Hey everyone, David Nelly here from Safe Money Makers, and today we are going to be taking a deep dive into the DFY Agency business model that promises to build and operate your own E-commerce store.

For me, there is a lot of mystery that surrounds this business model, so this article serves to educate the both of us.

I want to let you know that I might have some of my facts wrong, and I only say that due to the nature of me being somewhat a newbie on the topic of Automation Agencies, so if I say anything you don’t feel is correct, please call me out on it, this article serves to educate all of us better on this topic.

In a world of online money-making, with good opportunities like affiliate marketing, and horrible and borderline scam opportunities like Multi-Level Marketing, one thing stays in the spotlight of consistency. They all follow the same pattern!

Affiliate Marketing Courses (a business model I actually recommend) all follow the same procedures in doing what they are set out to do, they teach you the basics, and some of them even offer to work with you on developing your own website and affiliate venture.

Article you may also be interested in: Why Affiliate Marketing is the cheapest and most legit way to build passive income  This article explains how to start an affiliate marketing business, and why in my opinion, it is the best way to build passive income streams. It also explains how you can automate the process by hiring other writers to automate the process for you.

There are different tiers, you know, you got Wealthy Affiliate, Authority Hacker, Income School Project 24, and so forth, these are the top of the line in the affiliate marketing industry course.

Then you have the really crappy outdated course programs that are on Udemy, and then some random flies on the wall trying to say they know how it all works when they don’t. Still, they follow the pattern, and most of the time, they are genuine.

Then you have those dirty dirty Pseudo Pyramid Scheme Multi-Level Marketing Scams. These all follow the pattern of selling overpriced products to support the downline. The problem with most MLM companies, like 99% of MLM companies is that they are globally known for their horrible practices, their lies, and their harassing behavior.

But now there are these Done For You Automation services that serve in Drop Shipping, Walmart, Amazon, and other E-commerce ventures.

“Just give me $40,000 and I will build out your online business store, our team of expert market researchers will find your store the winning products, all you have to do is give us the money and we will build you a passive income store that will keep the money coming in for generations of your family!”

Now, this is definitely bringing forward my too-good-to-be-true senses, that guilty stomach feeling you get that tells you that something is off.

Many people who I’ve talked to asked about Elite Automation Group and VT Ads Agency(review in progress) all mention having concerns and a bad gut feeling as well.

When I did my review for Wealth Accelerators, I have gotten a multitude of review requests for other Automation DFY companies/agencies, and while I am doing my best to tend to those, first I want to write this article to help educate both of you guys and myself as well in the process.

So without further ado, let’s get into this DFY FBA Shopify Facebook marketplace and any other E-commerce buzzword you can think of overview!

The basis of how this works:

Generally, you have at least 3 of these options with each DFY Agency out there for you.

They will typically always offer Amazon FBA automation, some offer Shopify Drop Shipping Automation or something of the same sort, and a rare select few will offer Walmart Automation.

While there are different rules for each type of service automation offer, as well as different rules per whatever company you partner up with, the premise of its ideal remains the same. You will typically invest somewhere between $20,000 to $60,000 for your starter fee, and then you will invest between $10,000 to $40,000 for your product supply line.

Some companies create a profit split model, usually, the profit split is either a 70/30 split or an 85/15 split.

To make things simple, the whole idea of the business model of these DFY agencies, just think of it like this

The Agency uses its researching abilities to find super-discounted cheap products and buys them at wholesale, they buy like 6000 + units of the cheap sale price and then re-sell them when the demand and price for the product go up.

So if you were into drop shipping, and you bought Fidget spinners before they blew up the internet and sold the spinners during that time period when all the fidget spinner memes took over the internet, you’ve earned yourself a massive profit!

The premise of partnering with these DFY agencies is that they run your entire store for you, and you are the silent partner.

Similar to franchising a Mcdonald’s as a silent partner, except instead of being a nameless boss where all of your employees make burgers to make you money, you are a silent investor for a drop shipping or FBA store

I hope that makes sense.

Is DFY Automation Agencies a bunch of scammers, or is this legit, will you really profit from a 70/30 split?

DFY Patterns I have discovered, these are red flags:

Below I will reveal some common sayings that DFY Agencies used to try to rope you into sending them a years worth of salary.

The Price is not revealed, book a call with us:

Wealth Accelerators, Elite Automation Group, Automation Geniuses, The Done For You Agency(review coming soon) and many more agencies are guilty of this tactic.

Here’s the thing about this, these agencies are small-time. They aren’t very big or popular, and if they were, they would probably be shut down.

But they also know that their potential customers or scam victims in this case find out about them, the customer’s first impression might be that of “oh wow this is a scam”, however, there are always going to be those first-timers who aren’t wary of the practices, the languages that these DFY agencies use.

The promise of an investment that turns into a passive income of which easily overshadows your investment cost, they do everything for you, you just got to invest, and sometimes agree to a profit split, most cases of it being a 70/30 profit split.

But why do they hide the price and force you to make a call?

