The reality is that many of the products on the internet are utter crap. I find this to be especially true in the field of internet marketing. Many people come to the internet and get captured by the idea of making some extra money or even getting rich. They start to buy products and programs that not only make themselves no money they keep taking money from them.
It is not easy to identify inferior products in advance. Because almost all advertising puts the best possible face forward, one should always be skeptical and assume that the product will not deliver as well as promised. However, there comes a point where the hype becomes deception. In general I find deceptive programs and/or products fall into one of three categories. Just being aware of these categories can help you spot them.
1. The Empty Box: With these products you find that when you actually get the product there is not much there. Now to be fair, usually the box is not completely empty. There is "something there." But what is there is minimal and is not the wonderful product that you had anticipated based on the advertisement. Then, you are supposed to make money by selling this empty box to others. I have ethical problems with doing such a thing.
2. The Pyramid Scheme: Like chain letters and gift clubs, online versions of this claim to make money by getting a large number of people under you who will eventually send you large amounts of money. Usually only those at the very top make money and at times they make a killing, while the rest of the people in the pyramid make little or lose a lot. Usually the online pyramid scheme, like the offline chain letter, contains an empty box product, so nothing of true value is being sold. Legitimate multi-level marketing programs have a pyramid format, but there are two important differences. First, in such legitimate programs there is a legitimate product of value being sold. Second, with legitimate programs there will be a fair distribution of the profits throughout the pyramid. Pyramid schemes are illegal and so to get around this, bad programs promote a box that is not completely empty. I am not a lawyer and so in no way am I making a legal judgment.
3. The Inferior Product: Many internet products fail to live up to their hype. However, some products fall so short that the hype is nothing but a lie.
Being aware of these three categories will help you to avoid wasting your money on bad products. However, sales pages can make the stinkers smell sweet. Consequently, your best advice is to check out review pages where experts have tried out the products for you and then give you honest reviews.
