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It's a shame when good people get duped out of their hard earned money. Unfortunately, this occurs on the Internet far too often. The most recent obvious "offer" in the scam category is from a fellow named Stephen Ducharme.
Like so many other over hyped ebooks, services or offers, this one found its way into my email inbox one day, I think it was around early December.
The claims were just outside the edge of plausible.
I put Mr Ducharme and his ebook to my "sniff test", which is my method of conducting due diligence.
YOU DO CONDUCT DUE DILIGENCE DON'T YOU?
If not, take my advice below and start doing it. Otherwise you're doomed to waste your money.
Anyway, I went to his website and signed up for his newsletter. That is the first step of my sniff test. I want to see if marketers offer any decent FREE advice that is honest, real and truly free. I've been doing Internet marketing long enough to generally smell out bad deals.
However, most newsletters you sign up for these supposed guru's are typically autoresponder style sales messages. That's it. No free info. No valuable info. Nothing new.
They progressively point out 'my" problems and their "solution", with an increasingly stronger sales close with each ensuing email "newsletter".
That was Mr Ducharme's angle too.
First red flag.
Upon investigating further by going onto some Internet marketing forums, I discovered some very disgruntled customers of Mr Ducharme.
Second red flag.
About 2 weeks after subscribing to Mr Ducharme's newsletter, I receive two additional newsletters from people I've never heard of. The email address I used
for that one is rarely used and so I know the email I received is spam.
Each of these unsolicited emails came about 3 days apart. They BOTH were claiming they were partners with Mr Ducharme and had similar letters and motives. They wanted me to order products from their web sites.
I believe that Mr Ducharme disclosed my email address to these two individuals, which is a clear violation of my privacy and current internet marketing best practices.
Third Red Flag - GONE!
BTW - I NEVER share your email address with ANYONE!
All that was before Christmas '02. Well now, its quite interesting what has happened since.
I've haven't received one "newsletter" since Christmas. I guess I ran thru their autoresponder series (no, I never removed myself. While I decided against buying anything, I do study AR sales letters, methods and strategies; take this advice: always study and learn!
I've read reviews now in other marketers' newsletters about Mr Ducharme and his ebook. Things like Mr Ducharme not replying to emails. Not issuing refunds.
I haven't bought the ebook so my message on his product is simply heresay. But I TRUST the sources I read these reviews from.
The last major red flag came when several ezines I subscribe to had overt "editorials" pimping the ebook. More hype.
So, when buying ebooks or anything on the Internet, use due diligence BEFORE buying, including:
1. Subscribe to their ezine or newsletter if they offer one
2. See if they offer any valuable free info or is the ezine just a cover for their sales pitch? Read several issues before you buy.
3. Check the claims made: are they plausible? Will they solve YOUR specific problems or help advance YOUR cause or goals?
4. What proof is offered to demonstrate they practice what they preach?
5. Who else do you know who has purchased it? What do they have to say about it?
6. Check the online forums and newsgroups for reviews, comments or suggestions.
7. Evaluate the seller's refund policy and their merchant account provider. If the merchant account provider is Clickbank or Paypal, you'll have a high likelihood of
getting a refund with or without the seller's approval.
8. Take time to conduct your due diligence. NOTHING has to be purchased right now this minute.
In the end, I happened to catch a review by John Calder from his ezine DOT net weekly publication earlier this week. In it both John and one of his readers scald
Mr. Ducharme simply because the book is rehashed, tired info. It was over-hyped, oversold and generally disappointing to John and his reviewer.
Aside from the tips on doing due diligence, here's another one:
Subscribe to lots of ezines and newsletters, especially the "top" marketers. Spend time studying their writing style, content, offers, timing of delivery, etc.
Not only will you receive great free info and tips, but you'll also get to see reviews and special offers. Some are good and others are crap. Be careful and be wise!
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