There are scammy and spammy products launched into the “make money online” niche all the time. I’ve given warnings and done various product reviews over the years, but there’s so much junk out there that I couldn’t cover it all if I wanted to.
I’m also not primarily in the business of being an Internet watchdog. It’s not really all that fun. So I tend to ignore most of the scams that land in my inbox, and try to stay focused on delivering value through my own business, and making money in ethical ways online.
Once in awhile something will really catch my attention or make me mad, and that’s the situation today.
The Prelaunch Hype
Over the past week or two, I received several “JV invitations” for a product launch called Free Commissions. I get those kind of invitations all the time, and it basically just means that someone wants me to promote their product as an affiliate. Some of those invitations came from Clicksure (the payment processor), from a JV broker, and from a 2nd-tier affiliate.
According to one of the invitations, the launch is being conducted by Tim Atkinson and Zak Meftah. The JV invite page contained a video of Tim Atkinson, and was signed at the bottom by “Tim Alexander”.
I’d give you a link to the page, but frankly it’s an embarrassment to the Internet marketing community (although it is sadly typical). There is no mention of the product itself or the value that will be provided to customers. It’s only about how much money they made on their last launch (over a million), and how they’re going to make more this time. There are affiliate prizes including a BMW.
| Before I continue, I’ll give the first of a few disclaimers that I’ll offer throughout this review (to add perspective, and hopefully avoid being called a hypocrite). I’m not against product launches. They are a big part of my own business model, and I also teach how to do them. I’m also a fan of affiliate contests. I’ve participated in many of them, and held plenty of my own. |
What I’m NOT a fan of is when marketers utterly disregard their customers, and that’s the feeling I got from this launch before it even started.
The Emails
In spite of the above hype, I really didn’t give this launch a second thought. After all, I’ve seen it all before.
Then the emails started hitting my inbox. Again nothing new, but what caught me by surprise was two things…
– The number of people promoting it, including some that I’ve associated with in the past.
– The outrageous lies contained in the emails.
| OK, time for my next disclaimer. I’m an email marketer too, and I’ve pushed the envelope with my marketing at times. But I ALWAYS make sure I can substantiate the things that I write.
Unlike many of the emails I saw for Free Commissions… |
“I just saw this sick video on YouTube and it’s received already 1,539,922 views in the last 5 days.”
Really? That’s funny since it’s not on Youtube, and the sales page just went up today.
“This video was shared 189,294 times on Facebook.”
Really… the moment it was launched?
“Good news! Your application has been accepted! Please review the details of the position here:”
What application, and which position was that? LOL
“Your Payment has been approved. Set Up Your Payment Information Here”
Uh huh. I could go an and on with the variations of fake payment notifications, and I’m not even going to bother getting into all the ridiculous income claims.
The Sales Page
After receiving this barrage of emails, of course I clicked one of them to check it out for myself.
www.freecommissions.com (NOT an affiliate link)
Here we have a typical scammy sales video complete with the so-called zillionaire, the cars, the yacht, the girls, the clearly fake testimonial videos, the bank account screen shots.
But here’s what really made my blood boil. The guy, Tim Alexander, goes on and on about all the fakes and scammers. He even goes so far as to say that he’s NOT an actor!
Of course the fine print at the bottom of the page says “In some cases actors have been used.” So I guess that makes it OK for the actor to say he’s not an actor!
The worst part was the ridiculous income claims. Folks, I’m not even going to waste my time, or yours, by quoting the outrageous claims made in the sales video. I’d be typing them up for the rest of the day. The gist of it is this…
You will make hundreds of thousands of dollars per month, with ZERO work.
This is the message that is given over and over and over again throughout the video.
| Yet another disclaimer. I’ve got nothing against sales videos. In fact, I’ve been known to write very persuasive sales copy and create very persuasive sales videos. But there’s a huge difference between persuasive copy, and outright lies. These guys didn’t even use qualifiers in their script, such as “you could” (make money), or this has the “potential” (to make you rich).
