How Sophie Howard Rips-off Entrepreneurs OnlinE With Blue sky amazon
The Amazon Selling Queen has some skeletons in her closet that she does not want you to see. From fake 5 star reviews to lying about her past, she has done it all.
Blue Sky Amazon might not be the secret to success Sophie’s marketing team so direly wants you to believe it to be.
If you’re in a hurry and don’t want to read the whole thing, here’s a summary:
Blue Sky Amazon is an overpriced Amazon Seller course backed by fake 5 star reviews & sponsored “expert” reviews.
Let’s see what exactly is wrong with this course & its creators and if there’s anything we can do to stop these scammers once and for all.
Who is Sophie Howard?
Who is Sophie Howard? Well, she calls herself “The Amazon Selling Queen”, and claims to have multiple 7 figure Amazon businesses. On her website, she is portrayed as the Amazon goddess who blesses entrepreneurs with six-figure businesses and amazing results, at least that’s what they try to portray.
There is ZERO evidence to back Sophie’s claims, and no review websites have talked about this. Maybe they just took Sophie’s word for it, who knows.
Is scamming a serious offense?
White-collar crimes, in particular, are deemed to be serious offenses by the court and can carry harsh punishments, such as hefty fines and incarceration.
Apart from this, there is not a lot of information about Sophie Howard’s background. Her dodgy background reminds me of JT Foxx.
On Blue Sky Amazon’s official website, the about page is probably written by a freelance writer who’s getting paid in nickles, because the writing quality is just meh. It is the most generic piece of content you can write on a person. I guess Sophie should’ve shelled out more money on her marketing and branding.
I have one question for Sophie though if she really is so successful and a millionaire, then why is she selling a six thousand dollar course to strangers? Does she want to help people, or she never really had a successful Amazon business in the first place? I just realized that it’s more than one question, but, oh well.
Burying The Truth With Forged Reviews
One thing that sets apart Blue Sky Amazon from authentic courses (like Amazon’s official Seller University), is its numerous fake reviews. These reviews are written by Sophie Howard, according to a Trustpilot review posted on Blue Sky Amazon’s listing.
I did some research and analysis of my own to find out whether these 5-star user reviews have been written by actual users or not. The results….. let’s just say they are not what we expected.
All of the reviews on Blue Sky Amazon’s Trustpilot listing have a very similar tone and vocabulary. However, without solid proof, I cannot claim that I’m 100% sure that these seemingly fake 5-star reviews have been written by an offshore marketing agency.
The story doesn’t end here. If you go ahead and Google “Blue Sky Amazon Reviews”, you’ll see something like this:
Do you know all of these search results have in common? They are sponsored reviews!
Okay maybe the exclamation mark was a little dramatic but Sophie has manipulated Google search results for keywords like “sophie howard”, “sophie howard amazon”, “blue sky amazon”, etc.
Why?
To hide real customer reviews who have fallen victim to this scam. We’ll look into the real Blue Sky Amazon’s reviews in just a moment, but first, let me debunk the reviews that are sponsored by Sophie Howard:
TheAffiliateDoctor
Ahem, this is just bizarre, because the only comment on this article asks the reader to not spend a penny on this horrible course. The irony is terrific.
Meanwhile TheAffiliateDoctor doesn’t use an affiliate link, the article praises Sophie Howard’s overpriced course while contradicting itself many times. The author also shamelessly promotes his main affiliate EcomElites in all his reviews which makes me question the motives behind this website.
HighIncomeSource
Just like “TheAffliliateDoctor”, HighIncomeSource also promotes a particular suspicious course named “WealthyAffiliate”. I’ll take a look at that course in some time, so keep an eye-out for that.
I do have one question for the author of this review:
If Sophie really has multiple 7-figure Amazon FBA businesses, then why is she selling a course online and trying so hard to bury the truth about her scam?
WorkWithJoshua
The reviewer claims that this review is honest and unbiased, but he is an affiliate of Sophie. This one is not as bad as the others because at least he is not claiming to be unaffiliated like the others.
Ippie
I actually like this review because Ippie does go in the details about the course, but like TheAffiliateDoctor did, he also promotes a certain course (main difference being that he actually sells a course himself instead of being an affiliate).
Before we go further, I want to cover a couple of sites that Sophie Howard has set up to bury the real reviews of the course.
BlueSkyAmazonReviews dot com
This website has been set up for only two purposes:
- Bury any critical reviews of Blue Sky Amazon (possibly like this one)
- Convince potential victims into believing that Blue Sky Amazon is not a scam unlike what their common sense and consciousness are telling them.
Sophie doesn’t give a flying fff about this website, it has been setup on a basic WordPress theme.
The fact that this website is sponsored or even backed by Sophie Howard & Blue Sky Amazon is not made explicit anywhere on the website. However, if you go on the contact page, you’ll see the following email:
So I went to the website and found some obvious links between them and Sophie. The website literally has multiple posts about the Blue Sky Amazon’s affiliate program. Not only that, but there is a permanent banner of Sophie Howard on the homepage of the website. I think this is enough evidence for us to assume that knowledgesource.com.au is affiliated with Sophie Howard.
BlueSkyAmazon Reviews Facebook Page
Get ready to feel absolute cringe because this FB page is possibly the worst pile of sss you’ll probably ever see.
This FB page is full of unverifiable “testimonials” from supposed “customers” of Blue Sky Amazon. However, these video testimonials should be taken with a grain of salt. Wesley Virgin faked his testimonials by hiring people from sites like Fiverr & Cameo to record testimonials for him. But not everyone is as intellectually lacking as Mr. Virgin, so they hire local actors for testimonials. I’m not going to go ahead and claim that all the reviews of Blue Sky are fake, but the world is a bad place and it is much more convenient for companies to hire actors than to give actual good products & services to get reviews. More on that later.
