell SMC as swap meets, because everyone else is selling the same thing....Really? I've been to three seperate swap meets here in the Los Angeles/Anahiem area. On the second visits to each of them I specifically looked around for SMC type material that might be sold, either the low end stuff, candles, baby shower stuff, etc. Nada. Nothing. Even in a rather large indoor market in Anaheim I couldn't find hide nor hair of what is available.

There's enough products in the cataloges to insure that, if I'm doing it right, I'm not going to run the risk of product duplication. And if there is so what? How many market stalls at a swap meet will sell the same thing? It all boils down to salesmanship, and how much of a discount one is going to make in order to get that sale.

A reading of the marketing manual will give you some rather excellent suggestions to limit any possible loss of product.

SMC will take a bit of work. Already there are a few items that we can see going to our friends for baby showers, Mothers' Day, birthdays etc. And when we're asked where we got that lovely statuete of a mother and daughter, we can say that we sell it. We can also give them a cataloge too.

Are the SMC staff trained to sell? Of course they are. I had a wonderful 20 minute conversation with staff who were trying to get me to buy into a $200.00 membership, free web site and $200.00 worth of product vouchers. All I was willing to do was to pay the $45.00 renewal fee, plus purchase an up to date membership kit.

At no time were the lives of my family threatend, nor were those DVDs of my last business party going to be released. So I had no "pressure" to agree to spending money on things that I didn't/don't need, like the web site for example. Were the staff "pushy"? Perhaps a little, but I was expecting this to a certain degree. Once they saw that I knew exactly what I wanted, they backed off and filled my order.

Someone said you can't sell on ebay. Well, I have to agree there. I've found a few ebayers who have simply transferred the full price of the SMC products to their ebay page. In a consumer market, when the purchasing power is in the buyers hands, the seller HAS to look at cutting a good deal for his/her customer. Were I to put someting on ebay, and were I, for some unknown reason, willing to take the time to put a large majority of SMC products, picture, and SMC item description on the web page, I would, at the very least, either do a discount on the products BEFORE listing it on ebay, or offer some sort of discount to orders over a set price. It's only common sense.

Were I to sell on ebay, I'd do it a piece at a time, again, given the diversity of things that the cataloge has to offer, including luggage, furniture, and outdoor fixtures, this would not be a problem. I'd avoid using stock photos, and take a picture of the items at the house. I'd also do a price reduction BEFORE posting the product, and then I'd set a minimum price that I'd sell it. Those who will list a $199.00 item with a starting price of $0.01 are going to be in some serious trouble when that item sells for $20.00. Even with the mark up price, he/she's lost over $100.00 profit as well as having to pay for the shipping.

People lose money with SMC, in my opinon, simply because they don't do their homework, e.g., looking around at the swap meets/garage sales to see what's on offer, and then, if there are SMC items, seeing what they're going for, and then seeing if those prices can be under cut and still have some sort of profit.

Even if I lose money on a set item, I've gained a customer, for either further business, or for referrals.

SMC is offiering a future, a long term one.

Those who appear on the informercials will attest that they didn't get lucky over night. It took effort.

Ray JR., I'm not sure what you were expecting when you opened that box and saw the catalogs, manuals, DVD etc. The Genie is only a cartoon charactor who sounds like Robin Williams.

The reality is you got to read the manual, decide how much time you want to put into it, and what you want to do with it.

Overnight wealth only happens in the movies and on tv.

STOP CRYING AND MAKE IT WORK IT WONT WORK UNLESS YOU WORK IT i LOVE SMC. IT WORKED FOR ME IN NEW YORK I SOLD TO STORES, AND HAD HOME PARTYS. YES I MADE MONEY NOT MILLIONS. BUT I DO OWN A 500,000 HOME IN FLORIDA HAVE NEW CARS AND TRUCKS. LOOK IT WONT COME TO YOU UNLESS YOU GO AFTER IT. WHAT DID YOU THINK SMC WAS GOING TO MAKE YOU A MILLION? WAKE UP, NO ONE IS GOING TO MAKE YOU A MILLION . yOU MUST GO GET IT. SO STOP CRYING AND GET YOUR BUTT TO WORK. YOU MUST WORK IT. GOOD LUCK

Oh and further more you dont HAVE to HAVE a website to run this business. You can sell and use giftcards without having to buy one. Not only that but gift cards are also discounted for members. YOU PAY 3 BUCKS FOR A TEN DOLLAR CARD! Also to RYAN itsa funny how you CLAIM to be an employee of SMC yet you logged your RIPOFF REPORT as a CONSUMER COMMENT!!!! This makes it obviouse that you are lying about everything YOU POSTED! Plus, unless SMC is not only RAN but MANNED by a bunch of a*s holes, an ENTIRE office building would not celebrate RIPPING PEOPLE OFF!!! Most Americans have a better conscience then that! I worked in telemarketing at one point and quit because I felt like crap RIPPING PEOPLE OFF, and I havent done telemarketing since!!!! Thats probably why most telemarketing firms have such a high turn over, CUZ MOST AMERICANS DONT FEEL COMFORTABLE FLEECING FELLOW AMERICANS!!!! So your imaginary world where the SMC office erupts into applause each time a person is ripped off is about as plausable as the war in Iraq ending anytime soon! GET A LIFE, and next time you wanna lie about stuff make sure you cover all your bases, simple things like categorizing your rant as that of an employee or ex employee not a CONSUMER COMMENT! Im not necessarily in support of SMC but I am willing to give it an honest try and see what happens. And if worse comes to worse than I have the ability to buy stuff at wholesale prices for the rest of my life and the items I have gotten so far are of decent quality. I never expected to get rich quick and agree the so called "Business Coach" is a joke, all they do is try to sell you expensive packages and get pushy and rude after you refuse them. But what you do with what you do get is up to you.

OK with SMC the key word is YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!! You are not selling for them, you are buying their products and selling them YOURSELF!!!! SO WHAT if they are a MIDDLEMAN!!!! THe essence of "selling for yourself" is BUYING stuff from someone or somewhere then SELLING those Items YOURSELF!!! Avon, Mary Kay, Amway, THEY ARE ALL MIDDLE MEN!!!! ANY business you INVEST in TAKES MONEY, often times LOTS OF IT!!!! Why should SMC be any different. MCDONALDS wont give you a franchise for free so why should SMC!!!! And one way to save on shipping is TO CHARGE THE DANG CUSTOMER for it. Any time you buy something over the phone, through a catalogue or online, YOU pay SHIPPING!!!! And these seriously negative individuals sprewing venom and insulting people need to find a better way to pass their time! hey, QUICK QUESTION, have any of you negative, rude individuals even tried SMC? HOw can you spew judgment out of your uneducated pessimistic mouths if you havent even ever been involved in what you are SPEWING about? And furthermore, people reading this rather LONG and DRAWN OUT sequence of postings, Why would you even consider taking advice from such hatefull people who insult people who have or have not made progress with SMC???!!! A person who would call some one stupid or retarded for making a possibly bad business investment is a very cruel individual. How bout this, WHY dont you a*s holes and B*****S THOUROUGHLY INVESTIGATE a business or situation BEFORE you sit online on your "fat Greaseball asses" (a favorite term of some of the jerks on here) and try and TALK dirt about not only SMC but those who have experiences with them be it negative or positive? AND NO, I AM NOT AN SMC EMPLOYEE, SPOKESPERSON, OR HEAD HONCHO!!! IF YOU WOULD LIKE PROOF OF THIS ASK AND I WILL PROVIDE. I invested in SMC and have not yet made a profit, but then again, Ive only had the program about 2 weeks. Im a single mom of two, work and go to school so I have not had much time to invest as of yet. BUT TO ME A 400 start up fee is way better then dumping thousands on some franchise. With any business you invest in there is risk, regardless of the type. But I will use these pessimistic jerks advice on getting a tax ID number ( The only useful info I found in ANY of their postings) and use that to work with both SMC and other wholesalers, but I am willing to give this business a chance. And no, SMC never promised me a get rich quick dream. They dont promise it in their infomercials nor do they promise it in their correspondence, it is what you make it, SMC just supplies the means, you supply the profit.

I have been a SMC member since June. I didn't have high expectations and still don't. I have made back what I've put into it and anything else I make from here on out is just extra cash. I ignore my coach because she's useless and I will make my own website if I choose to go that route. I have had no problems yet.

This response is for Alicia and for the following quote found in her rubuttal:

"i have been with smc for about 4 years now. i admit its a slow startup, but once ya get goin ya can make some good money. i started out takin orders from people i worked with and goin to the county fairs, also had a kiosk in the local mall.
i now own my own gift shop and make approximately $9000 a month."

SO.. wait a minute... is it just me.. or does this not sound just like the cr*p that's in SMC's bogus coach videos. Cause I recall having watched the video.. and it had "testimonies" of some old people saying the exact same thing like the quote above, from this Alicia woman!

You know.. the "I went from people to people and family. I went to country fairs and a kiosk in the mall. Now I own my own gift store and make approximately $9000 a month."

BULL! Cause let's face it.. even if you watch the video and actually do as the video says.. it's not really gonna come out like the "testimonies" in the video!

Now let's move on to the next qote:


"smc does let ya know what products are out of stock, they post it not only on the website they give you, but they also let ya know through the monthly newsletter. i admit i was skeptical at first but once i started makin money i was no longer skeptical. i am very glad i went with smc, i was able to quit my job and work for myself."

OK! Yeah.. nice try SMC! Not only does this sound totally scripted with the whole "I was skeptical at first but once I started I made the money.. so I wasn't skeptical no more. I am glad I went with SMC. I quit my job to work for my self" OMG scripted as hell.. just like in the SMC infomercials!.. but now you're trying to write differently from your other posted rebuttals, with the, "ya" so people think your're like from Ireland or something. When in reality you're the chair smuggling fatty sitting at SMC headquarters!

OK!... so the next quote is the one I'm gonna love responding to the most:


"i read alot of comments, and to me it sounds like alot of people have either never tried it or didnt put much effort behind it. its not an overnight thing, ya have to work at it and put some effort into it, and the reward will make ya proud that you did give it a chance."

Nice.. so this whole time you're trying to make it sound like you're a totally different person .. cause EVERYONE.. read it well.. throughout the whole time she only uses "ya" for "you" and ironically out of nowhere you read:

"and the reward will make ya proud that you did give it a chance."

How come all of a sudden we actually see "you" in there?? Hmmm ... I don't know.. but if you're a person that appears to only use "ya" for "you".. you shouldn't actually use the "you" after all the "ya"s! Cappish? So next time, "Alicia".. when you wanna post something while being from SMC make sure you don't mess up! Cause you will get caught!


Ok.. the last quote I need to respond to:

"i too will admit the coach is a waste of time and i too had a person that was rude, so all i did was not contact them again. turns out you really dont need them at all, its basically self explanitory.

for those who have never tried this, please do not comment badly about it, it took me 4 years to open my own shop and work for myself, but it was time well spent and i am happy to be where i am."


See people?? She is with SMC.. first we catch her in her little lie of trying to make it seem like she's a totally different person posting... & posting basically all the lines of the SMC coach videos with all that $9000 a month cr*p & the gift shop! But now... shes basically suggesting that if people feel that their time is being wasted.. to just go with it.. cause "it was time well spent"!

She's trying to convince people that have already started to keep going.. so that it's too late to actually never get your money back!

Alicia.. learn how to lie if you're gonna sit your fat butt in the SMC headquarters, ok?!

When I signed up for SMC, they immediately told me that e-merchant build's websites. I did get a little bit of a hinky feeling about e-Merchant when after 14 days, I still didn't have my site "built". I called and cancelled the site long before the 30 day period that way they can't say that I didn't make the call to cancel and I won't be out the site-building or maintainence fee.

But all of this speculation about e-Merchant being part of SMC is just funny because they immediately take your name and the name of your website to be built in the membership call. Why all of the hard work to figure this out - it seemed pretty obvious to me.

Well, barring that the products are total crap, I sold $200 worth of products this morning at my job with the catalog alone and even after shipping (everything is being shipped to me), my take is still $118. Not bad for 4 hours worth of passing our a stapled stack of paper!

I agree with those of you who say that any business is hard. If it were easy, we'd all be making millions pushing other's people's products on one another. Every business takes time, hard work, strategy, and repetition and there is no exact answer for everything. :) Good Luck to everyone ! Including me! LOL

This company has a "B" average from the BBB of Los Angeles because they are a member of the BBB. Take a closer look: in the last 2-3 years this company has received more than 1000 complaints!!! Never seen so many in my life. Yikes.

SMC is a lousy way to make money if you treat it like an Amway, Shaklee or Avon. If you see yourself selling with every other Tom d**k and Harry at swapmeets, online auctions like EBay, door to door catalog sales or that the money is going to come rolling in on your website because you are a desperate person people want to do business with you will fail like 98% of those who fall into that group.

If you see yourself as a wholesaler and them as a LINE you represent you will do much better because you see you are dependent on YOU for success and not SMC. They are a crappy supplier as far as service goes, but what do you care? Enter your order based on the orders you got from BUSINESSES and let the dropship happen.

If you are hoping that SMC is the magic bean that will get you out of financial distress get a grip on reality. My customers average $2500 /yr buying from me. So ask yourself, what do I know that you don't know? What I know I paid for by trial and error. You will never truly appreciate it or gain from it if you don't go that way on your own.

I am not going to hand you success. You have to EARN it by paying the price the rest of us who are making it paid.

SMC is a lousy way to make money if you treat it like an Amway, Shaklee or Avon. If you see yourself selling with every other Tom d**k and Harry at swapmeets, online auctions like EBay, door to door catalog sales or that the money is going to come rolling in on your website because you are a desperate person people want to do business with you will fail like 98% of those who fall into that group.

If you see yourself as a wholesaler and them as a LINE you represent you will do much better because you see you are dependent on YOU for success and not SMC. They are a crappy supplier as far as service goes, but what do you care? Enter your order based on the orders you got from BUSINESSES and let the dropship happen.

If you are hoping that SMC is the magic bean that will get you out of financial distress get a grip on reality. My customers average $2500 /yr buying from me. So ask yourself, what do I know that you don't know? What I know I paid for by trial and error. You will never truly appreciate it or gain from it if you don't go that way on your own.

I am not going to hand you success. You have to EARN it by paying the price the rest of us who are making it paid.

SMC is a lousy way to make money if you treat it like an Amway, Shaklee or Avon. If you see yourself selling with every other Tom d**k and Harry at swapmeets, online auctions like EBay, door to door catalog sales or that the money is going to come rolling in on your website because you are a desperate person people want to do business with you will fail like 98% of those who fall into that group.

If you see yourself as a wholesaler and them as a LINE you represent you will do much better because you see you are dependent on YOU for success and not SMC. They are a crappy supplier as far as service goes, but what do you care? Enter your order based on the orders you got from BUSINESSES and let the dropship happen.

If you are hoping that SMC is the magic bean that will get you out of financial distress get a grip on reality. My customers average $2500 /yr buying from me. So ask yourself, what do I know that you don't know? What I know I paid for by trial and error. You will never truly appreciate it or gain from it if you don't go that way on your own.

I am not going to hand you success. You have to EARN it by paying the price the rest of us who are making it paid.

I was pointed to this site from another message board site after doing some SMC research. I 21, a college student, and just plain interested in starting a business. After viewing the commercials and being HIGHLY skeptical, I decided to do some research before calling. Below are my findings.

1. While I'm not sure of the credibility and bias of either the people for the company or against, I would say that the folks against seemed pretty passionate about their claims through rudeness and name calling. No one's that passionate about lies unless great actors. And the people who were for SMC all sounded like a paraphrase to a script.
2. The people claiming that SMC's a rip-off seem to out number the other side.
3. The people against in a nut shell basically tell you a nightmare and it kinda makes sense. Only I think anyone who see's the commercial would be turned off anyway and NEVER pay thousands of dollars without investigating and reviewing FACTS.
4. I think the good folks at SMC are in fact taking your money and laughing all the way to the bank. But, I also wish I owned the company. And have to applaud their brains for inventing the longest running undetected scam besides casinos (which I also wish I owned).
5. I think that everyone is forgetting that SMC is a business and in order to run a business you have to make generate revenue and at some point be proffitable. So, I really don't think it matters that they are the middle man, wholeseller, or whatever. The main point is that they have to make money themselves. Their get rich quick sceme is the one they are trying to sell you. Instead of investing in their's why not start your own. And maybe then you'll see the point, picture, and money.
6. Lastly, in response to my chosen title, I can't say that SMC is a good company or not. You can't convict criminals with reasonable doubt and you certainly shouldn't shell out your life savings with reasonable doubt. They say at the bottom of the screen "results not typical". Clearly, they even doubt themselves. With this and all get rich quick companies, if what they were selling was soo tried and true then could gaurantee great results for everyone. But, they can't. NOTHING works for EVERYONE. Like the former employee said in an earlier posting, there are 11 people who has indeed gotten rich. It worked for someone just maybe not you (ex and angry members).

So, people lets remind ourselves that you should't buy a cow you can milk for free. And you certainly shouldn't buy a nightmare when you can dream your own.
Elisha
Memphis, TN

How can you be expected to make a profit when everyone is selling the same products?

I tried selling SMC with NO profit. I have worked at a few flea markets and I go to alot to browse and I have seen SMC products at ALL of them.

I'm willing to bet at least 1/3 of the people who sell at flea markets are selling SMC merchandise.

How can you be expected to make a profit when everyone is selling the same products?

I tried selling SMC with NO profit. I have worked at a few flea markets and I go to alot to browse and I have seen SMC products at ALL of them.

I'm willing to bet at least 1/3 of the people who sell at flea markets are selling SMC merchandise.

How can you be expected to make a profit when everyone is selling the same products?

I tried selling SMC with NO profit. I have worked at a few flea markets and I go to alot to browse and I have seen SMC products at ALL of them.

I'm willing to bet at least 1/3 of the people who sell at flea markets are selling SMC merchandise.

Melanie,

Have you looked on eBay recently? Just search for SMC's "sample" products on eBay, they are selling for cents above what it costs you to buy them "wholesale."

SMC does not custom make your site. SMC websites are REPRODUCTIONS. They've created it once, using software, and can reproduce that site as many times as they like.

--I know what it's like to build a website, I own my own business. I suggest you steer clear from SMC.

Remember: "Get legal or get cheated."
--If they do not ask for a tax ID # and in many cases credit applications they are not a real wholesaler.
--If you have to pay a fee to sell wholesale merchandise, they are not a real wholesaler.

No doubt you might be able to sell SMC "stuff" on your website for a markup, but remember -- you need domain hosting, that ontop of SMC's initial $300+recurring costs adds up quick.

Advertising and marketing strategies and knowledge is a must --
You cant just throw a website up and expect people to go to it.

Here is a quick tip for you:
--SMC's primary focus is "gift" items. I would like to take this time to tell you that the gift market is very broad and saturated with competition. Meaning, you have a very large target market, and many others already way ahead of the game.

--My approach would be to find a niche market, in my case -- optics and accessories. I have a "niche" or specialty market I can now market to.

I would like to see your website
I hope you make the right choices
I hope you succeed, America needs people like you and me, not SMC.

I'm a poet.

First of all. I am a NEW SMC member and have not sold one thing. here is the reason why i haven't tried. i am building a website to put the entire catalogue online. If no one in realizes just how time consuming it is to build a website with linked buttons and pictures of thousands of item then you are completely daffy. It take TIME.

This is why the websites are so expensive. In my experience, people don't buy from catalogues. they look at them at momments where they are not really planning to buy stuff them toss them aside. I don't waste my money on them.

So basically I have spent the initial 320$ on the membership kit and was given a coupon for $100 dollars worth of products at the white price, which is cheap than you could get those items anywhere. Me and my mother used that to buy Christmas presents and it bought several NICE gifts. at least 8 well worth 30 bucks a piece on average.

Most of my money has already been made back. now I have a recurring membership fee which I plan to to keep current. it's around $30 or so. And even if I never sell a thing it will be worth it because I can buy products that i use through SMC at the white price. and they come double boxed with styrofoam. very well packed and shipping is not cheap all the way across the us for anyone.

They calculate it by percentage and it is less the closer you get to the distribution site on the West coast. You pay the percentage on the white price. if you buy $100 of product at that rate, mark it up to $150. you just payed 25 bucks for a $150 order ON THE EAST COAST. The Closer you get to the west coast. the cheaper it is. look on ebay. do the math.

They charge more for small orders because small orders aer a waste of everyone's time and a waste of packaging. anyone with common sense can figure that out. It's a distibution, not a gift shop. They are encouraging you to make your orders wisely. If you mark up only ten percent you will make $10 on every $100 dollar order. That's not a big order for someone doing some shopping. You will easily spend that much everytime you walk into walmart. If you only make $10 on that order, how long did it take you to make it? five. maybe ten minutes?

Compare that to loading heavy boxes onto conveyor belts for an HOUR. for the same amount. Some people will complain about anything.
It may be true that you do not want to mark your prices up 2-300% but even if I never sell one thing. I will d**n sure keep this membership because I will be doing my own shopping through it rather than fighting crowds and bad traffic at christmas time. I will sit right here while drinking coffee making my orders from thousands of nice products. and as for them being middle men. they are distribution. not manufacturers. do you think walmart and lowes and home depot manufactures their store products.

i sure hope that's not what you think because that could only mean one thing and I don't have to say it, as for getting a tax ID. that is YOUR responsibility to get. Most wholesalers ask for it but it is for the purpose of filing taxes, not for buying the products and a lot of times it's your SS# and if you go around all over the internet supplying that. that's not very smart.

There's so many scams out there it's not even funny. While some may make no money on SMC, it is in fact. a legitimate company. If you spend a lot of money on all kinds of props thinking you will "get rich quick" then you are asking to be duped anyway. A lot of people get into SMC only to find out just how stiff the competition is on ebay and realize they are not going to be a millionaire overnight. AWWWWWW. so sad.

And NO. I'm not an SMC employee. I worked at lowes distribution chunking boxes, I was an industrial painter (which was the crappiest job ever!) I have been a seamstress among many other things. I'm getting into website design and am building an SMC website and yes. it's taking me a long time because I'm still learning but you knwo what. $10.95 a month with 600GB that I can do whatever the hell I want with in the mean time is certainly not killing me. and seeing as how I can get my favorite herbal soap for 67 cents a bar among a crap load of other things. I won't be letting go of my membership. and to the person who said they charged their credit card $6000.

That is a bold faced lie and you know it. If they, did all you have to do is dispute it and it would be returned. "Oh, I didn't have any money for Christmas". if they did you must have ordered $6000 worth of stuff! and if you decided AFTER you got it that you didn't want it. they would still refund your money. If that were even HALF true, you could take them to court. no question about it.

You know what i think. I think this is all the work of some frustrated individual who thought they were going to make thousands over night OR a competing company because this crap is unbelievable. I do agree the coaches don't help much but what do you expect them to do? Hand out catalogues for you? Everybody wants it so easy ridiculous! $6000 my ARSE.

The website fees I believe because I'm building one and now what a b***h that can be. You'd have to be stupid to think you can somebody to design a multi catagory multiple thousand item completely linked website for under a thousand. That's a lot of d**n work people.

I can tell you that first hand because I'm building one of these monsters from a blank template up and it aint no walk in the park, not to mention INCREDIBLY tedious!

First of all. I am a NEW SMC member and have not sold one thing. here is the reason why i haven't tried. i am building a website to put the entire catalogue online. If no one in realizes just how time consuming it is to build a website with linked buttons and pictures of thousands of item then you are completely daffy. It take TIME.

This is why the websites are so expensive. In my experience, people don't buy from catalogues. they look at them at momments where they are not really planning to buy stuff them toss them aside. I don't waste my money on them.

So basically I have spent the initial 320$ on the membership kit and was given a coupon for $100 dollars worth of products at the white price, which is cheap than you could get those items anywhere. Me and my mother used that to buy Christmas presents and it bought several NICE gifts. at least 8 well worth 30 bucks a piece on average.

Most of my money has already been made back. now I have a recurring membership fee which I plan to to keep current. it's around $30 or so. And even if I never sell a thing it will be worth it because I can buy products that i use through SMC at the white price. and they come double boxed with styrofoam. very well packed and shipping is not cheap all the way across the us for anyone.

They calculate it by percentage and it is less the closer you get to the distribution site on the West coast. You pay the percentage on the white price. if you buy $100 of product at that rate, mark it up to $150. you just payed 25 bucks for a $150 order ON THE EAST COAST. The Closer you get to the west coast. the cheaper it is. look on ebay. do the math.

They charge more for small orders because small orders aer a waste of everyone's time and a waste of packaging. anyone with common sense can figure that out. It's a distibution, not a gift shop. They are encouraging you to make your orders wisely. If you mark up only ten percent you will make $10 on every $100 dollar order. That's not a big order for someone doing some shopping. You will easily spend that much everytime you walk into walmart. If you only make $10 on that order, how long did it take you to make it? five. maybe ten minutes?

Compare that to loading heavy boxes onto conveyor belts for an HOUR. for the same amount. Some people will complain about anything.
It may be true that you do not want to mark your prices up 2-300% but even if I never sell one thing. I will d**n sure keep this membership because I will be doing my own shopping through it rather than fighting crowds and bad traffic at christmas time. I will sit right here while drinking coffee making my orders from thousands of nice products. and as for them being middle men. they are distribution. not manufacturers. do you think walmart and lowes and home depot manufactures their store products.

i sure hope that's not what you think because that could only mean one thing and I don't have to say it, as for getting a tax ID. that is YOUR responsibility to get. Most wholesalers ask for it but it is for the purpose of filing taxes, not for buying the products and a lot of times it's your SS# and if you go around all over the internet supplying that. that's not very smart.

There's so many scams out there it's not even funny. While some may make no money on SMC, it is in fact. a legitimate company. If you spend a lot of money on all kinds of props thinking you will "get rich quick" then you are asking to be duped anyway. A lot of people get into SMC only to find out just how stiff the competition is on ebay and realize they are not going to be a millionaire overnight. AWWWWWW. so sad.

And NO. I'm not an SMC employee. I worked at lowes distribution chunking boxes, I was an industrial painter (which was the crappiest job ever!) I have been a seamstress among many other things. I'm getting into website design and am building an SMC website and yes. it's taking me a long time because I'm still learning but you knwo what. $10.95 a month with 600GB that I can do whatever the hell I want with in the mean time is certainly not killing me. and seeing as how I can get my favorite herbal soap for 67 cents a bar among a crap load of other things. I won't be letting go of my membership. and to the person who said they charged their credit card $6000.

That is a bold faced lie and you know it. If they, did all you have to do is dispute it and it would be returned. "Oh, I didn't have any money for Christmas". if they did you must have ordered $6000 worth of stuff! and if you decided AFTER you got it that you didn't want it. they would still refund your money. If that were even HALF true, you could take them to court. no question about it.

You know what i think. I think this is all the work of some frustrated individual who thought they were going to make thousands over night OR a competing company because this crap is unbelievable. I do agree the coaches don't help much but what do you expect them to do? Hand out catalogues for you? Everybody wants it so easy ridiculous! $6000 my ARSE.

The website fees I believe because I'm building one and now what a b***h that can be. You'd have to be stupid to think you can somebody to design a multi catagory multiple thousand item completely linked website for under a thousand. That's a lot of d**n work people.

I can tell you that first hand because I'm building one of these monsters from a blank template up and it aint no walk in the park, not to mention INCREDIBLY tedious!

First of all. I am a NEW SMC member and have not sold one thing. here is the reason why i haven't tried. i am building a website to put the entire catalogue online. If no one in realizes just how time consuming it is to build a website with linked buttons and pictures of thousands of item then you are completely daffy. It take TIME.

This is why the websites are so expensive. In my experience, people don't buy from catalogues. they look at them at momments where they are not really planning to buy stuff them toss them aside. I don't waste my money on them.

So basically I have spent the initial 320$ on the membership kit and was given a coupon for $100 dollars worth of products at the white price, which is cheap than you could get those items anywhere. Me and my mother used that to buy Christmas presents and it bought several NICE gifts. at least 8 well worth 30 bucks a piece on average.

Most of my money has already been made back. now I have a recurring membership fee which I plan to to keep current. it's around $30 or so. And even if I never sell a thing it will be worth it because I can buy products that i use through SMC at the white price. and they come double boxed with styrofoam. very well packed and shipping is not cheap all the way across the us for anyone.

They calculate it by percentage and it is less the closer you get to the distribution site on the West coast. You pay the percentage on the white price. if you buy $100 of product at that rate, mark it up to $150. you just payed 25 bucks for a $150 order ON THE EAST COAST. The Closer you get to the west coast. the cheaper it is. look on ebay. do the math.

They charge more for small orders because small orders aer a waste of everyone's time and a waste of packaging. anyone with common sense can figure that out. It's a distibution, not a gift shop. They are encouraging you to make your orders wisely. If you mark up only ten percent you will make $10 on every $100 dollar order. That's not a big order for someone doing some shopping. You will easily spend that much everytime you walk into walmart. If you only make $10 on that order, how long did it take you to make it? five. maybe ten minutes?

Compare that to loading heavy boxes onto conveyor belts for an HOUR. for the same amount. Some people will complain about anything.
It may be true that you do not want to mark your prices up 2-300% but even if I never sell one thing. I will d**n sure keep this membership because I will be doing my own shopping through it rather than fighting crowds and bad traffic at christmas time. I will sit right here while drinking coffee making my orders from thousands of nice products. and as for them being middle men. they are distribution. not manufacturers. do you think walmart and lowes and home depot manufactures their store products.

i sure hope that's not what you think because that could only mean one thing and I don't have to say it, as for getting a tax ID. that is YOUR responsibility to get. Most wholesalers ask for it but it is for the purpose of filing taxes, not for buying the products and a lot of times it's your SS# and if you go around all over the internet supplying that. that's not very smart.

There's so many scams out there it's not even funny. While some may make no money on SMC, it is in fact. a legitimate company. If you spend a lot of money on all kinds of props thinking you will "get rich quick" then you are asking to be duped anyway. A lot of people get into SMC only to find out just how stiff the competition is on ebay and realize they are not going to be a millionaire overnight. AWWWWWW. so sad.

And NO. I'm not an SMC employee. I worked at lowes distribution chunking boxes, I was an industrial painter (which was the crappiest job ever!) I have been a seamstress among many other things. I'm getting into website design and am building an SMC website and yes. it's taking me a long time because I'm still learning but you knwo what. $10.95 a month with 600GB that I can do whatever the hell I want with in the mean time is certainly not killing me. and seeing as how I can get my favorite herbal soap for 67 cents a bar among a crap load of other things. I won't be letting go of my membership. and to the person who said they charged their credit card $6000.

That is a bold faced lie and you know it. If they, did all you have to do is dispute it and it would be returned. "Oh, I didn't have any money for Christmas". if they did you must have ordered $6000 worth of stuff! and if you decided AFTER you got it that you didn't want it. they would still refund your money. If that were even HALF true, you could take them to court. no question about it.

You know what i think. I think this is all the work of some frustrated individual who thought they were going to make thousands over night OR a competing company because this crap is unbelievable. I do agree the coaches don't help much but what do you expect them to do? Hand out catalogues for you? Everybody wants it so easy ridiculous! $6000 my ARSE.

The website fees I believe because I'm building one and now what a b***h that can be. You'd have to be stupid to think you can somebody to design a multi catagory multiple thousand item completely linked website for under a thousand. That's a lot of d**n work people.

I can tell you that first hand because I'm building one of these monsters from a blank template up and it aint no walk in the park, not to mention INCREDIBLY tedious!

First of all. I am a NEW SMC member and have not sold one thing. here is the reason why i haven't tried. i am building a website to put the entire catalogue online. If no one in realizes just how time consuming it is to build a website with linked buttons and pictures of thousands of item then you are completely daffy. It take TIME.

This is why the websites are so expensive. In my experience, people don't buy from catalogues. they look at them at momments where they are not really planning to buy stuff them toss them aside. I don't waste my money on them.

So basically I have spent the initial 320$ on the membership kit and was given a coupon for $100 dollars worth of products at the white price, which is cheap than you could get those items anywhere. Me and my mother used that to buy Christmas presents and it bought several NICE gifts. at least 8 well worth 30 bucks a piece on average.

Most of my money has already been made back. now I have a recurring membership fee which I plan to to keep current. it's around $30 or so. And even if I never sell a thing it will be worth it because I can buy products that i use through SMC at the white price. and they come double boxed with styrofoam. very well packed and shipping is not cheap all the way across the us for anyone.

They calculate it by percentage and it is less the closer you get to the distribution site on the West coast. You pay the percentage on the white price. if you buy $100 of product at that rate, mark it up to $150. you just payed 25 bucks for a $150 order ON THE EAST COAST. The Closer you get to the west coast. the cheaper it is. look on ebay. do the math.

They charge more for small orders because small orders aer a waste of everyone's time and a waste of packaging. anyone with common sense can figure that out. It's a distibution, not a gift shop. They are encouraging you to make your orders wisely. If you mark up only ten percent you will make $10 on every $100 dollar order. That's not a big order for someone doing some shopping. You will easily spend that much everytime you walk into walmart. If you only make $10 on that order, how long did it take you to make it? five. maybe ten minutes?

Compare that to loading heavy boxes onto conveyor belts for an HOUR. for the same amount. Some people will complain about anything.
It may be true that you do not want to mark your prices up 2-300% but even if I never sell one thing. I will d**n sure keep this membership because I will be doing my own shopping through it rather than fighting crowds and bad traffic at christmas time. I will sit right here while drinking coffee making my orders from thousands of nice products. and as for them being middle men. they are distribution. not manufacturers. do you think walmart and lowes and home depot manufactures their store products.

i sure hope that's not what you think because that could only mean one thing and I don't have to say it, as for getting a tax ID. that is YOUR responsibility to get. Most wholesalers ask for it but it is for the purpose of filing taxes, not for buying the products and a lot of times it's your SS# and if you go around all over the internet supplying that. that's not very smart.