They just flat out said you will make tons of money with zero work. |
The price was $49…
But when I clicked to leave the page, I was given an exit splash page with a $20 discount. As I continued to attempt to leave the site, I encountered no less than FIVE exit pages.
The final one took me directly to the shopping cart, with an offer to buy Free Commissions for only $9. At that price, I figured it was worth it just for the entertainment of seeing what was behind the curtain…
The Payment
The payment was processed by ClickSure. From what I understand, their business was birthed as a result of the scammiest of products/vendors that got kicked out of ClickBank, who needed a new way to sell.
According to ClickSure’s website, they are based in China and Mauritius. Because of this, it seems to me that they are not afraid of the FTC, or anyone else who might come against them for making false claims.
Last time I purchased something through ClickSure, my credit card company’s fraud department called me within minutes to verify the transaction. That didn’t happen this time (yet), but I was certainly surprised to see this statement on the thank-you page AFTER I paid:
“ClickSure.com is an International Company and therefore due to fluctuated Currency Exchanged Rate, the actual amount that appears on your credit card statement will be slightly different from your order amount.”
Well that’s nice to know.
The Upsells
These guys truly redefined “upsell hell”.
| Here’s my final disclaimer. I’m not against upsells. I do them and I teach them. I usually do an upsell and a downsell. On a couple of occasions I’ve used multiple upsells and downsells in a sales funnel, but I’ve always treated my customers with respect, and there’s always been an easy way out. |
After making the initial purchase, I was presented with SEVEN additional offers prior to reaching the members area.
The first One Time Offer, which purported itself to be “streaming live” was $297. There was no way to bypass the video! I had to watch it until the price button appeared until I could decline. Worse than that, it was totally insulting. It included phrases like…
“Hit the “no” link and go back to your pathetic life of struggle”
and
“You’d be a complete moron to not take this offer right now”
Upon declining I was taken to the 2nd offer, which was the same thing for $197 (but called it a 50% discount). More ridiculous claims, such as….
“$110k a month. All you have to do is copy and paste a link. Literally all the work is done for you.”
From there I was taken to another $197 offer in which Tim Alexander (along with his very busty model friend) said,
“I want to give you my exact website that makes $238,793.14”.
And no, he doesn’t say it’s a copy or a replica of the site. It’s THE site, and he even says he is going to “transfer the site to you.” Again I had to watch this video before I could decline the offer.
From there, I was taken to another video, in which the busty model friend offered to give me the same website for only $97!
From there, I was taken to yet another offer which I was forced to endure before I could decline. This one was $175, and offered…
“Free commissions for life, without ever doing any work, without even lifting a finger.”
Yes that’s a quote, as are these:
“The only thing you have to figure out is how to spend the money. This is no hype, no gimmick.”
“All you need to know is that when you wake up in the morning you’ll see commissions like this, for life, for free. The money never turns off.” (While showing a screenshot of $68k/day commissions)
When I declined that offer, I was offered the same thing for $75. As we were obviously getting toward the end of this funnel, the insults continued to get worse:
“If you’re going to say no to this, do us both a favor and just quit. Go back to your pathetic life. You don’t have what it takes. Are you the loser that most people think you are?”
Apparently I don’t have what it takes, because I said no… and was taken to yet another offer! This one was for a $1 trial. I’m not sure of the total price, as I didn’t stick around to watch the full video.
The Product
The membership area is laid out in an organized fashion. Unfortunately, it seems to be organized in such a way that its primary objective is to get more money out of you.
Here’s a screen shot:
Step #1 is to register for the member’s only webinar (Better hurry, there’s only 10 seats left). Nothing wrong with webinars, or selling via webinars for that matter, but most likely the objective in this case is to sell you something expensive. I made the mistake once of allowing someone to conduct such a webinar with my customers. I will not make that mistake again.
Step #2 is to schedule your strategy session via telephone. Hmmm, interesting that the signup form asks you how much money you have available to invest in your business training! A classic tactic, and a sure sign that they’re going to be selling you some expensive coaching. (The more credit you have available on your card, the more it’ll cost).
