Ted’s Woodworking plans promise woodworkers and DIYers a project database of more than 16,000 plans. DON’T BUY IT, it’s a SCAM.
What do you get if you do buy it? The content package is far smaller than advertised, and consists of outdated plans ripped off of public and private sources. There’s no customer service, and it can be hard to get your money back.
Additionally, the projects and plans aren’t vetted, with reviews complaining about poor quality.
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From what I have heard over the years, the better project plans are freely available from their original creators.
I have NEVER heard anything good about Ted’s Woodworking or their notorious 16,000 project plans bundle.
That photo of “Ted McGrath,” who is purported to be a master woodworker? It’s available for anyone to license from a stock photo agency. All signs point to “Ted” being a complete fabrication.
There are YouTube reviews peddling these plans, often with fake user accounts or bots contributing comment reviews and fake testimonials to further encourage buyers.
Now, there are scores of Instagram accounts using stolen woodworking social media content to drive plan sales.
What happens if they get caught plagiarizing others’ plans or projects? Nothing, they start a new account, buy more followers, and copy more social media content to push affiliate links to Ted’s Woodworking Plans.
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For whatever reasons, Instagram keeps boosting these shill accounts and their 16,000 woodworking plans affiliate links, often with claims of a “limited time offer.”
Some woodworking product companies follow these scam accounts, for whatever reasons, which unfortunately helps to legitimize them.
If the folks running social media for woodworking tool brands can be duped by the Ted’s Woodworking Plans affiliates, you can bet that woodworkers and DIYers are falling for it.
If you’re going to buy woodworking plans, make sure you’re getting them from a legitimate source or maker.
Some of the 16,000 woodworking plan peddlers try to minimize the complaints of it being a scam, all the while still recommending it as a flawed product that’s still worth buying.
Others talk about how it’s a scam and terrible value, while promoting their own woodworking project and course packages that are – of course – only available for a limited time at a 72% discount. I wouldn’t be surprised if the “better” product is sold by the same company behind Ted’s Woodworking.
This isn’t a new scam – I first learned about it more than 10 years ago – but it’s resurging right now to prey upon a new generation of naïve woodworkers. Making things worse, they’re using DIYers’ and woodworkers’ likenesses and social media content to do it.
DON’T FALL FOR IT.
Robert
That shyster is back? Shows the power of marketing. Certainly not a TED talk. Yeap, a better legitimate source is those offered by one of the wood working magazines, woodworkers journal.
Stuart
“He” never left. Now, it’s being perpetuated through social media accounts that seem to buy followers and are algorithm-boosted because they steal popular woodworkers’ project reels and photos.
Bob+Hinden
This is, of course, part of a larger problem with ads on Instagram and Facebook that are scams. Meta doesn’t seem to be doing very much about it.
Most of the tool/woodworking ads I see there are scams. I saw one earlier today for a large set of DeWalt cordless tools that was priced much too low to be real.
Stuart
It’s not just ads.
I keep seeing them on Instagram through promoted “we thought you might like this” posts.
Andy
I don’t know anyone who still uses Instagram, mostly because of things like this.
Stuart
Doesn’t matter the platform, I’m sure it’s on Facebook and TikTok too.
Chris I
Like 2,000,000,000 people. Maybe not YOU, but billions still do.
Regardless, they’re all garbage.
Jerry
I had an ad pop up on me that was selling batteries at a too good to be true price. The picture even had factory branded batteries pictured, complete with factory logo. Hidden clear in the fine print where 90% of the people would never find them was the disclaimer that the batteries sold were drop in replacements to the ones pictured, meaning the were admitting they were counterfeit or at the very least generic will fits. Scammers are everywhere.
Kyle
Be very careful when buying batteries online! I work at a retail tool store and we have been warned about batteries like that that are priced way too low to be genuine. The worst part is they can ruin your tools.
JC
What types of batteries Kyle? Thanks in advance!
Chris I
My wife and I just watched the documentary last night about Fyre Festival. Then this today. Too funny.
Welcome to the new economy of America. Just a constant grift everywhere you look.
Peter
New economy?
Maybe in the way it is used via social media but that stuff is mostly as old as mankind.
When I renovated my place which was build in 1901 in a rural setting I uncovered old newspaper from that time that was used as wall paper.
There were pages of classified ads and they promised everything from hair growth, cures for erectile dysfunction and all sorts of magic potions I had a blast.
Jack D
I remember scoffing at this ad the first time I saw it. With all the free content at your fingertips online these days, the idea that 16,000 plans will be something worth paying for is laughable. Undoubtedly, every single plan is something any one of the users here could scribble together on a cocktail napkin.
I have happily purchased plans for things I needed, such as the Shop dogs sawhorse plans, and am satisfied I got my money’s worth. I still tell people I’ll help them build them if they buy the plans themselves…
I’ve also poured over past issues of magazines with specific plans I’ve desired, and bought them on eBay or some such.
I guess I’m saying if you need plans, don’t trust a scammer…look for what you want, and if you need to buy it when you find it. It’s worth it!
Doresoom
I’ve deleted SO MANY Ted’s and Woodprix scam comments on my YouTube videos. The weird thing was that recently a ton of year+ old comments from dozens of different YouTube users were edited to be Ted’s spam comments with links. Luckily YouTube still filtered them for moderation.
Remko
Off course it is a scam the real deal is the Dutch carpenter Fred. This package of 10 000 (or was it 21 000) plans is what you need.
For serious good thing to warn people to not fall for it! But really annoying this keeps up when you search for plans.
Stuart
Please don’t link to scam plan sites, even in jest.
Still, it’s interesting to see there’s now a Dutch version of this. I wonder if it’s from the same company, or just a copycat, not that it makes a difference.
Are there more scam plan packages and personas for other international regions?
Remko Levels
Sorry for the link. When you look at the whois information for both urls Ted registered in 2010, Fred did in 2011. Looks like a single profitable company.
There is also a German Fred operating for at least 10 years. These servers are also located in the Netherlands.
Stuart
This post replaced one from July 2010, which could be when the scam first popped up. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the plan scams are from the same company, once they saw their first one was working. Some of the new scam plan packages that call the Ted product a scam could also be by the same company.
As for links, that’s just standard policy, since visiting scam sites can help legitimize them. Just linking to them can sometimes help with their Google placement, something we certainly don’t want to do.
Jack D
This would make a good article for this site in the future. Given that there are always new people finding this site, it’s probably a cinch some of them might also be finding the scam sites. Could be nice to be able to direct people to a comprehensive article on all the scams and their derivatives.
Bill Sung
Ted Website uses Java scripts that block you from closing the web browser, that was a buy design to make sure that you are not leaving without paying for these plans which you tend to find free online. Instagram or Facebook will not shut them down because Ted is paying the Business plans he is the customer. This type of behavior makes my skin crawl
eddie sky
If this is shipped USPS, then its fraud. Would be great to form a collective to report to all of this scam. Its deception, wirefraud, copyright theft, etc…
Kevin+M+Smith
Copy it. Rebrand it “Janes Woodworking”. Add seductive stock photography. Make $$$$
Emilio+Gonzalez
Everyone with social accounts need to repost this article. The more people are made aware the better. I’ve never been into these packages. They’ve been around for decades. From real estate packages to how how to get rich in 10 easy steps. Scammers are more prevalent today than when I was a kid.