Real Blue Sky Amazon Reviews (Sophie’s Secret)
Below is a permanent gallery of real Blue Sky Amazon reviews. I’ve taken these screenshots to ensure that these reviews don’t vanish from the face of the earth because of some lawsuit from Sophie’s PR team. People need to see these reviews!
During my research I also stumbled upon some shocking comments by victims of Sophie’s scams, here are some of them:
These reviews are getting buried into the abyss of Google SERP by the fake 5 star reviews posted by Sophie’s PR team & affiliates.
It all goes to prove that Sophie Howard is indeed running a shady scam and action should be taken against her.
Blue Sky Affiliate Offer: Why You See 5 Star Bogus “Expert” Reviews
I have uncoverd and debunked around half a dozen fake reviews on Sophie Howard’s course, but there are still dozens of articles still lurking on the internet on several sites. How did Sophie manage to get so many people to write 5 star “expert” reviews on her trash course? Well, she runs a very lucrative affiliate program, kind of like Tai Lopez’s one.
On Knowledge source’s website you can find this affiliate offer, but for the sake of convenience, I’ve scrolled through the page and recorded it, thank me later.
The affiliate gets paid a whopping $1,500 per sale, which is honestly, quite a lot of money. They claim that an affiliate has already made half a million dollars from this!
The qualifications they demand are as follows:
1) The affiliate should have a buyer list of 10,000.
2) The affiliate needs to have ad budgets of $100,000+
3) The affiliate should have 30,000 people in his email list
Those are some big numbers, so it is safe to say that there are many big websites involved as an affiliate with Sophie Howard.
Why does it all matter?
Because this is the exact reason why the internet is flooded with so many bogus Blue Sky expert reviews online. Everyone and their dog is trying to make money off scamming people by misleading them and selling them this garbage.
Testimonials Are Exxagrated – Sophie Howard, probably
Just like the other fake gurus, Sophie also has a disclaimer on the very bottom of her website. It basically says that everything that she claims on her website, is essentially not the “usual result”. Things like a six-figure income, financial independence, basic success, nothing is guaranteed here. If you shell out six grand for Sophie’s course after seeing the various testimonials and expert reviews saying how it is the best thing in the world, then you, my friend, just got scammed.
I expected such disclaimers on Blue Sky’s website as these make sure that you can’t sue them.
Blue Sky Amazon Review Verdict 2021
Blue Sky Amazon by Sophie Howard is a petty scam with sloppy implementation. There are fake 5-star reviews on Blue Sky’s Trustpilot listing which are obviously written by one single person (possibly Sophie herself). The asking price for the course itself is outrageous for the value it provides. It is the worst Amazon course I’ve ever encountered and won’t recommend it under any circumstances.
Be on the lookout for any five-starred reviews in the comments section calling me names, it’s probably Sophie posing as a customer.
Amazon Seller University (Free Alt. To Blue Sky)
If you are an actual Amazon Seller and want to learn how to get customers or boost your business, then you are in luck. Amazon has it’s own “Seller University”, which is totally free and is updated regularly with new content.
Read similar review: DS Domination
Instead of buying an overpriced course from Sophie, I would strongly recommend that you check out this University, they are free and you’ll learn a lot there.
I know there are people who are not actually Amazon Sellers, but still want to learn the biz, so for them, Amazon has setup a YouTube channel. The videos don’t have the best edits or transitions, but the content is gold and for the price of free, it is quite amazing.
One downside of learning from Amazon Seller University, is the monotonous way the instructors teach, it is a bother for some people. However, if you are not some rich frat boy with daddy’s trust fund money, then I think this is a better option.
There are also 2 other great learning resources you can use, and I’ll link them down below.
Learning Resources:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FulfillmentByAmazon/top/?t=all
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/3lltwu/how_i_literally_started_an_amazon_business_in/
Just because you are not wasting your money on scammers like Sophie, doesn’t mean you can’t get successful.
Dr. Henrique Duck, PhD in Media Studies and Critical Theory, specializes in writing detailed critics stories and reviews. He has contributed to prominent newspapers and websites, providing insightful analysis of media content and its effects on society.
I’m genuinely commenting out of concern and a desire to protect individuals from potentially misleading courses like Sophie’s. Having been an online entrepreneur since 2003, I’m well-versed in what it truly takes to succeed in this realm. Sophie’s claims about her achievements on Amazon, especially after her recent switch from Amazon arbitrage courses, raised some concerns. In one of her initial videos, she mentioned how recently she began selling Amazon books, which was a red flag for me. I’ve been earning royalties on Amazon since 2006, long before the rise of such courses, so I have firsthand knowledge of the process. The potential earnings and the time required to achieve this is grossly exaggerated (and that’s me being polite). I’d advise caution when considering high-priced courses, as the return on investment is not as promised, and I know for a fact all the small print makes it very difficult to achieve the eligibility for a refund (lots of stories about this and this person online). The sales pitch for such courses are often misleading, and I feel protective of newcomers being lured into them. I DO NOT sell anything or recommend Amazon books as a quick money maker, it is simply untrue to say so. I got so sick of telling people to stay clear of this “opportunity”, I wrote a Medium blog post titled “Can You Really Earn 30k A Month Kindle Publishing? Truthful Insights From A Long Term Amazon Author.” Reading it will show you the maths so you can quickly gain a clearer perspective. Again this blog is not leading you to another way to make money (sorry) I am not selling anything – just sharing my experience so you can see for yourself these claims are rubbish and there are far better free ways to learn this stuff!
