Simplx, My Final Warning to You Posted

This is a copy of the post I made at learnbyexperiences.wordpress.com so if you read it there you don’t need to continue.

First, in case you are the type that gets bored with details, here are the
facts about Simplx as provided by the owner [original post by owner]:

1. To gain access to the full Simplx product costs a minimum of $3,500.
    
2. The offer for $79.95 plus $35 per month is not for membersip in Simplx, but in ClubDropship which, “includes limited access to our merchant supplier network and an introductory mentoring session for around $100 and $35 per month.” The mentoring session, by the way, is a sales pitch for Simplx.
    
3. There are no refunds. You will most likely not be able to get one through
   a dispute.
    
4. Simplx does not provide a drop ship opportunity. Simplx offers a complex
   affiliate commission scheme. They are affiliate middlemen. Here is how it works.
    
1. You access the Simplx network product catalog. Here they list the products of companies they have an affiliate relationship with, not the products of distributors or manufacturers that will ship a product to your customer on your behalf. You will be trained to locate products with high current discounts/rebates and a good affiliate commission.
2. After finding a product above you sell that product either on ebay or through your own ecommerce site.
3. When a customer purchases the product you in turn purchase the product, at retail less discount/rebate, from the retailer, through an affiliate link provided by Simplx.
4. You then wait for all of the commissions to be aggregated by Simplx until it is time for them to cut you a commission check

Those are the facts in a nutshell. If you think you can offset a minimum of $3,500 plus monthly fees on affiliate commissions go for it. I just want you to be clear that is what Simplx is offering.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not illegal. My beef with Simplx is that they took my money on the premise I was entering a drop shipping opportunity and it wasn’t. Now they won’t give my money back. My beef with Simplx is they consistently use deceitful tactics and are not adverse to outright lies. They even lied to Capital One in the letter they sent in response to my dispute. In that letter they state, “Mr. John Morrison was issued all that was promised to him, he did receive his coaching session that stated in the invoice that was sent to him.” I did not receive a coaching session. On these matters I will be filing additional complaints with the BBB Utah and with the FTC.

My research also indicates this is just a bad business model for the brokers. One reason is you can do this yourself. Within an hour I was able to secure my own affiliate relationship with many companies offering the same products in the Simplx network. I contacted the affiliate managers and, with the exception of Amazon, they have no problem with you buying through an affiliate link and having the product shipped directly to your customer.

Another reason is customer satisfaction. If you are interested in repeat customers and good ebay reputation you need to consider the consequences when something goes wrong. How will you handle it when a customer complains about the product or shipping since you can do nothing about it? How will your customer feel when the invoice and advertising in the package they receive is all about the retailer you purchased it from and has nothing about you?

Finally you have to ask yourself if there is enough profit in commissions to offset listing fees, monthly fees, the minimum $3,500 you pay up front and any other marketing and administrative expenses you will encounter. My research shows that, even if you use the unethical practice of inflating shipping prices, the margins are too thin to effectively cover all of this. Plus, I know there are more effective ways to spend the $3,500 in promoting affiliate products, one of which is the old technique with the new name, click flipping.

Now on a related note I would like to add that you will not find protection
from your credit card company from companies like this. Apparently they
are more concerned with the profits they receive from business employing
deceptive business practices than protecting their customers.

I have learned from my dispute with Capital One that Simplx has the ability,
and takes advantage of that ability, to extract money from consumer under
false pretenses; the false pretense being they are a drop ship provider when
in fact they are a broker network. This means you do not make your profit
based on the difference between what you pay for a product and what you
sell that product for, instead you are a commissioned sales person receiving
a check based on the aggregated affiliate commissions you generate for
Simplx by purchasing products throgh Simplx affiliate relationships.

I was not able to get the refund I requested in my dispute with Simplx through
Capital One. I filed my dispute on two premises. First, I was not informed of
the no refund policy. Second, I requested a refund based on the product being
misrepresented. It turns out the credit card companies, at least Capital One,
are more interested in protecting scum companies than the consumer.

Based on a single letter from Simplx, Capital One told me they must accept
the no refund policy. They confirmed my written statement that I was never
told of a no refund policy. They refused to require evidence from Simplx that
I was told there was a no refund policy. The Capital One representative
acknowledged that the only way a customer was ensured a refund was if the
company stated in the affirmative that there is a refund available. So make
a note to yourself, ask if there is a refund available, and if not do not do
business with that company.

Worse yet, after more about an hour on the phone with the Capital One
representative he conceded that the product offered by phone and on the
Simplx website was different than what I was charged for and, in his words,
“appeared to be a fraudulant company”. Even with this acknowledgement,
and my request to investigate further to protect me and other consumers,
Capital One is not willing to do anything about it. I was offered a token
$50 from Capital One. I am offended and angered and hope that some day
I will have the necessary influence to change the course of business in a
more ethical direction.

So that being said, I won’t be posting further about Simplx.

Tags:
ClubDropship
Simplicity Group
product sourcing
dropship products
click flipping
Simplx