[calinet6]

Exactly. It's a bullshit scam. The entire page guides you into signing up for a "VIP" style, but always looks and feels like you're buying a single pair of shoes. It is a scam, plain and simple, and their recurring income is from the privilege of sending poor unwary consumers a new pair of shoes every single month without their full understanding.

It's no better than the mail-order monthly subscription scams of olde. Perhaps people invest in those too, but no one in their right mind claims it's "a great company."

It's a scam using classic deceptive marketing methods. No debate, no question.

[thegna]

"It is a scam, plain and simple, and their recurring income is from the privilege of sending poor unwary consumers a new pair of shoes every single month without their full understanding."

Actually they don't send poor unwary consumers any shoes, they give poor unwary consumers "credits" which most likely got unnoticed and unused.

[rhizome]

What do you think the chances are that they send an email every time the customer is charged, listing their "points" and benefits thereof?

[pbreit]

100%.

They send an email every month prompting members to visit the site to select a pair of shoes or skip.

[rhizome]

Sure, but presentation is everything, especially when using dark patterns. What's the subject line, a general marketing slug like, "What's New at...", with a little bit about points or whatever at the end of the email, or something more specific to the nature of the subscription?

[sigkill]

What's the probability that the customer is unaware that this is a "membership" email rather a monthly email sent because you signed up and bought once? It's not uncommon for Newegg or Amazon to send you emails.