KAY
So, I am a glutton for punishment. I bought her program and it is now $9997. I am now past the 7 days to cancel. Is there any other way out of this mess? I live in the United States. I really wanted this to be real.
I got sucked into this webinar yesterday and had massive alarm bells ringing by the end of it. This woman looks very sweet, genuine and kindly but I think in reality she is a hard faced businesswoman – or as someone else pointed out – maybe a hired actress working for a big business. Why would someone who has had so much success selling her own products on Amazon and making thousands and thousands of dollars, want to share it all with you for the massive amount of $2,000 each? It doesnt make sense, and after I watched her so-called webinar (not live, all recorded and made to look live), I started getting loads of text messages asking me if I was looking for extra income. Strange. Never had those before. Then I went on utube to look at something else and another bloke popped up, also promoting a free webinar with almost the exact same words and style, but for a different company. All to much of a scamming coincidence. My advice. Stay far away.
I am so sick of these grifters. Will be taking this up with the ACCC in Australia and New Zealand. Look out, Sophie!
Sophie Howard has branched out from her passive income stream money maker, selling e books on kindle that she doesn’t actually write. She gets buyers from Amazon kindle books, and sometimes paid ghostwriters.she has the customers payment which has to cover Amazon and Sophie’s cut, of course and then, Amazon does the download. This is her cover story. Then she tries to get you to pay her to set you up with the same system, I was not feeling good about the morally deficient, and dubious ethics you’d need to get past your inner right and wrong monitor. She must have gone to boarding school, as a mother myself and having had one, that right and wrong bar gets set and taught at a fairly young age.
So at the top of my form, I wrote that I needed to think about it. Dopey me.
How does Youtube allow these scamming ads? This lady needs to buy a shaver for her lying old looking stupid face. I let the ads run so that I can spend all her budget within one day, sometimes I get like 4 ads ahahahahah, let it run, click on the link so that she pays for that shit, the longer it runs, the more Mrs hairy here pays.
I ‘attended’ the webinar, but it was obviously pre-recorded. It seemed to me that I could get the information she was offering for free with a little research on the internet, so why would I pay her for the info.
In terms of her presentation, she just came across as a little too “try hard”. An English accent can only get you so far, especially to an Australian. We can spot ’em a mile off.
So no. Go ahead and write your book, then hire a professional company to format it and do the cover. Then submit it to Amazon (which will give you all the advice you need for free.) Simples!
Hi All,
I attended the free webinar.
I am a writer and the first red flags involved authors!
According to Sophie Howard JK Rowling had not done that well. (???!!!) Harry Potter’s audio and digital rights were held back by JK Rowling. It meant an additional 26 billion a year to the biggest commercial success in literary history.
Ms. Howard went on to say that John Grisham and others did not write their stories and had ghostwriters. As one of those writers is dead that would probably true! John Grisham writes his own books. If he has hired ghost writers it would be to keep up with demand.
It also occurred to me that this business takes a LOT of research. It isn’t easy. And it’s expensive.
I am also a lawyer and several bells started going off. It seemed to me that Ms Howard adapted all the tools used by writers and then cleverly turned them into a different type of business. Is it legit? Without being an expert I think some parts are questionable. I would be very careful before acting on what is recommended.
Like many others, I did wonder why she would run these courses if she was making millions.
And when I left the webinar I was instantly emailed with a replay and emailed again! When I tried to unsubscribe there was an error message.
So, alarm bells galore. Throw your money on shares, into your own business, or go on a nice little break. Steer clear of this course. You’ll lose money and you might get into some legal hot water.
Absolute NONSENSE. All of it. I was scammed and there was something a prior reviewer above wrote which REALLY resonated: this takes substantially more than an hour’s investment a day time-wise. You DO NOT get what you pay for in life. Are you SO naive as to believe life is fair? That those who work hard reap the rewards? Life does not work that way, which is why many of us may be susceptible to scammers. And are you so naive as to believe that anyone who doesn’t succeed is simply not putting in the ‘required effort’?? How incredibly condescending, and utterly incorrect. It IS a poor product. Worth $100 at most. The repetition in the whole lengthy sales pitch to snare you is yawn-worthy. (sigh, how could I have been so stupid…) Spending ANY time on FB blowing smoke up each other’s **** is something most of us aren’t interested in. Hell, most of us are trying to stay the hell away from FB! Who has the time?? The scammee is doing all the hard yards and very few are even making anywhere near toward the cost of her ‘programme’. All that time and hope, dashed. And all that HARD EARNED money of ours going into her coffers. Never again, I’m done with the lot of them – they all look and sound good, part of the whole baiting the hook system. But once you’re lured in, it’s all over rover! I’ll end by saying something to counter your ‘Pro’ point: DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE!! Especially that if you believe in yourself and follow the formula you will be successful. Plenty of people peddle that myth to make money. Many probably succeed. Cripes, look at Tony Robbins, one of the first, I recall. Ugh, makes me sick, the self-adoration industry for want of a better description. But hey, if you are successful, I don’t begrudge it. However if you are, I doubt we’ll see you defending your guru so fervently.
Hi thank you for your review. I was on the verge of paying nearly $5000 for the Sophie Howard course and decided to research.
Your review made me ask myself the questions that you also highlighted.
I off course have decided to Not purchase this course and therefore have not lost my money.
