Soap Nuts Pro

The most common soap nut scams, cons & selling tricks are clearly explained.

When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. The soap nut (soapberry) is a major exception. It’s a genuine gift from Mother Nature. As best put by the Green Dot Awards in 2010, “NaturOli’s work with saponin, derived from soap nuts, is possibly the most significant green innovation in history for everyday household cleaning needs.” That about sums it up. They’re for real, and they’re genuinely amazing.

However, are there scams within the business of selling soap nuts? – Absolutely.

We see scams every single day. It amazes me what some people will fall for. My background is in marketing, and was CEO of a “Top 10″ marketing company for 20-some years. I saw a lot during those years (with many clients selling some of those “As Seen On TV” products). From miracle car waxes, to eat all you want and shed pounds, to spend $39 and become a millionaire – I can safely state that I have reasonably good insight into what consumers can be sold.

With soap nuts, the scams out there are primarily due to a general lack of consumer knowledge and understanding about them. Whenever such a scenario exists, the market becomes ripe for creative scammers. Retailers find ways to take advantage of unsuspecting consumers. For awhile the marketers/sellers unfairly line their pockets with high profits. Consumers eventually catch on, and thankfully the situation is short lived. This whole site should help shorten the consumer’s learning curve. For the sake of honest sellers – and fellow consumers – if you realize you’ve been stung, get your money back – and speak up. Tell others. That’s how you can stop the scams in their tracks.

Well, what is a “scam”? Here’s MY definition: A scam is a sales strategy that generates sales, but offers little to no possibility of delivering upon the claims made. It is a calculated strategy wherein the seller is aware that all (or the vast majority) of the buyers will not receive the product as described, or achieve the results as advertised.

Per the dictionary:
scam
(n) a scheme for making money by dishonest means (slang)
(vt) to obtain money from somebody by dishonest means (slang)
Courtesy: Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.

There’s an important difference between the dictionary’s definition and mine. And that is “dishonest” is subjective. There’s outright lies, and there’s exaggerations. There’s usually some shred of truth in even the most outrageous late-night infomercial that you laugh at and think, “How could anyone ever fall for this?” It’s that little shred of truth that allows the scam to work. I’ve seen as many as 50,000 units per month being shipped of incredulous products with ridiculous claims. Guess there’s a lot of naive people out there, and the scamming predators will prey on them for as long as they can.

The noble cause of promoting saponin (via soap nuts) as a genuinely effective safe, natural alternative to today’s toxic cleaners is prime real estate for scammers. The main scams are fueled by the consumer’s lack of knowledge. Most newcomers to saponin don’t understand how it works, what to expect, and what they should be looking for to make a good decision about what to buy. The scams involving totally false claims (the outright lies) are an effort to make them sound good (i.e., better than other brands in quality or value). Some sellers must figure they are so small that nobody will ever bust them for their false claims – and they’re probably right. In a nutshell, here’s a quick list of the most prevalent scams:

#1 – Exaggerated yields (usually in terms of “Loads”). – OVER CHARGING.
Hands down, this is the most common. Sometimes it’s even hard to simply find the product’s weight. This is discussed frequently on this site, so I won’t go into it in detail again. See the “12 Tips on How to Buy Soap Nuts”. It’s all there. I just found another new seller on Amazon claiming 100 grams (3.5 ounces) that yields “up to 100 loads”. No way! The “net of the net” is that this results in excessive overcharging. In the case just mentioned, the price is $12.57 for the 100 loads. That equates to OVER $50 per POUND!

I cannot emphasize this enough: If you want the best value for your money, don’t pay ANY attention to claims of “loads”. Don’t listen to that sales hype. When you see any company selling by “LOADS”, it should immediately throw up a CAUTION SIGN for you.

Just shop wisely and use your head – like you do at the grocery store. The overpriced retailers online won’t make it easy like at the store – that’s their whole game. But it takes very little effort on your part:
– Find the “NET” weight (not shipping weight).
– Be sure you’re comparing comparable quality.
– And THEN compare the sellers and products offered.

