What is 1Sale? I heard of 1Sale (formally known as 1SaleADay) as an online retailer that offer huge discounts on brand name products.
Apparently, products are listed at up to 80-90% off retail prices.
Sounds great, right?
I did a little digging and discovered just how 1Sale does business.
I also discovered what their customer service as well as the quality of their products is like. You’ll get a kick out of this..
Not sure about you, but I don’t like getting ripped off when it comes to buying things online.
I have an extensive background in buying discounted merchandise online and have since developed a sixth-sense for sniffing out questionable business practices.
This review will keep you wise to 1Sale.com and may even inspire you in getting started making money online for yourself.
It’s easier than you think..
Let’s get started.
1Sale Review: The Basics
Product Name: 1Sale formally named 1SaleADay
Overall Ranking: 10/100
Website: www.1sale.com
Owner: Ben Federman
Verdict: Not Recommended
If you’re looking into 1Sale for the money making opportunity, you should check out my top recommended training instead. It has all the tools, training and support you need to build a successful online business. Plus 10 free classes to get started!
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What Is 1Sale Exactly?
1Sale was introduced in 2007 as a revolutionary new website offering deep discounts on brand name products.
Their product range is vast. Fashion, Jewelry, Appliances, Electronics, Gift Cards.
You name it, they’ve got it.
They claim to offer new and refurbished merchandise that has been restored by a manufacturer or manufacturer-approved vendor.
They also offer free shipping on all their heavily discounted items.
1Sale also offers a deal-a-day which gives consumers daily deals that last for 24 hours.
These deals come from “sister sites” that specialize in electronics, jewelry, household products, so on and so forth.
From 2010 through to 2012, 1Sale was well received and highly praised from multiple media sources…
- U.S News & World Report, Wall Street Journal, PBS Nightly Business Report
- New York Times, The View, Fox Business Report, ABC News, Yahoo News, and CNBC
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Read on to find out how 1Sale really works.
What Is 1Sale Really?
Similar to Aliexpress.com, the sister company of the powerhouse wholesale import/export site Alibaba.com, the bulk discount products that 1Sale offers on their site are nothing but junk.
They can offer free shipping and 80% to 90% discounts because they are buying and shipping the majority of their products from Chinese factories that make counterfeit goods.
This is also why their products take so long to ship to their customers (usually between 3 – 6 weeks).
Read my review of Aliexpress.com to learn more about how this process works.
So here’s what a couple of 1Sale/1SaleADay customers had to say:
In fact, did you know that the Chinese government subsidizes the delivery costs of exported goods?
This gives Chinese export businesses an advantage, allowing them to ship products inexpensively to the United States, or really to any country for that matter.
When 1Sale delivers individual retail products, one product at a time, it’s easy to get them to pass through US Customs.
It’s only when you import larger quantities of a product that US Customs starts to snoop around.
How do I know this? I sold 1,000’s of these types of products that I bought from companies like Aliexpress.com on sites like eBay and Amazon.
If you label the products honestly and don’t break any copyright laws, it’s perfectly acceptable to way to make money online.
Check out my article about how Amazon allows 3rd Party Sellers to sell fake products right here.
Let’s Talk A Little About Customer Service..
As you probably noticed from reading the customer comments above, customer service at 1Sale.com is not one of their strong points.
From my own experience with buying discounted goods from online retailers like 1Sale, this is usually the biggest problem you’ll find. You have little control over the quality of the products you purchase, and worse still, very little recourse when things go south.
Don’t just take my word for it, check out what 1Sale customers have to say.
The Only Reason 1Sale is Not a Complete Scam
Although the majority of the bulk discount products 1Sale.com sells are, basically, junk.
And in spite of their pretty appalling customer service, 1Sale has an important money making lesson to teach us:
1Sale effectively and legitimately uses affiliate marketing with real companies like eBay, Lowe’s, American Express, and other well established businesses to make money, and good money at that.