A big thank you
I attended the “live” seminar tonight 2000 hours GMT. It was very impressive BUT having been shafted before by “too good to be true” online and offline businesses, I could read all the signs of a scam:-
a. Why would she teach people her hard-learnt system that made her hundreds of thousands when she could make even more hundreds of thousands by just continuing her success? There is no charity in business.
b. The “live” webinar was not live as no one answered my live chat and q & a, although Sophie clearly referred to it and mumbled some comments for a good show:)
c. The video training, special add-ons, discounts, testimonials, traditional vs online business comparisons, money back guarantees, high POTENTIAL returns on investment, low competition, international holidays, more time for your children, recession and pandemic proof, etc etc are exact replications of other scam artists and gurus.
after being screwed by similar promises of wealth, my advice is AVOID at all costs!
Thanks for the information. No gonna buy and not planning to.
Personally, if almost every ad video on youtube starts off with a particular person peddling their goods (I run on incognito and not signed in to youtube), you know they are spending a lot of money in ads, and not in the actual product.
And, as many have mentioned, if they have 7 figure income, why would they want that competition by sharing their knowledge as a contribution to society?
It’s just frustrating that you have to wait x seconds before you can skip the ads. Oh well, better than the old days of people hammering on your door selling encyclopedias ^_^.
All of these Internet Gurus are scammers. If you had a secret method to making money online would you share it with others. NO! I liken it to the goldrush. The only ones guaranteed to make money were the mercantile tents selling supplies to the miners. Very few miners made it big. It all comes back to the old adage “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. 😉
Not only she is a scam, she is dangerous. They found my footprint after I leaved a review. They found my phone number and called me. They deleted my review on Trustpilot at the same time. Look at these video reviews on her own Youtube channel. From her so called successful students. All those people look like they were together at some kind of mental disorder group where they were asked to give a course review. Something even more than scam is going on with Sophie. She is a criminal of some kind. They took hopeless people. None of Sophie’s stuff faces look like they earn a penny from e-commerce. Snake oil salesmen –yes. If they sell their course for $5 I’d forgive their Youtube testimonials or if they make this course for free. But for $$$ is inforobbery and something else (I can’t find the correct name how to call as English is not my first language).
Hi everyone
Yes… I bought the KDP course (not $6000??) and yes it was a big investment for me. I did not rush into the decision and I did my own research as much as I could.. ultimately, at some point when you are making particularly a business decision (and this is what this course sets you up to be… a business!) you have to take a risk and either commit or don’t.. and then you have to put your trust into the people you’re giving your hard earned $ to and hope they do the right thing by you morally… and then YOU have to put the effort in to make it successful (hopefully) some businesses don’t succeed..
I’m aware of that risk for this course.. and I was sceptical of the course when I signed up and to be honest.. I am still unsure if it was “worth” it.. but how do you measure/put a value on something..or know if something is worth it.? I guess it depends what you expect to get out of it at the end right? Having no experience with having my own business, or Amazon, self publishing, I’m really not quiet sure what to expect. I do expect to gain more knowledge, have easy access to all course materials, mentoring , be able to talk/communicate with course facilitators, and hopefully have a passive income stream.. I don’t expect to get rich quick, or expect easy success in a week or two.. So far, all of the above criteria has been met.
However, I was a bit upset at some of the lack of transparency regarding “extra expenses” to help you succeed such as the added cost to create and publish a book, research software tools such “rocket” and so on..this definitely wasn’t mentioned in the course sales pitch and would have made me hesitate before buying the course.
I’ve been signed up now for almost 2 months and to be honest… I haven’t made much progress.. it’s been very overwhelming for me and I guess each individual will handle new experiences like this differently depending on their background and life experiences..
BUT .. that’s my own doing as I realise it’s my own lack of confidence, combined with most likely a lot of proscrastination, negative mindset etc.. I really haven’t made the effort I know I need to put in to be successful.. I am happy enough with the course content, materials, weekly coaching calls, workshops, and the coaches appear to be available, professional and approachable if you have questions.
So..do I think the course is “worth it?” Ask me this question in a few months when I finally stop procrastinating and give this course 100% effort!
You may all have heard the sound of my exhale of relief, it was so loud.
I’ve looked at a few ‘from home’ business ideas and thought Sophie’s sounded reasonable and achievable. I listened to the ‘Webinar’ and fortunately just don’t have $4000 to spend, but was interested in the concept.
Damn these conniving bastards, scamming people’s hopes of making a decent income by faking the chance to fulfil our dreams.
HUGE THANK you to this website for exposing the hidden truths. I’m thinking the Amazon University will be next on my search….
Couple of questions:
a) Why, as a seller, would you pay for information that Amazon already gives away for FREE in their seller university, with no cost?
b) Why, as a seller, would Sophie Howard want to share these “loopholes” with the whole world, when she could happily quietly sit on them and exploit them for her “five figure” income every month for the rest of her days? By sharing them, she’s a) creating competition and b) by doing so, massively increasing the likelihodd that Amazon wil shut down not just her competitors, but her too, leaving her with no retirement income.
Put yourself in her position. Why on earth would you sell a great money spinning idea if it was real, and by sharing it, you jeopardised your income source.
It. Makes. No. Sense.
Unless you’re a greedy, gullible schmuck.
The seminar, It absolutely is a recording. If you’re anyway internet savvy, you can download the video. I’ll leave the direct link I was able to find. You can then use various websites to make the link downloadable.
Link to source video for fake live seminar:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/616562985
I see some compelling cases supporting this individual. I suppose there is some validity to what it is that she does. I am a bit disheartened as I too was hoping she was the real deal. To a (slanted) degree she is. However, there are enough yellow flags for me to…. pause.
