John Thornhill eBook/ Powerseller Program Scam

  • avatar

    by: jacurtis
    New SaleHoo Member
    4 posts

    John Thornhill eBook/ Powerseller Program Scam

    Posted 22 Nov 11 5:23 am.

    I just wanted to note this for anyone else that may be considering it. A few weeks ago Salehoo sent out an email proclaiming this eBay Powerseller program by John Thornhill. It claims that there is tons of money to be made in eBooks on eBay and that this program provides you all of the tools needed to do so. I was sort of intrigued only because I had considered a similar endeavor recently. I clicked the link provided in the email (Remember: Salehoo sent this email) and began to read the lengthy sales pitch on the landing page that this link lead me to.

    After reading, I learned that this seller guarantees that you will become a power seller on ebay by following his instructions and his program, plus he provides the same materials to sell (eBooks) that he sells and he makes 6 figures.

    Everything about this sounded like a scam. I would have long ago deleted this email, or pressed the back button on my browser. But there was one thing that kept me considering it. SALEHOO RECOMMENDED THIS.

    I was uneasy about it, but it seemed interesting and I figured that even if I just used it to attain a power seller rating if nothing else, it would be worth it. If I get some helpful tips in the process and just a few good eBooks to sell, then it should be worth $70, right?

    Well as it turns out No.

    First of all I had 2 days off in a row that I wanted to use to start this program. I purchased the program and got a faulty username and password. I couldn't log in during these two days off (and one of the major selling points in the landing page is INSTANT ACCESS). Well 4 days later I get a response with a new username and password. Thankfully they work. I was disappointed, but at least I will eventually get the content.

    I log into this website that looks like it hasn't been updated since Y2K. I'm weary... but good content doesn't need to be pretty. I look over the content quickly. It is 20 pages of content, split into 4 sections. The first section is 5 pages of essentially the sales pitch. I read this and start to get really nervous now because I am already 1/4 of the way through the "program" and we haven't talked about anything yet, it is essentially a summary of the sales pitch I read in length earlier.

    The next section is the eBay section. I am getting excited. I click it. The first page is a screenshot of an email from eBay essentially saying that you can no longer sell eBooks in the way that the author that made this site got rich, and in the way that he told you, that you would get rich in his sales pitch. Ok, well I start to hope he has a better solution.

    The next 2 pages remind you again that the author doesn't endorse selling eBooks in the way that he created his program to do so. He does provide a solution, which in turn counteracts all of the selling points that he sells you on his in his sales pitch before you bought the program.

    I read on, and endure. The next couple pages are basic guidelines for ebay. Such as it is always good to offer free shipping, use keywords in the title, etc. Nothing new or special. This is all information eBay shoves down your throat with the free Seller emails they send you after signing up for a seller account. It is also the same (only less in depth) as what we can find here on Salehoo.

    Anyway, the ebay section was a bust. Essentially, you can not sell eBooks like the author did.

    The author suggests opening your own site but warns (as is obvious) that it is harder to attain customers to your private site than it is to eBay. The author provides his same "pre-Y2K" site for you to download. And now we are nearing the end of the program. The power seller part is 1 page. 260 words to be exact. All but the last 3 sentences are copied from eBay's site which is the requirements for becoming a power seller. The author then gives you his $70 tip, and I have decided to divulge this tip to the rest of the world here on this site: SELL LOTS OF STUFF ON EBAY AND YOU WILL BECOME A POWERSELLER.

    Finally I get to the eBooks part. He gives use links to some eBooks that we can download and sell. No way am I selling these on eBay! I download some of the interesting ones and look at them. It is garbage. Some are Word documents, some are PDFs, but they are all just copy-pasted material from websites. (Oh, and he suggests you do this earlier on to make content and your own eBooks). No one on eBay will buy these, they are garbage. I would get monumentous amounts of negative feedback for selling this stuff.

    That was it. I have described the entire program here. It is 20 pages. 5 pages of intro. all of the pages average between 200-400 words each. All of the content can be found either here on Salehoo, or on eBay. Nothing is new. Nothing is shocking, nothing is valuable out of it. It was just a waste of $70.

    I read all of the content in one sitting. It took me about 35-40 mins to read all of his content. Then maybe another 20 mins to investigate the crappy eBooks I just bought.

    I am currently disputing the charge with PayPal. PayPal (as is discussed earlier in another forum topic) is always on the side of the buyer, and since I have written a lengthy dispute note, I feel confident that I will get a refund of my money.

    What I want to do at this point is warn anyone else looking to buy this, to turn around and walk away. It is a waste of money. It is a waste of time.

    Further, I feel betrayed by Salehoo. The whole point of this community is to prevent scams and fraud which I feel this program is. I am thus warning the community now, so no one else falls prey to it. But I feel hurt by Salehoo since they endorsed it. Before writing this post, I searched the forums to see if anyone else had written anything else about this. They had. It looks like this comes around about once a year and about once a year you see a similar post with the story like mine above. Yet, Salehoo keeps endorsing this program. Now I am sure they are getting a nice affiliate check for it, but thats not why I joined Salehoo. I joined to be protected from things like this, and instead I felt like I was walked right into the hornets nest.
  • avatar

    by: irene_salehoo
    SaleHoo Staff
    1951 posts

    Re: John Thornhill eBook/ Powerseller Program Scam

    Posted 23 Nov 11 11:19 pm.

    Hi jacurtis,

    Can you kindly forward the newsletter with this promotion to us here at link hidden?

    Thank you for your cooperation.

    Irene

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