There's so many scams out there it's not even funny. While some may make no money on SMC, it is in fact. a legitimate company. If you spend a lot of money on all kinds of props thinking you will "get rich quick" then you are asking to be duped anyway. A lot of people get into SMC only to find out just how stiff the competition is on ebay and realize they are not going to be a millionaire overnight. AWWWWWW. so sad.

And NO. I'm not an SMC employee. I worked at lowes distribution chunking boxes, I was an industrial painter (which was the crappiest job ever!) I have been a seamstress among many other things. I'm getting into website design and am building an SMC website and yes. it's taking me a long time because I'm still learning but you knwo what. $10.95 a month with 600GB that I can do whatever the hell I want with in the mean time is certainly not killing me. and seeing as how I can get my favorite herbal soap for 67 cents a bar among a crap load of other things. I won't be letting go of my membership. and to the person who said they charged their credit card $6000.

That is a bold faced lie and you know it. If they, did all you have to do is dispute it and it would be returned. "Oh, I didn't have any money for Christmas". if they did you must have ordered $6000 worth of stuff! and if you decided AFTER you got it that you didn't want it. they would still refund your money. If that were even HALF true, you could take them to court. no question about it.

You know what i think. I think this is all the work of some frustrated individual who thought they were going to make thousands over night OR a competing company because this crap is unbelievable. I do agree the coaches don't help much but what do you expect them to do? Hand out catalogues for you? Everybody wants it so easy ridiculous! $6000 my ARSE.

The website fees I believe because I'm building one and now what a b***h that can be. You'd have to be stupid to think you can somebody to design a multi catagory multiple thousand item completely linked website for under a thousand. That's a lot of d**n work people.

I can tell you that first hand because I'm building one of these monsters from a blank template up and it aint no walk in the park, not to mention INCREDIBLY tedious!

I am an 18 year old whom has become fairly well off in my own job making about 75,000 a year. Howevery being young and hopeful got the better of me and I bought the SMC Package. I understand that you have to spend money to make it but in this case it was more money burned than anything I would be charged outragouse amounts of money for the probucts I ordered and I would get them and they would be the worst qulity ever. I started to get the hang of it around christmas time and then out of nowhere I get a call from their collection saying I own them a whole 6,000 plus dollars for charges that were charged on a credit card that they had maxed out. I was put in the hole for Christmas just to keep my credit at a perfect score. I did however have one good experience with SMC and that was leaving. Yes it took more than 2 months to get things sorted out with them but I was much happier telling them where they could take their bills and business.

Part of what you people say about SMC being bad, etc. could be true. I am a new "member" and I have 9 ways I am going to market and sell the merchandise. YOU MUST HAVE/SPEND MONEY to make money. If you spend your last buck on the kit and can't advertise, etc. what really do you expect??

Did anyone ever:

1. Prepare a "business plan"
2. Shop different advertising means
3. Invest in your own inventory, and ship yourself

YES, SMC is gonna make money on people that want "instant" gratification. It takes at least 1 year to build up a business. If you think it is easy to make your own connections with wholesalers (real ones) and they will sell you items one at a time, please....please let us all know who you are dealing with..

The only logical response is the guy who ripped off the government by pretending the business was owned by his mother (to get a grant). GREAT IDEA by the way.

LASTLY: IT TAKES MONEY TO MAKE MONEY....THERE IS NO GET RICH QUICK SCEME OUT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off I'd like to say I have special information about this company. I know exactly how it works. And your right, if you buy into the SMC scam you will get screwed. We are not out to help you guys at all. It's all about how much money the "business consultants" can make for themselves and the company. The customers don't stand a chance in hell. You'd do better selling cigarettes on a street corner in Harlem. Think of SMC as a mini casino. The only peolpe who make money in a casino are the owners. The coaches are told by the supervisors to upsell you guys as much bull s**t as possible. Website, books, giftcards the whole shabang. The more you buy the more commission we make because we only get a base pay of about 500 a week BEFORE taxes. It's our job to pump and dump. We pump up your dreams of owning your own business and then dump a load of merchandise in your lap that not even [] would carry. Some of us make 1500 to 2000 a week selling you CRAP that you'll never be able to sell....anywhere. Once you run out of family and friends that may mercy buy from you. There's usually nowhere us to go. Good luck at that flee market pal. Many of us have absoultly no respect for you guys even though your on our green bar. A green bar is the number of clients an individual coach is responsible for. Most of us have between 300 to 600 customers we are responsible for fleecing through out the week. Pump your green bar is a common saying. It's like a leads list. You guys are leads pure and simple. Your website is a templete that ALL SMC members use. That's why you can't customize it. You can buy one that's customizable if you like. You'll only need oh say about 2000 thousand dollars upfront. The website is complete crap. It's the World Of Products book, just on-line. Think about how it's set up....you have to sell a gift card BEFORE a customer can order. So your constantly buying more and more gift cards. But to make it worst you have to first sell the gift cards to strangers BEFORE they can even buy from your site. I have so many stories I could share with you. It would make your blood boil. We cheer and high five and yell out loud every time a sucker buys an 895 dollar website from a consultant. The cheer is lead by a male supervisior there. If you poor people only knew. Want a better idea of what the enviroment is like? Rent the movie Boiler Room. Here's a better idea, instead of getting screwed by SMC, save your money, go back to school and get a degere in business. Then you'll be prepared to enter the world and make some money. But stop falling for informal scams. Just becasue it's on tv, doesn't make it legit.

Another note, with SMC, you are not your own boss. You do not own your own business. You are basically an agent for SMC, selling their products. YOU are SMC's advertising, and YOU pay THEM to advertise.

No doubt you may earn a little money, but just think of what you can do if you are the retailer instead of SMC?!

You do not own a legal business, and you are not registered with your local state government.

Hi, us again.

We were wondering if we ordered once a month if it would save us any money on shipping? the reason we are asking is because we are living in Canada.

We recently purchased the SMC starter kit and are excited to start our home business. I had a couple questions reguarding the border tax... since we are Canadian, how much is the extra cost going to be? And of all the threads we read on this site, we feel that the people who failed, they just didn't try very hard to sell thier product.

bianca said it think outside the box.the people at smc did.now they're on tv every night getting peoples hard earned money.they got a tax id number,buy from the wholesalers,goes on tv and gets you fine people to peddle thier supplies and pay them to do it.they should be paying you after all your the sales rep. for them.so in a nut shell-they buy the supplies you pay them to sell thier supplies.leo-from ohio

I have to say that reading some of these reviews has made me a little skeptical. But, not enough for me to decide to stay away from SMC.

I have done my research on SMC, as well as some other companies, and have some very good suggestions for people.

You can not get rich from SMC or any other merchandising company, if you are not willing to put in some good old honest work. Nothing in life is free!!!

When starting your own business, it always helps to think outside the box. There is a lot of competition in this type of home based business, so you just have to think of creative ways to stand out!! Use alternate advertising!

I have found a pen supplier who will sell me 250 engraved pens with my business name and design of my choosing for only $50!! If you think that I am not going to pass pens out to everyone I meet, you are crazy.

I have many other ideas as well, but of course I am trying to be different, so I will not disclose them here!!

I have created a blog at (((link redacted))) which keeps a very detailed and accurate account of how my membership is working. This is a very honest review of my specific situation. I will say the good as well as the bad.

I am just a firm believer that a company can not be around this long, if there are not more people satisfied with it, then are satisfied. I am hoping to be satisfied, but time will tell.

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

SMC AKA SPECIALTY MERCHANDISE CORPORATION IS WORKING FOR ME.. I WILL EXPLAIN WHY I AM BEING SUCESSFUL.

OK.. I JOINED SMC ON MARCH 29, 2002. I GAVE THEM MY LAST 400.00 BUCKS.. OUCH!

I WASNT ABLE TO START THE EXPENSES OF A BUSINESS AND WAS UNPROFFITABLE FOR 6 MONTHS TILL I DID MY REAL HOME WORK. HERE IS THE STEPS I TOOK!

I PUT MY BUSINESS LICENSE IS MY MOM'S NAME..
BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN..

I THEN HAD HER CALL THE WOMEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION.

WE WROTE OUT A 50-PAGE BUSINESS PLAN.. ( INORDER TO BE SUCESSFUL I SUGGEST THIS.. YOU THINK WALMART OR WENDY'S DIDNT HAVE ONE)

WE MET WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE.. WOMENS BUSINESS ASSOC. AND GOT A D-U-N-S- NUMBER.. (IF YOU GUNNA OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT THIS NUMBER IS)

WE GOT A TAX I.D. NUMBER (FREE)
WE GOT A BUSINESS LICENSE (50.00)

SINCE WE DID ALL THESE STEPS WE ENDED UP WALKING AWAY FROM THE LOCAL WOMENS ASSOC. OFFICE WITH A 50,000.00 GOVERNENT BUSINESS GRANT!!! YES, MONEY IS OUT THERE TO HELP YOU.. WE GOT THIS GRANT CAUSE MY MOM IS A WOMAN AND WOMEN CAN GET ALOT ACCOMPLISHED TO HELP THEM BE SUCESSFUL...

OK.. NOW MY 400.00 I SPENT ON SMC I PUT RIGHT IN MY POCKET.. (OUT OF MY 50,000.00)

I BOUGHT BOUT 10,000.00 WORTH OF SMC MERCHANDISE!

MY SHIPMENT WAS LESS ONLY A 1,000.00 BY THE WAY!

I PUT A KIOSK IN THE MALL... 1,650.00

I SOLD ALL BY PRODUCTS IS 2 WEEKS... I TURNED THE 10,000.00 TO BOUT 24,900.00

OK... NOW LETS TAKE 24,900.00 MINUS 10,000.00 AND WE GOT 14,900.00

TAKE MY MALL RENT AND WE GOT 13,250.00 PROFIT!!!

OK.. NOW TELL ME HOW I LOST OUT... THE GOVERNMENT PAID FOR MY MERCHANDISE AND GAVE ME MY 400.00 BACK.. PLUS I STILL HAVE SOME GRANT MONEY LEFT...

NOT BAD FOR A KID WHO WAS HOMELESS THE DAY HE JOINED SMC TO MAKING 13,250.00 IN A MONTH... OK SINCE THEN I HAVE AVERAGED AT LEAST 10,000.00 A MONTH IN PROFIT AND RIGHT NOW I HAVE OVER

100,000.00 IN MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT!

I GUESS I AM DOING GOOD WITH THE MIDDLE MAN HUH!

ALSO, I RECOMMEND BUYING THE MERCHANDISE AND STORE THEM IN YOUR OWN LIL WAREHOUSE SO YOU CAN REPLACE THE SOLD ITEMS THE SAME DAY THEN ORDER FROM SMC WHEN U LOW IN YOUR WAREHOUSE....

SMC AKA SPECIALTY MERCHANDISE CORPORATION IS WORKING FOR ME.. I WILL EXPLAIN WHY I AM BEING SUCESSFUL.

OK.. I JOINED SMC ON MARCH 29, 2002. I GAVE THEM MY LAST 400.00 BUCKS.. OUCH!

I WASNT ABLE TO START THE EXPENSES OF A BUSINESS AND WAS UNPROFFITABLE FOR 6 MONTHS TILL I DID MY REAL HOME WORK. HERE IS THE STEPS I TOOK!

I PUT MY BUSINESS LICENSE IS MY MOM'S NAME..
BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN..

I THEN HAD HER CALL THE WOMEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION.

WE WROTE OUT A 50-PAGE BUSINESS PLAN.. ( INORDER TO BE SUCESSFUL I SUGGEST THIS.. YOU THINK WALMART OR WENDY'S DIDNT HAVE ONE)

WE MET WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE.. WOMENS BUSINESS ASSOC. AND GOT A D-U-N-S- NUMBER.. (IF YOU GUNNA OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT THIS NUMBER IS)

WE GOT A TAX I.D. NUMBER (FREE)
WE GOT A BUSINESS LICENSE (50.00)

SINCE WE DID ALL THESE STEPS WE ENDED UP WALKING AWAY FROM THE LOCAL WOMENS ASSOC. OFFICE WITH A 50,000.00 GOVERNENT BUSINESS GRANT!!! YES, MONEY IS OUT THERE TO HELP YOU.. WE GOT THIS GRANT CAUSE MY MOM IS A WOMAN AND WOMEN CAN GET ALOT ACCOMPLISHED TO HELP THEM BE SUCESSFUL...

OK.. NOW MY 400.00 I SPENT ON SMC I PUT RIGHT IN MY POCKET.. (OUT OF MY 50,000.00)

I BOUGHT BOUT 10,000.00 WORTH OF SMC MERCHANDISE!

MY SHIPMENT WAS LESS ONLY A 1,000.00 BY THE WAY!

I PUT A KIOSK IN THE MALL... 1,650.00

I SOLD ALL BY PRODUCTS IS 2 WEEKS... I TURNED THE 10,000.00 TO BOUT 24,900.00

OK... NOW LETS TAKE 24,900.00 MINUS 10,000.00 AND WE GOT 14,900.00

TAKE MY MALL RENT AND WE GOT 13,250.00 PROFIT!!!

OK.. NOW TELL ME HOW I LOST OUT... THE GOVERNMENT PAID FOR MY MERCHANDISE AND GAVE ME MY 400.00 BACK.. PLUS I STILL HAVE SOME GRANT MONEY LEFT...

NOT BAD FOR A KID WHO WAS HOMELESS THE DAY HE JOINED SMC TO MAKING 13,250.00 IN A MONTH... OK SINCE THEN I HAVE AVERAGED AT LEAST 10,000.00 A MONTH IN PROFIT AND RIGHT NOW I HAVE OVER

100,000.00 IN MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT!

I GUESS I AM DOING GOOD WITH THE MIDDLE MAN HUH!

ALSO, I RECOMMEND BUYING THE MERCHANDISE AND STORE THEM IN YOUR OWN LIL WAREHOUSE SO YOU CAN REPLACE THE SOLD ITEMS THE SAME DAY THEN ORDER FROM SMC WHEN U LOW IN YOUR WAREHOUSE....

SMC AKA SPECIALTY MERCHANDISE CORPORATION IS WORKING FOR ME.. I WILL EXPLAIN WHY I AM BEING SUCESSFUL.

OK.. I JOINED SMC ON MARCH 29, 2002. I GAVE THEM MY LAST 400.00 BUCKS.. OUCH!

I WASNT ABLE TO START THE EXPENSES OF A BUSINESS AND WAS UNPROFFITABLE FOR 6 MONTHS TILL I DID MY REAL HOME WORK. HERE IS THE STEPS I TOOK!

I PUT MY BUSINESS LICENSE IS MY MOM'S NAME..
BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN..

I THEN HAD HER CALL THE WOMEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION.

WE WROTE OUT A 50-PAGE BUSINESS PLAN.. ( INORDER TO BE SUCESSFUL I SUGGEST THIS.. YOU THINK WALMART OR WENDY'S DIDNT HAVE ONE)

WE MET WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE.. WOMENS BUSINESS ASSOC. AND GOT A D-U-N-S- NUMBER.. (IF YOU GUNNA OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT THIS NUMBER IS)

WE GOT A TAX I.D. NUMBER (FREE)
WE GOT A BUSINESS LICENSE (50.00)

SINCE WE DID ALL THESE STEPS WE ENDED UP WALKING AWAY FROM THE LOCAL WOMENS ASSOC. OFFICE WITH A 50,000.00 GOVERNENT BUSINESS GRANT!!! YES, MONEY IS OUT THERE TO HELP YOU.. WE GOT THIS GRANT CAUSE MY MOM IS A WOMAN AND WOMEN CAN GET ALOT ACCOMPLISHED TO HELP THEM BE SUCESSFUL...

OK.. NOW MY 400.00 I SPENT ON SMC I PUT RIGHT IN MY POCKET.. (OUT OF MY 50,000.00)

I BOUGHT BOUT 10,000.00 WORTH OF SMC MERCHANDISE!

MY SHIPMENT WAS LESS ONLY A 1,000.00 BY THE WAY!

I PUT A KIOSK IN THE MALL... 1,650.00

I SOLD ALL BY PRODUCTS IS 2 WEEKS... I TURNED THE 10,000.00 TO BOUT 24,900.00

OK... NOW LETS TAKE 24,900.00 MINUS 10,000.00 AND WE GOT 14,900.00

TAKE MY MALL RENT AND WE GOT 13,250.00 PROFIT!!!

OK.. NOW TELL ME HOW I LOST OUT... THE GOVERNMENT PAID FOR MY MERCHANDISE AND GAVE ME MY 400.00 BACK.. PLUS I STILL HAVE SOME GRANT MONEY LEFT...

NOT BAD FOR A KID WHO WAS HOMELESS THE DAY HE JOINED SMC TO MAKING 13,250.00 IN A MONTH... OK SINCE THEN I HAVE AVERAGED AT LEAST 10,000.00 A MONTH IN PROFIT AND RIGHT NOW I HAVE OVER

100,000.00 IN MY PERSONAL ACCOUNT!

I GUESS I AM DOING GOOD WITH THE MIDDLE MAN HUH!

ALSO, I RECOMMEND BUYING THE MERCHANDISE AND STORE THEM IN YOUR OWN LIL WAREHOUSE SO YOU CAN REPLACE THE SOLD ITEMS THE SAME DAY THEN ORDER FROM SMC WHEN U LOW IN YOUR WAREHOUSE....

You said it, Ray from Green Bay, VA. I agree with your philosophy, and congratulate you for having what must be the first posting on this topic without grammatical or spelling errors! That goes a long way in revealing one's intellect, and I believe you've provided the first sign of intelligence (other than Paul from Lubbock, Texas).

I joined SMC only three days ago (11/17/06), after years of careful consideration for their program and having performed lots of research about them. I used to work for an international hotel chain where I managed a vast number of banquet gatherings for a group called Hager Marketing, a.k.a. Cyberwize, based out of California. This was the pyramid scheme to beat all pyramid schemes. The "high-ups" would rent high-end sports cars (with the 'E' on the trunk, classifying them as property of Enterprise Rent-A-Car), and would also don these ridiculous suits for their meetings--suits you are more likely to see an NFL player or millionaire rapper wearing. Occasionally, Mr. Hager himself would fly in to attend an annual conference, and anyone who knew Hager Marketing, and was on the inside of the operation, treated him like nothing short of an immortal.

Their cult-like following disgusted me and those I worked with at the hotel, and they eventually ceased holding their meetings with us, after our local NBC affiliate ran a story on Cyberwize and the pyramid scheme it was. Anyway, what I believe might separate SMC from Hager Marketing, in a small way, is that SMC does, to their own credit, offer a physical, tangible product that the customer can resell in an attempt to make money. With Hager Marketing, they wanted a $1000 investment from you to create a website-based marketing tool that would lure you into their meetings, but never divulge the products being sold/offered (hint, there were none)!! They offered no solid evidence that their business was at least halfway legitimate, and I feel like SMC makes a modest effort to get their products out there into the public to be sold.

My point is this: there are always going to be people who foolishly try to 'get rich quick' and those who will modestly tread the water of a questionable company to see if the 'juice is worth the squeeze'. I am a member of the latter, and in two or three months I will likely either come back to this site to either sympathize with those who have been had by SMC, or to say "maybe it really isn't all that bad." I think it's great, however, that so many folks are uniting in the cause to expose a company that has treated them so badly. I just hope I have better luck. Good day to you all!!

Regarding her ebay sales, she has a lot of unhappy buyers with her outrageous shipping charges and slow or no delivery. This is an example of how using a drop-shippier like SMC can get you into trouble on ebay. You make the sale and depend on SMC to ship it but they run out of stock. Your buyer doesn't want to hear that you're out of stock. And Susan, your sales are nothing to brag about. 484 feedbacks in well over 3 years of selling.

sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

Let me start off by saying I do not care whether SMC is a rip-off or not. But from what I am reading I do get one common denominator. The people who are complaining about SMC appear to me to be afraid of hard work.

To make any money in this world, you have to apply a little sweat and ingenuity. I run a mail order business and ebay company. The products I use I build my self. Wooden Toys, Candles, Soaps, Aromatherapy items.

But I would not have gotten this company off the ground, unless I had supplied the sweat, hard work and time. To many people nowadays want to start right off at the top. Sorry you have to start at the bottom of the ladder and work your way up.

I know a gentleman here in Virginia who sells SMC merchandise and he started off going to flea markets, craft shows. Finally he opened a store using SMC merchandise. This was 8 years ago and he just opened his 8th store using SMC Merchandise.

I have never known him to have any problems with SMC. But results will vary, guess it depends if you want to lay around on your ever spreading, donut eating behind on the couch and expect to make money or if you want to use the old advice and ways of our grandparents and actually work hard for the money you want to make.

Okay, here is a little re-cap of what happened to my mother, who is active in SMC, I mean, yeah, there shipping rates are kinda high, but, she would lower them on her own website to attract more people... It's not like it really cut into her profit any...

With that aside, she made sales, that wasn't a big deal... The big deal came when she got that $1,300+ website. She had gotten more customers who ordered from her, but she NEVER saw profits from it. When it was HER site, done by them... Yet MAGICALLY the people still received their orders...

Now tell me... how can they receive their orders from her website, and she NEVER saw any profit from it? Hmm... sounds like she was ripped off to me. Looking at it that way, why pay over $1,000 for something you will never profit from? It's wrong.

I'm not here to file a report, but just to shed some light on the EMC subject. SMC does offer some pretty cheap things, and they probably make money off of you by that "$2.50 under $30" rule... Which seems to be magically increasing over the course of time.

The only other thing I want to add to this is, really, with so many people going on about how "successful" they are with SMC, how does that make your products different from the next "work at home with SMC" business? If they say millions are getting rich off of this, then how can you profit from it too? Just food for thought...

And therefore you should listen to me. :)

I have not tried SMC. I've considered it in the past. I'm not an employee of SMC. I can spell.

If your considering SMC, consider this first. Any dropshipper worth their salt doesn't need to charge you for a 'package' prior to ordering wholesale products from them. There is NO excuse for this. There are NO upfront costs for them.

I'm not talking about building a website for you. That is secondary and understandable. But charging you a couple of hundred dollars just for the priviledge of using them as a dropshipper is a redflag that this is how they make their money, not selling products.

DON'T DO IT. Get the tax id, do the homework, find dropshippers that don't take your money ahead of time.

You should stop reading this thread now.

:)

smc does not make profit off of the product, in fact smc never touches the product. smc pays the same price as you do, but they charge huge fees to allow you to sell it. if you take the time to follow the trail you will find a series of wholesalers at different levels. they use picksend, bottomlinewholesalers, a1a giftsonline, etc. for those of us who dont have the money to invest in a buisness lisence its more ecinomical to use the top layer of wholesalers. once you have a little profit you should invest in the buisness lisence, so that you will be able to do buisness with companies with lower prices. the top level of wholesalers prices are high enough though that you will have to suffice with making pennies on the dollar. do not sign up for anything that asks for a membership fee, or any overly detailed information, infact if they cant accept paypal dont do it. i know all of this only because my mother was interested in smc, and wanted us to go into a partner ship. i took the time to research smc's company. which i gotta tell ya feels a little like chasing your own tail.
thank you

My applause goes to anyone who dreams of taking charge of their own financial future. Succeed, or fail, everyone needs to have a dream.

With that being said, do not point out the shortcomings of others, unless you are willing to have yours pointed out to you as well. So there are some on here who cannot spell. That does not make them stupid; it just makes them bad spellers. (Hint: type your response in a text editor, such as Microsoft Word, spell check it, then copy and paste your response!)

I, myself, am considering joining SMC. That is why I am here. I wanted to do some research on the company and see what others had to say about SMC.

First, you cannot expect ANYTHING to make you rich, especially overnight. You could possibly win the state lottery, and I could look like Marilyn Monroe, but I don't. Anyway...

You have to work for your riches. And more importantly, you need to define your own sense of what it means to be rich. I could be penniless, but still have the love of my family and friends, and I would consider myself very rich.

We have all established the fact that SMC is a middleman. What you and I at this point, need to decide is it worth giving up part of your profits for the services that they provide.

I, myself, am 2 semesters away from graduating college. I do not have the space needed to stock the products myself. SMC will do that for you. So, it is only feasible that they stand to profit from this as well. Would you warehouse thousands of dollars worth of inventory for someone else, for free? I sure wouldn't. And if you would, then give me a call. I have some stuff I need to store. You can reach me at 1-800-U-R-A-Sucker.

Secondly, believe it or not, not everyone is web savvy. Not everyone knows how to build and maintain a website. Although, if I join SMC that is what I plan to do. After reading all the comments posted on here it seems that using the web service they offer is too costly and you could do it yourself for much less. PLUS, if you build your own site, you can buy products from multiple suppliers and list different products from different companies on one site.

I have read multiple complaints on here about the quality of the products offered from SMC. DO SOME RESEARCH. Talk to other people who sell SMC products and ASK QUESTIONS. Ask them what products they seem to have the most profit potential with and ask them which products they feel are of good quality.

Also, do some market research for yourself. Not every market will render the same. If I join SMC I plan to go around to my local gift/novelty shops and watch what people are buying. Ask the owners of the shops which products seem to sell the most, and which ones just sit on the shelves.

You can't sell a box of nails to a baker, but you could sell them to a carpenter. See my point here? It goes back to the laws of supply and demand. If there is no need for a certain product in a certain market, you most likely won't sell it there. Find the products that people in YOUR market are buying.

Most of all, do not have false expectations. SMC can't make you rich. YOU have to do that for yourself. Not every business is right for every person. Some will fail with SMC, others may flourish.

In order for any business to succeed you must work hard, be diligent, and most of all, believe in your products and in yourself.

I couldn't believe that a guy was complaining that SMC charged him just a hair over $1,000 for making his e-commerce website for him. As a web programmer myself, there is no way that I would go through the hastle of integrating web, shopping cart software, payment gateways, worry about security issues, maintain the servers and the database, probably integrate another piece of software to calculate shipping for the different providers (fed ex, usps, UPS), etc, etc for even $2,000!

Secondly, some of the fees he was reffering to are required by credit card companies for the "priviledge" of being able to accept their credit card, and SMC would have no control over that.

I have never worked with the company directly, but I have seen the infomercials, I was very interested until I checked (((a website))) before calling them and found the site completely flooded with their products. I have no doubt you could still make tons of cash if you stayed away from ebay, and did your own e-commerce site and spent the cash to advertise with google words, etc. But you are going to have to spend alot more than $1,300 to get rich people, how can you not understand this? If it was that easy evryone would be a independantly wealthy.

You hear 2 seperate stories on this site, those making money, and those ready to sue because they didn't.

The ones making money are the ones that understand there is no get rich quick scheme, and used SMC the correct way.

It IS NOT SMC's job to make you rich! it is your job to have the motivation, perserverence, and also the neccesary starting capital to become successful ON YOUR OWN, SMC's job is the same as yours, to make themselves money, and that is perfectly ok, and a perfect example of capitolism. Put as much effort into your business as SMC has, and you will make money because of them

I have been a member of SMC and have been buying and selling their products off and on since 2000.

I have taken several years off to spend with my family and to restart my membership, it cost me ONLY $34.95. It's a lifetime membership, which means you can stop and start at any time without needing to go through the whole $300+ membership fee.

Everyone has to realize that with any good businesses, they take time and effort to start and get going. I am currently restarting my eBay store and have had many good auctions for SMC products.

SMC is no more a "Middleman" than any product supplier unless you get things straight from a factory that makes it. They are a business that does inform you whether items are out of stock. If they have 100 or fewer products they let you know when you check their inventory link.

Nowhere in their infomercials or in any of the literature do they claim you will make anything at all...Nor, do they claim that you will "get rich quick" which is what I read that most of the people going through SMC were hoping for.

If you are trying to build a decent business, SMC is a very viable and affordable way to do it. I am very satisfied with it and plan on moving to my own site with SMC products soon... though, not through their eCommerce Club.

Their eCommerce sites are expensive; however, they are directly linked with the database for inventory. If an item is listed as Out of Stock for SMC, it is also registered as Out of Stock for any site that is created through them. Their costs also include the building of the site and the processing of orders. Try coding your own site...it's not easy and it is time consuming.

As for shipping, I have no problem with that. I simply have all of my products shipped to my home address when possible in one shipment (which lowers the cost), repackage them, and send them through UPS Ground to their destination. I save on the handling fee and because the purchase amounts are higher, I save on total shipping costs.

The extra amount I put into shipping from home is returned to me by repeat orders because I can pack the items as I want them and I can add other things to the package (current catalog, specials flyer, etc).

Bottom Line, just because you didn't want to do what needed to be done and expected to make a million on your first sale, don't complain it is the company's fault. SMC works for those of us who are willing to do the work to create a viable business!

I have been a member of SMC and have been buying and selling their products off and on since 2000.

I have taken several years off to spend with my family and to restart my membership, it cost me ONLY $34.95. It's a lifetime membership, which means you can stop and start at any time without needing to go through the whole $300+ membership fee.

Everyone has to realize that with any good businesses, they take time and effort to start and get going. I am currently restarting my eBay store and have had many good auctions for SMC products.

SMC is no more a "Middleman" than any product supplier unless you get things straight from a factory that makes it. They are a business that does inform you whether items are out of stock. If they have 100 or fewer products they let you know when you check their inventory link.

Nowhere in their infomercials or in any of the literature do they claim you will make anything at all...Nor, do they claim that you will "get rich quick" which is what I read that most of the people going through SMC were hoping for.

If you are trying to build a decent business, SMC is a very viable and affordable way to do it. I am very satisfied with it and plan on moving to my own site with SMC products soon... though, not through their eCommerce Club.

Their eCommerce sites are expensive; however, they are directly linked with the database for inventory. If an item is listed as Out of Stock for SMC, it is also registered as Out of Stock for any site that is created through them. Their costs also include the building of the site and the processing of orders. Try coding your own site...it's not easy and it is time consuming.

As for shipping, I have no problem with that. I simply have all of my products shipped to my home address when possible in one shipment (which lowers the cost), repackage them, and send them through UPS Ground to their destination. I save on the handling fee and because the purchase amounts are higher, I save on total shipping costs.

The extra amount I put into shipping from home is returned to me by repeat orders because I can pack the items as I want them and I can add other things to the package (current catalog, specials flyer, etc).

Bottom Line, just because you didn't want to do what needed to be done and expected to make a million on your first sale, don't complain it is the company's fault. SMC works for those of us who are willing to do the work to create a viable business!

I have been a member of SMC and have been buying and selling their products off and on since 2000.

I have taken several years off to spend with my family and to restart my membership, it cost me ONLY $34.95. It's a lifetime membership, which means you can stop and start at any time without needing to go through the whole $300+ membership fee.

Everyone has to realize that with any good businesses, they take time and effort to start and get going. I am currently restarting my eBay store and have had many good auctions for SMC products.

SMC is no more a "Middleman" than any product supplier unless you get things straight from a factory that makes it. They are a business that does inform you whether items are out of stock. If they have 100 or fewer products they let you know when you check their inventory link.

Nowhere in their infomercials or in any of the literature do they claim you will make anything at all...Nor, do they claim that you will "get rich quick" which is what I read that most of the people going through SMC were hoping for.

If you are trying to build a decent business, SMC is a very viable and affordable way to do it. I am very satisfied with it and plan on moving to my own site with SMC products soon... though, not through their eCommerce Club.

Their eCommerce sites are expensive; however, they are directly linked with the database for inventory. If an item is listed as Out of Stock for SMC, it is also registered as Out of Stock for any site that is created through them. Their costs also include the building of the site and the processing of orders. Try coding your own site...it's not easy and it is time consuming.

As for shipping, I have no problem with that. I simply have all of my products shipped to my home address when possible in one shipment (which lowers the cost), repackage them, and send them through UPS Ground to their destination. I save on the handling fee and because the purchase amounts are higher, I save on total shipping costs.

The extra amount I put into shipping from home is returned to me by repeat orders because I can pack the items as I want them and I can add other things to the package (current catalog, specials flyer, etc).

Bottom Line, just because you didn't want to do what needed to be done and expected to make a million on your first sale, don't complain it is the company's fault. SMC works for those of us who are willing to do the work to create a viable business!

OK... I confess I have been with SMC for several years. I have another very lucrative business so I paid the $295 up front in hopes that my two teenagers (now 20/21) would like to do it online. As I am a webmaster I would do the website myself. We have a merchant account because of my other business so it would work out. Right? Wrong!

My kids didn't want to do it. They both changed their mind. I was really busy with my other business so I never had time to set up my own site. So I called to see how much SMC websites were.

The lady that answered the phone didn't want to tell me right away. She kept talking about the benefits. I said look... I want the bottom line. When she told me I laughed in her face. Was she smoking something?

I told her I was a webmaster and for the same site I can do for free. It would just take me a couple of days. I went on and told her they were ripping people off both in hosting, domain costs and the building of the site which were only templates. Guess what this lady did? She hung up on me. I started laughing so hard.

Yes, SMC ripps off people with their websites, merchant fees and hosting. I didn't do it and would never do since it was so ludicrous. Their prices are so over-inflated times 20.

So I order when I want something or a gift. I usually buy a couple of stuff that I can't go wrong with. My family is happy plus my sisters in California.

$295 is just pocket change so it didn't hurt me.

I'm always wary of anything promoted on television. Their very premise is based on taking advantage of those who are out of work, struggling to make ends meet, those who are more apt to see their infommercial and believe it's claims.