So OK, you don’t like this particular article that has been written about her. So I go to other sources to see what’s being said.
I learned a very long time ago that there will always be someone who will say something good about you.
After watching her video about KDP, I wanted to know more about what she did. So I went to her Facebook page.
I work in social media so I know a little bit about it.
50,000 followers. And I didn’t see a post with more than 18-19 likes.
Rarely… And I mean it’s extremely rare to find a comment on any of her posts. OK so she bought 50,000 followers. But you can’t get more than 18 to comment? The average number of likes appears to be 4
While I believe this woman has done some remarkable things, even on my own without this review, after what amounts to 1 hr of research, I’m not so inclined to purchase her course at a few thousand dollars without the added security of PayPal.
So is buying FB likes scammy? Depends on your viewpoint. However, many ppl will look at 50k in followers and think that’s something special.
I take a closer look and see it as disingenuous- so no, Sophie will not be getting thousands of my dollars.
PJL
Sorry my mistake. I said Profit Engine guy was a scam in my comments below. That was a mistake. It was NOT Profit Engine. Gerry and Rob are Ok. They are Ok and not even Kiwis.
I guess it was so far back that I can’t rememeber the scams name
Bloody sad. I was just about to sign up and somehow stumbled across this page while I was trying to find a way to get a rerun to show my wife. t is obvious this is a recording. You will find that as soon as you try and use chat. For the same reason the courier is going to turn up everytime.
There is so much negatives here it has put me in Real Doubt. I live in Auckland NZ. It would pain me that one of our own would do crap like this. Unfortunately we have another NZer who did no-one any favours in his outing ‘Profit Engine’ in combo with an American and Canadian. Was a genuine thing but their focus was to leave us with staff while they dreamt up a new idea then had the cheek to re-market us. So one greedy guts is enough.
Still don’t know what to do. She certainly looks and sounds genuine. I’m not too keen on the guarantee as they will decide if you have done everything to qualify. Our thoughts vs theirs on what ‘Everything’ means are probably two different things?
PJL Auckland New Zealand
Sounds like you are thinking about Aidan Booth and Steve Clayton…
Great review thanks.
Seemed so disingenuous on the ‘webinar’ (recording)
Like others who watched at various different times, the chat doesn’t work and the courier appears, and she answers Anita about the cleaner – must be Groundhog Day – it’s certainly Groundhog Day for me watching these money grabbing scam artists over and over…
I can’t seem to get rid of the ad on YouTube unless I sign up for Premium. I cannot stand her face, she’s absolutely uneasy to look at. Even my partner was startled by her appearance. She looks as thought she just came out of the grave.
I’m watching her webinar now, regarding selling via kindle direct, selling books that you outsource for other people to write. She hasn’t gotten at all into a course or fees for such, but what I’ve noticed is there is a green button that says chat, but when I click it nothing happens, also it says at the bottom of the viewer that there are 100+ people watching but none of them have their cameras on, when i logged in my camera automatically came on and at one paint I saw one other person pop in with camera on, but then he turned it off. Sophie very occasionally says let me check the chat then she starts mumbling as if she’s reading chats, saying brilliant here and there, and muttering about questions that she never actually reads aloud, nor answers. And every time it happens it feels more contrived. So I’m getting the feeling there is no chat, and there are doubtfully many other people watching. Probably the one guy and me and few more if any. So I’m beginning to believe every word of this article.
Great, I happen to find the same thing!!! the chat does not work, yet, I though it was me only *((
What a waste of 2 hrs of my life.
Is there any genuine program we can trust?
Yes it is called Wealthy Affiliate.
I had the same experience on the Webinar.
Did the courier show up during the webinar too, and drop off a package in the background?
It all seems a bit dodgy.
Yes good observation. That courier called again on 04/10/21. No wonder she does not tell anyone what she does in her locality as she states in the video. The price is crazy. Some good Udemy courses for €10 cover the same materials as her €5000 course. Rip off
The courier called again May 30, 2022 ????
Books to read by the search results which popular books as if $4000 cost isn’t bad enough they offer AX 10 for $10,000. it was a course to include a shopping trip to India )”.(during Covid?) fortunately I found an honest “coach” in Australia who told me there was no way I would make $10 thousand dollars in a year! If I borrowed it or put it on a credit card. The closers transfer you to a credit Card company to take an application and they also don’t tell you that you’ll be expected to pay for copywriting which is supposed to be included travel to the shopping trip they take you on, photography for your product and PPC …many many many other expenses besides the 10 grand ! Helium 10 or Amazon have a much better seller courses!!
what to do or say to them that i want to cancel my course and i would like a refund.
Make sure you do everything in writing and most of the time they know that your credit card company will not give you a refund if you don’t cancel within the first 30 days. issuers are different
I just watched her ‘Make Money Selling Books on Amazon’.
I was very tempted and noticed that when I clicked on the payment page, that the website had 3 lines of ‘WARNING’ right at the top of the website.
It appears that with all her so-called wealth and success, that she cannot afford to use a Safe SSL website and more importantly – there is NO option to pay using PayPal (that can protect us with her 180 day money-back guarantee).
Maybe it’s possible to make money with her course but her disclaimer clearly states that the experiences and successes on this page ARE NOT TYPICAL!!!
Why does she need to create this course to make money if she’s already supposed to be making millions of dollars and where she verbally stated that non of the parents she speaks to at her kid’s school knows what she does did a living.
I’m so lucky to have read the reviews here and took the time to re-evaluate the claims she makes on her webinar, which by the way IS A RECORDING!
It’s not possible to use the CHAT feature because it’s just a looped recording.
I almost lost the last of my savings on a scam artist.