Step #3 is to claim your “free website”, which is actually just a video that leads to a web hosting affiliate link. The strategy itself is not a bad one. I’ve got no problem with offering incentives for web hosting referrals. But I wouldn’t exactly consider this to be something worth paying for. If it were my member’s area, I’d call it an “unadvertised bonus”, as I often do with such offers.
Beyond those three steps, most of the members area consists of advertisements. So where’s the product?
There is a web-based squeeze page builder, and a couple of plugins and videos. Those tools and information are OK, but certainly do not even begin to fulfill the claims made in the sales video.
I didn’t find ANYTHING that required zero work. For example, the squeeze page builder has templates, but you still have to write your own copy. Even if it DID do all the work for you, I don’t see any possibility of making the volume of “hands free” income that the sales video promises.
They do deliver something. I would even go so far as to say it’s “possible” to make money with these tools. Squeeze pages are a great component of a permission-based marketing model. I use them all the time, and I make money with them. But that doesn’t even BEGIN to justify the marketing.
I call this a scam. I’m very sensitive about using that word, because it is often not justified by those who use it. I’ve been called a scammer simply for being in the business of teaching others how to make money, and it never feels good.
Often what we’ll see in this industry are hyped up sales pages and products that do not meet all the expectations of those who buy them. That does not necessarily make something a scam.
In this case, the blatant lies, combined with utter disregard for the customer’s experience leads me to label it as an actual scam.
The Bottom Line
Watch out for this one, and others like it. I’ve been warning about these kind of scammy products for years, and we’ll be seeing them for years to come. They will always find another payment processor, etc.
I was really disappointed to see so many well-known marketers promoting this scam. Most of them are not scammers themselves, but in this case are guilty of blindly promoting something without checking it out first.
I thought about publishing their names here (there’s over 30 of them listed on the JV page alone), but I don’t want to muddy the waters and turn this into a hate-fest. Some of them have promoted my products in the past, and/or I’ve promoted theirs. These are guys with huge influence… the combined power to contact millions of people almost instantly. That’s partly why I felt it was important to call out this scam; since I know many of my readers are on those lists.
I do expect some flak from this review, and there will obviously be some fallout from former JV partners when it comes time for me to launch my next product (which is soon).
If you were someone who promoted Free Commissions, I’m asking you to do something brave. Send an email out to your list and retract your endorsement. I’ve avoided naming names (you know who you are), so just do the honorable thing and renounce this scam.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, these kind of things are not fun to write. I do not intend to make a habit of it. But I just couldn’t stay silent on this one today.
As always, you are welcome to post your questions and comments below 🙂
Have a great day!
While I agree with your sentiments, I would make sure the marketers listed on the JV page actually did a promotion for the product before blacklisting them.
I’ve appeared on lists as a “heavy hitter on board” for merely saying I’d “check out” a product when offered a review copy. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the people “on board” for some product launches had no knowledge of it.
BTW, great work, Eric.
Neil.
When I saw the screenshot of the members area I had to stop reading right away. This program is “Twin Peak Profits” which was launched in February. I didn’t buy it but the ONLY difference is the color scheme. Everything is the same. I have also been bombarded by emails from them, and it is horrible that they would use insults in order to get people to buy and the sad thing is it WORKS! And the income claims are so bogus, so many lies even in the emails themselves. This makes it very hard for legitimate marketers honestly. Because they similar models. You’d think they would have decency NOT to offend people after that person just purchased your product. Can you imagine people who sit through this and pay full price for this crap. And ads in the members area SERIOUSLY after you spend $100 of dollars they are promote ads to you in the members area. I know I am long winded with my comment but seriously this is pretty offensive. Especially when I found out it is actual ” Twin Peak Profits” with a new color scheme and new actors. When this dies down they are probably going to rename their product again and sell it the same way again. I had to laugh when you started talking about the upsell hell.
Thank you Eric for this heads up. I like Genuine and intelligent people like you that defend the common people. I admire your courage to speak out against the scammers
He promoted this actually, when it was called Twin Peak Profits.
Maybe the main selling platforms need to have a code of ethics. Especially to i.d if products are ‘fit for purpose,’ as this one is clearly not!
