Seemingly unauthorized resellers: how do they do it?

[Tess Sluijter]

I've been talking to my usual CompTIA rep (aka "business development manager") via email and they were stimied by this one.

There's CompTIA exam voucher resellers who offer certification vouchers in ways that seem hard to compete with. These folks do not appear on CompTIA's registered partner list. Their websites also don't mention a parent company which could be on the list. What's more, their websites don't actually much of anything about the company! No registration information, no address.

Your initial thought might be "scammers", but supposedly plenty of folks on Reddit and elsewhere report getting their vouchers just fine. So payments are processed and working vouchers are delivered and used.

One example are voucherplex.com. They offer most vouchers at more than the usual 20% CompTIA partner discount. This might mean that they have a higher partner tier and thus get more discounts. But then why are they not on the partner list?

Another example is supervoucher.com. They are an even more interesting case! They offer exam vouchers with differing lifetimes, offering higher discounts for shorter lifetime vouchers. They also offer vouchers on a global level, so not just US/CA, but also UK, EU, Emerging markets etc, which should be impossible. I guess Supervoucher buy vouchers in bulk every month, selling them FIFO (first in first out) and then selling left-overs at reduced prices while they're almost expiring.

But again... they're not on the partner list, while they make claims about such status. They also don't list a parent company. No nothing.

Both companies, after some sleuthing, appear to be in Canada. One in Ontario, the other in Toronto.

I'm very curious about your insights... How the heck are companies that appear to not be registered partners buying vouchers in bulk? And how is one of them buying vouchers across the globe, instead of only in their own market?

 

[MBA]

Interesting! It sounds like a "bootlegging" operation of some sorts.

 

[Gregory Childers]

I've seen a lot of those discount voucher services. They seem rather shady to me but I honestly don't know the legal situation.

 

[Fanuel]

Interesting, i hope CompTIA legal team will make research out of this.

 

[Michael Schmitz]

Most Vouchers are

Interesting, i hope CompTIA legal team will make research out of this.

Why should it be illegal?

I do not have all T&C available, but usually reselling not personalized Vouchers is not forbidden. Even discounted once.
And i know, what if you buy a large bulk of Vouchers in a Year, you get heavy Discounts from the Vendor.
Honestly, this is nothing new. Companies like these exited even 20 Years ago already to resell Vouchers..
reselling your CIN TTT Voucher is not allowed. Even donating to someone else is not permitted.

 

[Kwabena Fred]

Interesting…,,worth looking into it

 

[Gregory Childers]

Most Vouchers are

Why should it be illegal?

I do not have all T&C available, but usually reselling not personalized Vouchers is not forbidden. Even discounted once.
And i know, what if you buy a large bulk of Vouchers in a Year, you get heavy Discounts from the Vendor.
Honestly, this is nothing new. Companies like these exited even 20 Years ago already to resell Vouchers..
reselling your CIN TTT Voucher is not allowed. Even donating to someone else is not permitted.

According to CompTIA:

Voucher Terms and Conditions:

• All vouchers, including any retakes, are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase unless otherwise noted.
• You must register and take your exam prior to the voucher expiration date.
• Voucher expiration dates cannot be extended under any circumstances.
• Vouchers are country and currency restricted.
• Vouchers cannot be redeemed for cash or credit.
• Vouchers are non-refundable and non-returnable.
• Vouchers may not be resold.
• Vouchers are program specific, and in some cases, exam specific.
• Vouchers are not transferable between programs.
• One voucher is applicable towards one exam at an authorized CompTIA Test Service Provider.
• CompTIA and its authorized Test Service Providers are not responsible for lost or stolen vouchers.
• CompTIA is not responsible for vouchers obtained through unauthorized resellers or by fraudulent means.
• CompTIA will not replace or refund any voucher that is found to be fraudulent or previously used.
• Certification exam retirement dates supersede voucher expiration dates. CompTIA may retire certifications and corresponding exams prior to voucher expiration dates.

