Inventor Beware!

Did you know that 1 in 3 inventors have spent from $8000 to $12,000 on scams that claimed they would help the inventor get his/her product to market? Such scams, traps, and raw deals are rampant. Of the 8 women I interviewed for my book, The Right Sisters: Women Inventors Tell Their Stories, four of them told stories of buying into such scams.

So inventors BEWARE!

My friend Louis Foreman, the Executive Producer of the award winning program “Everyday Edisons,” offers this advice: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”



The most important thing you can do when you first get started is lots of homework! Always carefully research anyone offering to assist you in getting your product to market. Check out the reputation of any person, company, or organization BEFORE you spend a penny.

I’ve found the United Inventors Association (UIA) to be particularly useful. They offer a terrific 10- part miniseries entitled “What Every Inventor Needs to Know” in which the first episode is all about avoiding scams. Obviously, UIA recognizes what a problem scams are for inventors.

Check out UIA. You can subscribe to UIA for free and get a monthly newsletter as well as access to the mini-series.

And remember to always do your homework!