As a WebMaster/Designer for 10+ years, I have combed through years of internet marketing tools - SEO - E-commerce programs - transaction processors...and on and on and on...the list is virtually endless and grows everyday. It's my company's job to weed through all available options...

you can get:: (just off the top of my head)

a web server w 3.5 gigs of space, plenty of free scripts & tools (such as Fantastico)...very nice Flash tutorials for using and managing your webhost, and a free shopping cart system called Agora..very easy to setup..or you can go with an installation of a content management system call Joomla..http://www.joomla.org. If you install Joomla, there is a great little component called VirtueMart. It's a full fledged shopping cart/catalog system. And get this...it's free!!! Like my granfather used to say "you can't beat free with a stick"

One of the companies currently offering this particular setup is www.ivhosting.com. I pesronally use www.flexihostings.net for my service. The price is somewhat higher....but I run several servers and they have 24 hour on call..etc..etc..

Ok, to the point. I've recently been considering using SMC as the "wholesale" backbone of my online retail shopping site www.knoxshop.com. Upon doing just a little bit of snooping around on the net , reading posts on "buyer's club" forums etc...I've gained an understanding of how things really work.

YOU HAVE TO WORK. You have to track down real wholesale companies. Not with a scam company like it sounds SMC might be...as I have decided against the purchase of their kit. Especially after thewy told me a CD of their products that I can use to upload to my shopping cart system, (after a lot of formatting) costs and additional 40.00

Not a good sign.

Spend 99.00 to get yourself a webhost...learn the fundamentals...setup a few email accounts through the CPanel..good ahead and break it a few times...then get the admin to fix it...might take time..but it costs less than buying junk you can't sell that is often times above retail prices.

Also, domain name...VERY VERY IMPORTANT.

It is your online business card. www.cheekymonkeyshirtland.com might sound nifty for a t-shirt business...but it's a pain to remember the exact order of the name and proper spelling. If one of your customers gets accidentally directed to a porno site with monkeys on it...you're apt to leave a bad taste in their mouth... With the millions of names and addresses you're competing against..not to mention everything jammed in their head from their job, you need to think simplicity. If the name of your company is Cheeky Monkey T-Shirts..fine try something easier to remember like, www.cmtshirts.com. Just a heads up..trust me, it comes in handy later when you start thinking about brand positioning, SEO and content ranking etc..

There is a book and a company I am currently investigating to verify the accuracy and usefullness of their services. The book is called What to sell on Ebay and How to get it. by Chris Malta...This Malta guy also has a company called www.worldwidebrands.com where you can purchase lists of drop-shippers, wholesalers, etc...

I wonder if they're in the rip off report...I'll look later.

The point of my above rant regarding web design and e-commerce is to give you a brief look at some of the points ahead of you if you decide to launch your own e-commerce website. Which in the long run, with a little time spent learning and asking, (politely of course) will save you tons of time, money and stress. So far, the rule seems to be...FIND REAL WHOLESALERS!!! REAL WHOLESALERS DON'T ADVERTISE ON THE INTERNET...WHY???

Because they don't need the people looking...namely US. Online resellers..

FIND A NICHE...find something you're interested in...cell phones, PDAs...what would you buy all the time if you had unlimited funds? Then find examples of it...find out who makes it..and call them...THE MANUFACTURER KNOWS WHO THE REAL WHOLESALERS ARE!!!

Simple as that...

Got Web?

sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name or give your own company name here would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

dear reader, i'm glad that there are so many people who are interestded in changing their life and make the risk to start a business. trust me, i get greedy and wanted to make some fast money, but it's not easy and you have to work for it. i got lost reading all the comment and at the end i can't even tell if you're with or against the company, but one thing that got my attention id you brought in other company like mary kay or avon. i would suggest you don't be judgmental just because they have a simi- business plan, but every business are different, so before you say anything please be smart and do your homework.

and those of you who thinks that you can just sign up and make money over night , nothing happen that way, if it does we won't have poor people. but i'm not using that excuse to say that this company is not a scram, they're out there to make money and just to use you, and only brain wash you to belive that it's the "right way" to do things, so before you start something, like i said "do your homework" and for mary kay, if you must know. they have 1.4 million people as their contractors and that company made more millionair than ANY other company. training are free, and it's basicly you buy the products for $1 and sale it for $2. so you do see profit right away. they also give free stuff and their are one f at charge for shiping no matter how big or small your order are. and they just came out with their tv ad, to help the seller because they don't make any sales from customer who call in. but people like to complain about everything.

if you start your business and they'll give you your money back within their limit of refunds time some company will give you a month or a year, than it's a real company but if they don't have a refund policy or you don't see them in real person or know who's training you, than it's a scam. with mary kay you know who you work with, you know her adress, her house and even her family! how can someone rip you off with all that info? so i hope i taught those who never knew about this dirty business world that their are good companies, and to those who are in the stupid smc company, all i can say is..buddy, go and do your reseach on your OWN company and switch to a better one. the one that's on earth not on the "i lied to myself" world.

I was an SMC member for over a year before I did anything with it. As stated by others, the market is saturated with SMC "crap". I couldn't figure out how in the world to sell the stuff, and just let it sit for a while. I figured it would be useful for giftgiving seasons. Members get really good prices which are beneficial if you have a lot of collectors in the family.

I did try to sell on Ebay. I only listed a few items, and sold one. I was shocked by that, never expected to sell anything. Had to sell it so low though that I barely covered the expenses of the listings that didn't sell. Gave it a try. Ebay was just not for me.

I took the catalog to work (hair salon), and everyone looked through it, and liked a lot of the items. Nobody bought anything though even with my 20% discount offer. Catalog sales are not for me.

I make candles that I'm selling in a flea market. I would never pre-purchase anything from SMC and try to resell it there. So, selling the products in the flea market is out. On top of that, there are others that also sell the stuff. They know I have a membership, I display the catalog, but I don't stock the merchandise. If someone wants to order, they are free to, but I'm not prepaying for the stuff. SMC gives me that choice, and I take it. One of the other vendors is interested in buying from me so that he can resell. Since I paid my membership in full, I get an extra 5% discount off member cost, and can undercut the other members who sell in the flea market. So, although I won't make much, I'll make a few dollars for doing nothing more than letting someone take the catalog home, give me an order and money, and keying in a few numbers on the SMC website. It's worth it to me.

I would never even think of mail order. That's just outrageously stupid. You spend $3 per catalog, then pay for postage so that 99/100 of the catalogs will be thrown in the trash without being opened, and the one order you do get will be for $50.00. Come on. Nobody orders by mail. We have the world wide web at our disposal. Anything in a catalog can be found online for cheaper, doesn't cost 37 cents to mail, and doesn't require a person to find a pen to write the order down. Mail order is a definite no for me.

No money for a gift shop.
No money for an eCommerce Website. What a ripoff that is anyway. Anyone who pays for their websites is crazy, and to pay $300 a year for website submission is even crazier, if you don't also get website optimization, but especially considering you can do it yourself for free in as little as a couple of hours. You don't need to resubmit every year. Once it's there, as long as your website continues to exist, it will stay in the search engines, unless it is so horrible that it doesn't get recognized, in which case, the only way to get search engine placement is to pay for it. At least then you would get guaranteed rankings.

Anyway, I did nothing with it for a long time because I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. The things I tried didn't work.

SMC products are not going to make anyone rich. Anyone who was destined to get rich from it has already done so, and we are now left with scraps. There is too much saturation. The products aren't cheap enough to effectively compete with one another.

But you can make a little something with SMC products. There is a trick.

Don't attract people to SMC merchandise. Attract them to something else, and let that something else attract them to the merchandise.

I know this is long. But there is a point to be made here. First a story to set the mood.

As I said, I make candles, and sell them at a flea market. We just got a new vendor who makes quilts, and decided to sell her quilts at the flea market. I just moved to Michigan and I'm still settling in, so I haven't gone any further than the flea market with the candles. I need to market them everywhere I can in order to really make any money from them, I just don't have time. Well, the quilt maker came in and saw my candles, and told me of a lady who went to a "bologne fest" and sold candles. The quilt maker told me that lady sold the hell out of her candles, and she couldn't believe it. She told me I really need to get into the craft show arena because there is almost no competition and people buy them like crazy. Well, unfortunately, I'm only one person. I can't be at the flea market, and the craft show at the same time. She, on the other hand, can be at the craft show, and have her sister watch the flea market booth. So, she asked me to make up a lot of candles, and send them with her to sell at the craft show. She wants to sell them for free, and just return the leftover inventory and an envelope with the proceeds to me. I offered to pay her a percentage of the sales. She said no. She wants to take my candles because they attract people. She wants my candles because they will attract people to her quilts. She is paying for the craft show booth. She is going to put the time and effort into selling the products. She wants nothing from me except the ability to use my candles to attract people to her quilts.

Hopefully, this starts to make sense. Candles are more attractive than quilts, because they are cheap, smell good, and are a great impulse product. Quilts are more expensive, most everyone already has bedding, and is usually a planned purchase, so people walk right on by without even getting information so that when they do need a quilt, they know who to call.

How does this relate to SMC you ask. Here goes.

As I said, I didn't do anything with SMC for over a year because I couldn't figure out how to beat the competition without losing money. But I refused to go back to work for someone else. I was meant to run my own life, not have someone else run it for me.

I found my niche. I make candles. I make money doing it. But I actually make more money selling SMC and do less work than making candles. After a while of making candles and selling them to friends and family, I created a website, Especially Candles. It sucked, but it existed.

I got a copy of Frontpage 2003 (free from a relative) and started with a real crappy preset theme, and a few webpages with candles. I used paypal as my gateway and merchant since I already had a business account from previous Ebay sales (haircare products). It took six months of hard work, learning code, and website optimization to get the site together, and get it found on the search engines. I decided to put the SMC candleholders into the website for the sole purpose of adding pages and content so that it would be considered "more important", and get higher rankings. Once it hit the top 10 rankings for my keywords, I started getting orders for the SMC candle holders that I sell on my "handmade candle" website. I make more money from Google advertisements and SMC candleholders/oil warmers than I do my candles. I am just fine with that. It's a lot easier to get paid for someone to click on an ad to another candlemakers site, than it is to make the candles myself. It's a lot easier to collect payment for an order, and use a portion of that payment to pay for the products and have them shipped than it is to keep candle supplies on hand, and make candles.

My costs:

$350 for the membership + $29.95 per year renewal.

$5.50 a month for my website hosting (first month was free, and domain name was free, and I own it since I've been with the same hosting provider for a year.)

My website builder was free for me.

My gateway/merchant account and shopping cart were free. I now have a shopping cart that i pay $229 a year for but I still use paypal as my merchant/gateway.

I've made $600 from SMC this year (after cost of shipping and my product cost, and have no stale inventory to deal with.)

I've made just under $600 from my advertising space.

I've lost money on my candles because I had to prepurchase supplies in bulk, and haven't made all the costs back yet. (Fortunately my husband makes enough money for me to afford this.)

I spent about 60 hours altogether adding the SMC products to my website, and about 5 hours total dealing with the orders.

Now that my website is in place, and has top rankings in the search engines, I spend about 8 hours every three months updating the products/prices/photos/availability.

The sales increase a little bit every month, with each new thing I do to the site. Work gets easier, payoff gets bigger. Can you beat that?

Other than that, I do nothing but accept and fill orders.

I have never paid for internet advertising.

I have never purchased catalogs or brochures.

I have never paid for shipping. My customers pay for it.

I have never touched an SMC product. I have never stocked SMC products. I have never prepaid for SMC products.

I have had two broken products, and SMC has rapidly replaced the products with no problems at all. Every time I have called SMC I have had to wait forever to get someone on the phone, but I have always spoken with an English speaking CSR, and have always been treated with respect.

SMC is not a money maker. It is a supplement. I wouldn't make anything if I relied solely on SMC, but I'd have to pull out of candlemaking if I didn't sell SMC, because I just wouldn't be able to afford the supplies.

Since I sell candles, and SMC, and advertising space, and since I work offline in flea markets, and I have others willing to pay my expenses, and peddle my products for me, I make money.

My suggestion is to never use eCommerce as your website builder/hoster/merchant/gateway provider. They are a ripoff. But SMC products, and the membership, and all that jazz is useful insofar as it can be, all things considered.

Because I don't have to carry inventory, or prepurchase the products, all my SMC profits are profits, and I can use them and my advertising space to absorb the cost of in stock candle inventory/supplies. It is useful, and the membership fee was money well spent in my opinion. It has paid for itself and for my "real business", and it is still growing, which makes things better.

My suggestion to others who are not sure whether or not to get an SMC membership. Find an SMC member, and become a "wholesaler" for that member. You won't get member prices (just a little more), but you will be able to get the merchandising material, and you will be able to get an idea of how the business will work for you. You may have to pay for the initial materials, but not near as much as the SMC membership. You can look through the catalogs, purchase the products, and try to market them. If things work, then you can get a membership (more benefits than wholesaling through a member). If they don't work, you didn't lose $350. As stated by someone else, just do a search for "world of products". contact the webmaster of those sites, and see what you can work out.

Once you get an idea, find a way to market the products. The most important suggestion I can make is find a niche, and find a way to incorporate SMC into that niche. Don't try to sell SMC products all on their own. You'll have to sell for pennies above cost to make it work.

Personally, I sell the products for full suggested retail, and the customers pay the shipping costs. I do offer a volume discount, and I absorb some of the shipping cost with larger orders. But I make money off every order.

I can do this because I focus on one product. People aren't comparing my "SMC prices" to other "SMC prices". They are comparing my candleholder prices to other candleholder prices. They are searching for candles and candleholders, not "gifts" not "collectibles". I'm optimized for candle related keywords, and my competition is not nearly as high as the competition of someone trying to sell only the entire line of SMC products and nothing else.

Find a niche, and incorporate. Give it a test drive.

I was an SMC member for over a year before I did anything with it. As stated by others, the market is saturated with SMC "crap". I couldn't figure out how in the world to sell the stuff, and just let it sit for a while. I figured it would be useful for giftgiving seasons. Members get really good prices which are beneficial if you have a lot of collectors in the family.

I did try to sell on Ebay. I only listed a few items, and sold one. I was shocked by that, never expected to sell anything. Had to sell it so low though that I barely covered the expenses of the listings that didn't sell. Gave it a try. Ebay was just not for me.

I took the catalog to work (hair salon), and everyone looked through it, and liked a lot of the items. Nobody bought anything though even with my 20% discount offer. Catalog sales are not for me.

I make candles that I'm selling in a flea market. I would never pre-purchase anything from SMC and try to resell it there. So, selling the products in the flea market is out. On top of that, there are others that also sell the stuff. They know I have a membership, I display the catalog, but I don't stock the merchandise. If someone wants to order, they are free to, but I'm not prepaying for the stuff. SMC gives me that choice, and I take it. One of the other vendors is interested in buying from me so that he can resell. Since I paid my membership in full, I get an extra 5% discount off member cost, and can undercut the other members who sell in the flea market. So, although I won't make much, I'll make a few dollars for doing nothing more than letting someone take the catalog home, give me an order and money, and keying in a few numbers on the SMC website. It's worth it to me.

I would never even think of mail order. That's just outrageously stupid. You spend $3 per catalog, then pay for postage so that 99/100 of the catalogs will be thrown in the trash without being opened, and the one order you do get will be for $50.00. Come on. Nobody orders by mail. We have the world wide web at our disposal. Anything in a catalog can be found online for cheaper, doesn't cost 37 cents to mail, and doesn't require a person to find a pen to write the order down. Mail order is a definite no for me.

No money for a gift shop.
No money for an eCommerce Website. What a ripoff that is anyway. Anyone who pays for their websites is crazy, and to pay $300 a year for website submission is even crazier, if you don't also get website optimization, but especially considering you can do it yourself for free in as little as a couple of hours. You don't need to resubmit every year. Once it's there, as long as your website continues to exist, it will stay in the search engines, unless it is so horrible that it doesn't get recognized, in which case, the only way to get search engine placement is to pay for it. At least then you would get guaranteed rankings.

Anyway, I did nothing with it for a long time because I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. The things I tried didn't work.

SMC products are not going to make anyone rich. Anyone who was destined to get rich from it has already done so, and we are now left with scraps. There is too much saturation. The products aren't cheap enough to effectively compete with one another.

But you can make a little something with SMC products. There is a trick.

Don't attract people to SMC merchandise. Attract them to something else, and let that something else attract them to the merchandise.

I know this is long. But there is a point to be made here. First a story to set the mood.

As I said, I make candles, and sell them at a flea market. We just got a new vendor who makes quilts, and decided to sell her quilts at the flea market. I just moved to Michigan and I'm still settling in, so I haven't gone any further than the flea market with the candles. I need to market them everywhere I can in order to really make any money from them, I just don't have time. Well, the quilt maker came in and saw my candles, and told me of a lady who went to a "bologne fest" and sold candles. The quilt maker told me that lady sold the hell out of her candles, and she couldn't believe it. She told me I really need to get into the craft show arena because there is almost no competition and people buy them like crazy. Well, unfortunately, I'm only one person. I can't be at the flea market, and the craft show at the same time. She, on the other hand, can be at the craft show, and have her sister watch the flea market booth. So, she asked me to make up a lot of candles, and send them with her to sell at the craft show. She wants to sell them for free, and just return the leftover inventory and an envelope with the proceeds to me. I offered to pay her a percentage of the sales. She said no. She wants to take my candles because they attract people. She wants my candles because they will attract people to her quilts. She is paying for the craft show booth. She is going to put the time and effort into selling the products. She wants nothing from me except the ability to use my candles to attract people to her quilts.

Hopefully, this starts to make sense. Candles are more attractive than quilts, because they are cheap, smell good, and are a great impulse product. Quilts are more expensive, most everyone already has bedding, and is usually a planned purchase, so people walk right on by without even getting information so that when they do need a quilt, they know who to call.

How does this relate to SMC you ask. Here goes.

As I said, I didn't do anything with SMC for over a year because I couldn't figure out how to beat the competition without losing money. But I refused to go back to work for someone else. I was meant to run my own life, not have someone else run it for me.

I found my niche. I make candles. I make money doing it. But I actually make more money selling SMC and do less work than making candles. After a while of making candles and selling them to friends and family, I created a website, Especially Candles. It sucked, but it existed.

I got a copy of Frontpage 2003 (free from a relative) and started with a real crappy preset theme, and a few webpages with candles. I used paypal as my gateway and merchant since I already had a business account from previous Ebay sales (haircare products). It took six months of hard work, learning code, and website optimization to get the site together, and get it found on the search engines. I decided to put the SMC candleholders into the website for the sole purpose of adding pages and content so that it would be considered "more important", and get higher rankings. Once it hit the top 10 rankings for my keywords, I started getting orders for the SMC candle holders that I sell on my "handmade candle" website. I make more money from Google advertisements and SMC candleholders/oil warmers than I do my candles. I am just fine with that. It's a lot easier to get paid for someone to click on an ad to another candlemakers site, than it is to make the candles myself. It's a lot easier to collect payment for an order, and use a portion of that payment to pay for the products and have them shipped than it is to keep candle supplies on hand, and make candles.

My costs:

$350 for the membership + $29.95 per year renewal.

$5.50 a month for my website hosting (first month was free, and domain name was free, and I own it since I've been with the same hosting provider for a year.)

My website builder was free for me.

My gateway/merchant account and shopping cart were free. I now have a shopping cart that i pay $229 a year for but I still use paypal as my merchant/gateway.

I've made $600 from SMC this year (after cost of shipping and my product cost, and have no stale inventory to deal with.)

I've made just under $600 from my advertising space.

I've lost money on my candles because I had to prepurchase supplies in bulk, and haven't made all the costs back yet. (Fortunately my husband makes enough money for me to afford this.)

I spent about 60 hours altogether adding the SMC products to my website, and about 5 hours total dealing with the orders.

Now that my website is in place, and has top rankings in the search engines, I spend about 8 hours every three months updating the products/prices/photos/availability.

The sales increase a little bit every month, with each new thing I do to the site. Work gets easier, payoff gets bigger. Can you beat that?

Other than that, I do nothing but accept and fill orders.

I have never paid for internet advertising.

I have never purchased catalogs or brochures.

I have never paid for shipping. My customers pay for it.

I have never touched an SMC product. I have never stocked SMC products. I have never prepaid for SMC products.

I have had two broken products, and SMC has rapidly replaced the products with no problems at all. Every time I have called SMC I have had to wait forever to get someone on the phone, but I have always spoken with an English speaking CSR, and have always been treated with respect.

SMC is not a money maker. It is a supplement. I wouldn't make anything if I relied solely on SMC, but I'd have to pull out of candlemaking if I didn't sell SMC, because I just wouldn't be able to afford the supplies.

Since I sell candles, and SMC, and advertising space, and since I work offline in flea markets, and I have others willing to pay my expenses, and peddle my products for me, I make money.

My suggestion is to never use eCommerce as your website builder/hoster/merchant/gateway provider. They are a ripoff. But SMC products, and the membership, and all that jazz is useful insofar as it can be, all things considered.

Because I don't have to carry inventory, or prepurchase the products, all my SMC profits are profits, and I can use them and my advertising space to absorb the cost of in stock candle inventory/supplies. It is useful, and the membership fee was money well spent in my opinion. It has paid for itself and for my "real business", and it is still growing, which makes things better.

My suggestion to others who are not sure whether or not to get an SMC membership. Find an SMC member, and become a "wholesaler" for that member. You won't get member prices (just a little more), but you will be able to get the merchandising material, and you will be able to get an idea of how the business will work for you. You may have to pay for the initial materials, but not near as much as the SMC membership. You can look through the catalogs, purchase the products, and try to market them. If things work, then you can get a membership (more benefits than wholesaling through a member). If they don't work, you didn't lose $350. As stated by someone else, just do a search for "world of products". contact the webmaster of those sites, and see what you can work out.

Once you get an idea, find a way to market the products. The most important suggestion I can make is find a niche, and find a way to incorporate SMC into that niche. Don't try to sell SMC products all on their own. You'll have to sell for pennies above cost to make it work.

Personally, I sell the products for full suggested retail, and the customers pay the shipping costs. I do offer a volume discount, and I absorb some of the shipping cost with larger orders. But I make money off every order.

I can do this because I focus on one product. People aren't comparing my "SMC prices" to other "SMC prices". They are comparing my candleholder prices to other candleholder prices. They are searching for candles and candleholders, not "gifts" not "collectibles". I'm optimized for candle related keywords, and my competition is not nearly as high as the competition of someone trying to sell only the entire line of SMC products and nothing else.

Find a niche, and incorporate. Give it a test drive.

I was an SMC member for over a year before I did anything with it. As stated by others, the market is saturated with SMC "crap". I couldn't figure out how in the world to sell the stuff, and just let it sit for a while. I figured it would be useful for giftgiving seasons. Members get really good prices which are beneficial if you have a lot of collectors in the family.

I did try to sell on Ebay. I only listed a few items, and sold one. I was shocked by that, never expected to sell anything. Had to sell it so low though that I barely covered the expenses of the listings that didn't sell. Gave it a try. Ebay was just not for me.

I took the catalog to work (hair salon), and everyone looked through it, and liked a lot of the items. Nobody bought anything though even with my 20% discount offer. Catalog sales are not for me.

I make candles that I'm selling in a flea market. I would never pre-purchase anything from SMC and try to resell it there. So, selling the products in the flea market is out. On top of that, there are others that also sell the stuff. They know I have a membership, I display the catalog, but I don't stock the merchandise. If someone wants to order, they are free to, but I'm not prepaying for the stuff. SMC gives me that choice, and I take it. One of the other vendors is interested in buying from me so that he can resell. Since I paid my membership in full, I get an extra 5% discount off member cost, and can undercut the other members who sell in the flea market. So, although I won't make much, I'll make a few dollars for doing nothing more than letting someone take the catalog home, give me an order and money, and keying in a few numbers on the SMC website. It's worth it to me.

I would never even think of mail order. That's just outrageously stupid. You spend $3 per catalog, then pay for postage so that 99/100 of the catalogs will be thrown in the trash without being opened, and the one order you do get will be for $50.00. Come on. Nobody orders by mail. We have the world wide web at our disposal. Anything in a catalog can be found online for cheaper, doesn't cost 37 cents to mail, and doesn't require a person to find a pen to write the order down. Mail order is a definite no for me.

No money for a gift shop.
No money for an eCommerce Website. What a ripoff that is anyway. Anyone who pays for their websites is crazy, and to pay $300 a year for website submission is even crazier, if you don't also get website optimization, but especially considering you can do it yourself for free in as little as a couple of hours. You don't need to resubmit every year. Once it's there, as long as your website continues to exist, it will stay in the search engines, unless it is so horrible that it doesn't get recognized, in which case, the only way to get search engine placement is to pay for it. At least then you would get guaranteed rankings.

Anyway, I did nothing with it for a long time because I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. The things I tried didn't work.

SMC products are not going to make anyone rich. Anyone who was destined to get rich from it has already done so, and we are now left with scraps. There is too much saturation. The products aren't cheap enough to effectively compete with one another.

But you can make a little something with SMC products. There is a trick.

Don't attract people to SMC merchandise. Attract them to something else, and let that something else attract them to the merchandise.

I know this is long. But there is a point to be made here. First a story to set the mood.

As I said, I make candles, and sell them at a flea market. We just got a new vendor who makes quilts, and decided to sell her quilts at the flea market. I just moved to Michigan and I'm still settling in, so I haven't gone any further than the flea market with the candles. I need to market them everywhere I can in order to really make any money from them, I just don't have time. Well, the quilt maker came in and saw my candles, and told me of a lady who went to a "bologne fest" and sold candles. The quilt maker told me that lady sold the hell out of her candles, and she couldn't believe it. She told me I really need to get into the craft show arena because there is almost no competition and people buy them like crazy. Well, unfortunately, I'm only one person. I can't be at the flea market, and the craft show at the same time. She, on the other hand, can be at the craft show, and have her sister watch the flea market booth. So, she asked me to make up a lot of candles, and send them with her to sell at the craft show. She wants to sell them for free, and just return the leftover inventory and an envelope with the proceeds to me. I offered to pay her a percentage of the sales. She said no. She wants to take my candles because they attract people. She wants my candles because they will attract people to her quilts. She is paying for the craft show booth. She is going to put the time and effort into selling the products. She wants nothing from me except the ability to use my candles to attract people to her quilts.

Hopefully, this starts to make sense. Candles are more attractive than quilts, because they are cheap, smell good, and are a great impulse product. Quilts are more expensive, most everyone already has bedding, and is usually a planned purchase, so people walk right on by without even getting information so that when they do need a quilt, they know who to call.

How does this relate to SMC you ask. Here goes.

As I said, I didn't do anything with SMC for over a year because I couldn't figure out how to beat the competition without losing money. But I refused to go back to work for someone else. I was meant to run my own life, not have someone else run it for me.

I found my niche. I make candles. I make money doing it. But I actually make more money selling SMC and do less work than making candles. After a while of making candles and selling them to friends and family, I created a website, Especially Candles. It sucked, but it existed.

I got a copy of Frontpage 2003 (free from a relative) and started with a real crappy preset theme, and a few webpages with candles. I used paypal as my gateway and merchant since I already had a business account from previous Ebay sales (haircare products). It took six months of hard work, learning code, and website optimization to get the site together, and get it found on the search engines. I decided to put the SMC candleholders into the website for the sole purpose of adding pages and content so that it would be considered "more important", and get higher rankings. Once it hit the top 10 rankings for my keywords, I started getting orders for the SMC candle holders that I sell on my "handmade candle" website. I make more money from Google advertisements and SMC candleholders/oil warmers than I do my candles. I am just fine with that. It's a lot easier to get paid for someone to click on an ad to another candlemakers site, than it is to make the candles myself. It's a lot easier to collect payment for an order, and use a portion of that payment to pay for the products and have them shipped than it is to keep candle supplies on hand, and make candles.

My costs:

$350 for the membership + $29.95 per year renewal.

$5.50 a month for my website hosting (first month was free, and domain name was free, and I own it since I've been with the same hosting provider for a year.)

My website builder was free for me.

My gateway/merchant account and shopping cart were free. I now have a shopping cart that i pay $229 a year for but I still use paypal as my merchant/gateway.

I've made $600 from SMC this year (after cost of shipping and my product cost, and have no stale inventory to deal with.)

I've made just under $600 from my advertising space.

I've lost money on my candles because I had to prepurchase supplies in bulk, and haven't made all the costs back yet. (Fortunately my husband makes enough money for me to afford this.)

I spent about 60 hours altogether adding the SMC products to my website, and about 5 hours total dealing with the orders.

Now that my website is in place, and has top rankings in the search engines, I spend about 8 hours every three months updating the products/prices/photos/availability.

The sales increase a little bit every month, with each new thing I do to the site. Work gets easier, payoff gets bigger. Can you beat that?

Other than that, I do nothing but accept and fill orders.

I have never paid for internet advertising.

I have never purchased catalogs or brochures.

I have never paid for shipping. My customers pay for it.

I have never touched an SMC product. I have never stocked SMC products. I have never prepaid for SMC products.

I have had two broken products, and SMC has rapidly replaced the products with no problems at all. Every time I have called SMC I have had to wait forever to get someone on the phone, but I have always spoken with an English speaking CSR, and have always been treated with respect.

SMC is not a money maker. It is a supplement. I wouldn't make anything if I relied solely on SMC, but I'd have to pull out of candlemaking if I didn't sell SMC, because I just wouldn't be able to afford the supplies.

Since I sell candles, and SMC, and advertising space, and since I work offline in flea markets, and I have others willing to pay my expenses, and peddle my products for me, I make money.

My suggestion is to never use eCommerce as your website builder/hoster/merchant/gateway provider. They are a ripoff. But SMC products, and the membership, and all that jazz is useful insofar as it can be, all things considered.

Because I don't have to carry inventory, or prepurchase the products, all my SMC profits are profits, and I can use them and my advertising space to absorb the cost of in stock candle inventory/supplies. It is useful, and the membership fee was money well spent in my opinion. It has paid for itself and for my "real business", and it is still growing, which makes things better.

My suggestion to others who are not sure whether or not to get an SMC membership. Find an SMC member, and become a "wholesaler" for that member. You won't get member prices (just a little more), but you will be able to get the merchandising material, and you will be able to get an idea of how the business will work for you. You may have to pay for the initial materials, but not near as much as the SMC membership. You can look through the catalogs, purchase the products, and try to market them. If things work, then you can get a membership (more benefits than wholesaling through a member). If they don't work, you didn't lose $350. As stated by someone else, just do a search for "world of products". contact the webmaster of those sites, and see what you can work out.

Once you get an idea, find a way to market the products. The most important suggestion I can make is find a niche, and find a way to incorporate SMC into that niche. Don't try to sell SMC products all on their own. You'll have to sell for pennies above cost to make it work.

Personally, I sell the products for full suggested retail, and the customers pay the shipping costs. I do offer a volume discount, and I absorb some of the shipping cost with larger orders. But I make money off every order.

I can do this because I focus on one product. People aren't comparing my "SMC prices" to other "SMC prices". They are comparing my candleholder prices to other candleholder prices. They are searching for candles and candleholders, not "gifts" not "collectibles". I'm optimized for candle related keywords, and my competition is not nearly as high as the competition of someone trying to sell only the entire line of SMC products and nothing else.

Find a niche, and incorporate. Give it a test drive.

I was an SMC member for over a year before I did anything with it. As stated by others, the market is saturated with SMC "crap". I couldn't figure out how in the world to sell the stuff, and just let it sit for a while. I figured it would be useful for giftgiving seasons. Members get really good prices which are beneficial if you have a lot of collectors in the family.

I did try to sell on Ebay. I only listed a few items, and sold one. I was shocked by that, never expected to sell anything. Had to sell it so low though that I barely covered the expenses of the listings that didn't sell. Gave it a try. Ebay was just not for me.

I took the catalog to work (hair salon), and everyone looked through it, and liked a lot of the items. Nobody bought anything though even with my 20% discount offer. Catalog sales are not for me.

I make candles that I'm selling in a flea market. I would never pre-purchase anything from SMC and try to resell it there. So, selling the products in the flea market is out. On top of that, there are others that also sell the stuff. They know I have a membership, I display the catalog, but I don't stock the merchandise. If someone wants to order, they are free to, but I'm not prepaying for the stuff. SMC gives me that choice, and I take it. One of the other vendors is interested in buying from me so that he can resell. Since I paid my membership in full, I get an extra 5% discount off member cost, and can undercut the other members who sell in the flea market. So, although I won't make much, I'll make a few dollars for doing nothing more than letting someone take the catalog home, give me an order and money, and keying in a few numbers on the SMC website. It's worth it to me.

I would never even think of mail order. That's just outrageously stupid. You spend $3 per catalog, then pay for postage so that 99/100 of the catalogs will be thrown in the trash without being opened, and the one order you do get will be for $50.00. Come on. Nobody orders by mail. We have the world wide web at our disposal. Anything in a catalog can be found online for cheaper, doesn't cost 37 cents to mail, and doesn't require a person to find a pen to write the order down. Mail order is a definite no for me.

No money for a gift shop.
No money for an eCommerce Website. What a ripoff that is anyway. Anyone who pays for their websites is crazy, and to pay $300 a year for website submission is even crazier, if you don't also get website optimization, but especially considering you can do it yourself for free in as little as a couple of hours. You don't need to resubmit every year. Once it's there, as long as your website continues to exist, it will stay in the search engines, unless it is so horrible that it doesn't get recognized, in which case, the only way to get search engine placement is to pay for it. At least then you would get guaranteed rankings.