Voucher Terms and Conditions and Retakes

• For voucher purchases that include a retake, if you fail the exam on your first attempt use the same voucher to register and retake the exam.
• All vouchers, including any retakes, expire 12 months from the date of purchase, unless otherwise noted.
• The retake is only valid for the same exam version that you failed. You cannot use the retake for a different version of the exam.

Voucher Terms and Conditions and Scheduling Your Exam

• Confirmation emails are automatically sent for your exam appointment time.
• Contact the Test Service Provider if your confirmation email is not received the same day.
• Exams must be rescheduled a minimum of 24 hours prior to your appointment time.
• Rescheduling an exam less than 24 hours prior to your appointment or failure to appear for your appointment will result in the forfeiture of your exam fee.

Exam Discounts, Vouchers and Promotional Codes

• Vouchers should be purchased directly through from the CompTIA Store (https://store.comptia.org), the Pearson VUE voucher store (http://www.pearsonvue.com/comptia) or from a CompTIA Authorized Partner.
• CompTIA is not responsible for vouchers obtained through unauthorized resellers or by fraudulent means.
• CompTIA will not replace or refund any voucher that is found to be fraudulent or previously used.
• Individuals who use any unauthorized discount or promotional code may have their exam results invalidated and/or risk up to and including a lifetime ban on all future exams and the nullification of all CompTIA certifications.

In other words, you may only buy vouchers through the CompTIA store and through CompTIA Authorized Partners. Vouchers purchased from non-CompTIA Authorized Partners are not allowed.

CompTIA Marketplace

 

[Michael Schmitz]

AFAIK, in Germany, you can not prohibit the Reselling of Vouchers, that are not personalized.
So in case you bought a voucher, have no time to take it, you will not get a refund from Pearonvue / CompTIA.
You paid it, you can do what you wanna to. gift it, donate it, do not use it, or resell it.
These Policies are also there to protect CompTIA and the others from legale challanges.

If you find a scammer site, you lost money. But like i said, these Shops are there since years and not all are scammers.
So far i would not make that problem my problem and leave it as it is. and do not buy vouchers there..
I seem to have here an different opinion then most. But i have other Problems to take care of.

I.

 

[Rick Butler]

Voucher fraud is a big problem and sadly, keeps happening. For example, there are folks that attempt to defraud the CIN TTT program to get free vouchers - saw evidence of that last month when two separate accounts were complaining about not getting their vouchers in a timely manner, only to clearly see it was the same entity for both. We've seen instances where people will rush to get a certificate for all the sessions in a single day, a realistic impossibility.

Getting a voucher or two for free may not seem like much, but it only exasperates the problem - there are plenty of those that want to get something for free, and do so in scrupulous ways.

AFAIK, in Germany, you can not prohibit the Reselling of Vouchers, that are not personalized.

I would think German law, as part of the EU, would have to abide by international trade laws. If CompTIA sees a situation where someone in Germany was stealing their intellectual property and violating its terms of use, CompTIA could take legal action. If CompTIA sells a voucher to someone with the provision that it cannot be transferred, then regardless of where that occurred, it's a violation of the Terms of Use and CompTIA has every legal recourse to seek compensation for damages. It doesn't matter if it's "personalized" or not - if the buyer agreed to not transfer it as part of the transaction in purchasing it, and the buyer violates that agreement, then CompTIA has the option to act on that, if they choose to.

There are plenty of people who don't have the financial resources to buy the resources to get their certifications so they believe that, because they are 'disadvantaged', they have a right to steal, cheat, defraud. This is prevalent everywhere in this morally relativistic world of ours. It doesn't make it right, no matter how small the infraction is.

Just like the topic of braindumpers, voucher pirates and other cheats do not help our industry, so I'll call them out where I see them and hope others do as well. Of course, I don't expect to ever see that trash go away anytime soon.

 

[Tess Sluijter]

I do not have all T&C available, but usually reselling not personalized Vouchers is not forbidden. Even discounted once.
And i know, what if you buy a large bulk of Vouchers in a Year, you get heavy Discounts from the Vendor.
Honestly, this is nothing new. Companies like these exited even 20 Years ago already to resell Vouchers..
reselling your CIN TTT Voucher is not allowed. Even donating to someone else is not permitted.