Goes to show, you cannot trust these internet marketers.
I’d been scammed multiple times over in the past and don’t trust any of them.
It has all the hallmarks of a scam – please watch the Netflix series Money,Explained – episode 1 Get Rich Quick.
glad to read this post – definitely cancelling the schedule phone call. thanks
There are so many expenses and helium 10 course is far more detail oriented there is no way to start this business without the help of Amazon scout or helium 10 the program that she presents will not get you where you need to go
Oh my gosh thank you for this website. I have a phone call booked for tomorrow at 9am for 45 minutest to go over the Blue Sky course with them! Um,……I am going to cancel that right now! I guess I felt a wee nudge that this might not be legit so I googled ‘Sophie Howard scam’ and this is what I was lead too.
Same here , attended her course today almost thinking it was a scam. But thought just see what she has to say. Then googled her and came to this website. T – yeah you are right, there was a courier in today’s webinar too plus the chat box didn’t work. So definitely not signing up with Sophie .. she looks to be a fraud based on all the hallmarks
What’s more is the whole you don’t have to spend a penny on stock.. yet $ 6000 is what she asking for wow what bunch of b#####
I also got scammed by Sophie Howard. I started the Blue Amazon course with the best intentions, selected products to sell on Amazon, and discussed these with my coach. My account application did NOT get approved by Amazon USA, a problem a lot of students run into. There was no help from Sophie’s team at all! This common issue should be reason for a full money back in my opinion, since it blocked my business idea from going ahead. Although the coaching was alright, the course itself is an absolute shambles, consisting of loose Excel sheets and unedited videos with horrible sound issues. Please don’t waste your money on this Sophie Howard scam!
I think that Sophie Howard is a real person with a real business on Amazon and she really lives in New Zealand.
People seem too jealous of her while she is maybe that successful.
And maybe people who did buy the course were wanting a click to be a rich scam without putting the time and effort into getting the business off the ground.
I wish I was so blessed as they are, and having enough money to buy her course, be mentored by her, and have the money to start my first product, is not so sadly wise.
Like the one who could not be reimbursed while he went on disability, maybe he could have sold his course second hand?
But look at those links:
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/business/wellington-mum-set-to-showcase-her-organic-tea-for-oscar-nominees
https://exportertoday.co.nz/article/zero-15m-18-months
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/small-business/76496782/wellington-mum-to-serve-high-tea-to-the-rich-and-famous-at-oscars-event
Everyone should make his research before entering a business model and deciding if they have what it takes to get there…
This is an official website in New Zealand speaking about her, so this shows me that she is not a fake or a scam.
https://www.exportnz.org.nz/news-and-information/exporters-stories/2018/amazon-success-story
I cannot say if the course is value for money I haven’t done it nor another one at all.
But I think if someone wants to go in this type of business they need a mentor to go through with them.
I can just say that I trust her, I see that she is a well-known person and that she seems to be honest and transparent for what she offer as a course
I guess jealousy is one way to describe People who take the time to write and not want others to get scammed. We formed a large group who met outside of the blue sky program nightly on zoom when they pulled tthe noon meeting out from under us and only one of them is having a product on Amazon with any success. Are the one thing that I feel badly about was the signed a woman up for ax10 Who was literally bedridden. Total advantage takers
Only buy Sophie Howard’s course if you want to waste a couple of months of your life and lose your hard-earned cash. The program provides no value so if you’re expecting to learn something about Amazon and FBA businesses.
Most of the stuff Sophie teaches in this course is common knowledge. When you’re shelling out this many dollars, you’d expect to learn something unique or new. But no. This program is only a cash-grab and is made to fool people out of their pockets.
I don’t want anyone else to lose their money on a horrible course like this. If you truly want to learn how to run an FBA business, you should focus on learning by experience, not by scammers.
Blue Sky Amazon is overpriced BS. Agreed!
Guys, look. Watch her promo videos. She depicts herself as a mother who wants to spend as much time as possible with her little kids running a part time job of selling physical products on Amazon — just a few hours a day from her kitchen and checking sales while on the beach. Yet, she allegedly runs several shops and sold one (her own organic tea brand) for a 7 figure amount of money. Right. You cannot achieve that working few hours a day as a some kind of part time hobby job. That is a full time business occupation, lots of effort. But I believe she does selling of physical products part time, perhaps only few hours per month, if at all. It’d be such a waste of time when you can make so much more money by selling the training. If she is who she claims she is, then +90% of her wealth comes from selling her training — NOT the physical products on Amazon. Her training business with sellers and coaches is a huge international business + the alleged Amazon sales — how does it add up to her story of mother and kids? Right. It doesn’t. A possible option is, there is a company behind it and she is a hired actress who does her job for a fair share of the profit and we talk millions. She won’t be able to sell her face again. Not saying, it is so but a possible option.
Technically, it’s not a scam because you do get a course and coaching, but I’d agree with others who posted here – it’s poor value for money.
The business is very disorganised and doesn’t get the basics right, which for the amount you have to pay in is outrageous. The course content was also very low quality (but has slightly improved with a 2020 refresh) but I have seen $7 videos with better production values. It does come across as very amateurish.
I bought the course last January, and seriously wished I hadn’t, but I couldn’t necessarily say that it is a scam in the truest sense. Sophie claims that her pre-Amazon background is as an educator, and that’s why she created the course, but I don’t know if that’s true or not, just like none of her business/income claims have been verified on the inside.
I have launched a product on Amazon and broke even on what I spent on the product and this course, but many of the claims made are not accurate. It takes a lot to set up, both in terms of time and capital, and it definitely isn’t something you can do in an hour or two a day.