Because it’s really hard to convince somebody using a wall of text to invest between $10,000-$60,000 into an unknown opportunity.
So they connect you with a relaxed sales rep who is in the very least, humanizing. They aren’t pushy, they are usually relaxed, and the hope and intention is that you are in love with the idea of the potential to make some passive income.

There is a relaxed timeline about it, they don’t push their service upon you, they simply give you a friendly nudge, and ask “so when do you think you’ll be ready to invest with us?”

And with a world where everyone hates their boring 9-5 grind job that takes time away from us and our families to supply our households with food and other items needed for basic survival, that motivational factor to eventually invest is always in the back of our minds.

Limited Availability: Now Accepting New Clients.

From Wealth Accelerators

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From Elite Automation Group

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From Andrew Pabia’s Done 4 You Agency Launch, see if you “qualify”

What these companies are doing is that they are using phrases like “limited availability” and “see if you are qualified” to create a bigger buzz around their operation, they are trying to make you feel like you have to be special or are special once you indeed are “qualified to move forward with us”.

The reality is that they will accept anyone and everyone. They just need those buzzwords to make the company feel as if it’s more official in a sense.

We offer a buyback clause! Okay..what if you go bankrupt?

I want to give a quick shoutout to Edwin Bernard, who mentioned this in the comments of my Elite Automation Group Review:

So like Elite Automation Group, many DFY agencies may claim to offer a buy-back clause that states that if the store that they make for you doesn’t profit within a certain time frame, they will refund you back your investment.

Well…what if they can’t, then what?

What if they make a bunch of bad drop shipping calls with your store and it causes them to lose your investment, or even worse, get themselves into a state of bankruptcy?
Can they get away with falsified income statements claiming you can start a six-figure FBA store partnering with them?

Well first off, and I’ll get into more detail about this further down this article, the thing is, most DFY Agencies force their clients to sign an NDA before the partnership officially begins. Therefore, even if the client is scammed or loses up to $40,000, legally they cannot file a report or disclose anything at all regarding their partnership experiences unless the Ad Agency allows it.
Most legal jurisdictions by law are legally obligated to assume any business is legal, they can’t just show up on your doorstep without a search warrant.

In addition, as mentioned earlier, there is a new scam every hour, most legal parties simply will not have the time to do an investigation on every single company out there. In addition, companies like these are small-time and not on anyone’s radar, plus the fact that they have their little NDA loophole, no one is shutting down these Ad Agency companies anytime soon.

Is this even legit? We are not a scam:

Any company that claims that they are not a scam directly on their front page probably means that they are a scam.

Why you should be skeptical of all the 5-star reviews:

The million-dollar question is, are we all just getting scammed? Do they just take the money and run? Is all we have to retaliate the ability to leave a 1-star review on Trustpilot, only to either get insulted or have our review deleted?

Once in a blue moon, you’ll be able to dig up some 1-star reviews for these Ad Agencies, but overall, you are going to see that in almost every case of these Ad Agencies, they have shockingly high reviews, making it look like these guys are actually improving the financial life of beginner entrepreneurs.

Here’s the thing, these aren’t google reviews for your local bar about whether or not the new hot wings on the menu are tasty and satisfying, this is something that could potentially destroy your life savings.

And do you want to know why you aren’t seeing a lot of people calling out these companies for failed business launches?

Want to know why allegedly “we have not had one single failed venture with any of our customers, you can search everywhere all over the internet and I guarantee that you will not find one bad review for our company”

Well, here’s why:

Hey, you signed an NDA, you can’t write that negative review:

Ever notice when you go to Trustpilot or look up Google reviews, there is rarely a negative review? These almost unheard-of automation companies have hundreds of reviews flooding in with 5 stars, all of them praising the company and treating it as if it’s the best thing since sliced bread.

Why is it that there is a lack of people coming out saying that they got scammed?

It’s because they legally cannot come forward with their experience due to the NDA they signed.

How these companies can outright lie and get away with it:

As mentioned right above, many of these DFY Automation companies will force you to sign an NDA before starting the partnership.

While for many companies, this is a viable practice, and it does not outright mean that this is a red flag, there are many Amazon Automation agency companies that have used NDA scare tactics to keep unsatisfied/potentially scammed customers into staying quiet out of fear from a lawsuit.

Combine these NDAs with the addition of 1, scammers constantly being on the rise every day due to the continued decline of overall the entire world’s economy, many of these FBA-styled DFY promises can easily slip under the radar of jurisdictions everywhere.

So the only real way to make an honest living online is to use your best judgment, as sad as that sounds!

Okay David, helpful information, but get to the bottom of this, are there any DFY Agencies that aren’t scams?

You have more to lose, I don’t recommend DFY Agencies:

When I think of successful investment ventures, I think of people who made good choices in the stock market, and the crypto market, I don’t really think about DFY Amazon stores, and I don’t think anyone else does either.

The fact of the matter is that overall, this is uncharted territory. It’s untested waters, a few google and trustpilot reviews that easily can be fabricated does not serve as proof enough for this to be a viable business venture.