Great report Eric! I’m pretty sure we have all been caught out at least on and with guys like you out there then the odds should be alot more in our favour
I appreciate your talking about scams. I’ve been a long time fan. I’ve run into many scams but what bothers me more than the scammers are many legit marketers who don’t know how to teach or to show other people how to make money online. Teaching is a unique skill and very few people (including those who can do) can teach. Eric I wish you would make a course specifically with that in mind to teach others how to apply themselves to make money online. I’m confident you’d make a good teacher.
thanks eric, you know i started two years ago and am still struggling, i have been taken , but thanks that there are honest marketeers out there that look out for beginners like myself, THANKS AGAIN
Nice share and reveal Eric. I have been your subscriber for a long time and I really like the way you share your opinion.
I checked out the sales page, and yes, it really looks scam. I wonder how these people feel when scamming other people.
Thank you, Eric, for the honesty.
God bless you.
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the review, it really is nice to know there are still trustworthy,dependable people in IM
Wish there were more marketers like you Eric…..
Unfortunately, Anthony got me before this article was posted! Lesson learned though!
You have made a lot of friends here Eric with your anger at the tricksters. However there is a great deal more wrong with the wonder-of-our-age Internet and mobile connection. We do need international rules-regulations in place to protect the people who are unable to work-out items of mind-sense.” Where a person is making great sums from any method on the Internet why on earth should they tell others how to do it? That does not make any sense.
So be-wise do not pay them. please note: They make their money from people buying the lie.
Buy only software-plans you understand. That is the value one can buy. Erase all J.V. partners sales people who sell plans to make money from ideas.from your own list support people who are expert in making a value piece of software a plug in. DO NOT FALL FOR A GET-RICH-SCHEME.
If you see Clicksure, do not purchase. They are not in the same league like Clickbank. Refunds tooks many months minus something like 20% of original price.
It looks as though Tim Alexander has done his job well. Instead of catching out the newbee’s like everyone else he’s raised the bar and sucked in some big hitters in the business. After this review there should be some very embarrassed marketers realizing they have been done like a kipper. Its good to see that we have someone like Eric who is passionate about the business and sensible enough to spot a dud when it comes along. Rather than a Backlash Eric should be recieving e-mails of apology from these top names 1. for not naming them 2. for correcting their miss-direction 3. giving them the chance to salvage their reputation before it’s to late. If you’re an internet marketer then the one name you can trust to be honest and reliable ERIC HOLMLUND the voice of reason in internet marketing.
Thanks for the list Eddy and thanks Eric for taking the time and trouble to bring this to light. A great opportunity to do a load more unsubscribing. This should help clear up my inbox 🙂
Well … this was an unexpected bit of good news … thank you mate !!!
We are a community site, (based in OZ)looking to earn some “affiliate money”, but we’ve been scammed so badly, we just had to give it away
Thanks again
I saw this a few days back, as well, and if you look next to the disclaimer about using actors you’ll also see:
This is a new system and there are no typical results.
Translation: We’ve never actually used our system personally, but we’d like to offer you this opportunity to overpay us for the pleasure of experimenting with this unknown system, which may or may not work. o.O
Hi Eric,
What an excellent post and what a breath of fresh air.
At last someone who is willing to be perfectly frank and honest about the dishonest so called marketers out there.
Pity there aren’t more like you that are willing to turn the spotlight on those who just want to rip off people who want to better their lives bu earning a few extra dollars each month.
Thank you.
Nick Dugan
I too got drawn into this one for the initial $49. I realized by the language in the first upsell how right you are and by the end was disgusted. Then to find that I could only telephone in a cancellation/refund and how international the sources were and the length of time to await refund process, I was thankful I only afforded $49. I was reminded that Clicksure is not the same as Clickbank!
Thanks for your honesty and care of others, Eric. I am a senior on gov’t. pension who has lost too many $1ks to online scammers. My main purpose was to be able to give more to the needy!!