Anyway, I did nothing with it for a long time because I just couldn't figure out what to do with it. The things I tried didn't work.

SMC products are not going to make anyone rich. Anyone who was destined to get rich from it has already done so, and we are now left with scraps. There is too much saturation. The products aren't cheap enough to effectively compete with one another.

But you can make a little something with SMC products. There is a trick.

Don't attract people to SMC merchandise. Attract them to something else, and let that something else attract them to the merchandise.

I know this is long. But there is a point to be made here. First a story to set the mood.

As I said, I make candles, and sell them at a flea market. We just got a new vendor who makes quilts, and decided to sell her quilts at the flea market. I just moved to Michigan and I'm still settling in, so I haven't gone any further than the flea market with the candles. I need to market them everywhere I can in order to really make any money from them, I just don't have time. Well, the quilt maker came in and saw my candles, and told me of a lady who went to a "bologne fest" and sold candles. The quilt maker told me that lady sold the hell out of her candles, and she couldn't believe it. She told me I really need to get into the craft show arena because there is almost no competition and people buy them like crazy. Well, unfortunately, I'm only one person. I can't be at the flea market, and the craft show at the same time. She, on the other hand, can be at the craft show, and have her sister watch the flea market booth. So, she asked me to make up a lot of candles, and send them with her to sell at the craft show. She wants to sell them for free, and just return the leftover inventory and an envelope with the proceeds to me. I offered to pay her a percentage of the sales. She said no. She wants to take my candles because they attract people. She wants my candles because they will attract people to her quilts. She is paying for the craft show booth. She is going to put the time and effort into selling the products. She wants nothing from me except the ability to use my candles to attract people to her quilts.

Hopefully, this starts to make sense. Candles are more attractive than quilts, because they are cheap, smell good, and are a great impulse product. Quilts are more expensive, most everyone already has bedding, and is usually a planned purchase, so people walk right on by without even getting information so that when they do need a quilt, they know who to call.

How does this relate to SMC you ask. Here goes.

As I said, I didn't do anything with SMC for over a year because I couldn't figure out how to beat the competition without losing money. But I refused to go back to work for someone else. I was meant to run my own life, not have someone else run it for me.

I found my niche. I make candles. I make money doing it. But I actually make more money selling SMC and do less work than making candles. After a while of making candles and selling them to friends and family, I created a website, Especially Candles. It sucked, but it existed.

I got a copy of Frontpage 2003 (free from a relative) and started with a real crappy preset theme, and a few webpages with candles. I used paypal as my gateway and merchant since I already had a business account from previous Ebay sales (haircare products). It took six months of hard work, learning code, and website optimization to get the site together, and get it found on the search engines. I decided to put the SMC candleholders into the website for the sole purpose of adding pages and content so that it would be considered "more important", and get higher rankings. Once it hit the top 10 rankings for my keywords, I started getting orders for the SMC candle holders that I sell on my "handmade candle" website. I make more money from Google advertisements and SMC candleholders/oil warmers than I do my candles. I am just fine with that. It's a lot easier to get paid for someone to click on an ad to another candlemakers site, than it is to make the candles myself. It's a lot easier to collect payment for an order, and use a portion of that payment to pay for the products and have them shipped than it is to keep candle supplies on hand, and make candles.

My costs:

$350 for the membership + $29.95 per year renewal.

$5.50 a month for my website hosting (first month was free, and domain name was free, and I own it since I've been with the same hosting provider for a year.)

My website builder was free for me.

My gateway/merchant account and shopping cart were free. I now have a shopping cart that i pay $229 a year for but I still use paypal as my merchant/gateway.

I've made $600 from SMC this year (after cost of shipping and my product cost, and have no stale inventory to deal with.)

I've made just under $600 from my advertising space.

I've lost money on my candles because I had to prepurchase supplies in bulk, and haven't made all the costs back yet. (Fortunately my husband makes enough money for me to afford this.)

I spent about 60 hours altogether adding the SMC products to my website, and about 5 hours total dealing with the orders.

Now that my website is in place, and has top rankings in the search engines, I spend about 8 hours every three months updating the products/prices/photos/availability.

The sales increase a little bit every month, with each new thing I do to the site. Work gets easier, payoff gets bigger. Can you beat that?

Other than that, I do nothing but accept and fill orders.

I have never paid for internet advertising.

I have never purchased catalogs or brochures.

I have never paid for shipping. My customers pay for it.

I have never touched an SMC product. I have never stocked SMC products. I have never prepaid for SMC products.

I have had two broken products, and SMC has rapidly replaced the products with no problems at all. Every time I have called SMC I have had to wait forever to get someone on the phone, but I have always spoken with an English speaking CSR, and have always been treated with respect.

SMC is not a money maker. It is a supplement. I wouldn't make anything if I relied solely on SMC, but I'd have to pull out of candlemaking if I didn't sell SMC, because I just wouldn't be able to afford the supplies.

Since I sell candles, and SMC, and advertising space, and since I work offline in flea markets, and I have others willing to pay my expenses, and peddle my products for me, I make money.

My suggestion is to never use eCommerce as your website builder/hoster/merchant/gateway provider. They are a ripoff. But SMC products, and the membership, and all that jazz is useful insofar as it can be, all things considered.

Because I don't have to carry inventory, or prepurchase the products, all my SMC profits are profits, and I can use them and my advertising space to absorb the cost of in stock candle inventory/supplies. It is useful, and the membership fee was money well spent in my opinion. It has paid for itself and for my "real business", and it is still growing, which makes things better.

My suggestion to others who are not sure whether or not to get an SMC membership. Find an SMC member, and become a "wholesaler" for that member. You won't get member prices (just a little more), but you will be able to get the merchandising material, and you will be able to get an idea of how the business will work for you. You may have to pay for the initial materials, but not near as much as the SMC membership. You can look through the catalogs, purchase the products, and try to market them. If things work, then you can get a membership (more benefits than wholesaling through a member). If they don't work, you didn't lose $350. As stated by someone else, just do a search for "world of products". contact the webmaster of those sites, and see what you can work out.

Once you get an idea, find a way to market the products. The most important suggestion I can make is find a niche, and find a way to incorporate SMC into that niche. Don't try to sell SMC products all on their own. You'll have to sell for pennies above cost to make it work.

Personally, I sell the products for full suggested retail, and the customers pay the shipping costs. I do offer a volume discount, and I absorb some of the shipping cost with larger orders. But I make money off every order.

I can do this because I focus on one product. People aren't comparing my "SMC prices" to other "SMC prices". They are comparing my candleholder prices to other candleholder prices. They are searching for candles and candleholders, not "gifts" not "collectibles". I'm optimized for candle related keywords, and my competition is not nearly as high as the competition of someone trying to sell only the entire line of SMC products and nothing else.

Find a niche, and incorporate. Give it a test drive.

I am not an employee of SMC, its affiliates, or even a customer (yet).

I am an Information Systems expert with over 10 years experience, including lead roles with several Fortune 50 launches in the US. In researching SMC as a possible vendor I came across this report. I was also once a consumer electronics reseller and systems integrator as well, dealing with the top 3 wholesalers for those industries in the world, so I am familiar with the niche SMC fills as a 'middleman' according to some reports.

I feel it is important to point out that websites range in price from simple 1-hour ($60-$200) formats to professionally courted (IBM: $2000/month) operations. Many people new to the technology are totally unprepared for the investment in graduate hours that a fully managed web kiosk requires. The sticker shock can be quite lethal and service quality varies widely. Depending on your knowledge and time, you can do all of this yourself - but that valuation for time spent in education and ongoing development is totally self-determined.

As far as a 'middleman', I would also point out that most wholesalers require a credit check to even accept new clients; a volume order promise or conditional contract to obtain favorable pricing; and vary widely in their ability to provide real-time inventory services including kiosk integration tools to customers. Not everyone qualifies to even be a customer, nor can home-based businesses and individuals 'eat the cost' of these minimum orders and excess inventory. As noted, the competition among overstock and popular online auction sales has driven resale value through the floor for unmarketed items. SMC fills a unique niche to many of us who simply don't fit the 'big business' model of B2B customer.

Speaking as a member of both worlds, I want to underline the incredible damage that losing a credit relationship can do to the wholesale vender relationship. After my son's forced abduction August 18th 2001, my business collapsed. Libel and defamation promoted by the abductors to defer prosecution of his parental kidnapping left me deeply in debt.

Partners I had known for years began hanging up on me without any explanation - from bank presidents to sales reps at leading firms. It wasn't until 2003 that I discovered a .com website in my name libelling my business, death threats and responses less than 30 days prior to an armed assault and carjacking that sent me to a hospital, and a chain of correspondence supporting the violation of my lease and business contracts.

The final court hearing was even carried out with less than 24 hours notice and while I was physically held outside the courtroom by lobby security without cause. No 'due cause' nor any terms of the legal seperation of my child have been forthcoming since that time despite promises by the District Attorney and Child Support Services.

I do, however, get bills of $500 a month for the witholding support of my child - and threats to prosecute me further if I do not pay in full. ICANN acted to remove the offensive website in September of 2004, which had been online since 2002, due to the clear violation of California State Law 'Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act' - but could do nothing to force prosecution of the original crime or court order in Texas.

Federal Authorities, likewise, refuse to act despite complaint in writing to police, the governor, and FBI of violation of the Federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (28 USC sec 1738A - guarentee of due process and equal participation in any court proceedings). In short, I have not seen nor been granted health and welfare information on my son in nearly 4 years despite billing of $18,000 so far in his abduction.

Even though the American Bar Association cites this sort of crime occurs 300,000 times annually in the United States, failure to support enforcement of Federal law outside the State of California is not punishable as a 'crime'.

\All prosecution is civil in nature, and at the total expense of the 'pursuing parent' regardless of related circumstances (such as death threats and extortion, child endangerment, corporate sabotage, vehicular sabotage related to written threats, libel and slander both professionally and personally) as a 'custody dispute'.

While SMC seems to have typical e-commerce fulfillment problems like PeoplePC and Toshiba America, they are all correctable. Sadly, people like myself who can assist them - as I did with Cybercash and later the development of Paypal - are not being brought in as rapidly as customers would desire. As in my case, and may of the other IT professionals I knew who were laid off or displaced in 2001 (about 40,000 in Dallas, TX), our credit scores now disqualify us from 'sensetive positions' over less qualified applicants.

Many, like me, did nothing wrong and were taken by surprise when the economy turned down. Quite a few bought houses, cars, and other long-term debt based on the (now clearly false) promises of companies like MCI and Enron. Having run operations and turned around businesses like Best Buy and MSN, I would be happy to help SMC do the same, but unless they read this I doubt that will ever happen.

Most corporations, especially those who are publicly traded, depend heavily on credit scores for their hiring (in violation of Federal Law, again) through the use of general 'Background Checks' and assume (falsely) that unpaid debt is a sign of moral weakness, dishonestly, or risk.

For their part, I applaud SMC for providing a low-cost entry-level product line and shipping solution to home users. I cannot approve or deny the 'value' proposition of website services they offer, but would advice better customer service or a clear seperation of their business from this offer for public relations.

To consumers, I can only advise you shop around before committing to a website service provider and judge deeply the commitment and ethics of that provider. It is also a very good idea never to mix your vendor with your public relations firm, as you are twice as likely to need to 'fire' your PR firm in the first 5 years of business based on non-fault elements like performance.

You don't want to end up having to 'fire' your vendor at the same time without cause, or let bad customer service from one house drift into the perception of the other (as it obviously has here on several occassions).

In summary, "You Get What You Pay For" and "Compliance to Terms Versus Traditional Manufacturer-Merchant Relationship Differ" don't say enough. SMC seems somewhat disreputable in that "Percentage Fees of an Order Gross Price Are Shipping Related". That equates to a direct 'mark-up' on product which is not clear in their current advertisements.

Tools from the USPS, FedEx, and UPS for calculating exact shipping are too available for that sort of system to be considered 'professional'.

E-Bay sellers have been using the 'shipping fee as profit' model for many years. For those of us in commerce it is clearly unfair over multiple purchases, yet more convenient in our own pricing model that using tools. SMC could radically improve their business with inventory accounting servers and client-side opensource tools allowing merchants to pull 'out of stock' items from listings automatically or 'reserve' items placed on auction with projections. The future of their model, and their product line, looks very good from what I have seen - if they will in fact grow with the times.

Like Pre-Paid Legal, the marketing scheme and promises may deter more customers than the good business sense of the model would attract. It sounds very much like a 'get rich quick' scheme, even though it is actually a merchant value proposition. Poor customer support (cultural linguistics) experiences undermine their value proposition, as well as what seems like a co-dependant link to a parent firm whose main goal is the sale of website merchant services. If that relationship is not set in stone - now is the time for SMC to move into its own and heal some of these wounds with customer growth.

Like Pre-Paid legal, licensing restrictions in online sales and margins might even benefit the firm. It is clear that trying to keep the web development service strictly in-house has openly hurt the SMC's profile with startups, while the guarentee of inventory and supply has done the same to professional businesses.

Despite these concerns, I am going to go ahead with the inventory addition for my localized market, if only for the selection of products I have seen thus far. The risk ($400 over 10 months) seems well spent based on payment plans, and fixed providing we choose no other 'add-on' services. Before investing I suggest everyone apply the golden rule: "Do not invest what you cannot afford to take a 100% loss on, and never allow yourself to purchase or authorize ANYTHING beyond that in the initial transaction period." Plan, Research, Execute, Evaluate, Repeat.

Not looking to get rich - just get back my life and see my son gets to know his father loved him.

Currently stocking Wal-Mart (no hints/secrets included) weeknights to pay that illegal court order and very woefully underemployed for a college graduate with a leading IT background.

I am neither a member nor employee of SMC. I was simply searching the SMC website with intentions of becoming a member. My mother is a member and her package has been sitting in I out-house for 2 years, although she keeps her membership paid. Now that she is adventuring eBay she looking for products to sell, so maybe faith and motivation will lead her to the out-house someday. I sure would state she been RIPPED-Off to I suppose,when the truth is IF YOU DO LITTLE YOU GET LITTLE IN RETURN,IF YOU DO NOTHING THEN YOU GET NOTHING IN RETURN, IF YOU DO A LOT EXPECT A GREAT DEAL IN RETURN. Since she did nothing and so far has recieved nothing,I suppose others like herself would BE SAFE TO BLAME THE RESULTS ON SMC.GOOD LUCK TO ALL OTHERS UNLIKE HERSELF IN THEIR NEW SMC BUSINESS!!!

I began with SMC when I was 17 years old in High School.Little money,no experience, knew something good when I saw it!!!
By the time I was 18, I was selling products to 2 national mail order houses (I had items in their catalogs!) and also sold to a department store chain.

In 7 months I made enough profit to purchase my first new car, a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird for $5200 cash!

I have also opened 2 different gift stores, and market directly to gift shops via mail and my website created by none other than emerchantclub.

Although we carry other lines in our giftstores, the majority of our product sales are from SMC products.This gives us the biggest markup, 3 times compared to 2 times for others products. This also helps us to let other shop owners know what sells.

If you're considering SMC....go for it.You can't expect to purchase 100's of catalogs and mail them out and make money. You can't expect to spend thousands on a website and make money. Money doesn't just come to you (a liberal expectation) you must go out and work for it and you will be rewarded. Have fun doing what you enjoy!

Jim, all the loosers you believed what a shame for you.

The people who have been talking bad about this company don't want to successeed.

SMC won't sell the products for you yu are your own boss and have to treat it like a real job.

Some of the comments on here are from people who have broken the law and are being sued by SMC.

What a shame I own my own bussiness thanks to SMC and I am doing well.

Shame you will never know what you could of had.

Very briefly would like to thank everyone about their comments that saved me some money if I was another sucker to get involved with this company which I was seriously considering until I found this website that caused me to change my mind and move on.

One needs to be the prime source for their own product or service to eliminate the middleman.

Thanks for all the info about this company.

I too, was sucked into SMC and got out FAST. Tom Bosley should be very ashamed of being the pitchman for this corrupt organization.

However, in response to D.K. of Ludowici, $25 for web development software? Okay, oooh, FrontPage?

1) Decent software that does not create junk code like FrontPage costs well over $300. FrontPage and others of that ilk generate extensions that wreak havoc with servers and are full of security flaws (just about like anything Microsoft produces).

2) I hate to defend SMC in this way, but databases cost tons of money to create and integrating a functioning shopping cart into a site that does real-time processing is a huge amount of programming. No, you don't just push buttons. Why do I know this? I am web developer/designer.

Their (SMC) fees are outrageous and these scumbags are getting away with it because the majority of people signing up with SMC know little or nothing about home-based business and are razzle-dazzled by the thoughts of making huge money from selling sub-par merchandise and a web site "that makes money 24/7." SMC and Herbalife are cut from the same fabric.

My advice..run fast in the other direction.

I too, was sucked into SMC and got out FAST. Tom Bosley should be very ashamed of being the pitchman for this corrupt organization.

However, in response to D.K. of Ludowici, $25 for web development software? Okay, oooh, FrontPage?

1) Decent software that does not create junk code like FrontPage costs well over $300. FrontPage and others of that ilk generate extensions that wreak havoc with servers and are full of security flaws (just about like anything Microsoft produces).

2) I hate to defend SMC in this way, but databases cost tons of money to create and integrating a functioning shopping cart into a site that does real-time processing is a huge amount of programming. No, you don't just push buttons. Why do I know this? I am web developer/designer.

Their (SMC) fees are outrageous and these scumbags are getting away with it because the majority of people signing up with SMC know little or nothing about home-based business and are razzle-dazzled by the thoughts of making huge money from selling sub-par merchandise and a web site "that makes money 24/7." SMC and Herbalife are cut from the same fabric.

My advice..run fast in the other direction.

I too, was sucked into SMC and got out FAST. Tom Bosley should be very ashamed of being the pitchman for this corrupt organization.

However, in response to D.K. of Ludowici, $25 for web development software? Okay, oooh, FrontPage?

1) Decent software that does not create junk code like FrontPage costs well over $300. FrontPage and others of that ilk generate extensions that wreak havoc with servers and are full of security flaws (just about like anything Microsoft produces).

2) I hate to defend SMC in this way, but databases cost tons of money to create and integrating a functioning shopping cart into a site that does real-time processing is a huge amount of programming. No, you don't just push buttons. Why do I know this? I am web developer/designer.

Their (SMC) fees are outrageous and these scumbags are getting away with it because the majority of people signing up with SMC know little or nothing about home-based business and are razzle-dazzled by the thoughts of making huge money from selling sub-par merchandise and a web site "that makes money 24/7." SMC and Herbalife are cut from the same fabric.

My advice..run fast in the other direction.

I too, was sucked into SMC and got out FAST. Tom Bosley should be very ashamed of being the pitchman for this corrupt organization.

However, in response to D.K. of Ludowici, $25 for web development software? Okay, oooh, FrontPage?

1) Decent software that does not create junk code like FrontPage costs well over $300. FrontPage and others of that ilk generate extensions that wreak havoc with servers and are full of security flaws (just about like anything Microsoft produces).

2) I hate to defend SMC in this way, but databases cost tons of money to create and integrating a functioning shopping cart into a site that does real-time processing is a huge amount of programming. No, you don't just push buttons. Why do I know this? I am web developer/designer.

Their (SMC) fees are outrageous and these scumbags are getting away with it because the majority of people signing up with SMC know little or nothing about home-based business and are razzle-dazzled by the thoughts of making huge money from selling sub-par merchandise and a web site "that makes money 24/7." SMC and Herbalife are cut from the same fabric.

My advice..run fast in the other direction.

Rik just suffers of pseudo-intellectual imbecilism! That's a liberal disease, y'all, since he felt the need to imply that he is convinced that all the successful SMC sellers are lying, you must be republicans! Makes me wonder about the tolerance he, as a Democrat, should be showing but instead he just shows his true colors of a liberal: because he doesn't agree with you that means you are all idiots! Hey Rik, go hug a Sequoia but I already feel sorry for you, for your missplaced arrogance, ideologism and the fact that you, as a Democrat, is forced to live in a "red" state. So tell us, did you seek any psyhotherapy following the elections? Don't hate the success of the others just because you failed, it's just life, some succeed and some don't. Your arguments were puerile, lacking conviction and based on opinions and facts. You must have gathered your info at the exit poll!

I have only been selling smc products for three months i have already made more than what it cost me to buy the membership and i have managed to buy some groceries and some christmas presents for my one year old son.

I also saw the infomercial and i knew that there was a risk buying anything that i saw on tv.
I live in northern canada and i have to pay just about double the shipping that americans do plus i have to pay exchange on all of it and I am still making money. i might not be making millions but I am a stay at home mom and a little bit extra helps.

I think that one of smc's only mistakes is selling thier membership to people who want eveything handed to them on a silver platter, and lets face it life just doesnt work that way.

I have only been selling smc products for three months i have already made more than what it cost me to buy the membership and i have managed to buy some groceries and some christmas presents for my one year old son.

I also saw the infomercial and i knew that there was a risk buying anything that i saw on tv.
I live in northern canada and i have to pay just about double the shipping that americans do plus i have to pay exchange on all of it and I am still making money. i might not be making millions but I am a stay at home mom and a little bit extra helps.

I think that one of smc's only mistakes is selling thier membership to people who want eveything handed to them on a silver platter, and lets face it life just doesnt work that way.

I have only been selling smc products for three months i have already made more than what it cost me to buy the membership and i have managed to buy some groceries and some christmas presents for my one year old son.

I also saw the infomercial and i knew that there was a risk buying anything that i saw on tv.
I live in northern canada and i have to pay just about double the shipping that americans do plus i have to pay exchange on all of it and I am still making money. i might not be making millions but I am a stay at home mom and a little bit extra helps.

I think that one of smc's only mistakes is selling thier membership to people who want eveything handed to them on a silver platter, and lets face it life just doesnt work that way.

I have only been selling smc products for three months i have already made more than what it cost me to buy the membership and i have managed to buy some groceries and some christmas presents for my one year old son.

I also saw the infomercial and i knew that there was a risk buying anything that i saw on tv.
I live in northern canada and i have to pay just about double the shipping that americans do plus i have to pay exchange on all of it and I am still making money. i might not be making millions but I am a stay at home mom and a little bit extra helps.

I think that one of smc's only mistakes is selling thier membership to people who want eveything handed to them on a silver platter, and lets face it life just doesnt work that way.

My girlfriend actually sold through SMC. She's not a business guru, and never went to college. She simply paid the money for the membership, got a catalog, and ordered items.

She would go to something similar to a flea market every week. There were quite a few weeks where she made 1000-1200 on average. It wasn't "easy". There was work to do, and the occassional price negotiation, but for the most part she was able to do rather well for a days work.

Obviously not EVERYONE will be making boat loads of money, but it can work. She has no complaints so far.

My girlfriend actually sold through SMC. She's not a business guru, and never went to college. She simply paid the money for the membership, got a catalog, and ordered items.

She would go to something similar to a flea market every week. There were quite a few weeks where she made 1000-1200 on average. It wasn't "easy". There was work to do, and the occassional price negotiation, but for the most part she was able to do rather well for a days work.

Obviously not EVERYONE will be making boat loads of money, but it can work. She has no complaints so far.

My girlfriend actually sold through SMC. She's not a business guru, and never went to college. She simply paid the money for the membership, got a catalog, and ordered items.

She would go to something similar to a flea market every week. There were quite a few weeks where she made 1000-1200 on average. It wasn't "easy". There was work to do, and the occassional price negotiation, but for the most part she was able to do rather well for a days work.

Obviously not EVERYONE will be making boat loads of money, but it can work. She has no complaints so far.

My girlfriend actually sold through SMC. She's not a business guru, and never went to college. She simply paid the money for the membership, got a catalog, and ordered items.

She would go to something similar to a flea market every week. There were quite a few weeks where she made 1000-1200 on average. It wasn't "easy". There was work to do, and the occassional price negotiation, but for the most part she was able to do rather well for a days work.

Obviously not EVERYONE will be making boat loads of money, but it can work. She has no complaints so far.

You are right and that is what I have been saying all along. READ READ READ!!!

All those who havent' succeeded haven't tried.

There is no get RITCH fast business out there and SMC has NEVER!!!! made that claim.


Read your contract, read your manual. If you don't sucesseed DON'T blame SMC blame yourselves.

You are your own business owner
You DO NOT work for SMC
You CAN NOT use their name in anything you do and it states this in your KIT,

You all see the products and get jazzed without thinking about reading your manuals or carefully going over your contract -fine print and all.

It is obvious to those who deal with SMC and have been successful that the negative talk is from those who didn't try.

Sitting around won't make you money.
If you want to be a small homebased businness owner that act like an owner they work no one is going to do it for you unless you hire someone then they want to be paid too.

First off, first day out, I made $44.00 selling to friends (2 orders). When I set out, I had just enough gas to get there and no money at all. I am not an employee, by the way, there should be an option for those of us who are self emloyed...

Secondly, It is unfortunate to have had all the negative reviews posted, but for those who are not happy, perhaps you didn't read your manual, had a pipe dream of making millions or something in one day. Everyone's experiance is different. I'm not some bimbo who doesn't know any better, you just sift out the retorect from the realities of doing business! Period.

Thirdly, there are a few companies willing to give you a kit for making them money....candles, makeup, kitchenware...etc. No matter how you get the kit, free or worked off, bottom line americans...it's the American way, we all have to make money. Why does this make a company bad? You're paying for everthing in your life anyway.

First things First Angela, Before you push the blame on SMC for claims that they have made, please take a few minutes to think back to when you were the person buying something and it had to be shipped, as does SMC and so many other companies in the world today, USE UPS to ship their goods, and VIA ground shipping.

Which means that it is shipped and transported in TRUCKS = Ground, and all ground shipping takes time and it is the least expensive shipping method and that is why so many companies use UPS, again when was the last time you bought something, be it Via the internet, or an Infomercial on TV, and you had to wait and wait and wait for it to come, ground is the fastest Right?

And since your a member of SMC, you could have called the Coaching Dept to get a better idea as to the shipping time frame before you posted a shipping deadline on E-bay, and you could have even called the Coaching Dept to place an order of the product that you sold on E-bay rather than using the website to place the order, and after you got all the info from the Coach you would have spoken with, you could have informed the buyer of the shipping and given an apology and offered a remedy (think out of the box) you could have offered a really inexpensive FREE gift to your customer for the inconvenience in the shipping delay.

Now as to my Salesmanship, I had a customer mail in an order, it was from a leave behind flyer that I left at a doctors office on the table with all the other magazines, the next day I sent them a one page Thank You letter and giving them the order number and that they would be receiving the product in 10 to 14 days, I also enclosed the World of Products Catalog FREE.

And as I went into the post office to mail this to my customer, I needed a mailer and at that point the postal worker asked me for my world of products Catalog, I even offered a $5.00 to $6.00 discount on the item he pointed out to me from the picture in the catalog, now he may or may not buy, but I already planted the seed that he can get discounts, and to which I do plan to stand by.

Even if he buys later or not at all and still shows the catalog to others, its just another way for me to get the word out, FREE advertising for me :), And about a month ago I sold the World Of Products catalog to the person behind the counter at the Self Storage place that I use for my personal things, last week I again went to pay my self storage bill, that same person that bought my World Of Products catalog has already placed an order totaling $50.00.

Yes I know that is not a lot of money, and IM not making much on this sale, IM even eating the shipping cost on it, $10.00 to be exact, but this little loss will in hopes bring in more sales Word of mouth, FREE Advertising again for me :)
They even said that they had no problem with paying the shipping cost, but IM still not charging them for it, Why, in hopes that it will bring them back again and again and again and that they will spread the word of my Business and how well I treated them.

( Think out of the Box )

As so many others have said research and then some more research, and I must admit that every call I have made to my coach at SMC and all the Questions I asked were answered, and since I have worked in the shipping industry and with one of worlds largest shippers, I know that my coach answered me with honesty, and I know that just because someone says it will be X amount of days, I know to add at least another 2 to 3 days to it or more due to delays with the Carrier be it miss handled by the carrier or weather issues or vehicle break downs and not because of SMC.

Well folks, it has been some time since I first posted to this thread, but I do read every response that is made here. As some of you may remember, my problem was not with SMC products but rather their sales tactics on selling their websites. Yes I took a huge loss on that, but you live and learn when you own a business.

At any rate, for those who are still thinking about joining SMC, I do still sell them and yes I do make money selling them. However, I have learned to be very selective in the items I purchase for resale. The first step in starting a business is market research. Lots and lots of market research. Just because something sells good in one area does not mean it will sell good in another area. Out here in Oregon there are two types of items that sell fairly good. This is cowboy country so the liberty bronze items do well. So do the wildlife collection items. At the same time, if I were to order a miniture tea set or kitchen items I would no doubt have to sit on those for awhile. They may eventually sell but in the collectible business, space is money so why plug up your shelf space with items you may have to keep for a long time?

Now I know this has gotten a bit long winded so I will get to my main point. SMC products do sell. They are, as a rule, quality products. Yes you do have to be a member to purchase them, but I have no problem with that. Yes yard sales are good and I go to many of them myself. I rarely ever purchase a SMC product at a yard sale though. Mainly because at a yard sales most of the items for sale are usually damaged in some way which makes it pretty close to useless. And again you are back to the same thing. Space is money and if you are going to sell on ebay etc., you would have to have a fairly large storage area if you only purchased items from yardsales. Why do that when SMC will hold the inventory for you until it is sold? Why spend valuable time on packaging and shipping when SMC will do that for you? I do keep a cataloge displayed at the store and from time to time someone will order an item or two from it, but for the most part people will buy what is on display. The American people ar by and large impulse buyers. If they are looking for a gift and you tell them it will be 7 to 10 days to have it shipped, they will most likely shop someplace else.

Of course not every one can or does own a brick and morter store as I do and for those that don't then selling from the catalog is the only means of selling that you have and it does work. Just don't expect to get rich in a short time. My advise would be to talk to other wholesale outlets as well. Have a variaty of catalogs your customers can choose from.

In conclusion, SMC can be a valuable resorce for sellers, but it should not be the only resorce. Do your market research and find out what sells best and then concentrate on those items. Check out the other brick front stores and see what they have on display. If they have been in business any length of time they know what sells best in their area. And if you are thinking of starting a webpage, SHOP AROUND!! Just because you have a webpage does not mean you will sell any and everything listed in the catalog. Don't limit yourself to only one outlet. Variaty is the spice of life and the more outlets you have the better your business will do.

The Good thing about SMC is that you don't have to go around spending money buying items and then turn around and try to sell them. With SMC, you can first sell the item then turn around and actually purchase the item from SMC and have it dropshipped directly to the customer. There is no need to buy something that you might not be able to sell and end up getting stuck with it.

I would not say that family and friends buy these items from dealers only because they feel sorry for them. That is not a true statement. The fact of the matter is that there is a market for everything and everyone. Some people like to purchase these kinds of items others don't. Just like some people like vanilla ice cream others like chocolate. It is all about marketing advertising and promoting your products to the right market. If they like the products and business opportunity they will get involved if they don't they won't. Simple as that.

As far as the membership fee is concerned, when you think about it, large wholesale stores like Costco or SamsClub, among others, charge their members a yearly membership fee just to be able to go into their stores and purchase their products and they have millions of members paying that membership fee year after year.

Some companies charge a one time membership fee which either is or isn't 100% refundable. Others charge a monthly fee. It all depends on the store / company. So there is nothing wrong with SMC charging these fees when others, like the stores mentioned, charge member fees all the time.

It is unfair to come out and bash companies like SMC the way many have here. Use your head before you type. BE REASONABLE, FAIR AND JUST. Don't come out bashing a company just because you failed miserably and lacked the knowledge and skills to make your business work. Again SMC is not a get rich quick company and never claimed to be. You need to put some effort into it and into any other business. If you have the intelligence and desire you will succeed. If not, you will end up in here crying and complaining about your own failure.

Heres a better idea, Go to Garage Sales, Estate Sales, Thrift Stores and Swap Meets, Buy used SMC type items at Pennies on the Dollar and sell them on EBAY. I see tons of these items every week. I personally do not buy this type of item, instead I focus on high value collectables. But there is a market for SMC items, So go and tap your local area and create your bussiness the Cheap and easy way. Study the SMC Catalog and prices, then go out, and you will see the same or like items for 50 Cents, $2.00 etc, Then Sell it on EBAY or sell them any other way you can. That Simple. Why would someone pay $50 for some goofball Dolhpin Statue from China, See SMC website, When they can buy one at a garage Sale for $1.00, You know all that junk that Friends and Family buy from SMC Dealers, because they feel sorry for them. Well alot of it ends up in the Garage Sale World.

Angela,
I'll say up front that my comments are NOT intended to attack, or to be malicious. However, as another person who has bought the kit, I DO have a few comments. First, Whether you are watching the informercial, reading your materials, or reading online, SMC clearly states they guarantee all orders are PROCESSED (shipped within 2 to 3 days. No where do they claim product gets to the customer that fast. If you go online to the FAQ section, they say the best way to estimate delivery time is by zone number. Adding 2 to 3 days to leave the warehouse, to the zone number, and that's the approximate business days to get to a customer. For example, I live in zone 6. That's 8 or 9 business days. sonce 10 business days is two weeks, I always plan for any order sent to me to take 1 1/2 to 2 weeks. Since zone 8 will extimate out at 10 to 11 business days, I would quote all shipments as "an approximate" two week delivery time. Also, as a courtesy to your customers, I would email the tracking number to them, as soon as the product ships. That way, you also have proof your supplier took a few days to ship the item. As to why an item shipping practically around the corner took so song to deliver, I have to admit, SMC blew that one! Yes, their testimonials ARE their absolute top producers. I personally, have not been successful selling off eBay. However, if you can find craft shows that don't have huge booth fees, they can prove successful. There is a web site www.whereitsat.com (I think) that lists craft shows within the southern states. It might include Colorado. Anyway, my advice is try craft shows or flea markets. Hope this helps!

