Some one just asked me about a product called Quick Cash From Craigslist. Since I had just gone through a similar Craigslist money making product that was offering a “free kit” that had actual potential charges of $58.61/month I thought I better check this one out.
So I decided to go through the order process of QuickCashFromCraigslist over at QuickCashFromCraigslist.com.
Page 1: OK. At the top of the page I see “As Seen On Yahoo, CNN, AOL, USAToday, MSN, Forbes, Esquire, and The New York Times”.
That’s a pretty vague statement. A lot of times sites will claim to be “seen on” site like those if they PAID to ADVERTISE on those sites. Also, what the heck does “As Seen on Yahoo” mean? Yahoo is a search engine. I mean a lot of huge scams are “seen on Yahoo” so “As Seen on Yahoo” doesn’t seem to mean anything at all. It certainly does NOT mean that a site is trustworthy.
I also searched on Forbes.com and CNN.com for QuickCashWithCraigslist using the following variations:
- QuickCashWithCraigsList
- QuickCashWithCraigsList.com
- Quick Cash With CraigsList
- www.QuickCashWithCraigsList.com
And didn’t find the product mentioned anywhere. I did find a couple very general stories about Craigslist, but nothing about the QuickCashFromCraigsList product.
Refresh your browser to restart the “Countdown Timer”! 😉
Well, looks like I just ran out of time to claim my “free kit”. Good thing I can just press my browser refresh button and restart that timer! LOL.
OK. Now it’s asking me what my goals are.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have MY GOAL which is to find out how much the monthly charges for QuickCashFromCraigsList are after the trial period. I’ll just pick “Make Extra Money”.
The most baffling question on the QuickCashFromCraigsList page:
Next I’m supposed to answer the following question:
“Do you have access to a computer?”
Ummm. Is this one of those trick questions? The answer seems sort of obvious since I’m LOOKING at the page on a device commonly known as a COMPUTER, but maybe it’s one of those trick questions like:
Question: Some months have 30 days, some months have 31 days. How many months have 28 days?
Answer: All of them!
Anyhow. I told QuickCashFromCraigsList that I DO have access to a computer (I know, I know…I probably got that one wrong).
Next question: Do you have an hour a day? Boy the questions are getting progressively harder here. But I went ahead and answered “Yes”.
Final step on page 1 of QuickCashFromCraigsList:
Hmm. I just noticed over on the LEFT side of the screen the following words:
“It’s fast.You’ll be shipped our exclusive QuickCashFromCraigslist CD-Rom, which includes the official Rapid Success Guide and lots of other helpful information. You’ll also get a free trial account to the member’s website, so you can begin making money as soon as today if you want.”
Hmm. If it’s a “Trial” account then at some point I will have to PAY if I don’t cancel my trial account, right? It would be kind of nice if QuickCashFromCraigsList would tell me RIGHT THERE how much I have to pay if I don’t cancel my trial account. But I guess that would be asking too much, eh?
I guess they must tell me that one Page 2.
OK. So I filled out the name, address, phone, and email fields…
According to the Quick Cash From CraigsList timer my time is up, but sneaky old me…I went ahead and pressed the CONTINUE button anyhow…heh, heh…”Fool me twice, shame on you”…no, that’s not right…LOL….anyhow…wait…
Act Now and it’s FREE! (Just enter your credit card?)
OK. I know it’s standard marketing practice to claim something is free and then charge the person for “shipping and handling” but it still makes me laugh every time I see that.
This Order Page is Giving Me a Headache!
OK. Wow. This order page is kind of freaking me out. There are SO many different sections to it. But I’m going to go ahead and go through them one by one.
What’s on the LEFT SIDE of the QuickCashFromCraigsList.com Order Screen:
I see “Option 1: Get Your Starter Kit“
Apparently shipping and handling is usually $5.95 put if I order by January 12, 2009 I can save $4.00 and pay onlly $1.95 for my free starter kit.
O.K. There’s also “”Option 2: Starter Kit plus 1 Year VIP membership into the CraigsList Rapid-Success Club”
Apparently, this is the “Best Value” and the one for you if “you’re really serious about making money”. I you’re just goofing around about making money, then I guess you’d take Option 1 or none at all.
Oh. Here’s how the free trial works – I found it!
