For the past I don’t know 2 years, there has been an MS deal on buying certain fitness supplements. At first, we all thought it was cool that we were getting free pajama MS buying these GROTESQUELY OVERPRICED supplements. And back then, they sent real product to your house. Then a few months in, instead of sending full boxes, they would send like 10% of the product inside the same box. Of course everyone thought it was kind of odd that they were sending such a little amount of product for the price that you were paying, but once again, we just shrugged our shoulders and didn’t want to think about it. But now it’s been going on for all these years and you just have to wonder what the end game is since no other non-tech startup business loses more money as they scale.
I think back to this post a few years ago on where do you draw the line? If I buy a free iPhone case in exchange for a positive review, then it’s no big deal. I believe that the company is just trying to improve their search rankings and are honestly trying to sell more product to make money. Plus, they limit the number of free ones they give out because they know they’ll make it back when their search ranking increases and they get “real customers.” However, when you buy this overpriced supplement, they lose money on every sale (cc fees and shipping as well as the product itself,) eventually you can’t just shrug it off anymore.
It would be like loaning money to a friend for his “business,” but you don’t want to know what the business is because he’s making his monthly payments back to you. But then you see him posting IG photos of private jets and expensive cars and eventually you have to ask yourself, “What is he doing with the money?” Then more photos pop up with him on a yacht in the Caribbean. At what point do you go, “Okay, I need to ask for all my money back because I want no part of this business anymore. Plus, how am I assured that he’ll actually continue to pay me back?” I feel we’re at this point in the game. The rug’s gonna be pulled out from us any day now.
I’m not here to tell you what to do! It’s your money. You do what you want with it!
3 supplements on Rkey. Bought all. Will post if successful.
Used a CC with Return Protection (Amex not available on site for some reason) in case they “taste horrible”
There were actually 4 supplements and I was able to add these orders to RKEY no problem (now shows pending). So far the items haven’t shipped and I did actually want them…
On a different note, the merchant codes as “gasoline” with Wells Fargo
***final update***
I emailed asking where my orders were (no reply) but, the next day tracking miraculously appeared. Received everything ordered and yeah there are 2 tiny scoops of powder in each container (2 servings). After 35 days RKEY sent out my $800 check no issues. Probably won’t order again…just seems risky and I have many other ways to MS. Could be useful for SUB perhaps in a pinch. Don’t think I would have been sent anything if I hadn’t asked.
The house of cards looks nice but will not hold up when s hits the fan.
If worthless supplements are delivered to your address, your chargebacks can be denied by cc
Yes – but if you are trying to send them back, and they refuse or don’t accept a return, that’ s a different story.
Don’t you have to wait until the return period has expired before you get your money back? And why should the company be forced to accept returns in the first place, a lot of items are nonreturnable (ammo and gift cards come to mind).
you do not have to wait until the return period has expired, and they have a posted return policy/moneyback guarantee.
There’s gonna be a lot of Pain, when this unLawful activity gets uncovered. Can’t wait for the broker guy to blow up
@Mark – I’m showing the last time they offered that I bought them was 8/7, so not too worried as it’s been less than 30 days. In looking at the activity, it seems to be very sporadic, but, not too sure where the concern is that they’ve gone under? I’ve had 2+ weeks before with no new inventory, not sure why this is different.
@Vinh, Brother, why won’t you put more information up? If the party is still going, maybe I would love to attend for a little while. The hints I see so far are JonLuca, AND/OR RK, Rkey. None of which get me anywhere with Google as related to MS opportunities. Teaser. lol
Looks like there is a 100% rebate on some expensive supplements (which are not available at the moment). So you buy item X, apply for the rebate, receive the item, receive the rebate after the return window expires. Stuff I saw was not very expensive but it sounds like the particular item comes and goes.
Haven’t used rkey before, but don’t you end up having to pay the tax? I would think that ends up being more expensive than the value of the rewards you are earning? Or is the assumption that you are returning the item once the rebate was approved and hoping your account doesn’t get flagged?
Just DON’T DO IT!!!
Don’t you mean…FUCK YOUUUUUUU SUPPLEMENTS!!!!!!!!
I’m not clear who the middleman is in the comments above — could be JonLuca or RK — and so it’s hard to process what the comments are trying to say. But in any event, the JonLuca thing seemed way too sketchy for me, and Vinh has nailed it as to why. As to RK, I did it for a couple months but became very concerned about whether the rug could be pulled there if the vendor fails to provide the rebate money. I hope RK gets rebate money upfront from the vendor but really we have no way of knowing.
I’m not sure I’m understanding the negative.. Like Mark, I am using a middleman for this, who apparently will guarantee the payment (hopefully) but, how is the rug being pulled out from under us?
If I were to be a member of a group of investors who invested in a product or service and received what I was owed, and it resulted in someone else making a sizable profit and owning a yacht, how does that affect me/us? If we pay “X” and are repaid “X” by the terms they agreed to, I don’t see where the problem lies.
We invest in companies, buy stocks, interests, etc., and those companies are surely investing in other means that we may not have visibility into or agree with. Doesn’t make it any less ethical that these are supplements, IMHO.
Do you have a contract between you and the middleman? Could you even sue the middleman if they took your money and ran?
Nope.. But, I can charge back if things aren’t delivered.
Then I hope you are only buying supplements and not classes.
Nope.. no classes at all.
I decided to not do it because it felt like it could come across like money-laundering, and didn’t want to risk it. Hopefully I am wrong and everyone doing it do so without repercussions
T&C may not be worth the paper on which they maybe printed. I believe the listing companies must pre-fund RKey and if a letter of credit is used, those are almost always irrevocable. They could make some lame claim and deny payment. That would be unsuccessful. I was never clear on how things are actually prefunded and at what exact date in the process that occurs. I’ve contacted RKey several times and blah, blah they’ve reassured but always were vague
I’m sure Bernie Madoff made similar reassurances until his house of cards came crashing down.
Well, I can’t decide for myself as there is no link or details for any such deal here. This is an MS deal I haven’t heard about. Google didn’t help me. Good for you, though.
Same here, no idea what this all is. Bummed on missing a good MS, wonder where they get to know all this stuff.
I stopped buying about 3 months ago. I wasn’t going direct either, which I think has less risk since the middle guy guarantees it, but I still felt like it was time to call it a day.
I don’t think the middleman has had it on in quite awhile either I believe.
True – been 3+ weeks which seems a little telling too.
Nah.. they have gone quite a while without any new offerings. Then, they’ll sprout up. I’ve seen one or two here and there, then 10 at once. If they need the $ for a start up, so be it, but don’t think their lack of inventory, is necessarily telling of anything else. Supplements are multi-billion dollar industry and most are snake-oil.
With so many “bought” Amazon reviews, it’s sad that people can’t even buy a product without thinking that the reviews are all bogus.
It is basically a 30 day continuous loan they are funneling through at a 5%-10% cost. Sounds a lot like those people that were loaning on their cards to businesses to buy products and they would pay them back 30 days later…until they couldn’t anymore and the cardholders got left holding the pale.
Mark just Nailed it.
Who’s the middleman. Or private groups? I’ve only seen on rk