First of all I want to make it clear that I am a member of SMC and not an employee.

I was up one night watching T.V., back in 2001, and as I was changing channels I came across SMC's infomercial. Within minutes I knew that selling these items to my family members would produce an easy sale and quick profits for my wife and I. I have always wanted to have a business that would help generate an extra income for my household. So, after listening to Tom Bosley and Kerry Levine talk about the company and the business opportunity they offered, I decided to give it a try.

As soon as I received my sales materials, I began showing the master catalog to my family and friends. I must admit that I did not do too much talking as far as trying to convince them to purchase the items. I am really not that great of a sales person to begin with. However, the master catalog and the great pictures of the products did the selling for me. Within the first year, I was making an extra $300 to $500 a month in sales and with very little effort. Things slowed down due to the volume of work at my job. I began working up to 15 hour days including weekends. This left me with little time to focus on SMC. However, family and friends continued to remain loyal customers as they continued to purchase items for special occasions or holiday gifts.

Eventually, things slowed down at work which left me with more time to focus on taking my business to the next level. I decided to expand my business not only locally but nationally, as well. In order to do this, I knew that I needed to have the means to promote my business and give potential customers the ability to view my products and obtain information on my new business opportunity, which I had decided to start. I wanted to build my own network of distributors. So, I decided on the sub-wholesaling method. I purchased my website from eMerchantClub. I began advertising, marketing and promoting my new internet business. Within a matter of three months I had recruited approximately 60 new distributors. One of them, the donators , is in the fundraising business. They sell my SMC products exclusively. And I say exclusively because at one point they had been selling products for two other suppliers, but became very discontent with the quality of their service and products. So, while searching online for a new supplier they came across my company in one of the search engines. They visited my website and liked what they saw. They had about 10 questions for me. After responding to their questions, almost immediately, and after learning that we would be able to meet their needs, they decided to purchase the sub-wholesale packet and become one of my distributors. They ended their business relationship with the other two suppliers and stated that they would be selling my products exclusively. This was a great feeling. Some of my customers are owners of retail gift stores. I live in Fountain Valley, CA, however my online business has allowed me to recruit new distributors, 90% of them being from out of state. As a matter of fact, I had a customer from the United Kingdom who actually purchased an item through my website @ www.roldans.com. Unfortunately, SMC does not ship on an international level at this time.

I also run a monthly drawing where each month we give out a free SMC item. This is a great way to generate more leads since all participants who register must provide us with their name, address and e-mail. I then use their information to follow up with emails or direct mail in the hopes of bringing them on as distributors.

In conclusion, SMC has been the perfect business for me. It is not a get rich quick business and they have never claimed to be. They are, however, an honest company, who has been around for many years, offering an honest business opportunity which can help generate a great source of income, whether part-time or full-time, depending on each person's efforts. So, you've got the products, over 3,500 of them, you've got the opportunity. It is up to you to wake up, take that first step and begin your journey with The Perfect Business. You will only get what you put into it. All those bad mouthing people here are people who do not know about business or how to run a business. It is very hard work. It takes a great deal of motivation, dedication, ambition, and sacrifice, just as does any other business. If you are looking for a get rich quick program where you can sit on the sofa all day and watch T.V. then you need to find another compay. SMC is not for you or you can try playing the lotto and hope you hit the jack pot. If you are willing to put in some hard work, then give this a try. Worked for me.

I purchased my SMC kit not long ago thinking It was a great way to make money. YEAH RIGHT! I'm of course still paying for the kit which is close to 400 dollars and I think I have been able to sell two items from them through ebay and made about 10 bucks total. They make you think your going to make so much profit off of the kit and it's just not true. Also after you've had it for 30 days that't it. Its yours to keep no going back. It states that they send them in 2-3 buisness days. Thats also not true. Because I sold these items on ebay I just made the purchase from SMC over the internet. I now have two NICE complaints on my ebay account because I promised the customer it would be 5-7 buisness days to arrive at their home. One of my products took almost two weeks! Its ridiculous. Also I would like to throw in that The product that took 1 week and 4 days was going to California.....WHICH IS WHERE SMC'S WHEREHOUSE IS LOCATED AND THEIR PRODUCTS ARE SHIPPED FROM. So when you consider purchasing it you had best remember you wont be a millionaire anytime soon and all those videos they send in the kit about all those people who made so much ARE CRAP!

I am a SMC Member not an Employee. I have read so amazing opinions about SMC and they all seem to have the same things in common.

One: I thought my Membership Fee was for ever.
The contract says you agree to pay a yearly renewal fee of (now) $24.00.

Two: I didn't make much or any money.
Unless you really apply your self as if it were a full time job, you won't make money.

Three: Shipping costs are too high.
If you were another small business the rate would be the same.

In my opinion all of you bad mouthing SMC didn't apply yourself. You are supposed to use these products to become your own small business owner.
If you don't act like a business owner you won't be successful. Get over yourself and stop blaming SMC for your lazy attitude.

My experience with SMC is somewhat different I was first introduced to SMC quite a while back through an infomercial selling the "Internet Tool Box". included in the Internet Tool Box program came an ecommerce site and a lifetime membership to SMC, which is not affiliated with them by the way, for a grand total of $4500 of which I was forced to pay out over the course of 3 years. After 2 years of professionally revamping my site and unsuccesfully attempting to market online I finally concluded that The Internet Tool box was a total scam. However, even though I didn't make a dime selling merchandise via my website, I brought one of my catalogs to my work with me one day to look over without the slightest intention, honest, to try to sell to my friends and co-workers but when my co-workers seen me looking at my catalog it sparked enough interest for them to purchase some items for Christmas. Since then I get people asking me every Christmas to bring in my catalog so that they may purchase something. I have a very strong suspicion that if I found a good location and put more time into it I too may be able to do at least okay. Although I will never forgive SMC for even letting themselves be associated with the Internet Tool Box to begin with. I would really like to be able contact Jim in Georgia to get some tips on how they started their gift shop and what items they found to sell best. since he is no where near Utah and therefore there is no fear of competition. And what does it matter if SMC is a middle man if your still making money?

I spent the better part of an hour and 1/2 reading through most of the post's here, and stopped after reading (Dave - Woodstock, Illinois
U.S.A.)Post. Only because I started to get to other postings that started to get hatful again and it seems as though (Rik) got someone to jump on to this band wagon, as (Dave - Woodstock, Illinois U.S.A.) and a few others have stated.

In the most basic terms, love it leave it and it is what you make of it and what you want to make of it, yes you will have to work hard and long hours at times, yes you will have to put sweat equity into the business of your choice, be it with the membership of SMC or not.

Yes I am a new member of SMC (less than 2 months) and I have called and talked to the coach that was listed in the membership kit, and I chose to use the payment plan, BUT, before doing so I did think long and hard and did the best research I could before doing so, and to be quit honest I yet to find a wholesaler that will do what SMC does.

I am working on a shoe string budget and boot strapping it, as for the DIY aspect, there is no way on this gods green earth that anyone could print up a or any Catalog like the WOP Catalog for little or next to nothing and on a home pc and printer, I searched and looked hard to see how I can get business cards and flyers made up with least amount of $$$.

And even if I go out buy blank stock paper and create my own flyer of just 1000 copies, it will cost me close to 200.00 and that is just to get the paper of choice that is of heavier stock and has the look and feel quality, yet is still the least expence to me. As for the business cards I can do my self for a very little expence with a program I bought to do just that. Because I see it this way, if your flyers/news letters or anything you print up your self looks and feels cheesy or really cheap people will look at as something that is just trash.

If you give your selling material, flyers/news letters/business cards ect, the look and feel of quality it just make people more inclined to think twice and buy from you/us/me, if people don't like the way it looks and smells they don't want it, that is just human nature and we are all just like this, if it don't look good then we tend to think more about what we want to do, and for the most part, SMC has pretty good looking selling material with a cost of course, but its a cost that is very low compaired to whaqt itcan be.

I can't afford to keep a large supply of merchendise in stock at or in my place residence and I can't afford to go out and pay for storage, and since SMC is willing to and going to warehouse and ship the Products under my Business name and it of course cost me a little more as part of doing business, then I can handle that or at least do the best I can.

And I know im not going to get rich over night, yes some of the products that SMC has, is not the best out there, but I also work in security at a mall in my area and I see the prices that the merchents are asking for the products they are selling and some of the Products are not of any greater quality than that of SMC, as many others have stated in their postings, there is a price to pay for being in business and unless you can warehouse a large supply of products with little to no cost.

Then you have to just except the fact that you will be paying for the service tat SMC offers you for the warehousing and drop shipping of the products what ever they may be, I have also worked as a couier for one of the two largest frieght shippers in the world, I know what it can cost in the shipping chargers no matter what kind of business your in, shipping can and will always be costly, and I for a fact well with pretty reasonable safety in saying that everyone that has posted here, has at one time or another bought something and had to pay shipping charges.

Including me, we always say geeze thats a lot for shipping, but what do we do, we pay it, and so that is what we/us/you have to do when selling SMC products pass on the shipping charges with in reason to your customer, think of the box as someone has said here, there are no get rich sceams that are 100% legit and that really works.

And I personally don't think that SMC led me on or made me think that I was going to get rich over night, in fact I think they were pretty up front as to the kind of money you will or could make, but you can't expect the starter kit to do it for you, there will be leg work to do and yes more $$$ to be spent to make it work, there is nothing for thing in this world, you meaning we all have work at to make it, to make what we want of what ever the venture is.

And Im very new to the world business and selling and buying and so on, but im going head first with eyes shut but rather looking at all angles and avenues and how I can spend the least and still be able to make some $$$, and if most people don't understand in any kind of business you have to spend plenty of $$$ on advertising, which is going to be my bigest hurdle to cross.

And Im sure (Rik) will chime in here and say im an SMC employee, well sorry to dispoint ya (Rik) Im not and before you think of doing so, let me say You don't know me or who I am, and you know what ASUME means right, so please don't Asume, but yes I am a paying SMC member, and I did not need anyone including you (RIK) to tell me that SMC was and is a middleman, and for my limited expense's and limited budget, I will use SMC's services to warehouse and drop ship.

Cozy Corner Gifts
Garfield NJ U.S.A.

I have been a member of SMC for 11 years and I am completely satisfied with the product line and prices. The white price list allows me to do my gift shopping for a fraction of what retail stores charge. Christmas alone is a real deal. Where else can you get Christmas shopping done for less than $150.00?! As far as making a living, you have to have a real drive and imagination to do it, don't expect to make money over night. The people you see on T.V. quite possibly are the ones who had an explosion of luck, but in reality real business is hard work, you live, eat, sleep and breathe your business. I am a business consultant with SMC on the side and this clown hasn't got a clue and by his spelling and grammar and education either! You can't just rely on a product and luck. The SMC product is sound and quality. I approve it and use it quite frequently for church and school fundraisers. The products sell themselves!

I have been a member of SMC for 11 years and I am completely satisfied with the product line and prices. The white price list allows me to do my gift shopping for a fraction of what retail stores charge. Christmas alone is a real deal. Where else can you get Christmas shopping done for less than $150.00?! As far as making a living, you have to have a real drive and imagination to do it, don't expect to make money over night. The people you see on T.V. quite possibly are the ones who had an explosion of luck, but in reality real business is hard work, you live, eat, sleep and breathe your business. I am a business consultant with SMC on the side and this clown hasn't got a clue and by his spelling and grammar and education either! You can't just rely on a product and luck. The SMC product is sound and quality. I approve it and use it quite frequently for church and school fundraisers. The products sell themselves!

I have been a member of SMC for 11 years and I am completely satisfied with the product line and prices. The white price list allows me to do my gift shopping for a fraction of what retail stores charge. Christmas alone is a real deal. Where else can you get Christmas shopping done for less than $150.00?! As far as making a living, you have to have a real drive and imagination to do it, don't expect to make money over night. The people you see on T.V. quite possibly are the ones who had an explosion of luck, but in reality real business is hard work, you live, eat, sleep and breathe your business. I am a business consultant with SMC on the side and this clown hasn't got a clue and by his spelling and grammar and education either! You can't just rely on a product and luck. The SMC product is sound and quality. I approve it and use it quite frequently for church and school fundraisers. The products sell themselves!

I have been a member of SMC for 11 years and I am completely satisfied with the product line and prices. The white price list allows me to do my gift shopping for a fraction of what retail stores charge. Christmas alone is a real deal. Where else can you get Christmas shopping done for less than $150.00?! As far as making a living, you have to have a real drive and imagination to do it, don't expect to make money over night. The people you see on T.V. quite possibly are the ones who had an explosion of luck, but in reality real business is hard work, you live, eat, sleep and breathe your business. I am a business consultant with SMC on the side and this clown hasn't got a clue and by his spelling and grammar and education either! You can't just rely on a product and luck. The SMC product is sound and quality. I approve it and use it quite frequently for church and school fundraisers. The products sell themselves!

I was a single guy living in my dad's apartment, working at Carl's Jr and not having a bright future. I didnt go to school and I was making minimum wage.

I saw SMC on television, I swear I didnt know who the heck Bosley was, but it looked like a good opportunity. After 3 months of being indicisive I jumped on board. There were alot of things I still didnt know about it that bothered me, I thought it was 25 dollars to start and thats it. Anyways, I still went for it, and I very slowly started selling some things at the swapmeet. Six months later, I started making almost a thousand a month profit, all in the weekends. Its definetely not easy work, but now 2 years later I am making an average of 1200 a month, more than my old job and in far less time.

SMC has allowed me the time to attend a community college on the weekdays, which is where I met my new bride. I owe it all to SMC, and I couldnt be any happier.

Okay, enough research for me. SMC looks great if one really wants to invest significant amounts of time and headache into a nickle-and-dime business. There are better ways to make money, though, with less time commitment and better profit margins. I'll advise my mother-in-law not to enroll.

I will agree with some of the SMC crowd on here, though. The majority of the people complaining about SMC are simply too stupid to attempt to own their own retail business venture.

I can't resist...I really must respond to the following quote from one of the people posting:

"I was stupid once, but never again!
Factual experiences do not constitute deformation of character, slander or liable."


Madam, you are quite obviously as stupid now as the day you slept through your highschool English classes.

...heh

I am a middle class Homeschooling mom, that actually makes a little purse money from selling SMC products. I have sold some on Ebay (tough market) and to my close relatives. I also have someone else selling the products for me. I make 30% of what they make by simply placing the order. I do not have much time, nor do i leave the house much. I do have friends that do though.

On average, They make 30% of the retail price, and i make 30% of what they make. WHAT A BARGAIN!!! I justify this, by paying the membership fees(big deal). I have and will continue to make way more than i paid to join. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this program to any mom, that just wants a few extra dollars in their pocket. It is really no different than AVON, MARY KAY, TUPPERWARE, etc....

It is a great opportunity to make ends meet. My hubby works 60 hours a week and that pays the bills. My SMC income would not. MAKE OF THIS WHAT YOU WILL. I AM NOT EMPLOYED BY SMC, other than being a sales representative by selling products for them. I AM SATISFIED!!!!!

As I read through the complaints and "Praises", I believe that its mixed between many people. Yes some Employees, Some legitimate "Owners" and from Complaints from VALID Consumers. Instead of complaining here, let me give you some tips (yes some might be redundant, and I apologize for that)

1) ALL COMPAINES only tell you what THEY want you to know, I am a business owner, (a website programmer and Hosting service to be exact). And yes, I know about all the specials out there, but I wont tell you about all of them, because, I am not in business to send you somewhere else for your business for less quality. I have built my customer base on referrals. Yes, I have had bad customers, but usually its because someone was naive and uneducated and didn't want to/or couldn't understand the repercussions on something.

2) GET INFORMATION BEFORE MAKING A BUSINESS DECISION - As with any business, get some books on the market, I Praise Rip Off Reports for providing this venue. I have used them many times for information, sometimes it raises questions for companies that i wouldn't have thought to ask. And, I may not have liked the answers, but at least I was informed.

3)When Dealing with companies Like SMC, Amway, Avon, etc, understand they are out to make a profit (like any company), I have been a distributor of Amway and yes I received some money, I didn't make a lot. Why? not because I was lazy, but because I found the products and services cheaper from somewhere else, so why pay more of a profit.

4) Get everything you can in writing. Just because someone tells you something, its not always the truth. And on the opposite side, just because someone DOESN'T tell you something (or omit something) DOESN'T mean they lied to you. It just a matter of perception.

5) Find out what it costs? This means not only in money, but time. When I ask for a cost, I ask for a BOTTOM LINE, TOTAL PAYOUT FIGURE, I make sure they understand, no more expenses, no additional costs, no more investments. THEN AGAIN, GET IT IN WRITING.

6) LETS REPEAT BECAUSE ITS SO IMPORTANT! GET THE INFORMATION BEFORE MAKING A BUSIESS DECISION.


Regarding the websites, as a Designer and Hosting company, I agree with most of the comments here. They are leased while you use a companies service. It is terrible and hideous why so many companies who use template sites charge so much for them. As a service, any one can contact my company (sales@cbecentral.com or www.cbecentral.com) for information and cost regarding building a website. Keep in mind, the cheapest is not always the best. I wont go into it here, but Like its been said before, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR, I have had customers go to a cheaper venue only to find out they were terrible in customer service and their "Policies" made it very difficult to make changes to their products/services.

Final Note:

DO YOUR RESEARCH ON ANY COMPANY YOU PLAN ON INVESTING OR GIVING MONEY TO.

My husband joined SMC about a year before we married. He did his homework BEFORE deciding to sign up. Any business advisor will tell you that businesses take 2 to 5 years to "ramp up". That is WHY the IRS will let you claim business losses for your first 3 start up years. I have a family member who started their own business years back (not SMC related) and it took them 2 1/2 years of hard work before the business was "in the black". So...for all of you who gave SMC less than 2 years and less than 40 hours per week bafore bailing, the fault is yours and yours alone. I'm not saying I'm thrilled about everything SMC, but I got into this with an open mind and with a business / retail background. Yes, it is frustrating when close to Christmas deadlines, many products go out of stock, but they have started to keep greater quantities of all products on hand. Also, when a product count drops below 100, they now list that on the inventory inquiry. True, their coaches are of no help, but we didn't need them anyway. They think like Californians, nad here in Texas, CA marketing ideas just don't work. I have had many years in retail, and have used my own brain for sucessful marketing ideas. In short, those of you who cannot accept that someone else actually has a good raport with SMC need to get a life, and point a finger at your own unwillingness to "think out of the box" for marketing ideas. No, SMC is not perfect, but no company is! As to their being a middleman...DUH!!! Have YOU tired to order straight from the REAL wholesaler, or the manufacturer? We have, ALL of them, bar none, require a minimum order of $500 or more, or huge quantity orders of 100 or more of EACH item. Well...if you have a large store, that's great, but for those of us who don't it's worth the extra to be able to buy items as needed.

First of all, Michael, you say "many customer complaints..." and you fail to substantiate this. I challenge you to provide specifics -- but you can't because it is not true. MICHAEL -- YOU ARE A LIAR!

Secondly, rude begets rude. I have no doubt that you were rude with SMC employees, but I serously doubt they were rude in return. My personal experience is that I have never experienced rude comments from any SMC employee. The very proposition you make is preposterous -- a lie.

SMC employees "represent" the company and cannot behave that way. I therefore challenge you to be specific as to the name of the SMC employee and the date and nature of call (Michael -- again, you are a liar).

Thirdly, Michael -- you are excessively biased and non-descript with poorly chosen adjectives such as the word "crapola" which is not even a real word. Suggest that you, Michael are also ignorant to the use of the language. Go get an education. Take a few english classes.

Forthly, SMC should sue you, Michael, because you have committed both slander and libel, by accusing them of hiring illegal immigrants. You have made false statements, and you are the one, Michael who are attempting to mislead the public! Shame on you!

So far as the merchandise, nothing is sub par about SMC items. Most of the items are higher quality than Wal Mart and various gift shops around the country.

Michael -- grow up. If you want to be a businessman, then act like one. Your letter slanders SMC and your comments are fraught with false statements and bleeding generalities. Michael -- who is misleading who? My vote -- you, Michael are attempting to mislead. Shame on you. Take that log out of your eye before you try to remove the splinter out of someone else's eye.

First of all..SMC does use the pony express...ive had many customer complaints about the crapola merchandise and the phenominal shipping rates they are charged! And the wait was absurd! This whole thing is a waste of time and effort, the support people are the rudest people you'll ever talk to...mainly because they are under paid immigrants who just escaped over the border and smc hired them! 4 of every 5 mexican immigrants work there. The merchandise is sub par garbage from china and singapore which you can purchase for a buck at your local dollar store, the mark up is insane...im embarassed for them! Worst mistake ive ever made financially and im happy to take the loss just to be done with this incompetent and ripoff company. As for Tom Bosley...shame on you! I guess since happy days ended you'll stoop to the bowels of integrity to earn a buck! I bet when Arnold the girley Man Shwartzenidiot is done being governor of california we will see him pitching this crapola company as well. My Advice...Spend you money on cigarettes...they are a better deal!

I have read a lot of responses about everyone's experience with SMC. I do agree that everybody has a different opinion and their opinions are based upon how good or how bad it has been signing up with this company.

In March 2004 I saw the infomercial and thought it was a great idea. But I also remember them saying that you could start your successful business with only $29.95 which to me was wonderful, since at the time I was looking for extra income and I had enough time during the day to be able to dedicate myself to the business, and did want to invest a lot of money.

When I received the FREE information, I noticed the $250 to $350 dollar membership fee, so I figured it was o.k., it was like paying a membership fee for Sam's or Costco in order to buy at wholesale prices.

What I didn't realize, is that, you actually spend more money that you would think on all the programs they offer.

If you're doing the Mail Catalog Orders, you have to buy at least 500 to 1,000 catalogs since only 1% of the consumers respond and this is if you want to have some good orders coming in, and also pay for postage. Now even at SMC they tell you this is the most costly way of building a business.

On the Sub wholesale program, in order to get people selling for you, you have to get them their packet just like the one you receive when you enroll. Now, each of them cost $25.00, you do have the option of getting together a packet on your own, but that also involves buying the catalogs, and since you want them to have the big catalog, the investment is higher.

And on the Internet program, I think the investment is even worse, they do offer you a free website for three months, but the website is very limited. Right now most of the websites offer the option of ordering and paying online. A website with a merchant account offered by SMC is no less than $750.00

So anyway you look at it, it is quite an investment, and like every investment there are risks.

My only complaint about this company is that they should tell you the truth before enrolling! That you are not starting a business with only $29.95 or with only the membership fee, but that you also have to take care of getting a business name, registering it and obtain a sales and use tax permit. They also say that " the products sell themselves", and they probably do, but you have to get them out there to the consumers and that is where the investment begins.

Also, I had no help what so ever with my coach. This person did not return neither my phone calls or emails.

I have no doubt that SMC could be a very good business but you DO need money to invest , according to my experience it is essential in order to be able to get it going. I spent more than $900.00 trying to sell these products, but unfortunately I was not able to sell anything, maybe I needed more advice on how to start a business or this was not the right business for me.

If you are considering working with SMC, I would suggest for you to get prepared in order to make a good investment, dedicate all your time and effort and I am sure you will succeed.

I have read a lot of responses about everyone's experience with SMC. I do agree that everybody has a different opinion and their opinions are based upon how good or how bad it has been signing up with this company.

In March 2004 I saw the infomercial and thought it was a great idea. But I also remember them saying that you could start your successful business with only $29.95 which to me was wonderful, since at the time I was looking for extra income and I had enough time during the day to be able to dedicate myself to the business, and did want to invest a lot of money.

When I received the FREE information, I noticed the $250 to $350 dollar membership fee, so I figured it was o.k., it was like paying a membership fee for Sam's or Costco in order to buy at wholesale prices.

What I didn't realize, is that, you actually spend more money that you would think on all the programs they offer.

If you're doing the Mail Catalog Orders, you have to buy at least 500 to 1,000 catalogs since only 1% of the consumers respond and this is if you want to have some good orders coming in, and also pay for postage. Now even at SMC they tell you this is the most costly way of building a business.

On the Sub wholesale program, in order to get people selling for you, you have to get them their packet just like the one you receive when you enroll. Now, each of them cost $25.00, you do have the option of getting together a packet on your own, but that also involves buying the catalogs, and since you want them to have the big catalog, the investment is higher.

And on the Internet program, I think the investment is even worse, they do offer you a free website for three months, but the website is very limited. Right now most of the websites offer the option of ordering and paying online. A website with a merchant account offered by SMC is no less than $750.00

So anyway you look at it, it is quite an investment, and like every investment there are risks.

My only complaint about this company is that they should tell you the truth before enrolling! That you are not starting a business with only $29.95 or with only the membership fee, but that you also have to take care of getting a business name, registering it and obtain a sales and use tax permit. They also say that " the products sell themselves", and they probably do, but you have to get them out there to the consumers and that is where the investment begins.

Also, I had no help what so ever with my coach. This person did not return neither my phone calls or emails.

I have no doubt that SMC could be a very good business but you DO need money to invest , according to my experience it is essential in order to be able to get it going. I spent more than $900.00 trying to sell these products, but unfortunately I was not able to sell anything, maybe I needed more advice on how to start a business or this was not the right business for me.

If you are considering working with SMC, I would suggest for you to get prepared in order to make a good investment, dedicate all your time and effort and I am sure you will succeed.

I have read a lot of responses about everyone's experience with SMC. I do agree that everybody has a different opinion and their opinions are based upon how good or how bad it has been signing up with this company.

In March 2004 I saw the infomercial and thought it was a great idea. But I also remember them saying that you could start your successful business with only $29.95 which to me was wonderful, since at the time I was looking for extra income and I had enough time during the day to be able to dedicate myself to the business, and did want to invest a lot of money.

When I received the FREE information, I noticed the $250 to $350 dollar membership fee, so I figured it was o.k., it was like paying a membership fee for Sam's or Costco in order to buy at wholesale prices.

What I didn't realize, is that, you actually spend more money that you would think on all the programs they offer.

If you're doing the Mail Catalog Orders, you have to buy at least 500 to 1,000 catalogs since only 1% of the consumers respond and this is if you want to have some good orders coming in, and also pay for postage. Now even at SMC they tell you this is the most costly way of building a business.

On the Sub wholesale program, in order to get people selling for you, you have to get them their packet just like the one you receive when you enroll. Now, each of them cost $25.00, you do have the option of getting together a packet on your own, but that also involves buying the catalogs, and since you want them to have the big catalog, the investment is higher.

And on the Internet program, I think the investment is even worse, they do offer you a free website for three months, but the website is very limited. Right now most of the websites offer the option of ordering and paying online. A website with a merchant account offered by SMC is no less than $750.00

So anyway you look at it, it is quite an investment, and like every investment there are risks.

My only complaint about this company is that they should tell you the truth before enrolling! That you are not starting a business with only $29.95 or with only the membership fee, but that you also have to take care of getting a business name, registering it and obtain a sales and use tax permit. They also say that " the products sell themselves", and they probably do, but you have to get them out there to the consumers and that is where the investment begins.

Also, I had no help what so ever with my coach. This person did not return neither my phone calls or emails.

I have no doubt that SMC could be a very good business but you DO need money to invest , according to my experience it is essential in order to be able to get it going. I spent more than $900.00 trying to sell these products, but unfortunately I was not able to sell anything, maybe I needed more advice on how to start a business or this was not the right business for me.

If you are considering working with SMC, I would suggest for you to get prepared in order to make a good investment, dedicate all your time and effort and I am sure you will succeed.

I have read a lot of responses about everyone's experience with SMC. I do agree that everybody has a different opinion and their opinions are based upon how good or how bad it has been signing up with this company.

In March 2004 I saw the infomercial and thought it was a great idea. But I also remember them saying that you could start your successful business with only $29.95 which to me was wonderful, since at the time I was looking for extra income and I had enough time during the day to be able to dedicate myself to the business, and did want to invest a lot of money.

When I received the FREE information, I noticed the $250 to $350 dollar membership fee, so I figured it was o.k., it was like paying a membership fee for Sam's or Costco in order to buy at wholesale prices.

What I didn't realize, is that, you actually spend more money that you would think on all the programs they offer.

If you're doing the Mail Catalog Orders, you have to buy at least 500 to 1,000 catalogs since only 1% of the consumers respond and this is if you want to have some good orders coming in, and also pay for postage. Now even at SMC they tell you this is the most costly way of building a business.

On the Sub wholesale program, in order to get people selling for you, you have to get them their packet just like the one you receive when you enroll. Now, each of them cost $25.00, you do have the option of getting together a packet on your own, but that also involves buying the catalogs, and since you want them to have the big catalog, the investment is higher.

And on the Internet program, I think the investment is even worse, they do offer you a free website for three months, but the website is very limited. Right now most of the websites offer the option of ordering and paying online. A website with a merchant account offered by SMC is no less than $750.00

So anyway you look at it, it is quite an investment, and like every investment there are risks.

My only complaint about this company is that they should tell you the truth before enrolling! That you are not starting a business with only $29.95 or with only the membership fee, but that you also have to take care of getting a business name, registering it and obtain a sales and use tax permit. They also say that " the products sell themselves", and they probably do, but you have to get them out there to the consumers and that is where the investment begins.

Also, I had no help what so ever with my coach. This person did not return neither my phone calls or emails.

I have no doubt that SMC could be a very good business but you DO need money to invest , according to my experience it is essential in order to be able to get it going. I spent more than $900.00 trying to sell these products, but unfortunately I was not able to sell anything, maybe I needed more advice on how to start a business or this was not the right business for me.

If you are considering working with SMC, I would suggest for you to get prepared in order to make a good investment, dedicate all your time and effort and I am sure you will succeed.

As a MEMBER of SMC since 1976, I have found this company invaluable for trying out new products. I utilize SMC as a 'source' for products that I am unable to obtain on my own since I do not desire to go to Bangkok, Thailand, India or any foreign country to negotiate with them in their language and their currency. Even if I chose to do so, in order to negotiate the best deal, I would have to personally coordinate the shipping arrangements, work with Customs and further deplete my cash reserves by investing in a storage facility here in the states.

SMC is a Corporation, entitled to do their own business according to the way they see fit within the law. If you do not approve of their actions, then you are not required to support them in their ventures.

Some of you have missed the point; the chain of getting products to the marketplace are 1)Manufacturer 2)Importer 3)Wholesaler 4)Jobber 5)Retailer. SMC fills item #2 and #3. They are both Importers and Wholesalers. You as a Member have the options of #4 and #5, Jobber and Retailer. I have read in these rebuttals that SMC is a 'middleman'....that is precisely what a Wholesaler and/or Jobber is. Therefore, it is okay and not considered 'a bad thing' for them to be referenced as a 'middleman'.

For those of you that are considering joining SMC, the package that you purchase WILL NOT make the money for you! This will require many hours of 'sweat equity' on your behalf. Understand what it is that you want and determine if their marketing suggestions are right for your particular needs and situation. You have options of many different Companies and venues. I enjoyed the comments about Avon, Amway and Mary Kay.......ahh.....the height of the 25% - 35% profit margin. Ha! That does not even get you across the street to the bank. And, you will be required to purchase those catalogs also in addition to the shipping charges.

I agree with and wish to applaud the following for sharing their experiences; Kenny-Athens, GA; Tommy-Salem, OR; Susan-Omaha, NE; Jenny, Lebannon, OR; and last but not least, Alicia-Maryland. My belief is that all of you presented a fair and knowledgeable accounting of your experiences with SMC. I firmly believe that you have have shared valuable lessons and understandings of making your businesses work.

Thank you Bill-Athena, GA for sharing the 'nightmare' you suffered in regards to obtaing your website. I have been evaluating it as a viable marketing resource, yet had not made a decision as yet. I would like to think that your experiences were an "exception", but believe that paired with the other comments made about the websie, your experiences may have been rather the norm. That is a shame as they do have a wonderful opportunity at hand to do the job beneficially to all.

Ron-Los Angeles, CA and Rik-Las Vegas, NV....If your gripe is with SMC, I am confused as to why you have gone out of your way to "hurt" the very people on this forum that have also had unfortunate experiences as well as the ones that have succeeded where you have failed. Your comments continue to feed your feelings and perceptions of failure. Putting others down for their dreams, goals and hardwork does not "build you up", contrary to your intentions. If you do not like where you have been or where you are going, then make a change, because if you do not.....you will arrive at your destination of nowhere.

Good Luck to all in your Successes as well as your failures, because life is not built on a highway of no pitfalls.

Sandy

In regards to making your own website, they will not supply with a single web file of graphics, etc. you must copy and ftp them yourself. I used HTTrack website copier(after going into the members area) but have not had the time to set-up each product. You must at least have moderate knowledge of shopping cart scripts(like OSCommerce) in order to build your own store. Plenty of time and a fast internet connection are a big plus too. I do believe they should charge something to get in to protect us from customers trying to get thier own white priced gifts. However, I would like to see more from the $300, perhaps lifetime membership or credit towards products.

I am not surprised by the comments of some of the people who have posted negatives about SMC. However, I am convinced that those complaining are to STUPID to be in business for themselves. One claimed the company "pumps you up..." only to find out that they then complain with "gee whiz, nobody told me that I have to actually commit to this thing and W-O-R-K at it."

Quite a fact: Anyone lane-brained enough to think it will be instant success is, in my opinion, too stupid to be in business anyway. How about that one lady who said in the ripoff report "I have boughten..." Now, there is an idiot. There is no such word as boughten, but it is clear evidence that she was too stupid and lazy to do the work to learn the english language.