I scrolled down the page some more to check what else was on the LEFT SIDE of the QuickCashFromCraigsList.com screen on page 2 and I found the details of the trial offer.
Here’s how it says the trial offer works:
There’s a 14 day free trial and at the end of the trial period the cost is $39.95/month.
It also tells me that “you can cancel your membership at any time by calling us at +1-800-381-7820. Our phone support is open for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
Hmm. So a full year of this Club would be $479.40
THE BIG QUESTION: WHY DIDN’T THEY JUST LIST THIS DIRECTLY UNDER OPTION 1?
How to Cancel within the First 14 days of the trial period:
I do also see that to cancel within the first 14 days of the trial period I need to return the free kit, but I will still have to pay for the shipping fee…that part is not refundable.
What’s on the RIGHT SIDE of the QuickCashFromCraigsList.com Order Screen:
Again, I have two choices here.
I can either take the free kit or pay $97.00 for the Starter Kit plus 1 Year VIP Membership.
I guess they’ve offered this for sale somewhere else before for $479.40, since it says the “Retail Price” before the 80% discount is $479.40 and according to the Federal Trade Commission’s FTC Guides Against Deceptive Pricing’s section on former price comparison’s it states:
“(a) One of the most commonly used forms of bargain advertising is to offer a reduction from the advertiser’s own former price for an article. If the former price is the actual, bona fide price at which the article was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period of time, it provides a legitimate basis for the advertising of a price comparison. Where the former price is genuine, the bargain being advertised is a true one. If, on the other hand, the former price being advertised is not bona fide but fictitious — for example, where an artificial, inflated price was established for the purpose of enabling the subsequent offer of a large reduction — the “bargain” being advertised is a false one; the purchaser is not receiving the unusual value he expects. In such a case, the “reduced” price is, in reality, probably just the seller’s regular price.
(b) A former price is not necessarily fictitious merely because no sales at the advertised price were made. The advertiser should be especially careful, however, in such a case, that the price is one at which the product was openly and actively offered for sale, for a reasonably substantial period of time, in the recent, regular course of his business, honestly and in good faith — and, of course, not for the purpose of establishing a fictitious higher price on which a deceptive comparison might be based. And the advertiser should scrupulously avoid any implication that a former price is a selling, not an asking price (for example, by use of such language as, “Formerly sold at $XXX”), unless substantial sales at that price were actually made.
(c) The following is an example of a price comparison based on a fictitious former price. John Doe is a retailer of Brand X fountain pens, which cost him $5 each. His usual markup is 50 percent over cost; that is, his regular retail price is $7.50. In order subsequently to offer an unusual “bargain”, Doe begins offering Brand X at $10 per pen. He realizes that he will be able to sell no, or very few, pens at this inflated price. But he doesn’t care, for he maintains that price for only a few days. Then he “cuts” the price to its usual level — $7.50 — and advertises: “Terrific Bargain: X Pens, Were $10, Now Only $7.50!” This is obviously a false claim. The advertised “bargain” is not genuine.
(d) Other illustrations of fictitious price comparisons could be given. An advertiser might use a price at which he never offered the article at all; he might feature a price which was not used in the regular course of business, or which was not used in the recent past but at some remote period in the past, without making disclosure of that fact; he might use a price that was not openly offered to the public, or that was not maintained for a reasonable length of time, but was immediately reduced.
(e) If the former price is set forth in the advertisement, whether accompanied or not by descriptive terminology such as “Regularly,” “Usually,” “Formerly,” etc., the advertiser should make certain that the former price is not a fictitious one. If the former price, or the amount or percentage of reduction, is not stated in the advertisement, as when the ad merely states, “Sale,” the advertiser must take care that the amount of reduction is not so insignificant as to be meaningless. It should be sufficiently large that the consumer, if he knew what it was, would believe that a genuine bargain or saving was being offered. An advertiser who claims that an item has been “Reduced to $9.99,” when the former price was $10, is misleading the consumer, who will understand the claim to mean that a much greater, and not merely nominal, reduction was being offered. [Guide I]”
Can someone explain the “Asterisk” by the pseudo-word $FREE* to me?
I asked someone else to look for the information that the asterisk was supposed to go to and he couldn’t find it either.