This lesson is something we can learn from because it is highly practical and effective. Allow me to show you something.
Here’s a product listed on the 1Sale.com website:
When a consumer clicks on this ad they are taken to Ebay.com, shown below:
If your visitor goes on to buy a product from an Affiliate site like Ebay, for example, the Affiliate (YOU) would earn a percentage of the sale. In the case of Ebay, you would be looking to earn 50% on this Luggage Set or $37.50.
You see, Affiliate Marketing simply works like this..
You have a website that contains links or ads to products.
These products are usually relevant to your site but not always.
If ever a visitor to your site clicks on one of these ads – and then goes on to buy the product – you earn a percentage of the sale, you earn a commission.
When you link to sites like Ebay or Amazon like 1Sale does (many sites already have affiliate programs in place to allow you to work with these large vendor sites) earnings ensue. This is true even for niche vendor sites, not only the online giants.
Let’s look at a better example..
A nice looking set of Earrings advertised on 1Sale.com starting from $499 with up to 90% off. Nice! However, click on this ad and you are directly to an Affiliate Site. In this example, you are taken to diamondstuds.com.
Now wait a minute, what happened to the sweet deal I saw on 1Sale? Hmm.
Maybe this is a glitch in their affiliate system, or maybe it’s a bait and switch tactic.
You make the call.
Now regardless of 1Sale’s questionable business ethics, take a look at what’s really happening here..
A visitor clicks on this great Earring deal on 1Sale.com and are taken to an Affiliate website (which shockingly has increased the price by almost two-thirds..!)
However, if this visitor actually does go on to purchase these earrings, guess what?
1Sale has just made another Affiliate commission. Cha-ching!
A Silver Lining with 1Sale:
Although 1Sale.com may be no more than another website selling counterfeit goods that they label as “Refurbished” brand name products albeit with huge discounts, there is something to be learned from them.
I’m reminded of the old saying from Pablo Picasso. He said:
“Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal”
And you better believe that the same thing applies to business!
I’ve spent years trying to figure out how I could make money online. And if you’ve spent anytime at all on my website, you’ve seen that I’ve stuck my nose into a lot of online money making programs out there.
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This allows me to work from anywhere in the world, and since I’m a big fan of travel, this is a perfect fit.
What would you like to do if you had a little more financial freedom?
I hope you enjoyed my review of 1Sale.
Hopefully you’ll think twice now before purchasing anything from them.
Keep checking back because I’ll be providing more insider information about online money making systems as well as real, proven ways to make money online.
Get the Help You Deserve:
Hi Todd,
What an eye-opener, I hadn’t heard of 1Sale before and I certainly don’t regret it. In my experience when something sounds too good to be true it usually is. At the least you should always do your research and this is where sites like yours are so important.
I too have used Wealthy Affiliate, it’s a program that is designed to teach a newbie everything they need to know about internet marketing. For me it’s the best program out there and you can start for free.
Thanks for the review Todd, I’ll be looking out for your next post.
Peter
Hi Peter,
Always good to hear from you from “Down Under”. Hope life is well. Yeah, 1Sale is a bit of a shocker. Amazing how they blasted their way in front of the media as a modern day miracle for refurbished wholesale goods. People love the concept of getting a good deal, it’s exciting to think your taken advantage of the sales transaction. But most of the time you get what you pay for. Not always, but most of the time.
I have a friend who bought a few shirts from them and the shirts lasted less than 2 weeks, horrible I know.
But the concept that 1Sale is now utilizing more is through affiliate relationships with real companies. And that idea is brilliant. I just wound’t shop from them due to their past poor customer service and shady business practices. Clear your cookies and go directly to the “REAL” online retailer.
Anyways, always good to hear from you and get your take on my posts. I’ll send the next one here to you our mailing system.