On that same shameful note, she is too stupid and lazy to succeed in business. Yes, I am very critical of the people who posted ripoff reports about SMC. The reason they are complaining is that they are too stupid to be in business and have idiotic delusions that they will have success handed to them on a silver platter. PAUGH~!

Our website has done just fine with SMC products. I have never had a problem with them, but I also happen to own other businesses, and the SMC angle is a bit of bread and butter. Our website has over 2,000 SMC products, and certainly not all of them. Any dim-whit who thinks they can post a 2,000-product website for a few bucks is an idiot as well. In my opinion, ALL who have posted complaints about SMC are pure idiots -- too stupid and lazy to be in business.

For this reason, I hope they have learned that nothing happens over night, and that includes building a business with SMC products. The key to success is planning, working it, and staying with it. Quitting is for idiots.

You know what? You Should be able to sell their products absolutely FREE with no sign up costs/fee etc. I have found other companies out on line that do this with optional fees for example if you want to buy their catalog to do catalog sales or if you want to buy a catalog to learn ways to sell etc. These costs are little to nothing. They do not charge you $300 bucks...that is nutts. I have made my change to a free business. Hey, that business that does not charge me anything is still making money off of me, but I will also make $ too. It is a win win situation.

I just had a quick comment. I an concidering signing up with SMC and had them send me there information packet. I just wanted to reply to Matt, if Tom Bosley is no longer affiliated with the company they have a problem. I saw an infomericail with him in it just yesterday. Not just references to him but with him talking and hosting.

After reading the information I get in the mail I may try some of their products but I don't expect to get rich.

I don't know i wouldn't call SMC a Rip out i've been using SMC on and Off for about 3 years now. Started when i was 17 (mom had to co-sign) Anyway.. i wanted a Recording studio/extra money.. i signed up for what like $300 and something and made $5,000 in 2 month easy.. all i did was Pass the friggin Catalogs around my Highschool.. teachers, students, etc.. and after i got my 5 g's i Purchased a low Budget Studio.. and now i do mostly Co production.. but anyway Smc is not a ripoff at least not for me.. Put in $300 get out a few g's seems like a Winner to me.

As an experienced retailer of SMC and other wholesale products I can only say that it is like any other business. It takes work and cash(more than membership and a box of products). You must decide what and how much items you believe will sell and you must know where to display them. We have over the years used festivals, flea markets, and "peddler malls"(booth rental unattended flea markets) and we continue to reinvest in our company. The website is a ball and chain and if you are up to DIY that is the only way to go. If you do, be warned you must spend and work on advertising and promotion. Don't take the internet for granted, an unpromoted website is like putting your store in the rear basement of an unmarked aparment in an alley of a small town. Maybe the only thing SMC is guilty of is making it look easy, approach like a serious business.

I have read a few responses on here stating you can start up your own internet sites etc without going through SMC. I know I have created a few in college, but how can you actually get SMC product on your own site?????? If you can please tell us how. My husband and I would like to start up with SMC, but only go out on our own and do our own websites.
Thanks in advance for your responses!

1st to the one of the earlier comments that all TV ads are rip offs. I would have to agree but only 99% of the time.
Hell I can't live without my George Foreman Grill, I would of withered away when I was single.

Second, for those looking to start a business. Let your fingers do the walking. Throughout the yellow pages there are distributors for all differen't type's of products. From clothing, Home and Car Audio, to you name it someone is wholesaling it. All you need is to figure out how you want to run your business model and pickup a wholesalers license (about $20 bucks).

Just buy low and sell high. But that's the dilemma with the internet know a days. competition is fierce and unless your selling something that is more of an impulse purchase, where you could sell it localally. it will always seem like someone is selling it just a few dollars less then you.

my 2 cents

Ok people! If you don't have enough common sense to see that Rik is right then poo on ya!

U.S. residents, get a friggin Tax ID already!
Then contact your foreign trade department and
they will happily supply you with product
wholesalers from all over the World! That's what
the government pays them to do!

Canadian Residents, Register your company and
get a GST number, its free! Then your ready to
roll!

Screw SMC and their Bush brained conniving!
Reference:(Farenheight 911). See the d**n movie
America!

If you want to drop your money into a money pit,
it might as well be a money pit you'll enjoy so
go out and buy a Mercedes!

I did, and know I couldn't give a rats a*s about SMC!

Oh and by the way, Tom Bosley's reps have pulled him out of the SMC commercials. Now SMC can only
make vague references to Bosley in their deceptive
little on air spots.

Cheerio, keep importing but not the (Sucks Money
Constantly) SMC way!

I know SMC seems expensive; however, I do know that they offer a good service and that is to provide an easy, one-stop way for people to try and supplement some extra income.

I can't say whether it is a good way to do business; however, it is a legal business. I know it doesn't seem fair and to some it may not seem legal. We must rememeber that the U.S. is a Corporate driven society. We don't have to like it, but it do no good to dwell on it either.

I do know SMC is not on any major stock exchanges, which they lied about. If they were I would have been able to pull them up on the Securities and Exchange Commission website. The SEC requires that all companies offering trading on a major stock exchange (Nasdac or NYStock Exchange) file quarterly and annual investor reports. This does not sit well with me because they stated they were listed on the NYStock Exchange; however, I have not looked at the exchanges specifically.

I don't support nor do I promote SMC. I just have a few business suggestions.

First, not everyone should start a business. Some people don't have the mindset for it. Before anyone decides they want to start a business they should really attend at least two business classes and obtain the advice of their professor.

Second, as with anything do your research. Not just over the company offering these services but, also on the products and services offered. One does not have to utilize the SMC websites. I know a friend of mine who would be more than happy to build a website for you and not charge an arm and a leg; however, he is only one person so it might take a while.

Third, there are wholesale companies out there who would love to sell you there products and who will drop-ship them for you; however, there is a saying that states, "if you want something done right, do it yourself." Well that is true in everything. Do the research and find the best products at the best prices. It will make your life easier and it is also tax deductible.

Fourth, some of you (it seems - just my opinion) expect something for nothing. Nothing in life is free. If you didn't like the way SMC worked you shouldn't have signed up for it. A $300.00 investment is an expensive lesson; however, it is also a valued lesson. Don't complain about things, do something about it. That is what is wrong with our society, take politics as an example, no one likes what the government does, but they don't do anything about it. Life is supposed to be proactive so get out there and make life what you want it.

I apologize if this rebuttal has been misinterpreted. I just wanted to let people know there are things that can be done if you aren't satisfied with your life or situation.

Believe me, I used to deal with SMC but I never could get it started because things were so expensive. It wasn't there fault. I didn't have the money to make money. I am just a college student struggling to get by myself.

I do hope everyone will look into more opportunities. One of these days you will find something that fits with you.

We have been selling on ebay for 5 years and SMC is one of the companies we deal with. Their fees are reasonable based on the 20 other dropshippers we deal with. We also mail packages from our home and the post office's rates are outrageous and SMC is just charging what they are charged, in most cases. We recently had a large figure dropshipped to a customer.

This weighed 5 pounds but we only paid $6.50 to have it dropshipped. It would have been over $16 if we would have shipped it ourselves thru the post office. SMC does not charge a dropship rate like some of the other suppliers that we have looked into. SMC is a legitimate company but your success will depend on what you choose to do with it. You can't just pass the catalogs around the neighborhood and expect to make $2000/month. We are now GOLD Power Sellers on ebay (over $10,000 in sales per month) and our sales of SMC products add to this amount.

We have been with SMC for one year now and have not had any problems. Rush orders ARE rushed. Other orders are shipped within 2-3 days, not counting the weekends. If people have trouble with SMC, I think they need to just give up the computer because obviously they don't have any common sense and don't know a thing about running a business!!!!! We are proud to be SMC members and recommend the company to anyone that asks!

After spending a hour reading 'Love mail' or 'Hate mail' I've come to the conclusion that folks will never, never learn there is never a get-rich-scheme that has worked (except maybe for the guy who markets it). In all the advertising I don't believe SMC ever promised to make someone rich, at least not without a lot of hard work.
SMC merely gives you the opportunity to buy a couple of thousand items at a reduced price. They cannot go out and sell it for you. There is no 'pyramid' scheme and yes like any business they offer a couple of incentives to get you to buy more and save more. As for the complaints:
1. Yes, SMC is a middleman, so are many of the 'wholesalers' that ask for a tax id. I have a tax id when I call my whilesaler and as for an item that SMC handles he asks me how many cases of a 100 I wish to order. SMC will buy by the case(s), open it up and not only sell you 1 piece but drop ship it for you! They may have $10,000 invested in an item that they are selling you for
$4.95. That stock may sit in there warehouse (3.00 a square foot) for six months. If they put they invested theit $10,000 in a money market what would they make in interest? This has to be passed on to you.

2. I sunk $3000 into SMC. If you have this kind of money maybe you should consider a time proven franchise. SMC was founded for us folks that don't have but a couple of hundred maybe.

3. Although I agree that SMC charges too much for thier catalogs and promotional material. The person who thinks you can produce a full color 300+ page catalog for pennies on you home computer is exhibiting a total lack of knowledge.
I have been successful at charging $5.00 for the catalog and using my home computer to print $7.50 or $10.00 coupons which I give with the catalog that my customers can use to get their money back on their first order.

4. Variety, believe it or not on a percentage basis SMC offers more new products than Wal-Mart. Which is why they keep moving the d**n aisles around.

5. The biggest rip-off is the eCommerce business.
As a IS manager, application and web developer it nearly knocked my socks off when they quoted me the costs of their websites (That you do not own).
Theses are all templated and they make minor changes as required, like your name and a few options. They, however, charge as if they were doing it from scratch, which I did. If you want to devote the time Yahoo's sitebuilder program is fairly easy to use, no code learning, plus they will host your site (which you own) for about $30 bucks a month. There is also no reason to pay a middleman fee called 'setup charge' of $200-$500 for a mechant account. Shop the web there are many banks that charge a $0 setup fee.

6. Work hard and be innovative, if you want to sell on ebay go to garage sales and good old garbage picking. eBay is saturated with SMC. If you need to get rich quick take the SMC $300 fee and buy lotto tickets.

7. Why the disclaimer that "Not everyone will enjoy success". They do this for the people who send out a 1000 mail order catalogs and waits for the checks. And waits, and waits. SMC is very straight forward in telling you you that mail order is the most expense and least rewrding way of making money, in other words, buy lottery tickets with you money.

Now, anyone who has read this lengthy epistle has just received more coaching then they will get from SMC. In summary, SMC gives you the means the rest is your invention and hard work and LUCK. But isn't that with any business.

I was a dreamy-eyed member in the early 90's. I became caught up in all the excitement and gladly made my $300 down payment on a "Million Dollar Dream".

After purchasing their starter kit full of Flea Market debris, I held several Home Parties, also utilizing their "Home Shopping" video. Although I managed to Sell approximately $100 in product each event,I soon received a quick lesson in the "SMC Frustration Plan".

This plan involves:
1) Guaranteed out of stocks on many of the products you manage to sell.

2)Guaranteed broken and/or defective product in every shipment.

In all, I calculated an aggregate of the above -mentioned at approximately 18 to 20% on a consistent basis.

No business is going to thrive on that type of foundation. I'm not sure if this is still an ongoing problem, but it sure took the wind out of my sales...get it!

One other issue I just recalled is in regard to all the various catalogs they send you. In almost every case, they would include a long list of corrections, in relation to product descriptions and pricing. It became a full-time job just to keep up with making these changes, not to mention the frequent and arduous task of calling CS to check for out-of-stocks!!

In my opinion, I would explore other ventures. I believe that SMC is truly producing many Millionaires, unfortunately they can all be found at the main HQ!!

I HAVE BEEN COSIDERING STARTING WITH SMC FOR A FEW WEEKS NOW. I HAVE READ ABOUT IT, RECIEVED THEIR FREE INFO. WHEN I CAME TO THIS SITE I WAS HOPING TO FIND PEOPLE WITH GOOD AND BAD EXPERIENCES TO HELP ME ALONG WITH MY DECISION.

BUT IT ONLY SEEMS TO ME THAT RIK AND ALL OF THESE OTHERS THAT HAVE BAD THINGS TO SAY HAVEN'T MADE ANYTHING IN THE BUSINESS, (IF THEY EVEN STARTED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE) NEVER MADE IT BECAUSE ALL THEY USE THEIR TIME FOR IN THEIR DAY IS TO SIT THEIR A$$ IN THEIR COMPUTER CHAIR ALL DAY AND CRY. GROW UP.

AND I CANT EVEN UNDERSTAND MOST OF THE THINGS YOU TYPE. WHAT WAS THE HIGHEST GRADE YOU PASSED 2ND? MY 3 YR OLD HAS BETTER SENTENCE FORMATION THAT SOME OF YOU. I WOULDN'T BUY FROM YOU EITHER. I AM ONLY 25 YRS OLD AND I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE HEARD SUCH WHINING. IF YOU TRIED THE BUSINESS AND DIDN'T DO WELL, GET OVER IT. GO ON TO SOMETHING ELSE. STOP TRYING TO MAKE EVERYONE ELSE'S DREAMS SHATTER.

I am a recent SMC enrollee. My wife has been seeing the infomercials for years and has finally convinced me to give it a try. I performed my homework with regards to this venture and found of course the naysayers and the shims and and singers of praise. I view any and all business ventures that are prepackaged to be handled with care and scurinized fully.

I would like to draw attention to what an individual on this site has been proclaiming vehemently. "Rik" has proclaimed on many occasions within this forum that "SMC" is a middleman and nothing more. He has also charged that you can receive the products cheaper on your own and from wholesalers and distributors that you contact. You accomplish this act simply by obtaining a Tax ID Number.

When viewing this information it is of course nature to scream foul but bearing in mind a couple of things that were not mentioned by "Rik" which I will get to in a moment. One would be quite intent on believing every word being said by "Rik".

"Rik" however is to be believed because he does mention some very good points. And these things when taken singulary would lead you to believe the "SMC" is the modern day version of the Railroad Barons taking and taking and never providing anything for the trouble.

"Rik" I would like you to for just a moment take the time to see what I am trying to put into type and then judge for yourself the value of what I am trying to say. Do not jump to the conclusion that because I am not siding with you completely that I should be discounted as an employee of "SMC".

I agree that the obtaining of a tax ID number is an easy task when compared to others in the business arena. But let us look at other factors. By basing our venture on your description we will be contacting wholesalers and distributors of our own which of course we will obtain these contacts throught the internet as you so eaqsily said. So we have managed to obating these wholesalers and now we are ready to by a whole bunch of products nice investment and I am sure that these wholesalers will take the time to tell us what they think will be their best sellers. So we bought all this product from the many wholsalers that we will need to contact simply to match the product selection represented with "SMC".

So where do we put our new inventory. Of course the wholesalers are not going to drop ship ot for you. So we will have to keep it in hand somehow. Maybe we will rent a storage center. There you go another expense so we don't want to do that. Maybe we will just keep our products in the house next to all of the boxes and foam peanut things that we will neeed if we want our business to become remotely compete within a market other then driving distance from our house.

Ohh but wait a minute another hiccup. Many municipalities have regulations barring the performing of business from within a residence but that is just another speed bump on our way to financial freedom. So we go the city courthouse and find out that we will have to incoporate btu hold on that will cost another $400.00 dollars. I don't want to do that.

So I pass that option up and don't incorporate because hey who needs it. So someone ends up getting hurt on the wonderful fountain that I sold them. Now because I am the dealer working from my home and becuase we live in a society that is bereft with frivolous lawsuits I am now named in a tort action suit because my product caused an injury. But I say not to worry because I have liability insurance. "Whooops" passed on that also because it was to much and we are in the nature of making money. And since I did not go for the Limited Liability Inc. My wife and family as well as my home are now attached within the lawsuit. But I claim the wholesaler is to blame. Because I bought it from him. No problem for them because they have insurance and I was just counting the bucks and taking the road less traveled.

"Rik" I mention this possibility as farfetched as it might seem becuase it is not unheard of. I agree with you one hundred percent when you say that "SMC" is a middle man and for what it is worth have found the majority of your post to be that of a highly educated individual who has taken the time to research his argument so that he may present the best side of his opinion.

"Rik" SMC does have it's uses it has prepachaged a dream that some may never realize of course but some do. Whether they sell it on Ebay or flea markets doesn't matter. The products do sell. The amount of money you would have to risk to simply get a tax ID number far outweighs that starup fee that you pay for "SMC"

I also agree that people going into this venture should be aware that there are always exceptions to the norm and these are the ones you see giving a personal account on the television. As a stand alone service "SMC" is mediocre but does serve a purpose. People interetsed in it should be wary of far out promises.

I have been in a business of my own for quite sometime. I have met my goals "SMC" allows a way of placing a little extra in the till without a great deal of effort on my part. I will close by mentioning to you my business plan. This has worked for me and is tried and true.

Multiple tiers of income is the way to be comfortable. Investing everything into one venue is a sure fire recipe for failure. It is better to have a dozen small ventures paying a little the one big one paying nothing. Target everyone and everything when in pursuit of the dollar.

I wish you luck. And I would also appreciate the same courtesy I have shown you when and if you reply.

in my response to Tawna, youhave my name listed as (tommy, Salem, Rhode Island.)

I live in Oregon, Not Rhode Island, if your gonna list my response, please put the right state of where i live on my response.
tommy (salem, Oregon)

hey rik, there's no need to apolige to me. Smc doesnt make me or break me. and idont buy alot from them either, usually i only buy gifts for birthdays and such and only a few knifes now and then. i usde other wholesalers that are cheaper unles a friend or relative wants to order something.

I find it interesting how so many people can be duped into believing almost anything someone else says without actually trying something. i see the argue on both side both good and bad, and state my opinions. when iactually bought alot from smc i make some money back inthe old days, but i found other wholesalers were cheaper onsome ofthe same things so i switched to using other companies. I believe everyone should try some things once int heir lifes just for the experiences. but thats jsut me and my beliefs. I would like to know why when i get a e-mail, on a rebuttal, like tonight there were 29 exact e-mails notifying you replied to me. one or two would work alot better and not tie up my e-mail so much
thanks for replying

Listen, I know for someone who would like a legitimate report, all these posts can get confusing and here is why; There is an SMC corporate office, inside this office are some very dishonest and un-reputable people, they are called SMC executives.

They get paid -(I think they do anyway) for getting naive inexperienced people to sign up for SMC's program. At one time, a guy sent them an e-mail stating hey you ripped me off and I reported you - check out rip off report. Ever since then, the executives came to this string and posted a lot of idiotic non-sense and they did it for a reason - to confuse you. And it works!

After you read some of these posts you're like - huh? This stuff is just too stupid to believe so it must be false. They think it's a game. They have fictitiously posed as like at least ten different people on here and seem to have some kind of subconscious conversation going on between them all. This shows you what kind of company SMC really is and how low down in the grass they can get.

They are truly hard up for suckers! They are in the business of duping people and if you are hard headed and stubborn enough to think they are legitimate, go ahead and give them a try and see for yourself if you don't believe me. They may actually get you to believe you are making some kind of money when you are actually losing it by the boat load. Truly the world's most innocent looking scam. Sorry Tom. Please see my earlier posts in this string. Again Tom, I apologize. Deeply.

Hi Travis!
I've read your response and smc's response also, I've read currently what was to be found on the legal matter! I believe in fair trade and also in competition. what I dont believe in tho is using someone elses name even in part .

It would seem to me that you would avoid a legal lawsuit and all if you changed the smc part of your business name. While i understaqnd yoru a new company, Smc has been around for about fifty years and has had owned that name for along time. it's their patent logo also.

I would not use their website either as i think they are too high costs. But I also would not use your websites either due to the fact that you are in a way performing a fraudualent act by using their name in your business name. now however if you had a completely different name then iw ould be more inclined to look at your business.

do you see how mixed up someone could get. personally I thinkit does more harm to your business then good by having Smc in your business name. but thats just my opion. I'm anxious to see what happens between the two of you.

Dont take me wrong but as a business man, I would not waste my time or money to invest in something where their is already a legal battle going. good luck in your future endeavors, just thought i would add my two cents in advice and that you would avoid a large battle that in the ends gonna hurt your rep.
tommy (salem)

Dear Tawma,
i noticed your rebuttal saying no one knows of this company, Smc has thousands of members all over the world and this whole board is andhas been talking about this company. Also there are about four or five people using this companys name also in a fraud company and has beenordered to stop using smc in their business names.

please read my rebuttals earlier to find out about the fraud. I'm surprise that you have not heard of smc before. while thereis some good to their company and some bad, thats the way of all businesses. I would suggest not to use their websites service but if yoru looking for products to sell they are a middle man wholesaler and some of their products do make money, but like any company they also got some that dont sell that well. They have been in business i think over fifty years tho and thats along time.

I wish you the best of luck in looking for the business that fits you and may you make alot of money in whatever you decide to do.

I was so close to putting money into the smc buisness. Now I know to RUNNNNN!!!! I did some work and was surprised that noone heard of this business. I wondered why if smc is supose to be such a money maker why isn't everyone trying it. Thankyou for your reponse. If someone has found a good job by using the internet please e-mail me. Trying to make ends meet!

Thanks for the advice!

Bill- I called SMC... here in Canada we get an additional 15% off the price... plus I'd be using the drop-shipping method to reduce costs (no inventory equals less risk and less start-up cost!) So techincally it'd be cheaper for me... unless of course they're hiding some extra charges (Which is possible)

I already know the SMC "support staff" are a bunch of morons. I can't even understand a word they say, and I've talked to about 3 people. I wouldn't use them at all.

I'd also be making my own webpage (Or getting someone to build me one.. not a cpmuter guru or anything).

Thanks though! It's nice to hear that they do actually sell... I doubt I'd limit the website solely to SMC products, I'd look into other wholesalers as well. And if I don't like what I see, I can always return the SMC package!

Tommy- Thanks. I would be doing my own website, without a doubt.

I'm still 50/50 about signing up... I think the cost of building my website will be the deciding factor.

My name is Travis Prouty, I am a former member of SMCorp, a former employee of SMC Promotions (selling eMerchant Club products), and the founder of SMCeBiz.

SMCeBiz was founded only after I pleaded with Joe Wu(president of eMerchant Club)for improvements to be made to the products my employment required I sell.

On numerous occasions I e-mailed Joe Wu these words, "the customers are getting smarter and the competition is getting better. We need to do better."

Well, the reality is that without a true competitor eMerchant Club wasn't going to do a thing to assist SMCorp members to sell more products online. I spoke with a gentleman who had done over $500,000 in business with SMCorp in about 14 months. He asked to purchase a second website for $500. Obviously he knows how to sell SMCorp products, but since eMerchant Club sells web sites and SMCorp sells products eMerchant Club said no.

Yet another SMCorp member potentially losing money because of eMerchant Club.

I felt like I was in a boiler room - Selling an empty box.

I don't feel sorry for people who fail, but I can't feel good about setting them up for it.


Wow, I've been holding that steam in for some time now, in hopes of evading any he said/she said garbage. But that is the extent of what I'll say. So, feel free and read our customer's comments:
http://www.ebizcsp.com/clients.htm

Now, I have received two emails from SMCorp lately the first everyone was sent with subject:
"Fraud Alert: "SMCeBiz" Stopped By Court Order
Is intended to be misleading and we have posted our official response online at:
http://www.ebizcsp.com/ebiz_responds2.html
We previously filed a counter suit against SMCorp for their continued libelous statements.

If you would like to review any court documents regarding this case please request copies online at: http://www.ebizcsp.com/

NOW IT GETS BETTER! We had received numerous phone calls from our customers stating that the telephone representatives for SMCorp and eMerhcant Club were making intentionally malicious statements in an attempt to persuade our customers to cancel their webstore with us and return to eMerchant Club.

Obviously that doesn't work.

MESSAGE FOR eMerchantClub: These customers had a site with you and were so unsatisfied that they then purchased a new website from us. If you take care of your customers then they stay your customers!

Then about a week ago all of our customers received the following offer:

Specialty Merchandise Corporation (SMC) and eMerchantClub (EMC) are aware that your eCommerce website may have been shutdown as a result of the recent legal action taken against SMCeBiz. We are writing to you now to make you a special offer to re-build your online presence with minimal additional investment.

Previously with eMerchantClub?
We will reinstate that website - under our new Version 5 - with no charge for setup. Contact EMC Tech Support at 1-877-384-4691 to get started. Visit our website at www.smcecommerce.com to see the new features and product packaging in Version 5.

New to eMerchantClub?
You are invited to join EMC at 50% off the website setup fee for your choice of package eMerchantBasic, Pro or Deluxe. Contact eCommerce Sales at 1-800-750-2871 for details and purchase, and visit our website at www.smcecommerce.com for details on our website features.

Of course in both cases, monthly hosting fees still apply. We are also prepared to help you with Merchant and Gateway accounts if needed.



eMerchantClub is the only website developer endorsed by SMC, and the only one to offer direct access to the SMC inventory status. We have developed and currently maintain more than 10,000 eCommerce web sites and will be here to serve you for a very long time.

Sincerely,

Your Sales and Support Team at eMerchantClub

They Offered our customers a FREE e-commerce website and would you like to take a guess how many cancellations we've received since?

If you guessed 1, then you are a little high!

0
I say it again because it is what I believe:

"If you take care of your customers, then they will always be your customers."

Travis Prouty
Owner
SMCeBiz
http://eBizCSP.com

Brad, if you read far enough back you will find that I have posted to this thread a couple of times. My complaint was not with SMC or their products. It was with their sales people and the webpage package.

However, that said let me return to the purpose of this posting. I wish you luck in your endevor and welcome to the wide world of buisiness. However, I noticed you are from Canada and I wanted to state a couple of ideas that you may not have considered.

First, If you run a business from Canada but sell in the USA you will find the tariffs and inport/export charges rather expensive. You will also find that customs will slow the delivery times way down so alert your customers to that fact. SMC products do sell if you are selective enough so good luck and I hope you make a fortune. :-))

hi Brad:

Smc will give yousome experiences, althought i would suggest doing your own website instead of theirs, I've been amember for along time and i sell a few of their items, there are alot more wholesalers available to get experience from. i sell only a few of their items as my main items are knifes and such but now and then i get a few other items to fill in. good luck on your hunting new experiences, I wish youthe best of luck

Quite frankly, I'm pretty hesitant to believe anybody on this site, because both sides of the argument are rather oblivious to reality.

Yes, I've been looking into SMC. I've been researching their products they have listed in their free brochures, and although I KNOW the MSRP suggested is absolutely ridiculous, I'm seeing people selling these products on ebay for 100% markup! Yes, some of the products on ebay aren't selling, but hell, ebay is usually only a 7-day listing... yet these products are still selling.

NOW, unlike many people who look at this, I'm a 2nd-year business student looking for some business experience (and a resume-bulker for getting into grad school), preferably via the internet. I wouldn't depend on SMC to support me in any way, as I already work 2 jobs and attend university while living at home. I am simply looking to start up my own website (I wouldn't buy their package, there are cheaper solutions), and hopefully make a few hundred per month. And in all honesty, I wouldn't even be pissed off if I just broke even, because it would be the experience that I'd be satisfied with. I've searched the internet up and down for wholesalers (as well as calling wholesalers to find out info for the future), but quite frankly, I don't have the time or money to make a $100,000 investment to start a risky business via the internet. SMC seems like a good way to get that experience with only a small investment- kinda like a jr. business.

BUT if someone still tells me I'm an idiot for considering it, then I'll look elsewhere. I just figure it's an opportuniy where I can't win or lose much financially, but the experience of starting an e-business will play a huge asset in my future.

First off let me say, I live in Florence, KY and am no way an employee of SMC. I love their products and do quite well with it. I did not agree with their merchant accounts and website prices so I sought out my own merchant account and built my own website. It is a lot easier than you think. Because I build my own websites I have several of them and most of them accept Paypal as a Merchant account which is free and others use authorize.net which is very reasonable. I tried the Flea Market and failed, but everyone is going to fail in something. So I just moved on to the next step. And instead of depending solely on SMC to hold my hand I did some research and found that I could make my own websites and now I do quite well. I will admit that the first 3 years were really slow and I was ready to give up. But then I started finding other items to add with it and I don't put all their items on my site just the ones that seem to sell. SMC has been by far the cheapest wholesaler I have found and I have found plenty of them. You have to submit your site to search engines too if you want anyone to find you. I researched the internet for 6 months and saw what other people selling SMC where selling on their sites and made sure that I did not sell the same items and I think that is why I am doing well. And you should specialize in something. Make your website just a few categories that work together. Like one of my sites is Aromatherapy and Relaxation type products and that sells really good. Another is medieval items. Also, you want to find areas that you can advertise specialized products. Like the medieval stuff I advertise in Horror or mystical, witchcraft type areas. aromatherapy and fountains I advertise in Health and beauty areas and these advertisements are free. You just have to research. You have to work to make money. You can't just sit on your hands and expect it to run itself. I am doing so well I have my two 15 year old daughter doing it to.

smc has sued smcebiz and got a injunction against four individuals trying to use their names for fraud. all smc members should have recieved a e-mail alerting them to this. it just goes to show how one or two individuals can use someones name against them and cause alot of harm.

Kenny, I applaud your sense of business also, there may be a few items you like to include in your inventory from smc, no I am not a employee of theirs but I am a member and I do use soem of their products fromt ime to time, usually during the christmas season.

Mostyly I wholesale knifes and swords and conviencence store items, so most of smc items do not affect me unless i attend a flea mart or other avenues of sellign, which i have done from time to time in the pass. Judge for your self is my best advice and dont let a few individuals sway you from a possible source of revenue
tommy from salem

smc has sued smcebiz and got a injunction against four individuals trying to use their names for fraud. all smc members should have recieved a e-mail alerting them to this. it just goes to show how one or two individuals can use someones name against them and cause alot of harm.

Kenny, I applaud your sense of business also, there may be a few items you like to include in your inventory from smc, no I am not a employee of theirs but I am a member and I do use soem of their products fromt ime to time, usually during the christmas season.

Mostyly I wholesale knifes and swords and conviencence store items, so most of smc items do not affect me unless i attend a flea mart or other avenues of sellign, which i have done from time to time in the pass. Judge for your self is my best advice and dont let a few individuals sway you from a possible source of revenue
tommy from salem

smc has sued smcebiz and got a injunction against four individuals trying to use their names for fraud. all smc members should have recieved a e-mail alerting them to this. it just goes to show how one or two individuals can use someones name against them and cause alot of harm.

Kenny, I applaud your sense of business also, there may be a few items you like to include in your inventory from smc, no I am not a employee of theirs but I am a member and I do use soem of their products fromt ime to time, usually during the christmas season.

Mostyly I wholesale knifes and swords and conviencence store items, so most of smc items do not affect me unless i attend a flea mart or other avenues of sellign, which i have done from time to time in the pass. Judge for your self is my best advice and dont let a few individuals sway you from a possible source of revenue
tommy from salem

smc has sued smcebiz and got a injunction against four individuals trying to use their names for fraud. all smc members should have recieved a e-mail alerting them to this. it just goes to show how one or two individuals can use someones name against them and cause alot of harm.

Kenny, I applaud your sense of business also, there may be a few items you like to include in your inventory from smc, no I am not a employee of theirs but I am a member and I do use soem of their products fromt ime to time, usually during the christmas season.

Mostyly I wholesale knifes and swords and conviencence store items, so most of smc items do not affect me unless i attend a flea mart or other avenues of sellign, which i have done from time to time in the pass. Judge for your self is my best advice and dont let a few individuals sway you from a possible source of revenue
tommy from salem

After reading all of these posts, I'm a little taken back by SMC. I've already ordered the materials and they are in the mail at this moment. I paid under $30.00 for it and if it doesn't work out, I will send the materials back and put a hold on my account so they can't get any more money.

I've seen positive responses and negative responses. I thought this was a site in which one could post their experiences and opinions, but it seems to me that there are a few people who just want to keep something going and it makes it look like you are trying really hard to convince others of something. Why don't you just post your opinions and experiences and then we will decide. There is no reason to resort to name calling (Ron from Los Angeles) or even being rude (Rik).

I certainly hope that most of those who posted on here are in the 5th grade. I've never seen such awful grammar and spelling. (You know who you are)If your business skills match your usage of the English language, then no wonder you didn't succeed. If I were one who owned a retail establishment, and some of you came to me with the same language and bad grammar as I've seen on this site, then I wouldn't buy from you either.

Nevertheless, I'm going to give it a try. It's only $30.00 and if it doesn't work out. I will send them everything back and they won't be able to charge my account again. It's that simple.

After reading all of these posts, I'm a little taken back by SMC. I've already ordered the materials and they are in the mail at this moment. I paid under $30.00 for it and if it doesn't work out, I will send the materials back and put a hold on my account so they can't get any more money.

I've seen positive responses and negative responses. I thought this was a site in which one could post their experiences and opinions, but it seems to me that there are a few people who just want to keep something going and it makes it look like you are trying really hard to convince others of something. Why don't you just post your opinions and experiences and then we will decide. There is no reason to resort to name calling (Ron from Los Angeles) or even being rude (Rik).

I certainly hope that most of those who posted on here are in the 5th grade. I've never seen such awful grammar and spelling. (You know who you are)If your business skills match your usage of the English language, then no wonder you didn't succeed. If I were one who owned a retail establishment, and some of you came to me with the same language and bad grammar as I've seen on this site, then I wouldn't buy from you either.

Nevertheless, I'm going to give it a try. It's only $30.00 and if it doesn't work out. I will send them everything back and they won't be able to charge my account again. It's that simple.