If you really want to sell on Amazon and need coaching, then consider this course, but I’d advise completing Amazon’s own course first (wish I had!) and then re-evaluating your need for a coach and your other options.
I wish I read this article before I bought the farm (which was $3,000).
A couple of days after I paid my “tuition” I went into renal failure, and went on permanent disability, and was unable to do the course.
I emailed them explaining my situation, and asked for a refund. I received a reply letter from a Natalie Smith (at Knowledge Source) telling me that because I may have seen the course, and that the five days to get a refund had passed, according to Natalie, I was only entitled to a partial refund, so they just deposited $1,500 back into my checking account without even talking to me first, and considered the matter closed.
When I replied telling her that her “offer” was not acceptable, I had to get a note from my nephrologist (kidney doctor) to prove I was in fact in renal failure. Because of the pandemic it took a while to get this, and I sent it to her 2/18/21, and she replied telling me that the dates didn’t match and that she already closed the books on this last year when she didn’t hear from me, and was still not going to refund me the remaining $1500 they basically stole from me. As of this entry, I’m still out that money.
And they’re in New Zealand; that should have been a red flag as when you deal with companies in other countries you have next to zero recourse when they decide not to do the right thing.
I am a veteran and disabled. If they will do this to me, anyone is fair game.
Now I’m reading that Sophie’s company and glowing reviews are all a scam?
Now I feel even more stupid, and now I really want my money back.
Anyone that want’s more info on this tragedy feel free to email me.
Jeez, your story is horrible. I know I’m just a stranger online so it probably doesn’t mean that much, but I hope you’re feeling better.
It’s been a few years since I last looked at the “make money online” type products, but while some of the tactics to get customers might have changed a bit the underlying scummy behaviour most have doesn’t seem to have changed.
With your case, the woman claims to be incredibly successful, and good to luck to her if she is, but I’m pretty short of money at the moment and I’d still never even think to not refund someone if they told me they were ill. Imagine being super wealthy and not having the heart to refund someone who was in hospital?
I had seen her adverts so many times I thought I might make an enquiry about the program. I was even going to send them a message just asking directly how much the course was as I don’t want to sit through webinars where the goal is to hype their product.
I was going to sign up today but then I saw on the sign-up from it had a mandatory field for entering a mobile phone number. I signed up to receive more info from a course about 2 months back and was bombarded with calls for 2 months and I’m almost certain they sold on my number as I was getting 2-3 calls a day from companies trying to sell me things which considering I’ve had the same number for 4-5 yeas with no problems until I signed up for the course info I suspect it was due to them. So when I saw that mandatory mobile field that made me suspicious and am thankful I found this page
I must admit j thought it would be about $500 or so, now I’m reading that is $4000-6000 there’s no way I’m doing that on a whim as I have to be a bit careful with my money at the moment.
It’s been a few years since I last checked out anything to do with the “make money online” niche, but sadly it still seems to be 90% garbage and con artists and 10% useful information.
From memory The Warrior Forum, Reddit Entrepreneur sub were good places where genuine people, and not just affiliates who profit from each sale, would review/discuss products and ideas. You might already be aware of them, but I found them useful a few years back (although can’t speak to how they are now).
Just trying to be helpful as my dad is ill at the moment and the thought of someone doing to him what they did to you makes my blood boil.
Off the top of my head, “make money online” courses and people I remember being useful were
-Matthew Woodward (has a blog about SEO and digital marketing)
-Millionaire Fastlane, which was an ebook but think they also had a course (I just read the book). The author was just very good at explaining how to get into the right mindset to run a business
-Perry (can’t remember his last name) AdWords Course, explained how to use Google Pay Per Click to get traffic
-Jeff Walker Product Launch Formula – how to launch an online product
-Frank Kern (I think, im not 100% sure it was him) but that was about copywriting and persuasive writing
All the above I definitely learned useful information from.
Apologies for the long comment but just wanted to try and be a bit positive and hopefully give you a starting point to research things that aren’t a total con. All the best
Thanks for your review. I just had my first phone call and the caller wasn’t happy that I said I needed time to review the cost with my husband.
Bruh I don’t know who to trust. Sophie has been posting fake reviews for her course everywhere and this thread is no exception. I liked the review, an old friend of mine was recommending this course to me, probably trying to earn a commission. Freaking shame.
Blue Sky, stop conning people, there are better ways to make money.
This is the most ridiculous “review” I have ever read. The information is clearly written by either a competitor or an internet troll with an agenda. It’s riddled with inaccuracies, incorrect information and outright lies.
If I respond to each individual point, I will be here all day, so I will quickly state the following:
a) I am a student of Blue Sky and while the course is not perfect, I have had great support from my one-on-one selling coach and Sophie’s team. I am currently selling on amazon and turning a profit on my very first product as a direct result of what I have learned in the program.
b) I left a review on trustpilot and last time I checked, I’m a real person.
c) One thing we learn early on is to not share our product ideas, and for good reason. I’m not sure what “proof” is expected from Sophie or her coaching team to be shared with others, especially strangers, but as students move along with the course, it becomes very clear there is great success found with following the course and staying motivated. I’ve seen it.
d) Most the the negative reviews I’ve seen were left by people who aren’t even students of the program. If I buy a loaf of bread and don’t eat it, I am not qualified to comment on the taste or quality of the loaf.
e) This review is correct regarding finding cheaper info on how to sell on amazon. youtube is a treasure trove of amazon seller advice and tutorials. There are several different approaches to anything in life and selling on amazon is no exception. Becoming an amazon seller is easy –
making money at it is not. Remember, you get what you pay for in life.
