“Book Profits” (aka Textbook Money) Implodes: Ex-members speak out

The story of $3,500 book arbitrage tool “Textbook Money” (aka “Book Profits”) gets even worse

Part II In a 5-Part Series on Amazon Trade-In Credit

Since speaking out about Book Profits earlier this year, I have been deluged with emails from their former members. They describe being “scammed,” “cheated,” and “robbed,” and the creators of Textbook Money / Book Profits as “snakes,” “crooks,” and “unethical.”

Let’s do an update on Textbook Money, the enemies they’ve made, and their crumbling facade…

In this article:

1. Brief recap of Textbook Money scandal.
2. Textbook Money purges dissenters.
3. Ex-TBM members report Textbook Money to state and federal authorities.
4. New Facebook group for ex-Textbook Money members.
5. Textbook Money using testimonials without permission?
6. Textbook Money changes name to “Book Trades.biz” & “Book Arbitrage”
7. Screenshots of over 50 ex-Textbook Money sharing their experiences.
8. A special announcement (Or: “How Textbook Money stealing our data inspired us to duplicate their software and sell it for 1/20 the price”) (Update: Our new trade-in tool is live. It’s called ZenTrade, and we’ve bundled it with Zen Arbitrage. Get both for one low price here.)

Before we get into the latest drama…

You can get our tools here:

Zen Arbitrage (for selling books)

Zen Trade (for trade-in and textbook buyback sites)

Both tools together (click “start trial” button to access this semi-secret offer)

10x better tools & training at less than 1/10 the price of “Book Profits.”

If you’re new to this story…

Here’s the recap of this epic saga, from earlier this year:

1. In 2016, the $1,000 + $97/mo “Textbook Money/Book Profits” book arbitrage tool gets released, along with a clone of my tool, Zen Arbitrage.
2. Around this time, strange hack bots are detected infiltrating Zen Arbitrage.
3. We feed them mountains of inaccurate, garbage data.
4. We exposed the culprits as having the same IP address as Textbook Money, stealing our data.
5. We prank them by feeding them mountains of garbage data on finding an FTC lawyer, how to not be terrible at hacking, etc.
6. We publicly exposed them.

(It’s hard to do the magnitude of this story justice in bullet points, so if you want all the drama, read the full story  or watch the videos at the end of this post)

Since then, I’ve received over 100 emails from angry ex-Textbook Money/Book Profits members

No surprise, when I went public with this story. I received tons of emails from ex-Book Profits members, speaking out about their negative experiences.

Hearing about people in the Amazon seller space getting conned hits close to home. When I was just getting started I spent money I didn’t have on a couple of ebooks that were absolutely terrible. So bad, I doubt the authors even sold on Amazon. The $47 I spent on those ebooks still stings. I can’t imagine getting conned out of $1,000.

Update: Textbook Money changes name to “Book Trades.biz”

As this goes to print, word is out that Textbook Money has changed its name. Presumably to hide from the bad publicity, Textbook Money has rebranded as both “”Book Trades.biz“, “Book Arbitrage“, and “Book Profits.”

Same cast of characters (Lambo Luke / Luke Sample). Same affiliates promoting. Same everything. New name.

Opinion: No Amazon trade-in credit tool is worth $1,000

As you read what follows, keep in mind one thing: It’s not that mining the internet for trade-in credit arbitrage opportunity does not work. It’s that I don’t believe any tool that helps you find it is worth $1,000 and $97 a month.

I’ve looked at the opportunity closely over the last year. Through the data we collect at Zen Arbitrage, I know (some of) the numbers. There’s money there, but I think $1,000 is a shameless rip off.

And you don’t have to take my word for it, let the users speak for themselves…

I’m dividing these up into five categories:

1. Poor, elderly, and handicapped ex-Textbook Money members speak out.
2. Textbook Money kicking out anyone who speaks out.
3. Ex-Textbook Money members report them to state and federal agencies.
4. One person claiming their name is being used in a testimonial without permission.
5. 50+ additional email & text message screenshots.

Disclaimer: At no point did I seek out negative feedback about Textbook Money, or put out a call soliciting experiences from people who felt scammed or wronged by Textbook Money. Every one of these emails came to me unsolicited.

The screenshots in this article came to me via three different email addresses, one website contact form, and via text message.