After reading all of these posts, I'm a little taken back by SMC. I've already ordered the materials and they are in the mail at this moment. I paid under $30.00 for it and if it doesn't work out, I will send the materials back and put a hold on my account so they can't get any more money.

I've seen positive responses and negative responses. I thought this was a site in which one could post their experiences and opinions, but it seems to me that there are a few people who just want to keep something going and it makes it look like you are trying really hard to convince others of something. Why don't you just post your opinions and experiences and then we will decide. There is no reason to resort to name calling (Ron from Los Angeles) or even being rude (Rik).

I certainly hope that most of those who posted on here are in the 5th grade. I've never seen such awful grammar and spelling. (You know who you are)If your business skills match your usage of the English language, then no wonder you didn't succeed. If I were one who owned a retail establishment, and some of you came to me with the same language and bad grammar as I've seen on this site, then I wouldn't buy from you either.

Nevertheless, I'm going to give it a try. It's only $30.00 and if it doesn't work out. I will send them everything back and they won't be able to charge my account again. It's that simple.

After reading all of these posts, I'm a little taken back by SMC. I've already ordered the materials and they are in the mail at this moment. I paid under $30.00 for it and if it doesn't work out, I will send the materials back and put a hold on my account so they can't get any more money.

I've seen positive responses and negative responses. I thought this was a site in which one could post their experiences and opinions, but it seems to me that there are a few people who just want to keep something going and it makes it look like you are trying really hard to convince others of something. Why don't you just post your opinions and experiences and then we will decide. There is no reason to resort to name calling (Ron from Los Angeles) or even being rude (Rik).

I certainly hope that most of those who posted on here are in the 5th grade. I've never seen such awful grammar and spelling. (You know who you are)If your business skills match your usage of the English language, then no wonder you didn't succeed. If I were one who owned a retail establishment, and some of you came to me with the same language and bad grammar as I've seen on this site, then I wouldn't buy from you either.

Nevertheless, I'm going to give it a try. It's only $30.00 and if it doesn't work out. I will send them everything back and they won't be able to charge my account again. It's that simple.

Well let me say I've been with SMC for 3 months now. I didn't pay my membership up front either. First I am going to be completly honest some of the things in the catalog are kind of crappy but you can pretty much tell by the picture it think.

I do sell some of my things on Ebay and am making a profit and I sell to friends too. Now first of all Older people and moms love candles so I sell a good amount of those and I stay away from flaky people. I don't like the fact the the catalog prices are a little high I think. So I do recycle them. That tip I got from my business coach. Now I'm lucky because she is nice but I didn't keep her after the free sixty days it's a waste of money.

I wouldn't even consisider using thier website becasue I'm just cheap. This is my only job and it helps me support my child. The drop ship prices are high and the only reason I make a profit I believe is because I drive to Fontana once a week and pick up my orders and ship very light items on Usps and heavier on DHL and they are cheaper than others like usps.

Honestly i've just been lucky because I just happen to be 2 miles away from a DHL staffed facility so I don't have to pay $3.00 pick ip fee or a mark up from a place like Mailboxes etc. or something like that. I pass on shipping charges to my internet customers and the sales I make direct I make up enough to make a profit with a large enough order. I've only once called in an order under $25.00 which cost you a $2.50 svc fee.

Now another thing when I go to thier whare house I take a handful or 2 of thier new arrival brochures for free off the cubices instead of paying for them and belive it or not the nice girl wo gives you the will call order will give you catalogs free if you ask for them. The world of products one. So I don't pay for them.

i do a small amount of mail order but it not profitable for me because I don't like spending money on the brochures. but again just ask the girl do you have any catalogs and she just throws them in the box. But really if you don't live close enough to pick up your orders you are not going to make any money because the shipping just cost too much.

Oh I stick with the wood product mostly the higher quality stuff that has low prices and thats and no I don't work for them I will stick with them after the year if renewel is cheap enough for gifts or and I have a cousin who likes to sell the kiddie stuff to her friends at school and thier parents for thier kids.

So thats all I have to say.

This is the second or third time I have posted to this thread and as some of you may remember I was having more then a few problems with the SMC webpage. However, that has been resolved at least to a point to where I can live with it. Do I still have the webpage? Lord no!!! I finally had to cut my losses and concede the almost 4 grand I had invested in the webpage.

However, That said, I admit that I still sell some SMC products in my brick and morter store. I am very very selective in what I order and place into stock and yes it does sell eventually but just like any store you sometimes have to sit on your stock for some time before it does sell. I now use SMC as a sideline and order most of my inventory from other places that do not charge me to be a wholesaler. My advice to anyone who is considering joining SMC is to think long and hard about it. Don't expect to cut a fat hog or make a living with SMC products alone. Most of all believe about a third of what the salesperson tells you and question the other third strongly. They will tell you all sorts of stories about how people are getting rich with their product, but don't belive it. I average about 300 dollars gross sales a day in my store and on a good day perhaps 10-15 dollars of that comes from SMC products.

I ORDERED THE INFO, WAS VERY INTERESTED IN MAYBE JOINING. WHEN THEY CALLED ME AND I TOLD THE MAN THAT I WASN'T REALLY SURE YET, HE HUNG UP ON ME. IS THIS HOW YOUR COACH WOULD BE TOO?? THAT MADE UP MY MIND THAT IT WAS PROBABLY NOT IN MY BEST INTEREST TO JOIN.

As a former Sales Rep with SMC Promotions (Telemarketers who call after you get your free info) I thought I'd pass on some info about SMC that most people overlook or just don't know.

1)As with any home business you get what you put into it. That being said 90% of the people who purchase a membership fail. The reason they fail is they think that SMC's business kit is a magical box that money is just going to fly out of. The business kit really is just like a business start-up for dummies. It shows you a few ways to sell and gives you a place to buy products that's all it does. In reality the kit is kind of like having a Costco card it gives you products cheaper than the average joe.

2)One of the complaints I see a lot on this site is that the business coach's are not helpful. For those of you who don't know the coach's only job is to get you to buy product preferably material (catalogs, price lists, order forms) because that's where the true money is. The products are sellable if you do it right but you'll never hear the way profitable members are selling now because it would lead to that market being dried up. I've met several members who make $300,000 plus a year with SMC but they sell products in a way most people would never think of,

3)It is possible to make 7 figures or more with SMC because there are people who do it now. Not as many as SMC implies (I believe there are about 11 people). Most people who do make money with SMC make about $20-50 a month and eventually give up.

4) SMC sells websites but very few people make money a lot of money with them because they fail to market them and the market is over saturated with them. SMC products are a tough sell online because not only are you competing with other SMC members your competing with people who get products direct from the manufacture. The thing that really killed SMC's online selling draw is EBAY. People put up an auction for $.0.01 and expect to make money off of volume but end up losing there shirts because Ebay is not a profitable way to sell SMC.

I have a lot more beefs but I'm kind of tired so I'll stop now. Why did I leave SMC Promotions you might be wondering it's simple I couldn't sleep at night because I would have people who I sold SMC to call me back 3 to 6 months later telling me how they invested there life savings in SMC and it isn't working for them.

Geeeez Ron from Los Angeles...
good thing you're not anal retentive! (I'm surprised that your post was not edited more)

As I (and a few others) have said before, yes, we realize that SMC is a middle man. But they also have the warehouse to store inventory. I do not have that luxury. I run my business out of my home, and therefor do not have the room to store a large inventory, which is required to purchase at wholesale pricing. With SMC, and with a few other of my suppliers, I can order the merchandise after I have already received payment from my customer. So, I also don't get stuck with "dead inventory".

For those of you who have not sold SMC, you cant really say what works and what doesnt. You also have no idea whether or not we are making any money at this. As I have said before, SMC is just one of a few of the companies I purchase merchandise from for re-sale. Some of their stuff is utter crap, some is ok, and some is a great deal (good product, good price) and therefor sells well. This is the same with most companys.

Also to Ron from Los Angeles, and to all the other anal retentive post-ers, chill out, calm down, life is too short to have your panties in a knot all the time.
Work hard, be prosperous, and most of all, enjoy life!

Why won't you undersand? You stubborn mother f/ - kers won't give up will you? It costs less to get your tax id than it does to pay the stupid smc startup fee. SMC buys huge amounts of a small variety of items from wholesalers (making the products even cheaper for them) and sells them at markup prices!! what bull s/h/i/t!! They are in reality a wholesaler who sells in bulk at retail prices. You fools who bust your a*s for years on end are small minded retards (the same kind of people who will stay 5 years at McDonalds to get miniscule raises with hopes of someday becoming assistant manager). Why don't you actually learn how to run a successful buisness you morons and maximize your profits instead of dumping your money into the pockets of those fat greaseballs at smc and keeping them in business. You dumb s/h/i/t who accused Rik of working for one of smc's competitors, what in hell would give you the idea that Rik works for a competitor when he's advocating getting a tax license and AVOIDING the middleman. He is discouraging middlemen altogether, and if he was a cometitor that would make him a middleman. Get a clue dumbass.

I have recently reviewed this site and comments from many posters about SMC. I do not expect any business to get 100% guaranteed satisfaction, as that is not reality with human nature and many variables in the mix to factor in. I am also not a member "yet" nor know anyone affiliated to SMC.

As of today (May 18, 2004) we began to order the SMC kit and information to examine for $39.95, understanding, that after a 30 day money back period, we will be charged 9 more payments of only $24.95 to become lifetime members. OK. I talked to a Sue Kreamier (800-794-8418, #2312) to set all this up. There is a cost to doing business and information costs money and SMC stated they do this to weed out nonserious parties from serious, and will refund 100% of the charges after $5,000.00 in first sales are realized. OK.

My decision moreover, my company's decision ( CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. )to do this, was for an additional avenue of business opportunity & cash flow which we could integrate into our existing operations, as we have a global reach of relationships in business, etc. To also be clear, SMC has no idea of who my company is or what extent my resources are, and what I will say herein is the following:

1. If I or my company find SMC is in any way misleading or creating a fraudulent business offer, we will report this to the FTC to begin with.

2. If SMC does not deliver to the letter of their guarantee and paperwork, we will take this matter to Class Action attornies who thrive on consumer fraud cases against medical industry, businesses, and other large corps. like this.

3. If I feel, after we evaluate and investigate SMC's information, there is a "bait & switch" routine hidden in their agenda, we will see to their demise through our resources.

Note: We may also try to reach Mr. Bosley himself in CA to see where his loyalties lie today regarding SMC and the past paid endorsements he gave them. This would speak volumes on SMC's character good or bad... I am sure, Mr. Bosley would not want to be associated to anything that could tarnish his wonderful lengthy reputation and career.

My company is involved in international project development consultancy services, and we have resources to all international legal and law enforcement agencies utilized in our due diligence of business plan development compliance issues. So it would not behoove SMC or any of their affiliates or agents or telemarketers to try to deceive our company at all, or myself, once I receive my informational package shortly.

I have many avenues to sell merchandise to many parties globally, so if SMC is what they insist to me they are, then everyone wins and there is no trouble. But, if I find out otherwise and am insulted or humiliated by some minimum wage information persons we had to go through, then we will be that straw that broke the camel's back in processes and resourecs we have available to us to bring justice and financial remunerations back to those who were exploited by a fraudulent business opportunity.

I make such bold statement because I have been in several business opportunities in the past 20+ years. I believe in fair prices and solid information and credible product or service with a back-up guarantee. Likewise, sadly enough, there are an ever growing amount of scams and border line illegal opportunities abounding today, and you must investigate thoroughly any investment you intend to make no matter what it may be. Then go with your decision, work hard, and see your results.

In close, I sincerely hope SMC is everything they claim and what I understand thus far. I always go into new ventures with skepticism and base my decisions on facts I accumulate from reliable resourecs.

CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

I've been watching the SMC informercial for YEARS now and it provides a great source of entertainment to me (call me weird, ok?)

SMC, Internet Tool Box, Internet Treasure Chest and all the rest of the "business-in-a-box" packages on TV appeal to people who want instant gratification: they want to make loads of money, but don't want to put in any effort to earning it! Plain and simple.

As someone who was a retail buyer and involved in retail management for many years before going out on my own, I can tell you that the testimonials given on these "programs" leave out a LOT of small details that are involved with running a business...

Example: One gentleman discussed how he rented out a space from another retailer and set up a mini-shop selling SMC merchandise and recently had his business valued at $250k. Sounds good, right? Not when you look into what valuation of a business means...that $250k might translate into no more than $50k in actual cash...you have to deduct a lot of things that are involved in owning a business: salaries, inventory, returns, leases, etc.

Also, when sub-letting a space from another retailer, how do you manage your sales on a day to day basis? The retailer you're subletting your space from will not want to get involved in running YOUR business as well. In most cases, he or she will not want to combine their merchandise and money (for tax purposes). He claims to have 9 locations like this, so you will have to spend all day going from one location or another or hire employees to manage your sales...

Websites: As far as their websites go, I design web sites for companies. The examples of people doing e-commerce selling this merchandise are a joke. You absolutely cannot make the kind of money they are proclaiming working only 2 hours a day. From what I understand about the server configuration of these sites, they are buried in their main server, nearly impossible to find via Google or any other search engine. So you would need to invest a great deal of TIME and money to get the site noticed.

Pricing: They quote examples of pricing which comppletely obscures anyone's pricing intergrity. Legitimate wholesalers will demand documentation that you are in fact a real business before releasing pricing information. When giving out such information out to the general public, it makes it nearly impossible for a retailer to charge what he or she wants and GET that price from customers.

Freedom: Some testimonials discuss the freedom they have since joining SMC. Yes, when you work for yourself, you can schedule your work time around your personal schedule. However, when you're selling items that retail for $10-$20 on average, you have to sell a LOT of merchandise in order to replace the income you made from your previous job, which is very time-consuming.

Competition: By marketing SMC to the general public, the market is flooded with the same merchandise, therefore making it harder to sell unless you take huge markdowns in order to make the sale.

Somone interested in starting a retail business should look into what interets them and market products relating to that topic. The problem with people marketing SMC products is that they are products they really couldn't care less about (aside from the money). That apathy/disinterest comes across to customers and will make them reluctant to buy.

Bottom line: SMC can be considered deceptive. The promises of big money with little effort just arent true. As far as what they charge for ancillary services (drop shipping, business coaching, etc) are typical. When you're in business, any assistance you receive from any one is going to cost you money. That's called "cost of doing business."

This is, I believe, my third post to this thread.
To reply to the gentleman in Canada: No, it is probably not a good idea to try to sell from an American catalog company for you. If you were selling to customers in the United States, perhaps, because then you would need no currency conversion, or have to pay duties. I buy and sell in the United States. Sometimes I do have international sales, since I sell mainly on eBay and my websites (created by ME, not SMC, ty!).

I make my international buyers aware of the fact that they will be responsible to pay duties. None of them have ever had a problem with that.
To reply to all of those who say that SMC will not make you rich: True, you have to work at it. Also, I do agree that some of the things SMC offers are junk, plain and simple. That is why I pick and choose. I also use a few other suppliers for my merchandise. The main thing I appreciate about SMC, is that they will drop-ship to my customers.

My other suppliers will not, and hence I essentially wind up paying for shipping twice. Selling online is my livelihood. I do ok at it. Some months I may only clear (net profit) about $1000. But others I have cleared over $3000. Not too bad, considering that I can stay home with my kids, rather than put them in daycare while I work. Having an online business, or any retail business for that matter, is hard work. You will put in long hours. You will get frustrated. You will get the occassional unhappy customer. But that is life. It is what you make of it. It is what you put into it. I like what I do. It's fun, and profitable. That works for me.
Regards,

As I stated in an earlier report, it was my feeling that SMC was using unfair sales tactics to sell their webpage programs. I had tried to contact them several times with no response. However, after filing this report as well as one to the FTC, their legal staff finally responded. Did I get everything I wanted? No of course not, but that is why they call it negotiation. I did get some of the items I wanted and as promised, I am adding this in to the ripoff report.

Yes, you can make a little money with SMC if you do not mind hard work. Just don't expect to get rich without work and be very careful if you purchase one of their websites.

I joined SMC as a way to make extra money a few years ago. I went on the monthly payment plan to pay them off the 300 or so over a year with an option to cancel after six months and not owe them anymore.

Well it didn't take long to realize that I could not make any money on this business because of all the duties and extra shipping charges I would have to pay to bring the junk up to Canada to sell.

It took over a month just to receive my first shipment of catalogs and when I placed my first order another month. The people I sold the stuff to saw their catalogs in US dollars and wanted to pay in Canadian dollars. Well by the time I paid duties, shipping and the exchange rate I lost money.

I really felt stupid when I was shopping in a dollar store and found the EXACT same figurine for one dollar Canadian and the store owner said he bought it for 43 cents from the wholesaler. The same thing was in the SMC catalog for $4.20(wholesale?) price.

Well five months into the program I knew I was throwing my money away so I sent the program back to them by mail. Needless to say I kept getting their stupid letters to buy more stuff and invoices to pay them. I called them up and a rude woman with a very heavy accent proceeded to argue with me that they never received it back and I owe them for the rest of the years membership. She told me that returns were supposed to be by registered mail and insured. I told her to go to hell. Well I guess they didn't like that cause they sent a collection agency after me here in Canada to collect the rest.

I had to paid off the collection agency and now my credit report still has that derogatory remark on it. I'm reminded of it every time I apply for a loan or credit card.

My advice is stay away from SMC.

My husband and I joined SMC years ago. Price was $200, supposedly that was forever. After 2 or 3 years we found out that we had a $19.95 yearly renewal fee. Since we put $200 in it we have remained members but use it mostly for ourselves. When we had a shop there were a few things we could use. My biggest problem with them is they are everywhere. Every Flea Market you go to there are table after table of SMC stuff. The bulk mailing enterprise they advocate. We lost a bundle in that. After paying the bulk mailing fees, sending out all the catelogues (we had to purchase), paying for the postage, etc. guess how many orders we got? Ready... we got ONE!!! We tried diligently to sell to florist, gift shops, mom and pop stores, we tried the flea market racket, everything. I would not get in this gimick again if I had the choice again. You cannot make it on internet sells or direct mail sales. Maybe if you have a store you could carry some of the items. However, most of the items are cheap and a little cheesy. Hasn't changed in 15 years.

I was involved in SMC some years back (when I was younger and more niave), and the ad said I could get started for $25.

Well, that seemed like a reasonable investment, only to find out later (after I already signed up) that the $25 was simply a "down payment) and the full amount was in the neighborhood of $250.

Had I known that from the very get-go, I may have been hesitant to sign up.

Then I got the catelog, and the catelogs themselves were quite expensive and each one costs $2.... quite a lot, when you were planning to distribute them at flea markets and the such.

Also the items in the catelog were extremly cheese and expensive (even from a wholesaler standpoint)

The items may have been good for church fund-raisers, garage sales, flea markets and the like, but you can forget about the million dollar sales that SMC and Tom Bosley (the paid endorsement) would have you believe are just waiting around the corner.

Also somebody mentioned Wal-mart, but really what Wal-mart chain is simply going to purchase from a local distributor/wholesaler especially when they can go right to the source and get the stuff even cheaper than we can?

Hi bill!

Your right about the addresses, I was in california at smc headquarters , the other day and while there i searched around for the e-merchants building, it is located right next to Smc's main Office. From what I could find out its a sister company of Smc's which was established to be apart from smc tohandle websites.

I talked to custoemrs service also aboutthis and theri responce was the same as what I stated before, that smc does not directly get into the website building business, butis affiliated with that company.

I was also told while they do have stockin that company it is not a large part of smc. which to me seems like they do own part of it. but is keeping it separate fromits main business of buying and selling, so I believe that in this case we all are right on certain parts and we all are partial wrong on the complaints, I also found out too that if you complain to smc directly they refer all those problems to e-commerce business, so you are right about not getting a direct answer on websites from smc, but I am also right too that their main concern has always been and still will be based on buying and providing products to their customers. Remember these are not my words but the responce i got back from Smc. Their answer is to complain to e-commerce about website problems, that they dont handle that part of any website business. So while others may be pissed off I am bowing out of any further arguement because from my research we both are right and there is no sense in further arguing about this

In September of 2003 I ordered the SMC starter kit. I haven't really done anything with it until now. I even got my father-in-law invovled!!! I'm so confused, and as a matter of fact, I coincidently told my husband that there really isn't a variety in items. That after a while my buyers will get dis-interested in what I have to offer because I keep showing them the same thing! He just looked at me puzzled and he walked away saying "HMMM". Today my father-in-law came with a Two-hundred and something order and I was a little upset that our winnings was only sixty-somthing dollars! I don't want my brain to be SAW-DUST, and I've been working really hard these past couple of days! Maybe it is to good to be true. (Like Ricky Ricardo says: Ahh Ya ya ya yai!)

Having read your responce I do have to thank you for your kind words. However, if you do some checking (personally I use "whois.com)you will find some very interesting things. One, yes SMC does use a company called emerchantclub.com to build their websites. Two: if you check any one of their websites you will find it listed to a company called "giftworldnet.com" If you check that one you find that it is owned by "emerchantclub.com which lists itself as an LLC company. Now if you run a search on emerchantclub.com you find out that it runs on the same block of IP addresses and domain servers as SMC. To illastrate my point look at the following who is domain search.

Registrant:
eMerchantClub, LLC (GIFTWORLDNET-DOM)
9401 De Soto Ave
Chatsworth, CA 91311
US

Domain Name: GIFTWORLDNET.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
chang, paul (PCK107)
9401 DeSoto Ave
Chatsworth, CA 91311
US
(818) 998-3300 fax: 123 123 1234

Record expires on 29-Dec-2005.
Record created on 29-Dec-1998.

Domain servers in listed order:

DNS.GIFTWORLDNET.COM 206.13.93.19
DNS2.GIFTWORLDNET.COM 206.13.93.21


Does anyone else see a pattern here? It sounds like the old hide the peanut game to me.

I guess when signing up with SMC it all depends on the salesperson you get. I NEVER make a purchase right away when calling someone. I call, get information, then I ask for a contact number that I call when I make a decision. I did the same thing with SMC. THey told ME straight up that if I wanted to sign up I could either pay my membership fee monthly OR I could pay it all up front and get a percentage off of all of my orders. So I decided to pay it up front and they have delivered by giving me a percentage off of EVERY order I have ever placed with them.

I saw the information about their website but I chose not to do it. I didn't like the free sites because the site design didn't appeal to ME. I hired my own web designer to design my site at a fraction of the cost. This way I was able to customize my site to meet MY needs.

As I have said before, you HAVE to do your homework. This isn't easy and you have to be careful not to do business on emotion. I hope those of you who had bad experiences succeed in your future endeavors no matter where they lead you. Good luck all!

I don't think I am being hateful? I'm telling the truth regarding SMC and I don't want to see people like Bill from Athens (above) get ripped off by SMC. The $350.00 sign up fee would be fine until people get sucked into a website from SMC. Wow Bill, they have raised their website to over $2,000 bucks! That is crazy! I'm a web developer and I know web software! I know that SMC uses (if I remember right) ASP for their website. I'm here to tell you that all they do is utilize a software program that already exists, probably takes them no more than maybe 10 minutes to set up a website for their customers, but they wait 30 days for the "guarantee" period to expire before they put it up online. That, in and of itself, is unethical and WRONG. Bill and I are witnesses to this tactic.

If you shopped around on the internet, you would find that most hosting companies already have a shopping cart (free and secure) available (at a click of a button) in their hosting packages which only costs, $100.00 per year (hosting), if that! This includes a secure server, the hosting and technical support. You would also find software on ebay that does the exact same thing that SMC uses/does at about $15.00 - $25.00 which utilizes paypal intergration (no monthly merchant fees).

At $2,000.00 + $19.00 per month for a merchant account, $24.00 per month for hosting, I would say that SMC is a BIG RIP OFF! No matter how hard you work at their products, as much competition as there is on the web (do a search on altavista "World of Products" to confirm this), the odds of you making that money back are very slim. And SMC knows this and doesn't care. They just want their hugh profit of $2,000.00 plus and after that, your either locked in or you can just go on your way...they have no need for you anymore. As Alicia from Maryland so eloquently puts it: LOL.

For the one that lose so much money on his website. All I can say is I'm sorry. personally I dont use their webiste so i cannot say anything about them except that what everyone seems to be forgetting is that the website program belongs to E-commerce and not SMC.

Smc ADVERTISES FOR THAT COMPANY AND REFERS THEIR MEMBERS TO IT, THATS TRUE. Personally I believe that smc should look into it and demand that something be done better for its members then what services that company is providing or get rid of any connection to it.

I understand both sides of this argument alsoand can see where some people are pissed off. My only experiences are thru ordering and buying products. I dont use their programs. I've been in business and have my own way of working that suits me and I have made profits from my way of doing it and selling their products. but like i said before i also use other companys products too. Yousay go directly to the manufactors Rik, well i have gone to them and some i could buy from and some I could not unless i spent thousands of dollars with them and ordered cases of the same items from them. With smc, I've been able to order as many as one of each item or a dozen or even a case of the same products if i wanted that many. True they are a middle man company, so is my business. I order fromother companys and i wholesale to stores and I also retail. I try to keep my profits doewn to satisfy my customers to the point that we oth share in the profits. personal;ly I am not that greedy to charge five times over what i paid for them. I usually make around 25 to 35 percent over my expenses which is enough to put alittle extra money in my pockets. I never planed on getting rich from working on the side, I spend alot of time looking thru different catalogs to buy as cheap as i can, outside of that I work about 15 minutes to a half hour a day actually on the computer. outside of delivering products once a week or twice a week which takes maybe a half hour to a hour a day thats how much time and expense i got into delivering. I dont pay for a building anymore as i work now from my home and carry very l;ittle inventory on hand, mainly just charry samples which i will retail onthe spot if they dont want to place orders. My business usually gets the orders within a week. I have nothing bad tosay about smc. as they've been good to me and my family. I would recommend anyone to buy directly from them on some of their products. but also there too some of their stuff is high price where i can buy it much cheaper from other companys. Thats where the research comes in and knowing your prices for your own merchandise. what i do is if i can buy somethingmuch cheaper for the same quality or better of smc products then i go with the other company, if I cannot guarantee the products fromt hose other companys i then fill with with smc's stuff Personally Rik! If i got ripped off like you saidf you did, I too would be pissed off but I would not waste my time and effort in trying to tear down a company where obviously your not winning alot of support. you see for everyone that is disappointed with smc there is at least twenty people that do like their products. Here where i live there are at least ten people that buy their products, four of them sell at the local flea mart and eachof them are doing pretty good with what they sell.

as far as expenses go rik, sure every company has hidden expenses also, thats the price you pay for doing business. Everyone knows that. For me I consider 35 percent profit after expenses a pretty good wage for doing maybe a hour work each day. I wish you the best of luck on whatever type of job you do have someday i hope you let the anger youseem to have built up go too. god bless and good luck

I have added to this thread before.
I put in my personal experience with SMC.
Immediately, I was accused of being an SMC employee. Why? Because I didnt have anything to complain about. I sell SMC products, as stated in my earlier post. I work hard. I put in many, many hours. I also enjoy it! To repond to RIK, I am not an idiot, as you seem to think anyone selling SMC is. Yes, I realize that SMC is a middle man. Yes, I realize that I can purchase merchandise DIRECTLY from the manufacturer. BUT, I DO NOT HAVE a warehouse to store inventory in. SMC DOES! Yes, I realize I pay more than I have to for this convienece to me. I have not encountered any "hidden costs". I have also been selling SMC now for over 2 years, and doing quite nicely, I might add. No, I am not a millionaire, but I also dont expect to be. As Alicia said, anything you expect to succeed in, you have to work at. If I dont work much, I dont make much. The choice is yours. I also purchase products from other companies. However, SMC has always drop-shipped merchandise directly to my customers for me. That is a great thing. Most wont drop-ship. So you wind up paying for shipping twice.

I dont understand why RIK and a couple others on this thread are so hateful. Life is too short to go around hollering all the time. Question for you RIK? Do you buy your groceries at a grocers? If so, you are paying too much. Why not go directly to the farmer? Or better yet, grow your own? Nothing in life is free. And nothing worthwhile is easy. Get over it already!

To all of the business people on this thread, good luck to you, and congratulations on your success. With this business, I can stay home and work. I dont have to pay for daycare. I can set my own hours. I can take a month off if I choose to. And, I DO MAKE A PROFIT, thank you.
Sincerely,

Susan of XXXXX Irresistible Gifts

First off let me say that I have been a business man for way more years then I like to admit so I do know all about profit margines etc. I owned and operated my own payroll accounting firm for over 30 years so I believe I qualify for knowing such things.

Now to the real point of this report. A couple of years ago I sold my accounting firm and retired. After a few months of doing nothing I was so bored and depressed that I had to fine something to keep me occupied. Having heard about SMC and seeing a few of their products around I decided to go for it and keep myself busy. Although they advertise that you can start for as little as $25.00, they charge you $350.00 to join. All you get for that is the right to order their products at supposed "below wholesale" price, a few advertisement sheets and a single cataloge. Oh and a couple of very short vidios to tell you how easy it is.

Still I know that starting any business is hard so I set about ordering a few items and selling them to friends, family etc. I even let them talk me into a "starter kit" which was a huge joke. All you get in the kits are items they have not been able to sell anywhere else. A very convinient way to get rid of useless inventory. I decided that should I wish to make any money I would also have to have a webpage. (everyone does now days.) I called the sales department and was quoted several prices depending on how large a page I wanted. They come in three sizes. 40,100,and full line store. I opted for the full line because if you don't list a fair amount of inventory you will never sell much. The page was to cost me a one time fee of $2995.00 and of course they needed my credit card info before they could build the site for me. They were also offering a "free" doorway page for any new accounts. The sales department told me that I could have up to five doorway pages so that I could change with the seasons. IE: Christmas, Thanksgiving etc. Three times in the course of the next hour I asked the salesman: "if I decide to go for this, do I own the webpage?" Three times I got the same answer. "Oh yes!! This page will be yours forever and no one can ever use it other then you." So I gave him my card info and told them to build me a webpage. A few days later I got the information packet and in the fine print it clearly states that you DO NOT own the webpage and all you are buying is the licence to use it! If you cancel your store or close it, you loose everything! You also do not have any resale rights so you cannot try and sell the page to get any money back out of the business.

Well I was already into it for almost three thousand so what choice did I have? Yes it did come with a 30 day money back gurentee, but they made sure the webpage could not be viewed until well after the 30 day deadline. It was then that the real problems started. In order to take credit cards you need a gateway program and a merchant account. The gateway program cost me an additionall $395.00. I already had an existing merchant account, but was told by the sales department that it would not work with the gateway program I had purchased. However they could set me up with one that would. Another $295.00 down the rat hole. To have them host the page for me would cost me $29.00 a month and I was told that should I ever want to go to another hosting service, SMC could not gurentee the webpage would work. Nice way to trap customers if you want to string them along I suppose.

At long last and after many attempts to contact sales etc., the page was finally delivered and supposedly had been tested. A week later I got an irate email from a customer telling me that he had been trying to place an order for days and it would not accept any of his credit cards. I instantly called tech support only to find out that the gateway program was not working and a "request" would be sent to have someone take a look at it. However, it probably would not work for 24-48 hours. At that time I also inquired about the "doorway" pages I was supposed to get because none were listed in my "nightmanager" program. I was told I would have to hang up and call the sales department because he did not show any request for doorway pages. He also had no way to transfer my call so I would have to hang up and call another number. I called sales. (sigh) and was told that they were sorry, but I did not qualify for the "free" doorway pages because the request had not been submitted in time. However, he could slip one in, but only if I added a reminder program which would cost me another $199.00! However, I could only get one and if I wanted more then that they would cost me $199.00 each!! Nothing even close to the "free" pages they advertised.

By this time I was totally disgusted, but I had too much invested to back out and loose it all. A few days later (and still no sales) I called sales again to inquire if it was possible for me to put a "free traffic counter" on my site. I was told that it was probably possible, it might not work with their pages since they did not use them. However, they could sell me a complete traffic program that would not only show how many hits I was getting, but also where they were coming from etc. This program would cost me an additional $395.00. Once again he verified my credit card info and sent the request to have the traffic program added. I figured that just about had to be the end of it. Wrong!! Three days later,(on a Friday night) my webpage went off line although I had been assured that would never happen because they used two seperate servers. If one went down I would instantly be online with the other server. I tried to call tech support, but of course they were not working on the weekend. I tried to call customer service as well as sales only to be informed that those departments too were closed on weekends. Finally on the following Monday I managed to call tech support and was informed the first time that they had been doing some updating and the page would be back online in a couple of hours. Four hours later I called back and was told that the problem was on my end and that I should dump all my cookies, history, etc and reload the page from the address bar and not from my favorites. I have been using computers for many years and know my way around so I knew it would not help, but I had to jump through the hoops. Having done everything requested and still no webpage I once again called tech support and was told that they could not "fix" it there, but a request would be sent to have someone take a look at it. Again, however, it would take between 24-48 hours. Two days latter and still no webpage so I called once again and was told that it would be fixed within the hour. Well I hate to admit it, but I had finally had enough and lost my temper informing tech support that if it was not up within the hour I would pull the plug and send the entire matter to my attorney. It must have worked because ten minutes later the webpage was back online. Only now the traffic program did not work! It was stuck on the day the webpage had first went offline. Off to call tech support again where I was informed that someone would take a look at it and when he tried to tell me it might be 24-48 hours I told them I would give them two hours! 45 minutes later I tried the program again and loe and behold it was working again. With one slight problem! All the data that I had been tracking for the past two weeks was completly wiped out! I was totally ticked by then so I did not call tech support to complain again. Instead I called customer service where I got a message that if I left my phone number, id number etc someone would call me back asap. I did that and instantly tried calling the sales department only to get the same message from them. I tried sending emails to sales, customer support, and my so-called mentor only to find out that none of the email addresses listed worked!!