So, I’m not sure what skeletons you think Sophie has in her closet, but I assure you it’s a really big closet in really big house. Now let me get back to making money from the lessons I learned in Blue Sky…
Bullcrap. You either paid the money and convinced yourself you didn’t get scammed, work directly with her, or became an affiliate (so these types of reviews hurt your commissions). This is clearly a scam, and not a new one at that. ALL the information given will be things you can absolutely learn for free. The fake ‘live’ webinar trick is used by all these types of scammers, and I’m surprised people ever think they are live. Anyone genuine would have a live interactive seminar and wouldn’t even try to fake that. There is no doubt she learned the basics of selling on Amazon and made some success through trial and error, but that isn’t the scam. The scam is over-selling her experience and results using it, by getting into this MUCH more lucrative way of making money. It involves a few steps. Start a “business” that sells your basic -available for free- knowledge and hire “coaches” to repeat that “knowledge” for you. Create ads for said business and upload to multiple streaming sites and social media, and use a pre-recorded video of a webinar so you don’t have to ever do a live one for it. Create fake reviews and, scatter them with fake accounts (also creating websites to put more on). Wait for business to take off – leads to come in. Create businesses within the business to create substantially more income from ‘extras’… Top it off with an affiliate scheme which is lucrative to people that already have followings, email lists etc… These, in general, then become the top promoters of it, become loyal reviewers and debunkers of negative reviews, and substantially increase the income and profit generated. Then the scam is set in place, and the creator can just sit back and have the real passive income that they are actually raving about to others. The one truth they say in their presentations is that they make all that money passively – Just not from what they are teaching – but the lie is that everyone can do it (and not everyone would anyway, if they knew how to really create it, and if they had any morals). Now, with all that said, you can make a reasonable salary or steady income from online selling, affiliate marketing, and so on… And it can be rather easy with a bit of free research and trial and error… But it often requires money to play with for different aspects of some of the processes (risk) and a lot of time and effort (at least for the first year or so). Although some may not call this a scam, at the core it is. It advertises and sells a belief or idea that as long as you sign up you will be able to achieve everything they state you can with ease, and from the get go. This is hardly ever the case, even with “coaches”, and most people fail to even come close – often losing their investment/s or barely breaking even. It also always suggests that “this is new” and “nobody is doing this now” and “get in while you can to take advantage”… All of which is a lie. It is all very known about and there is A LOT of competition now. This is old news, and these people prey on the vulnerable and gullible. She will get rich off this ‘scam’ and not selling on Amazon. Whether she made a million from a side business or not is unknown, but wouldn’t surprise me if it’s just another misleading aspect of it all.
Whew! That was a long-winded way of saying you didn’t take the course. Well, I did. And no, I don’t work for Sophie. I’ve worked hard at learning the course and I’ve already recouped my course investment and am making a profit. My first product is a winner, the second is doing pretty OK (not all will be home runs, but it’s selling) and my third product is another winner. Onward to my fourth product…I look forward to my relatively passive financial future. How about you? Oh, that’s right…you’re afraid of competition. Forget I asked.
This is the most ridiculous “review” I have ever read. The information is clearly written by either a competitor or an internet troll with an agenda. It’s riddled with inaccuracies, incorrect information and outright lies.
If I respond to each individual point, I will be here all day, so I will quickly state the following:
a) I am a student of Blue Sky and while the course is not perfect, I have had great support from my one-on-one selling coach and Sophie’s team. I am currently selling on amazon and turning a profit on my very first product as a direct result of what I have learned in the program.
b) I left a review on trustpilot and last time I checked, I’m a real person.
c) One thing we learn early on is to not share our product ideas, and for good reason. I’m not sure what “proof” is expected from Sophie or her coaching team to be shared with others, especially strangers, but as students move along with the course, it becomes very clear there is great success found with following the course and staying motivated. I’ve seen it.
d) Most the the negative reviews I’ve seen were left by people who aren’t even students of the program. If I buy a loaf of bread and don’t eat it, I am not qualified to comment on the taste or quality of the loaf.
e) This review is correct regarding finding cheaper info on how to sell on amazon. youtube is a treasure trove of amazon seller advice and tutorials. There are several different approaches to anything in life and selling on amazon is no exception. Becoming an amazon seller is easy –
making money at it is not. Remember, you get what you pay for in life.
Now let me get back to making money from the lessons I learned in Blue Sky…
I feel like this was written by a competitor and has not actually seen the content Sophie provides or the support she provides. I have 1st hand experience with this and can verify that yes it is $3995 and not cheap but has given me all the suppport and guidance i needed to sell on Amazon. Its is a combo of self taught via video and live coaching. The coach was the game changer for me. just my 2 cents.
I would like to say that the info you provided is a little off. 1st most of the negative reviews you show are from ppl who have not even taken the course so how can they review it? 2nd the review that was left by anonymous doesn’t even get the cost of the program correct as its not $6,000 and they would know that if they had actually been a student. I will tell you that the course is not out dated and is currently up to date. The info in the training will give you the everything you need to set up your business and my experience with the coaches has been quite helpful especially the private student group and weekly group coaching calls. Its like the University they have many student who achieve nothing and many who do. Why? Because you have to do the work and with any new business there is a learning curve.
I’m writing this at a late hour so I’m going to be short:
I’ve bought the course and although it has some good guidance, the value for money is absolutely horrid. When I paid $6,000 for an Amazon Seller course, I expected at least something new, but much to my surprise, there was nothing new in this course, the same old tools and the same old advice.
I don’t recommend it.