ePerks- A Scam or A Gem?

I have had the same experience with ePerks- BAD. Took my money, have received no results and I cannot find where their advertising is either. I bought 7 zip codes - have not gotten a single response/prospect!

Wow…sounds like ePerks is a big scam. Glad I never got involved.

I got into ePerks, too. Considering that it’s a startup, I went into it knowing it might be slow. So far, no conacts, but I’m willing to hold out a little longer. I figure with my three zips and the guarantee, I’ll be good riding the program for eight months. If anything, I’ll get all my money back in one lump sum. Love the commercial, BTW.

I just received 2 buyers last week and they are real leads. So far I am happy and I have seen the ads on googles and yahoo homepage. I think its great but I think its going to take a little time all parts of the nation to work perfectly. If you are an agent that wants to make $20,000 with $21 investment you are confused and should’t use it. It think its goingto get better also.

Great program and great results so far, seriously. I’ve received only 1 buyer lead so far but a solid buyer that will end up closing. My guess is these zip codes will go up in serious value shortly even if not in price.

I bought 7 zips and have had one lead so far. I think the program is a GEM! There google ads spread throughout and there was a front page ad on Yahoo.com. Eperks differs from all other in that it doesn’t take some flat fee for you to compete with other agents over leads. They have a serious in interest in wanting you to close deals because they receive 3.5% of agents commission for every deal closed! It will only get better as the days go by! Honestly, one deal closed covers the cost of my zips for an entire year, two makes it profitable. You can’t lose.

Oh BTW I’ve had no problem getting in touch with Customer service, just e-mail Kevin Morris. He’s prompt and great.

I’m in Vegas and the way I look at it is like this. If I don’t make my money back in 8 months than these guys are going to give my money back. I can shoulder 8 months to find out. I think the program makes a lot of sense. . I think the pay off down the line will be sweet it’s way to early to evaluate it’s performance. It will take a year for it to take off the way it should

I purchased 4 zip codes in my area. I surf the net regularly and have not seen any of the promotional ads on google or yahoo. My concern or question now is if the ads run differently on these major search engines with relation to where you live or how big your market is? The idea is wonderful and yes I would agree with Michael that eperks wants to get to word out to as many people as possible, so that the agents and eperks profit. At my cost I would need to close 2-3 deals a year to break even. I’m willing to hang in there at least 6 months and am considering integrating my personal advertising to showcase eperks. Am I making a mistake in doing so? Am I promoting the savings versus my full time real estate services? I personally do not want to be viewed as or branded as a potential discount broker. To conclude, I thought the commercial was a bit tasteless. I am going to stay optimistic and see if the program improves.

I laugh at the people who say they are going to stick it out eight months because they think they will get their money back. Should be just enough time for eperks to become like so many other companies before them. Flash…..grab the cash…….gone.

I think its a phenomenal idea and it leaves the agent in control of how much of a discount they are willing to provide. I just purchased 4 zip codes and even if I get just 1 deal Im in the black. I don’t expect them to go away given the idea has so much potential and I will try the program for a few months.

I am one of the largest clients and I would like to say that the ePERKS model is the inevitable future of our business like anything that goes through changes. Unfortunately ePERKS launch too soon. Their commercials were not ready and marketing is not on track yet. The commercial, I’m glad they canned it, was rude, violent and would have killed this company right out the gate. We deal with families and no parent would ever want their kid to see this commercial. As to the guarantee, I came from corporate America and ran billion dollar projects prior to real estate. The guarantee is only as good as long as the company is successful, if they fail in eight months, nobody gets anything back. If they win, then those that stuck it out wont need to ask for funds back. So you are either in or your just watching. I am betting they win.

It is a scam. I called NAR and they are looking into it. Don’t do it!!!!

@Sucker
I am afraid NAR has no authority over e-perks.

I contacted NAR so they could warn our membership!!!