I'm not saying it's illegal, I'm saying that I'd like to have it explained how they are doing it.

Because:

1. CompTIA does not provide bulk discounts to normal consumers.
2. CompTIA does not allow the reselling of vouchers bought by consumers.
3. CompTIA provides bulk discounts to authorized partners.
4. CompTIA allows reselling by authorized partners.
5. These companies appear not to be authorized partners.

So... If 5 is true and these companies are not authorized delivery partners, then CompTIA's terms and conditions do not allow them to resell vouchers.

Putting the discussion whether blocking resellling is legal or not, my big question is how they would get these vouchers in bulk if they are not buying them with bulk discounts as a partner.

In addition, CompTIA requires a buyer to have a shipping address in the region for the voucher they are buying. To illustrate: I cannot buy UK vouchers even if I'm an authorized partner, because I do not have a registered address in the UK. I can only buy EU vouchers. So that also makes me ask how Supervoucher is offering vouchers from every region there is.

 

[Tess Sluijter]

I seem to have here an different opinion then most. But i have other Problems to take care of.

I agree with your assessment on all these things.

I'm not complaining that they should disappear. I'm trying to sleuth out how they are doing what they're doing, because according to CompTIA's T&C what they're doing should not be possible. So either they're doing something really interesting, or CompTIA is doing something weird.

 

[Tess Sluijter]

According to CompTIA:
...

• Individuals who use any unauthorized discount or promotional code may have their exam results invalidated and/or risk up to and including a lifetime ban on all future exams and the nullification of all CompTIA certifications.

This last part is actually not relevant to the matter.

This bullet point refers to using discount codes which are paid for by specific partners. These are often only handed out by partners to people who have taken part in a specific challenge, or who have bought one of their products. Like the Google Security certificate which gives 30% discount on Sec+, the codes from Sybex books and codes that vendors give when in return for questionnaires or other things.

So the authorized reseller part (the first red bullet point) is important only because of the two bullets right underneath: buyer protection.

That is, if an UNauthorized reseller sold you a fraudulent code, CompTIA will not lift a finger.

 

[Abby N Krane]

I work for a commercial training provider, and we are an authorized partner. We have a hard time competing in the market because of low cost vouchers. We have to set a certain price for classes to include the voucher. We don't sell enough CompTIA training to be a platinum partner to get the lowest pricing, we are just a regular level partner. There are some other training companies, even locally, who are selling training & vouchers for a much lower price and they are not authorized partners. It makes it hard for those doing things legitimately. Granted, I don't know how they are getting their vouchers but they are not on the partner list.

 

[Rick Butler]

I work for a commercial training provider, and we are an authorized partner. We have a hard time competing in the market because of low cost vouchers. We have to set a certain price for classes to include the voucher. We don't sell enough CompTIA training to be a platinum partner to get the lowest pricing, we are just a regular level partner. There are some other training companies, even locally, who are selling training & vouchers for a much lower price and they are not authorized partners. It makes it hard for those doing things legitimately. Granted, I don't know how they are getting their vouchers but they are not on the partner list.

This, to me, is a far more important point than the lot of us tossing around our interpretations of the rules and guidelines - actual business impact. I suspect if they are selling training and vouchers, they are selling the vouchers at a loss (or making it up in training sales), to attract customers. It's hard to peer into their business model to see how they are making profit; we can only speculate.

 

[MonaS]

This, to me, is a far more important point than the lot of us tossing around our interpretations of the rules and guidelines - actual business impact. I suspect if they are selling training and vouchers, they are selling the vouchers at a loss (or making it up in training sales), to attract customers. It's hard to peer into their business model to see how they are making profit; we can only speculate.

This is the correct answer. They purchase a bunch of vouchers in bulk and the closer the time gets to the expiration date they lower the price. This is why often you will see the vouchers only have two-week turnarounds or sometimes 2-5 day turnaround time before they expire. It’s not illegal and they are not trying to compete with other vendors they are just not trying to take a complete loss. They been doing this for years.