I did find the following that have asterisks by them, but they don’t really seem to have anything to do with the pseudo-word $FREE:
- “* Required.” I see that where it tells me to enter my credit card verification number (i guess they won’t be CHARGING me to ENTER that number? huh?)
- “* Individual results may vary based on factors like your dedication.”
I’m not sure what that has to do with “$FREE” either. - There’s an asterisk by the expiration date drop down for where I can enter my credit card number…maybe that “drop down menu of years is a free service they provide?
I must just be overlooking what that asterisk on the word $FREE goes to, but I did ask someone else to try to find it and they couldn’t find it either. But it’s gotta be there somewhere.
What are these weird security logos?
I don’t quite understand the security logos on this page either.
It shows a “HackerSafe” logo, but HackerSafe was bought out by McAfee towards the end of 2007 and automatically replaced the HackerSafe logos on websites with their McAfee Secure logo.
I just don’t understand why this page is showing a trust logo that’s no longer viable. Plus the logo can’t be clicked to verify the authenticity anyhow.
It also shows the Authorize.net verification seal, but…
The Authorize.net verification seal on step 2 of PayMeToList’s order process is NOT clickable.
Why is that important? Because the Authorize.net seal is provided by Authorize.net so that the consumer can CLICK on it and verify that the merchant is an authorized Authorize.net merchant.
OK. I’m done here and I’m NOT going to order this product as I see too many things I don’t like on the sales page. But good luck to anyone who does get it.
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Paul,
It’s funny how FREE equates to putting in your credit card. I think this is just for safe holding in case you decide you’d just like to give them some extra money or something…
It’s a wonder sometimes if there are any good programs out there at all. I’ll check out your top 10 work at home businesses page! I’ll be waving bye bye to Quick Cash From Craigslist…
Great Maliki,
Just wanted to make sure people understood what the charges actually are.
Wow. Thanks for posting this!
I order this kit, I was sent an email, stating that due to high demand they had fallen low on stock, and my 2 week period would be extended. I order the kit in latter December. Recieved the email on the 29th, plus a pdf about the business worked. The kit to me was postmarked 1/5, which was a friday.
On that very same weekend, a draft for 39.95 was being pulled from my account. I made attempts to call them, was told I would get a call back within 24 hrs., and guess what, no phone call. I sent emails, before I ever receiving the actual kit, trying to cancel, their reply is to call the support number. I tried contacting them….oh yes, unable to get thru on the phone,down for service. Later,I had to call them on my cell and home phone, at the same time, and was 10 minutes, before anyone answered. My links to the original ad…..no longer exist. I am now approaching them thru the Attorney Generals office.
Pardon my errors, was postmarked on 1/5, and I received it on friday. My anger overrided my proofreading.
Thanks a lot!
I too ordered the kit, received an email that I woould receive an extention of thre 14 days since they ran out of “kits”. I still have not received the kit, but was charged $39.95. I am going to small claims court. This is indeed a scamming outfit.
This is nothing but a scam
This is indeed a scam. I am a MAC user and nowhere on the site does it say the Trial CD is not mac-compatible. I just called them to get a refund for my s/h charges and a woman from India said, in essence, too bad. We will not refund shipping and handling charges. Then she had the gall to ask if I wanted to cancel my subscription!! What subscription??? This site should be reported to the FCC. I wish I were a lawyer.
JKornet – I think you mean The FTC.
Actually, Jkornet, I’m going to ask Lynn at Eagle Research about that, because you’re right that for pre-internet type media the FCC would play a role and I actually am not sure how it applies here.
The FTC definitely applies and the FCC may as well.
Hello – it is nice to have enough time to make all that writing – I hear you though – if I had time I would like to just sit and read it – My problem, I am trying to find a telephone number to cancel my ‘kit’ within the 14 day time period – I do not have enough money to pay one dime over the $1.95 – stressful times, family illness, no income – scary – anyway I need a customer service phone number – apparently you found it but I did not see it on the ‘expressions’ – that phone number would be helpful to people who feel like you do.
Sincerely,
Barbara,
Here’s what QuickCashFromCraigslist said when I looked at it:
“There’s a 14 day free trial and at the end of the trial period the cost is $39.95/month.
It also tells me that “you can cancel your membership at any time by calling us at +1-800-381-7820. Our phone support is open for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
this was wonderful information. thank you so much Paul!!!