Once again Eric, thanks for your incredible integrity in “outing” this scam. I too received a barrage of emails promoting this shameless get rich quick scheme. As soon as I see a flashy video, scenes of incredible wealth and inescapable exit pages, I hit the unsubscribe button. There’s so much of this kind of garbage out there, it’s sickening. Warning to new affilate marketers..if it sounds too good to be true..well you know the rest.
I read all of your emails Eric because you are honest and a valuable source of the truth…unlike sooo many others.
Blessings.
l purchased at $29 and have asked for a refund, add Michael Rasmussen to your list, l have now unsubscribed from everyone on the list, thanks
Nice to see a genuine review.
Rule One for detecting scam products is ‘how many exit-page offers’.
More than one and its almost certainly scam.
If its clicksure, its almost certainly scam.
If its Clickbank – its a good chance it is.
Most of the people on the JV list do not actually inspire confidence just from their pics!
One of the UK guys there I bought from (a big ticket) and it was rubbish and I chased him through the bank for a refund. Another I have bought from reluctantly because I do not have any trust in him but a couple of things he’s promoted have been ok.
Hi Eric and Thanks for the Warning.
Great Job.
Best wishes
John.
Thanks for verifying this that it is a scam.
Hi Eric.. I’ve been meaning to get up on here to thank you heaps man for reaching out to newbie marketers and offering them a way forward to change their lives for the better. Your 100 part course is absolutely A1. It is reinforcing a lot of what I have learned over this last few years and not applied and also opened up some new avenues. Thanks heaps .. you have gone all out to leave no stone unturned with this.
As to your review .. right on! You are to be applauded for taking a stand against scammers like these ..
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for that Eric
Too many marketers wanting emails getting out knowing there subscribers will seeing the same offers from the competition. Just get blinded on making commissions and prizes. If it sounds too good, it probably is. Making money without work, what load of bull.
Thanks so much Eric. I’ve been a customer and follower of you for over five years from over here in Korea.
I’m certain that if you loose any JV partners over this review, they don’t deserve you as a partner.
Best to you and your Big family 😉
Hi Eric,
Thanks For the heads-up on the “Free Commissions” product,
Holy cow, $197 for basically a squeezepage template ??? Money for old rope!
So that’s where I’m going wrong, I supply a full website script (based on WordPress) with my sales page and squeezepages design templates plug-in and also my PayPal payment integration and button generator plug-in, together with a few other additions to provide a sequential autoresponder, helpdesk, site security and back-up / cloning facility … and I give it away for free.
Although that’s never going to change because I believe in giving newcomers a hand-up rather than cut them loose like many “Guru” tell us all to do “Because they don’t have any money so will never buy anything from you” a statement that I think is outrageous and truly abhorrent, especially when they all say in their own salespages that they will help people in that exact same position and then hit them up with a product that they expect them to be able to somehow find $100+ for.
Surely if you simply Give people the tools to get them started then they will be able to make some money and will then be in the position to be able to buy stuff from you if they so choose, to me that make far better business sense than just completely writing them off.
Also thanks for the heads-up on ClickServe, I haven’t seen them before (fortunately) and now know to steer clear, I’ll admit I haven’t be using ClickBank for a couple of years now due the huge amount of scam products that were listed there and did close my 8 year old account with them for that reason, perhaps I’ll take another look at CB now that you guys & gals have mentioned that they’ve cleaned up their act.
As for the JV partners and affiliates promoting the Free Commissions product, I’m with Al Garretson & Tom Justin and advise to unsubscribe from anyone and everyone who promotes it, I know Eric did say that those who retract their initial recommendation of it might be worthy of a second chance but in my view if they didn’t check it out themselves before signing up as an affiliate and sending it out then they obviously are not interested in their subscribers welfare, just in the money they can squeeze out of them.
Again thanks Eric for standing up to the plate and writing this post, and to everyone else for their insights, a real eye opener.
Cheers
David.
Hi Eric,
Wow, I think you have really hit a raw nerve with this one. Never seen so many comments to a one page review.
It seems that there is definitely too much rubbish coming through and it is getting worse.