If you do this, odds are that you’re going to get what you pay for. It’s your money… Spend it wisely.

#2 – Claiming “Certified Organic” and “Fair Trade” certified.
There are many sellers who make these claims, and they don’t check out. It’s best to verify a company’s USDA Certified Organic status yourself through the US Department of Agriculture “National Organic Program”. You can request a certificate from the seller, but they are easily forged, hence that’s far from foolproof. The best way to check if a seller is a genuine verified USDA Organic handler/processor, search the NOP database. Use the pull down menus to select the country (United States of America / USA), leave all others as “ALL”, then just type in the company name under “OPERATIONS” (it will attempt to find and autofill the full company name for you) – and just hit enter. If genuine, their info will pop right up. The “+” sign on left gives you more info. ZERO results means ZERO certification. See NOP verification example below (yellow highlights are mine for your convenience). I’m currently working on a way to validate Fair Trade (a bit more difficult because of different countries). If from India, then it’s a safe bet. India has strictly enforced labor laws.

#3 – Overselling and omitting vital information.
In the post on “Common Problems Using Soap Nuts” I address overly high expectations as a major problem. This is entirely the seller’s fault. Way too many sellers overstate what saponin will do. Saponin alone does not remove all stains. There are no chemical whitening agents nor optical brighteners in saponin. Be reasonable in your expectations, and don’t believe all the hype. Do your homework, and use your head. I cover these issues in many different posts. And just one last time: Don’t buy soap nuts with seeds. If not specifically mentioned, they probably are not de-seeded. If for whatever reason, you do want to buy soap nuts with seeds, you should pay about half as much as the price of de-seeded.

#4 – Inflated or bogus Reviews, Likes, Fans, Followers, etc.
Quantity and quality are very different things – and there’s little safety in numbers alone – especially when it comes to online sales and social media. In this digital age, it’s difficult to trust anything online. And the wiser we get, the more clever the scammers become. But, at least we can try to stay on top of the game. We work hard for our money. Let’s spend it wisely. Here’s just a few extra points to make note of:
a) Businesses can very cheaply purchase “likes” for their Facebook page via a plethora of schemes. It seems crazy as to why a company would do this, but I guess it’s to make the company appear more popular than they really are. This is reminiscent of companies buying web site back-links to increase Google’s site rankings. Nowadays, Google penalizes web sites with lots of irrelevant or dead-end back-links. Odds are that the Social Media (SM) companies will follow suite in the future. The Social Networks are already beginning to feel the heat due to abuse and fraud. The Internet “giants” want our experiences to be good ones. They need us to trust them. Trust in the Internet and cyberspace are as imperative as the technology itself. Given exponential expansion and change, with rapidly growing public awareness and scrutiny – it’s now only a matter of time for some thorough house cleaning.
b) Some obscure sellers on retail web sites such as Amazon may have items with lots of “Product Reviews” plus very high “Star Ratings”. Many are genuine. Some are bogus. You can easily check the validity of these reviews by noting the timeframes in which they were posted, and if the reviews are “Verified Purchases”. It usually becomes clear pretty quickly if the reviews are trustworthy. And check the seller’s “Feedback”. There’s an important distinction between “Reviews” and “Feedback”. Feedback is about the seller – NOT the product. You may have a great product, but an awful seller. Not good. Click on the seller’s link to view their feedback (“Customer Satisfaction Ratio”). Just keep in mind that the seller with the lowest price often becomes a “featured” seller. Again, not good. Expect to see Amazon making changes to their current system. They recognize the glitches, and they care greatly about our satisfaction.
c) When buying on the Internet from a business, you should be able to find the company’s name, address, email and phone number. In addition if desired, you should be able to obtain and verify a seller’s business license with the state in which they are located. That’s not much to ask for – and can be quite important (especially if bigger bucks are involved).

Bottom line: Ethical, reputable companies won’t play games, but YOU will have to be the judge. Look closely and deeply – with crystal clear vision. If ever unclear – ask questions. Don’t end up lost in the smokescreen of some scammer. Be smarter than they are.