I know I should not feel this way, but i feel like an idiot for ordering this. I had the very same experience as your comments and now I have 2 charges of 39.95 totaling 80 bucks in a 2 week period. I cannot get it credited back. I have just canceled my check card. I am so very very upset.
I will NEVER EVER give my debit card number on the net.
Thank you all for your honest evaluation and helpful information. I did call the 1-800-381-7820 and cancelled the membership within the hour I had ordered it. According to customers service, I will only be charge the $1.95 for shipping and not the $39.95 monthly charge. We will see. I have used ebay with great success and have not experience this kind of scam, but I also only use PayPal on ebay. What a miserable experience. Good lesson learned.
Thank you, I was going to click the button to buy, but decided to look for more info. I am glad I did, and because of your site it stopped me from getting taken again. Keep up the good work for all of us trying to make money. Just looking for something to bring in $300.00 a week. I am already doing surveys, but it take a while to build any kind of money.
I actually got a refund on my $39.99 the other day. It was a complete headache, took a whole afternoon of phone work but yes, I got it! These people are in a foreign country and are not professional customer service agents by any means- they sounded like a bunch of kids who figured out how to set up a slick website, etc. I was very stern on the phone – I spoke with authority and did not back down or take no for an answer. I first spoke with a customer service rep who told me no a hundred times. I asked for her supervisor. She said he will tell you the same thing I have been telling you. I said fine, I will hear it from him. When I got HIM on the phone I sternly told him that this is internet fraud- most likely international internet fraud; I had already filed a complaint with my bank and the FTC- and I wanted my money back.
That got the guy I spoke with (supervisor by the name of Mike) very flustered! He put me on hold and when he came back gave me a refund code. He said my refund would be in my account in 3-5 business days. It was in there in 3 days. I had alerted my bank to expect it and they “allowed” the electronic transfer of the funds in; I had already canceled my debit card so they had to do it that way.
Don’t give up, do not back down! Go get your money!!
The key is to not get mad, don’t get frustrated and just Be persistent- keep repeating it back to them; I want my money back. When they say it’s non refundable okay say NO it’s NOT okay.
Do not get upset just keep repeating yourself like a broken record and if they hang up on you call back. You will be on hold for 20 min just start all over again….
Persistence; a calm but authoritative manner and voice; the time to do it and not back down or give up.
It was the principle of the thing.
These people are scammers. Somehow, I was billed w/o giving any credit card information.
Beware.
Impressed by this LINK. I want to make money from home, but dont want the hassle. Im willing to work 2 hours a day, from home, and cannot find any hope. Google, Ebay, theyre all scams bc it doesnt say you need to have experience. If no experience then no money. Period. School is your best bet
Paul, thank you for this kind of info. I’m glad that you took time and actually tested this for all of us,
I’ll say for the most part if you take a minute to think about things you should be able to figure out most of these scams. I’ve learned to avoid anything that promises quick riches, even the names tell you, avoid QuickCash, Rapid, Make Money Fast, anything that promises quick money with little work done is very much likely a scam. There is no one giving out free money out there, big businesses don’t make money buy giving money away, all of it is a ruse to get people especially during these tough economic times. Again thanks Paul for this public education! 
I wish I had found this site sooner. I ordered the free kit and called the number above (1-800-381-7820) and canceled my subscription all in the same day. I did not want to give them any time to charge my account or start in on their schemes! I was on the phone for about 15 min. repeating myself over and over to cancel my account and was put on hold 3 times inside those 15 mins. before finally getting a cancellation code. I was told my account was canceled and I would not be charged anything. And if I received the CD I could keep it free, with no charge. They told me I had a 14 trial period and could cancel later, but they would not listen to me so I kept repeating myself over and over to just cancel my account.
Still not sure what’s going to happen now but will keep you updated.
I had to cancel my bank card! I will learn to read the ads better. I signed up for Quick Cash with Google AND Craigs list thing. BOTH are scams by the way. One ad referred to a Dr Stern on Oprah (the photo should have been a dead giveaway if anyone has seen this) but I checked our Dr Stern and there was nothing about him on a show with Oprah! Thats when I found this site and knew my concerns were warranted. My bank said the safest way was to cancel the card and they are issuing a new one. So where do you find legitimate work from home sites. How do you know a good one from a scam for sure?