Its a Gem for me! its starting to pick up for me. 1 out of the 2 prospects that have called me is an A and Ill be able to close the account within the next 60 days. I do wish the site was a little better but prospects are what are counting for me. To the sucker guy, NAR has no authority. don’t be made you were eliminated by an exclusive . One of my zips did and it pissed me off, but the other are exclsuive

Assuming that this is working for some of you - where/how are your leads finding you?

Also,

Why would anyone purchase more than one exclusive area if there are already multiple agents using eperks in their city?

I believe that most buyers/sellers would not search by zip code, but rather the city name and state, in this case the customer will see all of the agents active in the area and what will they do… Go with the agent offering the largest rebate!

I signed up - where are the ads? I have yet to see one.

They promised a Yahoo ‘partnership’ - now it has been outlawed in Tennessee - I emailed them to cancel but they are still trying to charge my account! Scam! Fraud!

A Class Action is in order.

I really, really hope this is not a scam. I am very nervous , but the idea just seems so logical. Haven’t got anything, i’m spending abt $140 mo. I’m not putting my faith in the money back guarantee. I feel irritated that I haven’t seen any ePERKS ads. But spending money on advertising that may or may not work comes with the territory in our business so I accept the risk. I HATED THAT COMMERCIAL!!!! I emailed them that it was disturbing and sick!!! (and I am hardly a prude). How can people find it funny that a perfectly nice lady doing her job gets killed? Whoever mentioned Kevin Morris was right on. He always responded courteously and promptly. Some of those “contact support” buttons just don’t work. Anyway he said that he would pass on my comment about the commercial to the marketing department. So if in some small way I helped to nix the stupid commercial, I’m glad! It was not professional and I think it would have offended a lot of potential clients and we sure don’t want that!

I also hope Eperks does well, as I also have not received any leads as of yet but I know these things can take time. I just wanted to comment that I liked the commercial. I know it may have seemed a bit rough but the point of it is after it airs everyone will remember it and know eperks.com.

TOP PRODUCER, what area of the country are you in?

How and where did your customers/clients find you?

Do you have any affiliation with EPERKS???

I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound skeptical but I’m spending over $1,000 a month (1 1/2 months so far) and no leads at all!

I think the concept is great but I haven’t seen a single ad so far and for the amount that all of us are paying I think that EPERKS should have pay-per-click campaigns running in every area where someone is paying for a Premier or Exclusive territory!!!

I wrote this email to Mr. Ben Bhruze the so called (self proclaimed?) guru from eperks on 8/29/07. I wasted good $$$ for zips in Indiana.

Dear Mr. Bhruze,

I spoke with one of your sales people today. He was trying to recruit me to join eperks. Interesting. I already HAVE an eperks account. Your communication is lacking from within as evidenced by the left hand/right hand trick.

My main concern is the lack of marketing efforts by your company. I have not had a single inquiry from eperks nor have the other 3 agents that I referred to eperks!

Below is an email from Tracy O’Shaughnessy regarding my concerns about this from two weeks ago. What was promised in the google search engine marketing has not happened. The criteria that she sent me worked at the time however does not work now. Both at the time and currently I cannot under any critera (except eperks.com) pull a google search result.

If your company did what was promised, the customer would put in generalized information and it would result a eperks agent/website. You cannot force the consumer to put only in your specific words to get your specific results.

I am sorely disappointed with the results of eperks. I was told to be patient and that this takes time. How long do you expect your agents to shell out $79 per month with no return whatsoever??? Quite honestly, your guaranteed ROI after 8 months makes me a little nervous. I am not sure you guys will be around in 8 months unless something breaks soon. You will NOT keep your agents unless you provide some reasonable rate of return. What is promised right now is only pie in the sky.

My concern about this is grave. My confidence level in eperks is very minimal. I am starting to question whether eperks is a viable lead generation or it is just a scam that should be reported to the attorney general.

I think you should offer a full refund immediately to those who want it.
I EXPECT a response from YOU PERSONALLY!

Should you NOT respond, I shall take this as a confirmation of what I believe already and will react appropriately.
____

Do you think there was a response? NOT. If you’re thinking about eperks, stay away! If you’re in, get out! Don’t expect their “ROI guarantee” to be worth ANYTHING!

