Warning! Reading this blog post may save you thousands of dollars!

Wow! That seems like an exaggeration, doesn't it?

But, it's not. In fact, over the years, I have saved inventors tens of thousands of dollars by helping them to spot invention marketing scams before they were bilked out of their hard-earned dollars. In most cases, the invention marketing scam artist wanted a $10,000 – $20,000 “investment” from the inventor.

How do I do it? How do I quickly spot scams?

Actually it is very easy to do. In this blog, I'm going to teach you how to do it – so you don't get scammed.

Read on.

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Would you like to have more tips for avoiding invention marketing scams?

Grab your FREE copy of – Spotting Invention Marketing Scams – cheat sheet now. Just click on the red button below to get your copy now.

Would you like to learn how to make money from your invention? Tired of just spending money?

Attend the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties. 

All you need is your cell phone, laptop or desktop computer to attend this LIVE webinar. Get all your questions answered.

Just click on the orange button below to sign up for the next FREE live webinar –  License Your Invention for Royalties.

Too Good to Be True Website

A scam invention marketing company knows that you will always check out their website. Would you plunk down $10,000 of your cash with a company that had a cheap looking, amateurish website? Of course not!

So, the company pays a developer handsomely to create a beautiful, professional looking website. It has to look “corporate” for you to feel comfortable that they are “safe.”

The website will provide an impressive narrative about how the company has helped “hundreds” of inventors.

They will always claim they have relationships with “all the big box retailers” and provide an extensive list of retailers where inventors have sold products by working with them. There is always a colorful photo depicting logos from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, Target, Walmart and many others as “proof” of their marketing prowess and success. Look carefully and you will find the requisite conference room photo depicting what appears to be their employees debating important topics – much like the one shown above.

The “icing on the cake” is always customer testimonials. Many inventors will be quoted singing the praises of their experience having worked with the company. 

The impression you get from the website is:

This is a professional organization with a talented staff and facilities, relationships with every major retailer, that has delivered results for many other inventors.

That impression is precisely the goal of the website. But, it seems a little too good to be true, doesn't it?

The Devil is in the Details – or Lack of Them!

Now, step back a bit from all the glitz and glamor of the website and take it all one step deeper. The carefully crafted façade will begin to crumble.

The staff working around an impressive conference table are a bit too good to be true. The “employees” appear to be amazingly diverse group of Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asians in the picture – men and women, young and old. All in one picture of maybe 10 people.

Does your company look like that? Probably not. Neither does their company. The photo is nothing more than a stock photo they got off the Internet. With a little research, you could likely find the same photo.

The devil is in the details or lack of them. Read carefully, and you will note they never state that these are staff members of the company or that this picture was taken in the company, but it is implied. 

The phrase “relationships with all the big box retailers” sounds impressive, but it is vague and meaningless.

They have no doubt “worked with” (bilked) hundreds of inventors and they hope you will join the group! Lastly, look at the “testimonials” more closely. They will feature lots of John C's or Meghan F's – no full names. If this company were so great, you'd think the inventor would love to have their full name shown in the testimonial. Wouldn't they?

Lastly, the quotes are always positive but very vague talking about having a “good experience” working with the company. Shouldn't the testimonials talk about specifics – like how they have sold over 1 million units in Walmart stores? 

Become a Good Data Detective

Unfortunately, most inventors never investigate any further than a quick perusal of the company website. That is why they are so easily ensnared by these hucksters. You must do more due diligence, become a good data detective. 

Check out their corporate HQ address in Google Maps. Use the satellite photo of the area and look at the building from the street level when it is available. One company I investigated gave a vague address in a suburb of Phoenix. I found the closest intersection in Google Maps and the area was a housing subdivision. The only commercial building was a large church. Hmmm…

Another corporate headquarters turned out to be a UPS store. Yep! This was a company that had supposedly helped “hundreds” of inventors. 

But, what if the building seems to be plausible? That happens sometimes.

Most companies are LLCs and you can check with the Secretary of State website for the state where they are located. There you can see who filed the LLC and when. Often, the LLC was filed just 6 months prior probably by the same person who contacted you. Who is often the only person in “the company.”

That is a huge red flag! It typically takes a number of months before complaints from bilked inventors begins to filter down to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) or the Better Business Bureau. The company merely packs up that location, closes the LLC and opens a new LLC with a slightly different name in a different city or even state. Then, they are ready to bilk more inventors from their new corporate headquarters. They don't even need to change the website other than to change the address of the corporate HQ (just one line of code). 

Now you know how to quickly unveil scam invention marketing companies before they catch you as their next victim.

Stay tuned.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Would you like to have more tips for avoiding invention marketing scams?

Grab your FREE copy of – Spotting Invention Marketing Scams – cheat sheet now. Just click on the red button below to get your copy now.

Would you like to learn how to make money from your invention? Tired of just spending money?

Attend the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties.

All you need is your cell phone, laptop or desktop computer to attend this LIVE webinar. Get all your questions answered.

Just click on the orange button below to sign up for the next FREE live webinar – License Your Invention for Royalties.