SHARKspear
Private
- Messages
- 16
Hi Commanders, Officers and Fellow Soldiers,
I am a new recuit here, and this is my first post - a post about a very dirty EA vendors trick - upselling!
A STORY TO BEGIN
Imagine you were hungry and you dropped by a kiosk saw a photo of double cheese burger combo meal with burger, french fries and a coke and the price tag read "Double cheese burger meal $97 (assume its not US, ha ha)". Hungry enough, you placed the order and hand in $97. The kiosk keeper then said you need to pay another $77 for the french fries, you said "oops" but paid another $77 and then the fellow asked you for another $57 for the drink, you started to feel angry and argued a while but being hungry enough, you handed in another $57 and finally got your meal. I didn't know how the meal would taste but you certainly feel you were cheated, right? You had paid $231 for a meal that was advertised for only $97.
Look Silly? Unfortunately, this is exactly what's happening in the EA market.
MY OWN EXPERIENCE
In November 2009, there was an EA vendor who sold me an EA for $97 promising a Trading Robot on EUR/USD and an Advanced Manual System. I read their sales talk and bought the product. After I paid $97, I was not directed to download page but a page "offering me" an Advanced Auto system for $77. Being first encounter to such trick, I accepted the "offer" and paid $77. I was finally "allowed" to download my stuff.
Then, I saw no Advanced Auto System so I emailed and asked the vendor and I was told the so called Advanced Auto System was the Advanced Manual System that essentially explain what the system does so I can follow the strategy manually if I wanted to.
Being eager to try the robot, I went on setup the thing and let it run but the system disappointed me. And after then, the author keep changing robot settings so that it was never inline with the Advance Manual System again. I should have asked for refund but being naive at that time, I just "allowed" the 60 days window to expire.
Today, I am seeing EA vendors putting not only 1 upsells but at least 2 to 3. It won't be long before the number of upsells jump to 5+.
MY OPINION TO UPSELLING
I hate upselling and I summarize the reason in 3 Points,
1) Upsells is a form of cheating even it's not legally banned. It attract customer(s) to pay the advertised price only to find out they just got part of the original promised products. They have to pay for the upsell(s) to "complete" their products. The vendors usually name such upsells as Advanced Systems, Bonus Pack or Power Add-Ons, something like that but they are in fact sub-products that were supposed to be included in the original purchases.
2) Upselling simply indicates vendors have no confidence in their products. If they believe their products worth a higher price, they could go ahead and ask for that price right on the front page. Such upsell vendors also tend to use affiliates and pay high commission to affiliate partners. If they really sweated to create good products, they will protect their interest and won't feel fair to share large portion of their profit to affiliates. Most of them are simply SCAM.
3) If a vendor sell more than one product, he can list them all at the front page and the customer can choose what to buy. Look at PipMiner.com and you will see different level of products with all selling price clearly listed right on front page. Having more products displayed on front page only make a vendor shine and I see no good reason things should be upsold.
In my opinion, buying products from upsellers will only encourage them to use this trick more and more often. Its not good for consumers and the industry as a whole.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO THAT
Now I have policy not to buy from upsellers even this mean I should miss out a few good products (if any). I do the following:
1) I will usually check their affiliate page for upsell info before I make a purchase.
2) If I happened to place an order and find upsell(s), I will stop there and ask for refund of my first purchase immediately.
3) I will post warings about product upselling on forums as often as I can. I have been doing this in donnaforex.com forum a lot.
4) If I receive emails from up-seller, I will respond back saying "I think upselling is dishonest so I will not buy from you!".
But I have limited power being alone. So my question is, will you all do the same, or do at least 1) and 2) if you are busy?
Can we make the EA market more healthy? Will you join the force doing so?
All we do counts - THINK AGAIN
Cheers
SHARK
I am a new recuit here, and this is my first post - a post about a very dirty EA vendors trick - upselling!
A STORY TO BEGIN
Imagine you were hungry and you dropped by a kiosk saw a photo of double cheese burger combo meal with burger, french fries and a coke and the price tag read "Double cheese burger meal $97 (assume its not US, ha ha)". Hungry enough, you placed the order and hand in $97. The kiosk keeper then said you need to pay another $77 for the french fries, you said "oops" but paid another $77 and then the fellow asked you for another $57 for the drink, you started to feel angry and argued a while but being hungry enough, you handed in another $57 and finally got your meal. I didn't know how the meal would taste but you certainly feel you were cheated, right? You had paid $231 for a meal that was advertised for only $97.
Look Silly? Unfortunately, this is exactly what's happening in the EA market.
MY OWN EXPERIENCE
In November 2009, there was an EA vendor who sold me an EA for $97 promising a Trading Robot on EUR/USD and an Advanced Manual System. I read their sales talk and bought the product. After I paid $97, I was not directed to download page but a page "offering me" an Advanced Auto system for $77. Being first encounter to such trick, I accepted the "offer" and paid $77. I was finally "allowed" to download my stuff.
Then, I saw no Advanced Auto System so I emailed and asked the vendor and I was told the so called Advanced Auto System was the Advanced Manual System that essentially explain what the system does so I can follow the strategy manually if I wanted to.
Being eager to try the robot, I went on setup the thing and let it run but the system disappointed me. And after then, the author keep changing robot settings so that it was never inline with the Advance Manual System again. I should have asked for refund but being naive at that time, I just "allowed" the 60 days window to expire.
Today, I am seeing EA vendors putting not only 1 upsells but at least 2 to 3. It won't be long before the number of upsells jump to 5+.
MY OPINION TO UPSELLING
I hate upselling and I summarize the reason in 3 Points,
1) Upsells is a form of cheating even it's not legally banned. It attract customer(s) to pay the advertised price only to find out they just got part of the original promised products. They have to pay for the upsell(s) to "complete" their products. The vendors usually name such upsells as Advanced Systems, Bonus Pack or Power Add-Ons, something like that but they are in fact sub-products that were supposed to be included in the original purchases.
2) Upselling simply indicates vendors have no confidence in their products. If they believe their products worth a higher price, they could go ahead and ask for that price right on the front page. Such upsell vendors also tend to use affiliates and pay high commission to affiliate partners. If they really sweated to create good products, they will protect their interest and won't feel fair to share large portion of their profit to affiliates. Most of them are simply SCAM.
3) If a vendor sell more than one product, he can list them all at the front page and the customer can choose what to buy. Look at PipMiner.com and you will see different level of products with all selling price clearly listed right on front page. Having more products displayed on front page only make a vendor shine and I see no good reason things should be upsold.
In my opinion, buying products from upsellers will only encourage them to use this trick more and more often. Its not good for consumers and the industry as a whole.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO THAT
Now I have policy not to buy from upsellers even this mean I should miss out a few good products (if any). I do the following:
1) I will usually check their affiliate page for upsell info before I make a purchase.
2) If I happened to place an order and find upsell(s), I will stop there and ask for refund of my first purchase immediately.
3) I will post warings about product upselling on forums as often as I can. I have been doing this in donnaforex.com forum a lot.
4) If I receive emails from up-seller, I will respond back saying "I think upselling is dishonest so I will not buy from you!".
But I have limited power being alone. So my question is, will you all do the same, or do at least 1) and 2) if you are busy?
Can we make the EA market more healthy? Will you join the force doing so?
All we do counts - THINK AGAIN
Cheers
SHARK
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