Nowadays just the headlines to the emails are enough to delete them and all of the fake names that are coming from the same personal address, which by the way you are never able to unsubscribe from, they just keep coming!
Even when you bounce these back to them, you get the Damien thing-a-ma-jig (postmaster)(webmaster) telling you the address is unknown or some other load of rubbish.
It’s refreshing to see someone so well respected stand up against the lower level marketers and tell the truth. You are rare breed as I know you will get some flak from some of your friends. Do us all a favor and run for President. You would have my vote.
Anthony Vautour
Thanks Eric
More Reviews through the sales funnel would be great
I have looked at a lot of products basically when bank account shots, holidays, boats appear
I HIT Delete
there is a market there just being the reviewer of products especially with your reputation of providing great conten
Thanks for an great critique
Noel
Hello Eric,
I also have written warnings from time to time and over the past year or two I have seen more internet marketers starting to follow with their own warnings. I hope the message gets wide distribution because too many people will still be unaware of the problem.
It makes me wonder how some of those scammers were brought up. What did their parents do to burden the internet with such people? Where are their morals? My Christian upbringing does not allow me to make money that way.
Best regards,
Peter.
Hi Eric, I have rewarded your industry by writing a blog post about internet scams and linking to this post. This is an incredibly valuable and courageous article and I thank you for fighting back the ‘dark forces’ of internet marketing.
wow !! I was surprised that there are too many scam products out there and this is the worst one,
thanks for your tips Eric
NEN
lol, clicked through to the JV page and it’s like a who’s who of my “avoid bigtime” list 😀
Tim A being right up there near the top!
Thanks Eric. You have always been a reliable and dependable source of information. Have you ever reviewed the Empower Network…seems like it is in a second phase push right now.
Great post there Eric! We really need a marketer like you out there. I have also been scammed a lot of times.
To my surprise this caliban is still alive? Back in February 2011 I bought his “Commission Overload” crap:
http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-special-offers-forum/332302-over-1-660-sold-first-4-days-said-best-warrior-special-offer-ever-video-income-proof-last-bump.html#1
Incredible, that I fell for this. Then they came up with “Profit Snatcher”, OMG. Later he had a dirty fight in the public with his partner Kenny Cannon, another caliban. These guys are really disgusting.
Eric, this is the reason you are one of the few lists I stay subscribed to. While you are here to make money you do it with great concern of providing exponential value for every hard earned dollar your customers gladly give you for your products.
Thanks for your info about Free Commissions.
Still I like to know is what do you think of Twin Peak Profits – the other product by Tim Atkinson and Zak Meftah that was released in Jan?
i wouldn’t even expect to get a refund correct!lolol well that wasn’t the first time believe me Eric. well i do believe hes on a destiny run with miss karma in the future!
Well nothing proves there still is “one born every Minute like IM . That said I really appreciate Your Honesty and I must say you have one of the few messages in my inbox I am happy to open and don’t feel like I need a shower after . My Dad always said “Your word is worth whatever Value you give it & nobody raises that price” !
I already received a message from one of the JV promoters. They don’t mention that there’s a bad review out there, but clearly their statement of reassurance is in response to you.
I’m with you by the way. If the product or service is not clearly stated, and most of the pitch is spent on the money they made or what could be made, I delete it.
Thanks like always Eric , for more info about internet scam look at http://www.workathometruth.com/ . Paul Schlegel is a very good person. Can help You
like your attitude. could use good info on a quality product.thanks
Thank you Eric, We really need a Big Brother to keep the bullies off, I think some JV gurus have been pasted there without their knowledge
Thanks for being honest, Eric and for standing up. John.
At long LAST. Yes. He IS definitely a scam. I was one of his victims. From now on I have learned to be very, very careful to opt in on any website, that declares, that “This is for free/I will reveal the SECRET etc, etc. And to besure to allways read the disclaimers,
I just happened to check out this product also. Did a little better than you Eric.I got in for a 1.00. But with all of the up sells, I saw this was heading. Also got a call from my credit card company. After checking out their members page I am glad that I am only out a buck instead of several hundred dollars. Thanks for confirming this scam Eric.