I am seeking reversal of my credit card charge because they did not deliver what they said.

I agree. A class action law suit should follow.

I almost cancelled but I just started to receive prospects calling me, so I am going to continue using them. It looks like the advertising is kicking in and picking up for me. I am not sure why some of you may not have received buyers.

I think they have the seach ads everywhere. I don’t know why some of you are noting seeing htem but I see them for california territories. I also saw them on zillow the other day, but I don’t think these guys are a scam as I actually have a phone number that I can call and get my support.

I actually liked the commercial and not sure where it went. I thought it was done in a way that would get attention and wouldn’t be forgotten.

By the way I see a lot of negative comments?

Is this eperks competition writing these, because I can’t see how its so real?? I know others that are also receiving activity. if these are eperks competitors doing this, i think that is wrong. thanks

Jen,

We doubt eperks competitors are responsible for any of the negative comments. If you notice majority of the comments here do not even have links back to websites. Every one is free to comment on this website, and we hope that both positive and negative comments are genuine.

ePerks is really new company and if they are keeping track on blogs like this they should definitely act on “valid” criticism.

We will try to feature more about ePerks and appreciate every comment we receive be it negative or positive.

Our firm has bought 7 zips which is almost a $1,000 monthly commitment. No solid leads so far… one phone call with credit so bad… getting a loan is impossible.

While the concept may be good (and that’s still up to debate) their marketing plan has failed miserably. I expected Eperks to make a huge national splash… but instead we’re getting a slow trickle marketing campaign. They would have been better off rolling out the product state by state first before going nationwide with little or no fanfare.

As for the guarantee… there is NO guarantee this company will even be around in eight months much less get your money back!!! We intend to cancel within 30 days if we have not received anything.

Yes Jen, there are a lot of negative comments and I can assure you that these posts are not from a competitor, in fact any post that I see that has anything good to say about EPERKS (as of yet) I don’t believe.

Just go to the EPERKS site and pick any area and start calling agents for their feedback.

I personally called over thirty agents from 8 different southern California cities (all but two of these agents had been with the EPERKS program over a month) and they all had stated the same basic concerns that you see here - no advertising, no leads, fear of loosing the money that they have invested, etc…

Lol. Well here are my 2 cents… I don’t believe these negative comments either. At all.

I think they are from agents who have weird expectations with their $69 dollars. I’ve met with 3 interested parties form eperks thus far. thats insanely good!

These are odd negative comments. Either these agents lack any intelligence and value for their time or they are disguised competitors attempting to kill an honestly good idea.

Bob and others who are posting supposed emails over and over must have nothing to do, really. The SHOCK thread to me is that a so called realtor who claims to have spent 69.95 expects to receive some magic with that insignificant amount money! You’re right Id be pissed too if I didn’t closed 18 homes with my 69 dollars in 1.5 months. Im spending near $700.

Please… I spend thousands with online marketing from house values to fly by night lead sites every single month! All to get 1 or 2 actually decent leads a month that may close 6 - 12 months out. I will seriously say that out of everthing I do eperks has the best model in mind so far. I haven’t closed a deal…., but its only been around for a few months and my expectations are no better than lead gen sites for now.

Trust me, I definitely want to see how it unfolds but these negative comments way too much and are ridiculous to me. This is the real estate business…

No I personally didn’t like the commercial. but you’re right i did remember it.

A buyer and a ready seller have contacted me.
Buyer might not pass to close the loan but i\’ve been showing homes.
3 exclusives

The topic was… ePerks- A Scam or A Gem
Not, how do agents budget their time.

My point is this - rather than wonder if these posts are legitimate just pick up the phone and call a few agents that have exclusive areas within their cities and see what they have to say!

There is nothing wrong to expect a return even if you pay one cent. Good pay per click campaign can bring you about 7000 visitors to your website and if your website is only able to convert 1% of those visitors into solid leads you can end up with 70 leads.