❌These businesses are too young, most of them less than 3 years old:

Elite Automation Group has only been around for 1 year and 11 days as of August 10th, 2022.

Wealth Accelerators has only been around for 1 year and 11 months as of August 10th, 2022.

VTA Ads Agency is only 2 years and 1 month old as of August 10th, 2022.

I found out these facts by using the domain age checker here. Simply put the website name in with it ending in its .com/ address and this tool will tell you how long the website has existed.

So, why is it a problem that these DFY agencies are too young? Because as mentioned in the above header, it’s uncharted territory. It’s an unproven business model.

I’d much rather give my money to a business program that’s been a long-standing success for decades, for example, a program like Wealthy Affiliate which is well documented for creating successful affiliate marketing entrepreneurs since 2005, compared to the idea of investing in a company that has barely passed its infancy stage, and as mentioned at the very beginning of this article, in most cases, does not even disclose how much it will cost until you call the agency.

❌Some ROI timeframes could realistically take longer than the company’s time of existence

Going through some reviews of people who have had experiences with Amazon FBA, they have reported that they have been a partnership network, and after being in that partnership for 2+ years, they still did not see a return on investment.

Taking into account that companies like Wealth Accelerators and Elite Automation Group are brand new, is it really a wise idea to invest a year’s worth of salary in an Automation Service when reports dictate that it can literally take years before you break even?

❌Even with a Done For You Solution, this business model has too many problems:

You are drop shipping what most likely is a sub-par product. Even with the incredible luck of fidget spinners taking off, they died out, and they were also a sub-par product the entire time. No offense to my fidget lovers in the audience.

Guess all the things you have to deal with while trying to make money off of these sub-par products?

Inflation, which raises shipping costs, which raises money spent on ads, Amazon’s insanely cruel rules and regulations that constantly change with the flick of a wrist

Shipping delays because of bad weather, tornados, snow storms, earthquakes, etc.

Having to re-purchase all of your barcodes because amazon decided to glitch out your amazon store for like…no reason!

Working with other people, their motivation is indicative of your success, what if your photographer partied too hard last night and decided not to show up and take pictures of your products?

Some very good resources of information I found:

I found this video to be very informative. Ranae teamed up with Just One Dime and she gives you a 30-minute video explanation of her entire experience! I think that this is the best piece of information I have found in terms of what it truly is like to team up with a legitimate done for you agency! I don’t know a lot about Just One Dime, but her honesty and transparency about her experience make me believe that this company is a viable source for a DFY business model.

She goes over all of her hidden costs as well, this video really lets you know that even when teaming up with a legit DFY agency, there are still going to be a lot of issues at hand, for example, there were some problems with a few of her Amazon stores, and a cost of Amazon FBA is purchasing the bar codes for getting her products scanned.

She had to re-purchase all the barcodes for her products 3 times because her Amazon stores kept getting shut down unexpectedly.

She also has to deal with shipping costs, photography costs, and many other issues.

That’s another reason why I overall don’t recommend this business model, even when it comes to legitimate companies.

She is still involved with the partnership, but she specifically states in her video that she has been a partner with Just One Dime for 18 months, and she still has not surpassed her investment costs in profits, so she still has not netted a positive profit.

A point that she drives home with at the end is that she intends to spend about 10 years with Just One Dime, eventually netting a positive profit, and then at the 10-year mark, she will sell her Just One Dime store and use that money to pay off a house.

Reddit Article: Does anyone have experience with Fulfillment by Amazon?

Also, to end this article, I want to cover one last topic!

What kind of person is a DFY Agency Suitable for?

Okay, so sure, I have slammed these companies for a fair share of this review, but there are some people that can definitely benefit from a DFY Agency, but even so, it’s still a huge risk.

So to benefit from a DFY Agency, you need to have one thing, and you need to be one thing. What you need to have is money that you can afford to lose, and I mean a lot of it.

As mentioned earlier, that combination of investment fee and product purchase for like $50K to $80K isn’t your only cost. There are also transportation of product costs, barcode label costs, and transportation costs.

Oh, and whenever Amazon screws up your business, you gotta pay for that too. Thanks, Mr. Bezos

So you have money, what’s the other thing you need? A stoic outlook of the most patient monk in the universe!

The world and our economy seem to constantly and consistently get worse, and in addition to all the costs of ads, labels, and many other factors, that definitely eats at your potential profits. Plus the addition of supply chain issues, and natural disasters, you really have to swallow your pride and have faith for a very long time that this store that is not even in your hands will have attained a level of ROI positive success, which as mentioned can take longer than 2 years!
However, if you can get through all that, and maybe have some luck, maybe gas prices will lower in the next few years, that’s when the payoff because worth it. If you can stretch through the stress period of product testing and advertising testing that your agency is doing for you, and you reach that success point, that’s when the passive income stream starts making waves in your bank account!

So, if you don’t have an obscene amount of money that’s well above six figures, and you don’t have the patience of a stoic monk, I wouldn’t invest in a DFY Ad Agency.