Time sensitive information on Exponent Trading

Posted by in Uncategorized | 7 comments

Exponent Trading launched earlier this year, but I was quickly forced to remove my name from the list of names endorsing this company.

And despite the rumors IT WASN’T JUST ABOUT CONSIGNMENT SELLING, there are no PayPal violations in their business model, I’m not being paid to endorse it, and I was excited to be part of it initially. It was not an illegal pyramid scheme (or I would have had nothing to do with it).

The executive team that was building this company was excellent. Jan Johnson (who told me about it) is a former CFO for IBM and the all time leading female performer in Excel Telecommunications. She was also a founding expert in the company.

The real issue was the business model. It was fatally flawed in my opinion, and in spite of my recommendations to fundamentally make the site into a resource for sellers, in the end I was ignored or not taken seriously. For this reason I pulled my endorsement and publicly offer to refund ANYONE that joined this company based on my endorsement.

Of course I can only refund those that joined under me (using my affiliate link), but I will go to bat for ANYONE ELSE that wants to use my influence to seek a refund.

I was convinced that Exponent would do what they had promised us all, and they had the resources to do it, but in the end they did not deliver and I’m no longer supporting or endorsing their efforts.

  • http://www.coolpostcards.com Dennis Turner

    Listened to the interview and conference call, – good stuff. Question: I downloaded the policies from the eXponent site, and they have a rule there that says (4.2.3 page 6 )"reps shall not use online blogs, chat rooms … etc …or any other other online forum to market or discuss eXponent trading…"

    This seems to be in conflict with what I have heard discussed in blogs and the conference call about promoting eXponent via the net.

    Can you clarify? Thanks. Dennis

    [[reply from Jim]] GREAT observation. That policy is one of the first things I told them I'd really like to see changed before I could sign on. They agreed and said that they were aware it was an outdated policy that it didn’t make sense. It will be coming out of the policy very soon PER ANDY the CEO. For example – if they were enforcing that policy I’d be in violation of it already having mentioned it on this blog! That policy will likely be replaced with a more generic policy that requires us all to stay within eBay and Craigslist policy when promoting the opportunity.

  • http://www.coolpostcards.com Dennis Turner

    Thanks Jim, thats very good news. I love this idea and will be signing up within the week. Dennis

  • http://www.auctionresearchsystem.com Frank Ross

    Jim I'm sorry I missed the call, found this too late. I did take a look at the website and tried to sign up , but their signup process needs a Sponsor ID. If you decide to go ahead with this please let me know.

    – Frank Ross

    [[reply from Jim]]: you can sign up under me here: http://www.exponenttrading.com/JimCockrum

  • John – bluehentrader

    Besides the few ebooks posted to the Exponent site, where is the "training" that people are paying for?

    [[reply from Jim]]: There are several recorded training sessions being added weekly. You can attend these live or listen to the recordings. Several big hitter powersellers and successful entrepreneurs are running the classes. They will continue to add content so that new members can benefit as well as invite new Exponent members that they invite in to enjoy world class training as well. I predict that Exponent will have a top of the line membership site feel within a few months.

  • John – bluehentrader

    Why are the people at "director" level all newbies to eBay? How are they going to be able to teach another newbie how to sell on eBay, when they don't even know themselves?

    [[reply from admin]]:Great question. If you want to be able to recruit others you do have to sign up to be a trainer when you join, but the majority of all training is all done for you by Exponent on the Exponent site, through the live call in 800#, and through phone in webinars and conference calls. You do have incentive to make sure that your new recruits hit the ground running, and all smart Exponent members will do as much hand holding as possible for their new recruits, but the Exponent site is where the bulk of the training occurs.

  • John – bluehentrader

    Why are all of the "experts" telling people to only sell $200 worth of merchandise a month? If it was so great, wouldn't you want to sell more?

    [[reply from Jim]]: $200 is the minimum you need to sell monthly in order to remain eligible for your commissions from the organization that you build. It is of course in your best interest to sell as much as you can at the highest possible profit in order to maximize your results! In your question you may be referring to the fact that you are allowed to have multiple eBay accounts and only do the "minimum monthly exponent requirement" with one account ($200) while running the rest of your business through a different account to avoid an additional Exponent fees. This is perfectly acceptable, but the fees become pretty negligible after the first few hundred, and as Exponent adds tracking and business management features it will become more of a "no-brainer" to just run all of your business through the exponent system.

  • John – bluehentrader

    Jim Cockrum admitted to having access to 100,000 subscribers, and I'm sure Skip McGrath has just as many. I wonder what the price is to "rent" their lists and their credibility (which, to me, they have lost) to pump up this "opportunity". It's more than just a high position on a downline income stream, even though I'm sure that's a big part of the kickback….

    [[reply from Jim]]: That's quite an accusation I've chosen to publish in my own personal blog, but I take all opinions here – even those spoken in ignorance.

    You think I have "access to a big list"? That's like saying I have access to my bank account…as if someone gave it to me. I'm proud of the DOUBLE OPT-IN list I've GROWN from zero. No one gave it to me and all subscribers CHOOSE to be on my mailing list. When I send out a newsletter I endorse what I like. If there is an affiliate program I'll use an affiliate link when I endorse it, but I never pretend to like something just because I've been paid to do it. That's a fast way to ruin your credibility in this business. List owners that go down that path last about 4 month. My integrity is far more important than that.

    I turn down 90% of the products that I'm asked to review or endorse because they don't make the cut – having a large list like mine means making tough decisions daily about what to endorse. I've had to hurt the feelings of some close friends in order to maintain my integrity and keep my customers first. I've never taken any funds for an endorsement and never will – nor has my list ever been "rented" or "sold". (You should see some of the SWEET offers I've been made though!)

    Like I said in other blog posts about Exponent – if you are anti-MLM please don't join, but this kind of ignorant accusation just makes you look foolish. With tens of thousands of customers buying tens of thousands of products, books, training sessions and memberships from me over the last nearly decade you'll be hard pressed to find more than a tiny handful (less than 5) negative comments anywhere online – and you'll find exactly ZERO attacks on my integrity (except for your accusations).

    I challenge you to make your full name public and do business online under your real name for several years through tens of thousands of buying customers without your name showing up with some crazy accusations (like yours) somewhere online. It's a tough act to follow I promise!