I just canceled and received a confirmation code within my 14 day trial. After I did not receive my FREE kit in the mail after 10 days, I called to make sure I would not be charged. They gave me the web address for the quick start guide on PDF, and it was quite informative but gave no information about the Member website or the Hosting fee. I called back to let them know I still had not received the kit, and I still had not seen the website. The guy told me I would get an e-mail with the address, but never got it either. I called again, and the lady gave me an address that was “NOT FOUND”. As I was Googling, I found this site. I called again, and they tried to give me a 5 night vacation package when I told them I wanted to cancel, and then she said she would go ahead and have my trial kit resent!!!??? Anyway, I got my confirmation code, and was assured that my accont was closed and I would not get charged.
If anyone is interested in making money at home, give a visit to http://www.workathomecareers.com
I do not own or get compensation for recommending them.
They do have some true authentic work at home jobs.
Hope this helps someone.
Thanks so much for this information. I was ready to enter my credit card and click but at the last minute decided to check it out more thoroughly and because of the all your information, I was spared a headache. Hope I can return the favor one day.
You are welcome, Rob!
Are there any REAL work at home jobs out there? I am disabled, worked as a medic for 15 years. I know ICD/CPT medical coding. Does anyone know anyone I could turn to that is not a scam? Thanks!
Paul, thanks a lot for the info. To all of you who unfortunately order the damn kit and probably lost the $40.00 by now, let me tell you that the FBI has a page where you can make official complaints about internet fraud. It may be really dificult to get the money back I hope you do but please make the complaint so we can stop this people from taking advantage of other peoples needs for a job. Go to http://www.ic3.gov to file a complaint. Good luck searching for a real honest way to make money from home!
I feel so stupid! I ordered my “free” kit, and it said it would only charge me 1.95 HA! I was actually charged 10.95.
Which caused me to over draw and now I owe the bank 25.00 dollars.
I know it dosn’t seem like a lot, but Im out of work and in school…I could have used this money for gas.
Every time i call the number, it plays annoying music for an hour…no one picks up.
Wish I would have seen this sooner!
Thanks for your exposing this “crap”. What stopped me about the craigslist “opportunity” is that the “terms and conditions” cannot be opened !
Keep up the good work
Well I am glad I wasn’t the only one fooled by this scam. I didnot see the words “7 day trial period” or I would never have sent for the CD. I was charged 39.95 that I don’t have, meanwhile if I don’t find some way to make a living I am just going to jump off a cliff.
LIZA, if you know medical coding, you should be able to get a job, they all want experience, which I don’t have. Even transcription jobs require experience, but how do you get the experience without … ah never mind. I am so weary of all of this. Can’t tell you how many “jobs” on craigslist are just a bunch of pyramid schemes. What sucks is these parasites who are scamming us poor people are living the life of Reilly, laughing all the way to the bank. “TIM STEWART” the talking head “CEO” on the website, bragging about his 6-figure income…yeah, he got it 2-figures at a time ~ $40 definitely disputing the chage thru my bank (can’t hurt) and going to the “ic3″ weblink. thanks!
Got an Email today offering this crap. Very unprofessional presentation as stated by Paul. Paul, buy the way, not only are you great at the research, you present in a very humorous way which is great.
I am involved with a product and had researched if we could use Criagslist. Frankly, they are very specific about not marketing products on their site.
Thanks again Paul!
Thanks George,
Good luck with the marketing of your product!
this is a bull shit here they are liers all about this heer
Um, are you talking about what were saying or about the “product”?
I didn’t sign up for the craigslist thing, but I was backdoored into it.I went online to see about a gov.t grant for 1.95.To the best of my knowledge I had 30 days to cancel.Low and behold it was 3 days.I not only got charged the 1.95 plus 39.95 for the next month.Then I was charged 12.95 for the craigslist thing PLUS a 9.95 for id protection??????? I’m out about 60.00,I guess I learned my lesson about giving my card number. BTW the gov.t grant thing was to get an 8000.00 down payment to purchase a home.This guy’s name was Kyle so look out. After yo give your number you cannot get back to the grant site,guess I was blocked.Remember, if sounds to good to be true……..