It does not matter how much is spend, those who spend $50 are entitled to expect returns no matter how low those should be. From comments here we can deduct that many real estate agents are not too happy with the results.

By the way, thanks every one of your honest feedback.

If anyone still follows this thread, we just posted a short review about another website:

http://www.go-beyond-mls.com/propertymaps-cutting-edge-real-estate-website/

They also offer lead generation to brokers, but no up-front fees.

i wish i would of seen this first i paid with a credit card im going to use my credit card services to refuse the payment…………….

this is DEFINATELY a scam. Don’t waste your money. Their 8 month ROI guarantee isn’t worth the charmin on which it was written.

It is against Oregon Real Estate License Law to offer “incentives”, “KICK BACKS” or other RESPA violations to buyers and sellers. The only referral fee arrangments which are valid are to licensed brokers/brokerage.

I am reporting eperks, and the agents in Oregon to the Real Estate Commission. This type of pimping, and you whores that participate, erode the very system that you are working in. No wonder the buying / selling public has no faith and/or trust in Realtors. You keep cheapening yourselfs, and your services. Keep dreaming that eperks, or any other lead generator has your back . . . HA HA HA. They don’t. They are only making money, or trying to make money off your agents. And you idiots let them.

@Oregon Broker

Thank goodness some one brought it up. For those Realtors unfamiliar with RESPA here is section 8:

Section 8: kickbacks, fee-splitting, unearned fees

Section 8 of RESPA prohibits anyone from giving or accepting a fee, kickback or any thing of value in exchange for referrals of settlement service business involving a federally related mortgage loan. In addition, RESPA prohibits fee splitting and receiving unearned fees for services not actually performed.

Violations of Section 8’s anti-kickback, referral fees and unearned fees provisions of RESPA are subject to criminal and civil penalties. In a criminal case a person who violates Section 8 may be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned up to one year. In a private law suit a person who violates Section 8 may be liable to the person charged for the settlement service an amount equal to three times the amount of the charge paid for the service.

I have just recently received my license and I am surprised at those who praise ePerks- guys you better not cross my path in this business. To those who feel deceived by ePerks I have one thing to say- where was your brain?

Sure ePerks does not participates in “kickbacks” but all the “Realtors” on ePerks offer “kickbacks”

I am a Florida Based Real Estate Agent who signed up with both ePERKS.com and Propertymaps.com services. Here were my results Although propertymaps has a great site, and a lure of free leads 10, that is nothing as any of us seasoned agents know its take 200+ leads of these types to convert into sales . On the other I bought 2 exlcusives zips pre-launch with eperks.com and closed my first transaction with them this month so my 3 month investment of $300 paid off for me with immediate results as the potential buyers directly contact me thus providing a superior lead if you will vs spam leads that are unverified at propertymaps Here are my calculations on the 2 programs you can judge your self. Knowing that I would have to buy atleast 50 llive leads from propertymaps minimum with even the slightest chance to maybe land a customer which I did not. propertymaps would cost me about $1000 investment to maybe get one potential buyer or seller with my $300 investment with eperks a I have already closed a deal and have able & willing buyers & sellers contacting me directly . So you be the judge my choice is clear the results speak for themselves. Florida Broker..

Well maybe this Virginia agents lacks propert closing techniques.

Because I have closed 3 transactions in Virginia,MD,Pn off my ads on eperks.com

Its a great program just novice agents expect immediate results realistically programs like this are a 1 year investment or more

So plan ahead agents improve your profiles and content on the sites like eperks.com

I used to work for ePerks in Pleasanton and I have to say, the business model is good but the company structure is not. They have their sales people looking up realtors at google and on sites such as realtors.com. No CRM whatsoever. So if you have them calling you even though you’re already a customer, that is why.