Reports: Textbook Money Exploiting Handicapped, Elderly, More

I’m starting with the most disturbing of the emails I received. I’ll let these speak for themselves. The first email is extremely disturbing, from a single mother in Poland who lost half a year’s wages to Textbook Money:

Reports: Textbook Money purging members who speak out

When people began to realize they did not receive what they paid for, they began to speak out. According to these emails (and others further down), Textbook Money responded by banishing the dissenters.

 

Reports: Ex-members going to the authorities

I can’t confirm if these complains were ever filed or what the results were, but here several ex-TBM users report going to the authorities over their experiences with Textbook Money.

Report: Textbook Money using testimonials without permission?

This one is weird. To give this context: It was sent to me by someone who said he was considering joining Textbook Money, and tracked down people on Facebook whose names were being used as success stories in Textbook Money promotional material.

After reaching out to one woman being used in a testimonial, she sent him the following response:

Email screenshots from over 50 ex-members of Textbook Money

Here is the rest: A non-stop barrage of former Textbook Money members speaking out.

You’ll see many recurring themes here: Refusal to give refunds, TBM selling bogus “lists” of profitable books, constant upsells that were not worth the exorbitant costs, and general contempt for the both the creators of Textbook Money and the affiliates who promoted it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deep breath, that was a lot to process. I can say 100% that in my years selling on Amazon, I’ve never seen anything like this.

Now, some good news:

Speaking of Karma, it’s about to come back on them even harder.

One year ago, I had no interest in getting into the trade-in game. My business is in selling books for cash, and teaching others how to do the same via both offline sourcing, and Zen Arbitrage.

But after the insane amount drama around Textbook Money, I decided a response was in order.

Remember: It’s not that trade-in credit arbitrage is inherently ineffective. It’s just not worth $1,000 and $97 a month.

So here’s the announcement…

How Textbook Money inspired us to duplicate their software and sell it for 1/20 the price

(Update: Our new trade-in tool is live. It’s called ZenTrade. Get it for a low price with Zen Arbitrage and see how it works here.)

We have just released the ZenTrade + Zen Arbitrage package: An arbitrage combo that blows Textbook Money away…. for a fraction of the price.

1. Better than Textbook Money – more features, more data, real support from real booksellers.
2. Priced to reflect what it is actually worth (not what we can scam you out of.)

How Zen Trade works:

1. Install in your browser (one click).
2. Go to the Amazon Trade In Store (any category).
3. Surf the trade in store for opportunity (find trade in opportunity on Amazon or 3rd party sites). ZenTrade embeds trade in value (+ more) on the Amazon page.
4. Find books cheaper than their trade in value.
5. Lock in the trade in value on Amazon.
6. (Alternately, scan over 40 book buy back sites for the highest instant cash offer)
7. Buy the cheap book.
8. Ship it to Amazon (or the third party book buy back site).
9. Profit the difference in Amazon trade in credit.

ZenTrade is now live, and you can get with Zen Arbitrage and a super-low price. See everything here.

ZenTrade Features

(Prediction: “Textbook Money” will try to steal or copy these as soon as this post goes live)

1. Current trade-in value
2. Current Amazon price.
3. Instant Amazon-to-Amazon trade alerts.
4. Historical highest trade in value + date.
5. Historical lowest trade in value + date.
6. 12-month average trade in value.
7. Percentage deviation from average (is it higher or lower than average?)
8. One-click scan of over 40 other bookselling sites for cheapest copy.
9. One-click scan of over 40 sites for highest instant buy back value.
10. “Price Proximity Alerts”: see if Amazon price is close to trade in value (to find severely undervalued books to sell for cash)
11. No-scroll trade-in mining: Profit totals displayed at top of every page.

Zen Trade is now a low-price add-on with Zen Arbitrage. Click “Start Trial” on on this page to see Zen Trade in action.

Let this be a poetic conclusion to a bizarre and unfortunate story.

-Peter Valley

PS: Have an experience with Luke Sample & Textbook Money aka Book Trades aka Book Arbitrage aka Book Profits? Jump in the comments below.

PPS: If you’re in a Facebook group or other online forum where Textbook Money is promoted, consider sharing this article there.

PPPS: If you’re new to the Textbook Money story, you can watch the videos below or read the full article here.

PPPPS: And for good measure, here’s every reason we’re better:

Also, claim your free book:

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