I am totally disgusted with this entire rip off and have since filed a report with the Federal Government as well as handing it all over to my lawer. It may do me no good at all, but I will raise the d**n roof until someone listens!! I can absorb my loss with no problem, but what of all the other people who are not as finacially set as I am? Someone needs to stop them before it's too late.

Rik, the fact that you can only TRY to use insults and false accusations (saying I'm a SMC employee) further proves one of two things:

1. You're either a past member of SMC who failed at their business due to their poor business skills.

2. You're under 21.

3. You're a competitor of SMC.

Who cares where SMC goes to get merchandise. I know they don't make it, ALL of us know that. You act as if you're sharing valuable insider information, you're NOT. Just admit you were once a member of SMC and YOU believed SMC made these products. LOL! Just admit you were uneducated about the company and their suppliers and after figuring it out you felt cheated when actually YOU cheated YOURSELF.

SMC hasn't stolen anything from me nor anyone else. ADULTS make choices Rik, and if you CHOOSE to be a member of SMC you make the business work for you to stop losses and increase profits. Do you say the same thing about companies like MaryKay, Avon, etc.? Of course not because you're one of those adults that wants to be babied and hand-held and guaranteed riches. Life does NOT work that way.

I paid my membership fee up front in full. I know they didn't require my tax id because according to LAW they didn't HAVE to request it. Duh! LOL! You're such a joke. It's YOUR business, YOU are responsible for keeping track of business expenses, NOT SMC. SMC is not your business, the company you create selling their products is YOUR business. THAT is what should be your focus.

And based on your beliefs I guess those individuals who are with MaryKay or Avon aren't legit right? Because when you start with them you aren't required to give up a tax ID either. Oh I guess BILLIONS are being duped huh? LOL! Get real Rik, you're BITTER. YOU failed at your business and now you're pointing fingers at SMC. Its okay, go apply for a job and when you don't excel at that you can blame it on your boss. LOL!

And for the record, I didn't say I haven't made ANY money, I said I am not rich because I get that I haven't put the effort in that I should. But this year I developed a business plan, incorporated, got licesnsed as a merchant, got an attorney, and a website. Don't you just hate us REAL businesspeople? LOL!

Have a nice day Rik. Maybe you'll have better luck convincing gamblers in Vegas about how the casino's are scamming them. LOL!

Apparently rik, you are a moron and have never gone through SMC. Take a few minutes and scroll up and read my earlier comments. I have made plenty of money and as i stated before, it took me 4 years to get my own gift shop. I saved my prfits from SMC and did alot of research, and even did an online course in business management in order to one day own my own gift shop.

Just like tommy, i too can prove what i say by my business records. i have the records here in my computer as well as on paper. If ya don't care to believe what we say, take a trip to georgia and ill show ya my gift shop and my business records.

Smc is the best home based business that i have found, and believe me i have spent alot of time and money trying to find a home based business that works. I dont know what your problem is holmes, but you dont need to discredit SMC or those of us who use SMC and are happy with what SMC has done for us, and the money we have made. I am sure that tommy and alicia will back me up on this when i say, GET A LIFE OF YOUR OWN, GET AN SMC PACKAGE AND TRY IT FOR YOURSELF.

Remember, it takes money to make money. I did it by the monthly plan, and you can too. But, when you get it you need to read everything they give you and watch both videos. Don't forget to DO YOUR HOMEWORK. find the best way for you to use to make money. Some people dont put alot of effort into it and that is why they failed at it. It sounds to me that both tommy and alicia put the time and effort into it, and it sounds like they are doing great at it and i give them my highest praise being a fellow SMC member.

Rik, if ya want to discredit SMC thats fine, but don't talk trash about those of us who have made money using SMC, we take pride in what we do. I will tell ya that before SMC, I was workin at Mcdonalds and living out of a hotel, this is when i first moved to georgia to follow my dream (being a professional wrestler).

Let me tell you that i worked my a$$ off using a couple different methods to make money as fast as i could. I tell ya, if i only chose 1 of the methods they give us, i probably wouldn't have my gift shop yet.

Hey Rik. I'm a former SMC idiot. Feel free to call me an SMC idiot anytime!

And for anyone who feels they are locked into SMC and needs a website to sell SMC products...you can do much better than SMC's website. By the time you are done with SMC you are going to pay over $1500.00 for what appears to be an "complex" website that you could have easily designed with the right (cheap software). And for that Merchant account you are going to have to pay sign up fees, monthly fees and a percentage on every credit card...use paypal.

Need help with a website, I can point you in the right and cheap direction. I would consider it an honor to take $1,000.00 away from SMC and save you all $1,000.00s in helping out anyway I can (for free).

Dear Mr. SMC employee disguised as a member from Maryland: I did not say nor am I implying SMC has to sell products for their members or do anything else. Where am I trying to make it seem as if people should expect to be babied? SHUT-UP! Again here we go with a retard distorting the facts to confuse the readers. Didn't I already make the point that you have to make it happen? I'm not making it appear that SMC needs to do something! (Other than stop ripping off their naive members!)

Understand; any novelty merchant can go straight to manufacturers and get the merchandise direct for about 4 times less than what SMC sells it to their members for. Once you do this, you don't have greedy, selfish non-legitimate middlemen companies like SMC (among others) involved, marking prices up to you and making the money you should have profited from physically selling the crap.

Again, republican SMC employee, you are fabricating statements that were never mentioned or implied. If you or anyone else out there is begging to differ, make a relevant argument to SMC being a middleman getting members excited about taking a loss while SMC secretly steals their hard earned profits or get off this board and don't respond to Rik directly unless you can respond to the facts with some facts, not your fantasies.

PROOF; Go to SMC, pay the $350 premium and join. Once you do this you will realize from hands on experience that they don't require your tax id number like legitimate manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers do. That's because SMC is strictly a middleman company using you as their a*s!

Now go to a legitimate manufacturer, distributor or wholesaler and ask for a licensing or dealership application. You will notice you are required to provide your tax id number or they will deny your application. You will also notice that not one legitimate distributor will ever require a startup fee, yearly membership premium or apply hidden costs. Oh, and you'll notice the merchandise is not only of higher quality and taste, it costs you much less to purchase it than that bottom of the line SMC crap.

Oh, and personally, you haven't made ANY money selling under SMC's umbrella of fools. And you think SMC is the best WHAT out there? They burn you with a smile and pleasant attitude? It's interesting how you give people some advice on doing what it takes to be successful even though you have no idea yourself what it really takes. You are either serious, stupid or seriously stupid Learn how to use a library or something! If you're ever interested in tallying up your total losses I have exemplary accounting skills along with a handful of pity I can loan you.

"Companies, Corporations and individuals who knowingly practice fraud, ill intent, and falsely pose as the general public to deceive should be punished by death.

A man of the People, for the People.

I work hard for my money and No one has every said that smc is not a middleman. I agree with you on that, as i have said in my earlier posts. But for one person to personally say that we are idiots or slaves working for another company is totally off the wall. I buy from several companys, not only from smc but from at least twenty others. I too take in orders, before i order anything from smc, sometimes i drop ship items to my customers sometimes i get them in stock to take inventory control and make sure they are of good quality for as cheap as i can get them. I dont have a large stock or inventory expense as I only buy what I know i have sold. I work out of a two room apartment. with a computer. I wholesale to five other stores to supplement my income. I amalso on a disability from the military. I've never worked directly for smc either And i would be glad to prove any statements anytime anywhere of what i have xsaid in this rebuttals. I dont get rich, never planned on it, all i wanted was a way to supply alittle extra money to pay a few bills. which Smc and other companys have provided me. I agree on some of their stuff is high price, and sometimes the shipping costs are high also. I agree that sometimes others want things for nothing or givent o them and willcomplain also because they didnt work hard enough to get what they were seeking. Noone ever said working for yourself was easy or that there was not extra expenses. You are putting down a company that has provided a way for myself and my family to make extra money. yes I am a paided up to date member of smc and yes i made profits on their items, but thats was by using my head and checking out each and every product i ver bought from them and for someone like you to call me or anyone idiots because we buy from such companys without youeven knowing us personally is wrong. I cannot argue with you about some of the facts you stated because i dont know if yoru facts are true or not, I only know from my own experiences witht he company. and please dont call me foolish or a idiot. I'm neither. I may be half blind but i am not blind enough to not be able to see that these reports you've been making are from a: either a ex member who didn't work hard enough to make a go at their own business and
b: is a very unhappy person who wants to ruin a business thathas helped alot of people.
or c: someone that does not know the full story of smc from start to finish.
but thats just my personal opion. I agree that if a company is doing wrong then that needs to be exposed, but so far I have not seen any actual facts or reports outside of your own opinon to base a negative opinion against this company.
someof your own advice might be true for yourself. Show us actual proof of your facts or dont say nothing. I'm not a rich man but i can show you my business records on any profits i have made, where's your proof?

You think we don't know SMC doesn't do anything? Neither does MaryKay, Avon, etc. These companies don't HAVE to. Their job is to supply the products that we sell, not to do the selling for us. What you're doing is trying to make it seem as if people should expect to be babied and if you're running your own business you HAVE to do the research an implement the necessary things to make it successful. That is NOT SMC's job.

I'm not here to give anyone a false sense of what's possible with SMC. But what you can accomplish is based on what YOU do, its not SMCs job and Rik needs to stop making it appear that SMC needs to do something they NEED to do ANYTHING. That's the job of the people who buy products from them.

Personally I haven't made large loads of money with SMC because I haven't done anything to make that type of money. I think its one of the best out there because you are NOT required to make purchases every month and they have good customer service. People have become so lazy and think that having your own business is easy, its NOT, its HARD people so do what you need to do to be successful.

(Please see Rik's original posting above)
Dear entrepreneur, You are either:
A.) a current member of SMC
B.) a current employee of SMC
C.) a non SMC member looking for startup and legitimacy information.

If you are A, SLAP! SLAP! You need to wake the hell up! Don't feed me this "oh I make money" garbage you nincompoop! Great! Superb! Awesome! Works for you, right? This doesn't change the fact that SMC is a middleman that is porkin you and every other member on every order you send to them.

Have you ever heard of CASH FLOW? How about negative cash flow? First, count the total revenue you collected from customers who bought your SMC merchandise. Now deduct 3/4 of that money because you sent it to SMC to cover your purchase price and shipping. The other 1/4 was deducted and paid out to SMC for membership dues and other SMC fees. (By the way, you have just basically came close to breaking even and stand no chance to make a profit at this point)

Now, I hope you have a lot of money saved up from you working down at Burger King for the last 9 years because you must pay your other overhead expenses and they are not cheap - stock / inventory, licenses, setting up your office, banking and merchant fees, interest, insurance, taxes, deposits, booth fees or rent, calls, faxes, freeing up your schedule, transportation, gasoline, oil, displays, fixtures, business cards, flyers, catalogs, marketing, booth or shop maintenance, food, water and electricity, among dozens of other unexpected and sometimes undetected expenses.

The remaining number is your yearly salary. Yes, you are supposed to get paid for all of that hard work you did. Wait! You say the remaining number is my salary? You say there is no profit! You say you are several thousands of dollars in the red! So, you paid money to sell SMC products you ask? YES! You are now a true SMC member and you understand negative cash flow. (From experience)

Listen up folks, anyone here claiming they are making money with SMC are novice, inexperienced business owners that don't have a clue about the fundamentals of business and cash flow and are ignoring the fact that they are losing money because they are hardheaded and they lie to themselves to convince their alter ego that what they are doing is right and to keep doing it.

If you don't know what a demographic is or which one is yours, you have no business being in business and should either look into getting your old Burger King job back or take some college courses because if you continue down the path you are on now you will be very disappointed when your life is about to expire.

Merchant 101; When you sell a product for $14 you didn't just profit fourteen dollars, you collected $14 in sales revenue. Only a small percentage of your sales revenue is going to turn into possible profit. This is called your profit margin. If a product costs you $11 dollars you are supposed to sell it for at least $44, not $14.

What? I can't sell this SMC piece for $44!!! Exactly! Now you are catching on! The bottom line is your purchase price is way to high from SMC because they gobbled up your profit margin.

EXAMPLE: SMC will buy multiple identical products from a manufacturer to get a big discount so their average purchase price is very low. Then they mark up your purchase price which makes most or all of YOUR PROFIT MARGIN disappear into their pocket right off the top.

You need to be marking up your selling price at least 4 times higher than your purchase price if you stand to make a profit. Considering the actual value of the crap SMC makes available to you, there is no way you can get away with marking it up that high.

SMC buys it for one dollar, sells it to you for eleven dollars and tells you to sell it for fourteen dollars and they try to get you excited about making a three dollar profit when factually you just took a thirty dollar loss on one item because it took you several weeks to sell it and you have no idea that every day a product sits on your display rack it costs you money that you don't have whether you are willing to admit it or not. Now, how many items are you paying to stock? Care to multiply your losses?

SMC does nothing at all. They grasp your order form from one fax and feed it into another fax and pockets ten dollars of your profit in the process. A drop shipper sends the merchandise out, you put it in your booth or store and go through the time and expense to unload the crap on the public.

Please note that these so-called merchants got overly excited and rushed out to the swap meet with their SMC products and bypassed the business plan process entirely. You simply cannot ignore the fundamental doctrines of business. If these people want to go out and donate their time to make SMC rich(er), let them do it forever if it makes them feel special and wanted.

Your time and work alone has costed you much more than the money you falsely think is profit. Then comes your expenses. Maybe if you did your homework you would realize you are basically an SMC employee working for free on your own time and expense. Remember this? "It took me 4 years to open my own shop" The longer you work FOR THEM the more THEY make - idiot.

Don't come in here and try to convince everyone that SMC is a legitimate company just because they have successfully brainwashed, exploited and drained you! If you want to argue about it, say something relevant. SMC is a middleman - What is your relevant argument to this fact? Don't waste our time describing your perception of the company to us or ANYTHING else! Give us a relevant argument or go back to school and pay attention this time!

If you are B you are an employee or executive of SMC and you don't want anyone to realize or discover that SMC is a middleman. You are aware of these postings and other message boards with similar negative postings about SMC. These postings hurt SMC and they have assigned employees to help cleanup their negative PR by lying to you and attempting to convince you that they are legitimate and you can make money with them. They come in here posing as current SMC members claiming they would do it all again and they make money. If you are clever and quick witted, you can recognize the punctuation and grammar is strikingly similar in numerous posts that promote SMC.

Or you are C a non SMC member looking for startup and legitimacy information and my best advice for you is to run away and stay away from SMC. Nobody says, "I want to open my own company so my middleman can steal all my profit and exploit my intelligence" If you are serious about going into the gift and novelty trade, contact the manufacturers and true wholesalers directly and make all the money you worked for and deserve. (Make sure they require that you have a tax id number and that it actually gets used)

Real members cite they sell SMC products and SMC has permanent possession of their bankroll to prove it! Also, this message board is riddled with posts forged by SMC employees who get on here posing as current members making claims that SMC works for them, Be Smart! DON'T buy into it. You have been warned! SMC should stand for "Slave Manufacturing Company" because they are making slaves out of every sucker they recruit.
Good Luck to everyone who does and wants to own a legitimate american company. Get in touch with your democracy and help end corporate / government corruption now!

I have found that with doing your home business thing you must do your own research. Someone stated they did some direct marketing and only made a 1% profit. If you do research on stuff like this you will see that this is NOT a good way to make a profit on a business. Do YOU buy anything from catalogs that are mailed to you? I know I don't. You have to market your business in the way that it would attract you to it if you were the customer.

I never had any problem with SMC debiting money from me unwarranted. I always get my products in a timely manner. The shipping is reasonable cost and they do NOT charge you 6.00 bucks for each item. I think its easy to use SMC as the excuse why people fail in their own businesses when in fact its because they don't do their homework to make their business successful. Having good products, a good website, or specials is NOT enough. You have to determine what people want and give it to them.

I have found that with doing your home business thing you must do your own research. Someone stated they did some direct marketing and only made a 1% profit. If you do research on stuff like this you will see that this is NOT a good way to make a profit on a business. Do YOU buy anything from catalogs that are mailed to you? I know I don't. You have to market your business in the way that it would attract you to it if you were the customer.

I never had any problem with SMC debiting money from me unwarranted. I always get my products in a timely manner. The shipping is reasonable cost and they do NOT charge you 6.00 bucks for each item. I think its easy to use SMC as the excuse why people fail in their own businesses when in fact its because they don't do their homework to make their business successful. Having good products, a good website, or specials is NOT enough. You have to determine what people want and give it to them.

i have been with smc for about 4 years now. i admit its a slow startup, but once ya get goin ya can make some good money. i started out takin orders from people i worked with and goin to the county fairs, also had a kiosk in the local mall.
i now own my own gift shop and make approximately $9000 a month.

smc does let ya know what products are out of stock, they post it not only on the website they give you, but they also let ya know through the monthly newsletter. i admit i was skeptical at first but once i started makin money i was no longer skeptical. i am very glad i went with smc, i was able to quit my job and work for myself.

i read alot of comments, and to me it sounds like alot of people have either never tried it or didnt put much effort behind it. its not an overnight thing, ya have to work at it and put some effort into it, and the reward will make ya proud that you did give it a chance.

i too will admit the coach is a waste of time and i too had a person that was rude, so all i did was not contact them again. turns out you really dont need them at all, its basically self explanitory.

for those who have never tried this, please do not comment badly about it, it took me 4 years to open my own shop and work for myself, but it was time well spent and i am happy to be where i am.

To Quote Robert (above):

"Either your brain has turn to sawdust or you weren't born with any common sense. You complain about the shipping charges. Have you forgotten that the Post Office has raised postage rates several times in the last 3 years? UPS has also raised their rates considerable. SMC has to charge what they are charged.

You can't expect them to ship for free. And look at the large boxes and packing materials they use. Have you ever tried to purchase large boxes or 'popcorn' packing material? Its expensive! I know from experience. Try sending a large package across the country. Talk about sticker shock! You need to understand that everything costs money! (lots of it!)
"

Ummm, the last time that I ordered a shipment from SMC, they did not use the 'popcorn' packing materials, they used old paper (run through a shreder, which did have the true wholesaler's addy on it -- South Korea --)
And for a large package (an SMC sized box) across the country costs $5.25 (Fed-X), a far cry from 15% of the order. (WOW! Talk about sticker shock!!)

And then you say "SMC has to charge what they are charged". Look on the shipping box the next time you get it, I will almost bet money that it was no where near the price you paid for it!

I've been a member with smc since around 1993, my family has been members with them since 1971, I have made money with them, but i also agree with the prices of shipping charges now adays, their shipping rates seemto be alittle high, but ihave always been refunded extra money for shipping back to my account. I've been reading your reports and Ihave not ran across any of these problems personaly myself. But since I dont use the internet website services, I have not ran accross these problems. I have not gotten rich off selling smc products but I do make a profit on everything I do order fromthem. I also use other companys and i search around for cheaper items also. sometimes i find them sometimes i dont. I've read several complaints but so far I have not read any comments for the company. To me reporting should have both sides good and back, but that's just my opion and maybe who knows, you would be kind enought to list my comment for the company. I dont disagree that there may be several unsatisfied customstomers or members, but over the years Ihave noticed that several people get discouraged witht he company because there are so many members. but I also seen that happen with amway, watkins, and mary kay, and avon to name a few companys off the top of my head. I've made as much profit off of smc's products as I wanted to put the time into it. I only work 15 minutes a day on selling their products and i bring in a few hundred dollars extra a week when i want to work a few hours. but I have made sa couple thousand dollars at a time too from when i was working the flea mart. But I also know in any business, there is good and bad in all things and alotrof it depends on hard work,if you got a customer base line, and how well they buy. In the last few years sales have been down, not because of the products, but because people are not buying as much as they used to. I believe when the economics pick up so will sales. But I'm not a fool to give up my day job just yet.

Another fake posting!
Prove this claim!
I also have a thriving business on eBay. Yes, on eBay there IS tons of competition, yet I do ok. (Average monthly net is $2000) Prove this claim!

Here's some information for you "Susan", all legitimate wholesalers tell you how many of a given item they have in their warehouse, on a daily basis and when you ask:

As for the claim that some of the merchandise is out of stock, well kids, ANY retail catalog will eventually run out of an item. (Walmart, JC Penneys, etc.) It is a pain to find out AFTER the sell, and have to go back and tell my customer "I'm sorry, this item is no longer available." BUT, that is MY oversite. I should not promise the availability of something that is not in my possession. (Hmmm...learn something new every day, lol) SMC products will not "sell themselves". Any one believing that they would is an idiot. ( I dont care what the infomercial says... likewise many "tried and true" consumer products advertised on TV commercials kinda stretch the truth also.)
So your claim is just more phony comments by another SMC employee.

In summary, I am glad I watched the SMC infomercial. I am making decent money. Yes I put in long hours on my computer, but I enjoy it. I am not an "SMC employee I am just an honest Mom of four, peddling my wares, and doing ok at it.
Simpathy play doesn't work, try keeping it real.

Best of luck to all in their endeavors and adventures, and most importantly of all, remember this: "Even though this may not be the life that you expected, while you are here you might as well dance!"
Pretty much an SMC slogan? Let's all dance around while we get ripped off, ignored and mistreated by SMC! Life's just a great big party!

Nice try SMC, your posts are getting more and more ridiculous.

Another fake posting!
Prove this claim!
I also have a thriving business on eBay. Yes, on eBay there IS tons of competition, yet I do ok. (Average monthly net is $2000) Prove this claim!

Here's some information for you "Susan", all legitimate wholesalers tell you how many of a given item they have in their warehouse, on a daily basis and when you ask:

As for the claim that some of the merchandise is out of stock, well kids, ANY retail catalog will eventually run out of an item. (Walmart, JC Penneys, etc.) It is a pain to find out AFTER the sell, and have to go back and tell my customer "I'm sorry, this item is no longer available." BUT, that is MY oversite. I should not promise the availability of something that is not in my possession. (Hmmm...learn something new every day, lol) SMC products will not "sell themselves". Any one believing that they would is an idiot. ( I dont care what the infomercial says... likewise many "tried and true" consumer products advertised on TV commercials kinda stretch the truth also.)
So your claim is just more phony comments by another SMC employee.

In summary, I am glad I watched the SMC infomercial. I am making decent money. Yes I put in long hours on my computer, but I enjoy it. I am not an "SMC employee I am just an honest Mom of four, peddling my wares, and doing ok at it.
Simpathy play doesn't work, try keeping it real.

Best of luck to all in their endeavors and adventures, and most importantly of all, remember this: "Even though this may not be the life that you expected, while you are here you might as well dance!"
Pretty much an SMC slogan? Let's all dance around while we get ripped off, ignored and mistreated by SMC! Life's just a great big party!

Nice try SMC, your posts are getting more and more ridiculous.

Another fake posting!
Prove this claim!
I also have a thriving business on eBay. Yes, on eBay there IS tons of competition, yet I do ok. (Average monthly net is $2000) Prove this claim!

Here's some information for you "Susan", all legitimate wholesalers tell you how many of a given item they have in their warehouse, on a daily basis and when you ask:

As for the claim that some of the merchandise is out of stock, well kids, ANY retail catalog will eventually run out of an item. (Walmart, JC Penneys, etc.) It is a pain to find out AFTER the sell, and have to go back and tell my customer "I'm sorry, this item is no longer available." BUT, that is MY oversite. I should not promise the availability of something that is not in my possession. (Hmmm...learn something new every day, lol) SMC products will not "sell themselves". Any one believing that they would is an idiot. ( I dont care what the infomercial says... likewise many "tried and true" consumer products advertised on TV commercials kinda stretch the truth also.)
So your claim is just more phony comments by another SMC employee.

In summary, I am glad I watched the SMC infomercial. I am making decent money. Yes I put in long hours on my computer, but I enjoy it. I am not an "SMC employee I am just an honest Mom of four, peddling my wares, and doing ok at it.
Simpathy play doesn't work, try keeping it real.

Best of luck to all in their endeavors and adventures, and most importantly of all, remember this: "Even though this may not be the life that you expected, while you are here you might as well dance!"
Pretty much an SMC slogan? Let's all dance around while we get ripped off, ignored and mistreated by SMC! Life's just a great big party!

Nice try SMC, your posts are getting more and more ridiculous.

I was disappointed to learn that SMC doesn't give it's SMC members some kind of credit for it's Wholesaling program. Who in their right mind have a credit card on it with $80,000 to cover the Net 30 part of Wholesaling. As you know some stores want credit so they can build trust in you. How can you give them credit if you can't cover the expense. SMC should give some kind of credit like AVON. When the customers pay for the order after delivery then we can pay the company back. They can make even more money this way.

I was disappointed to learn that SMC doesn't give it's SMC members some kind of credit for it's Wholesaling program. Who in their right mind have a credit card on it with $80,000 to cover the Net 30 part of Wholesaling. As you know some stores want credit so they can build trust in you. How can you give them credit if you can't cover the expense. SMC should give some kind of credit like AVON. When the customers pay for the order after delivery then we can pay the company back. They can make even more money this way.

I was disappointed to learn that SMC doesn't give it's SMC members some kind of credit for it's Wholesaling program. Who in their right mind have a credit card on it with $80,000 to cover the Net 30 part of Wholesaling. As you know some stores want credit so they can build trust in you. How can you give them credit if you can't cover the expense. SMC should give some kind of credit like AVON. When the customers pay for the order after delivery then we can pay the company back. They can make even more money this way.

I was disappointed to learn that SMC doesn't give it's SMC members some kind of credit for it's Wholesaling program. Who in their right mind have a credit card on it with $80,000 to cover the Net 30 part of Wholesaling. As you know some stores want credit so they can build trust in you. How can you give them credit if you can't cover the expense. SMC should give some kind of credit like AVON. When the customers pay for the order after delivery then we can pay the company back. They can make even more money this way.

Some of my narrative may be redundant, for which I apologize, but I must give my perspective on SMC(Specialty Merchandise Corporation).
I am a member of SMC. Yes, I purchased the membership for $312. I also did my homework before joining: SMC, so far, is the least expensive wholesale membership business to join. I have a website,(designed myself, thank you very much :o)!)I sell to family and friends,(heck why not?)and I also have a thriving business on eBay. Yes, on eBay there IS tons of competition, yet I do ok. (Average monthly net is $2000)
As for the claim that some of the merchandise is out of stock, well kids, ANY retail catalog will eventually run out of an item. (Walmart, JC Penneys, etc.) It is a pain to find out AFTER the sell, and have to go back and tell my customer "I'm sorry, this item is no longer available." BUT, that is MY oversite. I should not promise the availability of something that is not in my possession. (Hmmm...learn something new every day, lol) SMC products will not "sell themselves". Any one believing that they would is an idiot. ( I dont care what the infomercial says... likewise many "tried and true" consumer products advertised on TV commercials kinda stretch the truth also.)

In summary, I am glad I watched the SMC infomercial. I am making decent money. Yes I put in long hours on my computer, but I enjoy it. I am not an "SMC employee I am just an honest Mom of four, peddling my wares, and doing ok at it.

Best of luck to all in their endeavors and adventures, and most importantly of all, remember this: "Even though this may not be the life that you expected, while you are here you might as well dance!"

Sincerely,

Found this while doing a search for this company. Please pay close attention to the claim made by a so-called member.

***SMC America's Best Home Business Opportunity
"Before SMC, times were tough...Now with SMC and the extra money it provides, it's exciting!" * - Dave Dehaven "Selling the products was a breeze! All I had to do was show the catalog!" * - Faye Galbreath [ click a product for a close-up! ] As an
www.freesmcinfo.com***

Now the truth!

"Before SMC, times were tough" and now that I joined SMC times are just a tough and now I have the added stress of dealing with this company.

"Now with SMC and the extra money it provides, it's exciting!" She must have won some sort of lawsuit and SMC lost and had to pay her, 'cuz she didn't get rich selling this stuff!

"Selling the products was a breeze! All I had to do was show the catalog!" Hmmm. Not the reaction I get - "Oh no, not that cr*p again!", "When will people learn that no one wants this stuff"

Here's something that SMC must have paid for:

***SPONSORED SITES - ABOUT
Specialty Merchandise Corporation
The truth about specialty merchandise corporation. A business opportu...
www.mazu.com***

It's funny how these reports from seamingly noone come out of nowhere and praise a company or employee. This article reads just like the infomercial, only they wrote it down! What's up with the obvious self praise under the guise of a legitimate publishing company. Didn't the mob use stores as fronts and pay people to sign their praises as decent and respectable citizens? Meanwhile, ripping them off. Isn't this just too much of a coincidence?

I dare SMC to respond to me directly with what little I have asked for and give it to me.

Who wants to take bets this goes ignored?

So how do you deal with having a catalog that is filled with products that are out of stock? If you have a website you will know that this company will not help you or let you know which products are not available, even if you ask them. Do you have the time to check thousands of products for their availability? I don't think so.

You may be one of the fortunate few that are "real" members of this company. But I have a strong feeling that most people that rebuttal the comments on the board are actually SMC employees.

Prove me wrong or prove me right!

Provide me with answers to my questions.

So how do you deal with having a catalog that is filled with products that are out of stock? If you have a website you will know that this company will not help you or let you know which products are not available, even if you ask them. Do you have the time to check thousands of products for their availability? I don't think so.

You may be one of the fortunate few that are "real" members of this company. But I have a strong feeling that most people that rebuttal the comments on the board are actually SMC employees.

Prove me wrong or prove me right!

Provide me with answers to my questions.

So how do you deal with having a catalog that is filled with products that are out of stock? If you have a website you will know that this company will not help you or let you know which products are not available, even if you ask them. Do you have the time to check thousands of products for their availability? I don't think so.

You may be one of the fortunate few that are "real" members of this company. But I have a strong feeling that most people that rebuttal the comments on the board are actually SMC employees.

Prove me wrong or prove me right!

Provide me with answers to my questions.

So how do you deal with having a catalog that is filled with products that are out of stock? If you have a website you will know that this company will not help you or let you know which products are not available, even if you ask them. Do you have the time to check thousands of products for their availability? I don't think so.

You may be one of the fortunate few that are "real" members of this company. But I have a strong feeling that most people that rebuttal the comments on the board are actually SMC employees.

Prove me wrong or prove me right!

Provide me with answers to my questions.

I am glad I came across this report.
I was watching TV when I saw the way to make money
they said it would cost less than 25 dollars.. I am a single mom with five kids no child surport.
I was looking for a way to make it in life and still be here for my kids cause I have to be here for the kids..I have less than 25 dollars..to my name I am so glad I read all this cause I don't have the kind of money that people sank into that company...Thank you for letting a sucker like me not get suckered......

I see alot of mixed feedback here. I really feel sorry for the sucker who has been involved with SMC for 20 years. Everyone seems to be missing the punch line.....

Specialty Merchandise Company is a MIDDLEMAN!!!!!!

You spend your time, energy and money advertising and selling, send SMC your order, and then their fat, donut smuggling, chair smothering a*s reaches over to the fax machine and sends your order over to the real wholesaler!

You did all the work, they did nothing and collected all of the profit!

Yes, I will say it again, SMC is not the real wholesaler, they are a MiddleMan!

They buy products from various wholesalers and mark them up to you! That is why you are not making any money! They are taking the profit that is supposed to be yours! Why do you think your markup (Retail Price) is so unrealistic?

Here's A little 411 on consumer 101...
Everything advertised on TV is a scam! The advertiser has already blown their reputation and has zero chance of getting any word of mouth advertising and they have resorted to TV advertising to get some fresh suckers. Everything on TV including TV itself is a scam. Wake up. Life is not a dream, it's reality!

Any company who offers a do-it-all-for-you deal for a startup fee is a scam in it's purest form and should be avoided at all costs. Website, consulting and shipping fees are adding insult to injury. They are exploiting your ignorance and stupidity.

Now listen to this advice very closely, Anyone claiming to be a wholesaler who does not require your TAX ID number before you start is a middleman (SCAM).
You can't buy advice this good....If you are currently involved with SMC, either keep being ignorant and never get anywhere being a mule or drop them like a bad habit. If you are considering starting up with SMC, Run! Run Away! Run! You will never make any money!

SMC scammed me out of $50 to initialize my overpriced scam membership fee back in 1997. Once I realized that they did not require my tax id number, I knew they were a middleman selling me products at marked up prices. I consider $50 a very expensive lesson! How much has your lesson costed you?

SMC has never heard from me since, until now!
If you want some more free 411 on Consumer 101, I will be happy to share my experience and wisdom with you so you don't make the same mistakes I did.

Iwas in the process of signing up to SMC corp. I saw this report, I was ready to sink 1200 hundred into this program. I thought that I can supliment my company LEE&ASSO. no plug not in service yet but thanks I will move on .

I've been a member of SMC for over 20 years. I've tried the Mail order program and while I didn't break the bank, I probably got the 1% response they (SMC) said to expect. The old addage is " it takes money to make money" and its definately true, especially these days. While I don't try to make a living from SMC, I enjoy using their catalog for buying unusual gifts for relatives and friends.



Either your brain has turn to sawdust or you weren't born with any common sense. You complain about the shipping charges. Have you forgotten that the Post Office has raised postage rates several times in the last 3 years? UPS has also raised their rates considerable. SMC has to charge what they are charged.



You can't expect them to ship for free. And look at the large boxes and packing materials they use. Have you ever tried to purchase large boxes or 'popcorn' packing material? Its expensive! I know from experience. Try sending a large package across the country. Talk about sticker shock! You need to understand that everything costs money! (lots of it!)