I just canx my eperks account. I signed up with them when they first rolled it out. My broker also signed up with them and took 2 zip codes. While they were supposed to be exclusive eperks sent the same leads to agents who were on the regular plan and share zip codes with other agents. In two months I recived three leads. One which was a refi, one who is just looking and can’t qualify and one who never even aswered any emails or phone calls. After several converstaions and a lot of digging I’ve arrived at this conclusion. While the concept is great and the potential is there eperks has not done the advertising campaign that should have been done. they seem to be advertising as they get money from their accounts every month and using the agnt to cover their startup costs. After three months I closed my account and it was to close 9/30/07. I went into the account to check for activity on 9/28/07 and found that they had closed it 2 days early. While this may not seem like much it is the principle of the matter. I paid for a service and did not receive the service promised. I would urge all agents to think long and hard before investing your money in this service.

Terrible experience as well… they don’t return emails and canceling is becoming a hassle. I think it’s time that the Pleasonton, CA district attorney’s office looks into this one!!!!!!!!!!

maybe some areas are better marketed then others. I’ve been fairly successful with eperks. I’ve a member for just over a month now and have listed one home (hasnt sold yet ) and have several prospects looking to buy shortly.

WOW, well great! I did sign up, and I’m on the site. However, I was very surprised when I found agents on there UP their cash back to the buyer at 50%. Of course ePerks only stressed their 19% fee (and 80% of that is what is rebated to the buyer), I wasn’t expecting to see agents offering 50% to the buyer (which is 53.5% total w/ePerks split).That means regardless of my zip code, if I’m not willing to match that agent in my general area offering the most back, I’m wasting my time/$$$ ….And ePerks collects my $130.00.

They did tell me when you cancel you have to do it before the end of each 30 days, or it goes another 30 days automatically. I have the rep’s cell phone number, so I hope that will help me, sinc ea lot of you complaints were not being able to contact your rep.

In my 5 years in RE, I have not ever used one of these referral companies till now. I finally try and this is what I get …. Well, there ya go!!

I will let you know how it goes.

Im going to have to say its a gem. I have two zip codes exclusive. I’ve received several contacts and hope to have one close soon. Became a member in August. I agree that the site lacks in content.

I’ve left a few comments now, but I have a new major concern with ePerks. I was told by the marketing rep that signed me up; the zip code I bought was getting 24 leads a month. She went through several other zips and quoted me lead statistics, and based on that info I signed up.

WELL, after the fact, I called all the other agents already signed up in other zip codes she told me about. They said they had received no leads so far. I called several different agents in different zip codes in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Not one of them had received a lead yet.

NOW, how this possible if is what the ePerks marketing rep told I was true. I do believe she was quoting written figures, because the other agents were told the same figures. If no agents have had a lead, who is getting 24 a month?????

Now that I know that the lead generation info I was given isn’t verifiable, I feel more like I was taken to the cleaners. Especially after hearing that some of you tried to cancel and they are still billing you. Did any of you cancel and not have a problem doing it? Not given the run around, and were not charged again after you cancelled. I sure would feel better know that some one cancelled and that was the end of it, no problems. Please Reply!

I do hope this is just the sign of a new company with bugs that need to be worked out and not a scam as so many of us are feeling. It’s only been 3 days since I signed up, and I’m waiting to hear back from my account rep to go over these concerns (it’s the weekend). I’ll continue to keep you updated.

Jill

[…] due to one of the posts I written, I can’t stop wondering that real estate agents are easy targets for savvy webmasters and computer geeks. It is in this light that I am wondering how much does it […]

Well guys, I am going to try eperks.com. I know, I am a sucker. I will let you know what happens.

Besides, when joining this forum did anybody else get confused by the human tester and place the numbers in the box instead of add them together:

? Please add 2 and 10. sorry, this is to make sure you’re a real person

Jill, as far as the numbers that Eperks were quoting for the “leads” - I was initially told that these were going to be actual contacts, not just visits to my profile page in Eperks.

After speaking to another representative I was told that these are their estimates based on historic sales data for the zip codes (they would have to assume that every home buyer was aware of their program). As far as I’m concerned their numbers are useless.

I have received one lead to date, which was from someone looking for a 1800 sq. ft. home for $120,000. The prices here are three times that!