Cheers,
Todd
Hey Todd,
95% of my experience buying from affiliate sites like these sell me very poor quality products. I have bought bags and apparels that barely last a week before they have holes in it. Totally wasted my money and I was an unhappy buyer.
The 5% of happy online shopping actually came directly from the stores themselves. I do my due diligence in investigating the customer reviews which are actually published in the store site and I could sniff if they are good products/services or not based on the reviews.
Sure enough, when the product arrived, it wasn’t a let down.
Moral of the story – great artists might steal from you, only if you let them 🙂
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for sharing your buying experience and tips for others that might shop at 1Sale. I felt the same way when I was purchasing from knockoff stores like 1Sale, do your homework and investigate before buying something that is being sold at 80% – 90% discount. Most the time if the deal is too good to be true, there’s a reason.
The one thing that I did like from this review of 1Sale was that they mixed in affiliate marketing to real stores like eBay, Reebok, etc. In this sense, 1Sale did something ingenious, minimize selling the knockoffs, and just have the website act as an affiliate to real online retail stores, that’s brilliant in my opinion.
I would assume with 1Sales poor reputation, that this is a new practice since the negative reviews come from knockoff companies that sell and deliver their products directly from China.
Thanks again Cathy for your feedback and take care,
Todd
Wow, I was not aware companies would conduct business like this. Thanks for allowing me to find the truth about, 1 Sale. They do make it sound great don’t they. I don’t think people realize just how many products are being shipped from china.
If they knew they would be buying and paying more inside the US. Well probably not. Especially if they can get these kinds of discounts from 1 Sale.
The system you wrote about here of selling things yourself is very motivating. Of course I’m scared of the complexity of sales and the amount of time it would take to set all this up.
You mentioned Wealthy Affiliate? Do they help you with product reviews? Or how to set up a business? I have a flashlight store that does nothing, so I would be skeptical about getting involved with another program offering me the moon and stars.
Thanks for your informational article. I’m starting to look at reviews now on everything I buy to see if they are legit and the companies are devoted to customers and not just some fly by night company ripping people off.
Glad I found your review on 1Sale.
Rick
ps. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to you to Rick and thanks for your feedback on my 1Sale review.
To address your question about Wealthy Affiliate, they provide an educational program that teaches people how to set up niche websites based on internet marketing/affiliate marketing principles. They teach you ever aspect of using WordPress to build your site, write content that ranks on search engines, write product reviews, and apply marketing principles to your business.
It’s an honest education to teach you to market any online niche, flashlights stores included. They have no promise about the money you will make, but they offer full support in helping you create your own online business.
If you have any other questions about Wealthy Affiliate, don’t hesitate to ask.
Best,
Todd
Hmm sounds very sketchy for sure!!
I would suggest just to simply stay away from it, If that is a mistake in their affiliate advertising you would think someone would of noticed that and fixed it right away.
Sadly more than likely it isn’t a mistake, just an gimmick to make a sale. Great post my friend. You always seem to surprise me with your findings. 🙂
Thanks Jennifer for your feedback on 1Sale. And I agree, stay away from these scammers and for goodness sake, don’t reward them by buying an affiliate product from their site.
Thanks again for your comment and take care,
Todd
So, from what what I can tell here, 1sale is a sort of hybrid between selling counterfeit products with some affiliate marketing thrown in. Does that about sum it up?
Lately I’ve been seeing some really strange angles that people are using to make affiliate sales.
This article was really enlightening as to how some people go about conducting business online.
Steve
Hi Steve,
You’ve got the gist of the article right. 1Sale sells counterfeits from (what I believe are) their sister sites, and then started adding multiple affiliate products throughout their site that are the same products from eBay, New Balance, etc. The majority are from eBay.
It’s pretty clever of them to add affiliate ads within their program. But I WOULD NOT reward 1Sale, with affiliate commissions, by buying anything from their selling platform. Especially when you review the customer service and return/refund issues.
Thanks for your feedback Steve.
Take care,
Todd